Capcom Vs. SNK: Millenium Fight 2000

—by Kenneth Lee

During the height of the "2D Fighting Game Revolution"—when Capcom and SNK ruled the arcades (with their STREET FIGHTER II series and KING OF FIGHTERS series, respectively)—many fans wondered, "If Ryu fought against Kyo, who would win?" (or some variant on that question). There were many fighting gamers who wished that there could be one "ultimate fighting game" that pitted all the fighters from the various companies against each other to solve that question and have the biggest battle royale ever.
Well, their wish has been granted: in what seems like the impossible, Capcom and SNK agreed to create the ultimate cross-over fighting game, aptly named CAPCOM VS. SNK, in which the most popular fighters from the Capcom and SNK universes would battle against each other in one fighting game! Finally, after nearly a year of waiting, the be-all, end-all ultimate 2D fighting game has been released on the import Dreamcast, in the form of CAPCOM VS. SNK: MILLENIUM FIGHT 2000.
Many folks might be wondering, "Is this just another 2D fighter?" and on the most basic level, it is. Yet that belies the true nature of the beast: only the most jaded gamer could dismiss something as epic as this. Truly, the sheer idea of having the two biggest 2D fighting game companies come together and make a game featuring their most popular fighters is nothing short of mind-blowing. It's like having the STAR WARS and STAR TREK universes collide, and the creators agreeing to make a movie / TV series featuring characters from both. It is simply amazing.
On the graphical side, the game is essentially 2D. But finally all the SNK fans can see what their characters would've looked like if they were smoothly animated and drawn by the 2D gods that are Capcom. Only the most blind SNK otaku would claim that their characters were well animated; truly the biggest complaint about all the SNK fighters was the lack of smooth animation for them. Crippled by aging hardware, the SNK fighters were never as well animated as their Capcom counterparts. But now, this epic fighter has done them justice: Capcom redrew all the SNK characters, and they are now even smoother and more well animated (at times) than their Capcom equivalents! Just look at Mai Shiranui or Iori, and you'll understand the beauty of it all. Capcom went the extra mile as well with their own characters, reanimating many of the moves and adding new ones for certain fighters. Just look at Ryu's classic Shoryuken (Dragon Punch), and you can see the difference.
In addition, a whole new set of interesting 2D backgrounds were created just for this game, but the highlight would have to be the special effects: nearly every single special move or super move has been redone using gorgeous 3D-enhanced lighting effects and multi-layer translucencies. Check out Iori's Level 3 Yasakazuki Super for a perfect example. These revamped lighting enhancements for all the specials and supers really help give the game a fresh new feel to it, and makes them that much more exciting.
The sound effects are yet another area that has been completely redone. All of the voices for all the fighters have been re-recorded and updated, so that when played on your Dreamcast's stunning Yamaha 64-channel sound chip, it's like playing a completely different game. The seiyuu (Japanese voice actors) really did an awesome job, adding even more emotion to their characters than ever before. My personal favorite would have to be Yuri Sakazaki's voice: her voice actress did an amazing job of delivering a spunky, kawaii fighting gal's character. Just listen to her taunts and moves, this is prime Japanese voice acting at its finest.
But ultimately, it's about the gameplay. Like nearly everything else, the fighting engine has been redone and tightened. Once again, this is another area that the SNK games were always lacking in. Despite coming close in the KING OF FIGHTERS series, SNK games never had a fighting engine as tight or clean as Capcom's true STREET FIGHTER engine. But finally, with this great game you'll be able to play all SNK fighters in a super-tight fighting engine. Pulling off clean combos and two-in-ones were never this easy, or tight. Overall, the fighting engine—despite the "Versus" name—is a new revamped version of Capcom's finest fighting engine: the true STREET FIGHTER engine, which enables both newbies and hardcore fans alike to play and practice against the best 2D fighting game engine on the planet to hone their skills. It uses a four-button layout, with a Light Punch, Heavy Punch, Light Kick, and Heavy Kick.
And it wasn't just using a pure Capcom engine with no enhancements either, as Capcom smartly decided to incorporate the best aspects of the SNK games, the highlight would be SNK's "Power Emphasis." The one area that SNK always had Capcom beat on, was the level of "power emphasis" which I mean to be the way big hits and special moves are portrayed when they connect with your opponent. Seeing Iori in KOF doing his Maiden Masher super on some poor sap left no doubt to the "Ooh! That's gotta hurt!" factor that was always missing in the Capcom games; in the SF games, whenever a super or big move connected with your opponent, there would usually be some hit sprites, some tinny sound effects, and that was it. Over time, most SF players just ignored the hits subconsciously—they just never felt or looked painful enough to notice. But now, Capcom has wisely added in SNK's most awesome aspect of gameplay, and the results are phenomenal: nearly every major special or super move when they connect will look and feel like they hurt and are powerful. Just check out Ken when he pulls off his Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (Hurricane Kick) special move against an opponent: the screen will shake with every hit that connects, making it seem that much more painful. The list goes on, and in the end, seeing it in the game makes it that much more exciting and fun to play.
The perfect topper is the ability to play in either gameplay styles! You can choose either "Capcom Groove" or "SNK Groove" before your fight. Capcom Groove is the ability to build up and store 3 supers and execute a level 1, 2, or 3 super at will (when full). SNK Groove allows you to charge up your Super Bar nearly instantly (at any time), but you can only execute a level 1 super, until your life bar hits red. Which at that point, you have unlimited supers until the match is over! Another interesting feature added was the Slot / Point system, which basically gives you four slots to fill up, and all characters are preset as either "1 slot," "2 slot," or "3 slot" (bosses) characters. Thus, you can choose four "1 slot" fighters and have a 4-on-4 fight(!) if you wanted to, or you can choose one "3 slot" fighter and one "1 slot" fighter, etc. Naturally, the higher the slot of the fighter, the more powerful they are. It's an interesting twist that can actually be turned off later via a secret, but it adds a certain amount of strategy and depth.
And finally, the most essential reason to play is the characters. You begin the game with 28(!) of the most popular SNK and Capcom fighters ever created. The matchups are legendary: You can now finally find out who's better, when you have Ryu fight versus Terry "The Lone Wolf" Bogard. Or Blanka versus Nakoruru. Or Vega (M. Bison in the U.S.) fighting Geese Howard. Or how about both companies' poster babes, Mai Shiranui versus Chun Li? Or how about Morrigan the Succubus, fighting against Guile? The possibilities are endless. To make it even cooler, there are plenty of "custom intros" for specific fighters—try choosing Chun Li and fight against Mai, and you'll see what I mean. Of course, the two high school girls, Sakura and Yuri have a special intro as well.
There's also a plethora of extra modes and secrets to unlock, such as the ability to make custom colored outfits for your fighters with the Color Edit Mode (very cool!). But the big draw is Secret Mode, which is similar to MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2, in which the more you play the game, the more points you get, which you can then trade in to "buy" secrets. The secrets range from extra color costumes for your fighters, to EX versions of your fighters, to secret characters. EX versions are basically alternate versions of a fighter. One thing that SNK fighters lost in the translation over was a noticeable loss of moves. But to be fair, the SNK fighters had too many moves to begin with. Take Terry Bogard for example: In the KOF games, he had a Power Wave, Burn Knuckle, Rising Tackle, Crack Shoot, Power Dunk, and Power Charge regular special moves! Then compare with Ryu, with only three special moves: Hadoken, Shoryuken, and Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. It makes sense to reduce the number of moves, or else balancing would be a nightmare. But in the end, the extra moves from the SNK fighters can also be seen as a direct result of the stagnation of the SNK games over the years—since they never redrew the character sprites, or created a whole new engine, the only other thing they could do to keep their KOF fans happy was to add new special moves over the years, and eventually nearly every KOF fighter became bloated with a plethora of moves that fans could love, but were ultimately just excess. But for those that miss certain moves, the EX versions of the SNK characters brings many of them back: For example, Terry Bogard EX has his Power Dunk move back in, but at the cost of losing another special move (for balancing and to be fair). Some of the Capcom EX versions are old-school versions of the characters, like Guile, who is just clean and simple with a Sonic Boom, Blade Kick (Somersault Kick), and one super. But the best secrets are the secret characters, Evil Ryu, Wild Iori, Gouki (Akuma), Morrigan, and Nakoruru. They are a blast to play and very interesting as well.
CAPCOM VS. SNK: MILLENIUM FIGHT 2000 for the Dreamcast is the penultimate 2D fighting game. It is arguably the greatest crossover in the history of video games, pitting the number one and number two 2D fighting game makers' hottest properties in one game! With great 2D graphics with 3D special lighting effects, tons of fighters from both SNK and Capcom's universes, it is the game to get. With a wonderful history behind both sets of fighters, and seeing them all come together, you can finally answer the question on every 2D fighting gamer's mind: Who is the strongest? Buy it. Play it. Love it.

Rating: 9.3 / 10

Sega Dreamcast (1 CD)
Fighting
1-2 Players
accessory compatibility (dual shock, etc)
#T-1217M
¥5800
Availabile now in Japan
Where to buy