If theMarvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collectionwasn’t mind-blowing enough, Capcom revealed they’re making aCapcom Fighting Collection 2. On top of including Arcade/Dreamcast-only rarities likeProject JusticeandPlasma Sword,CFC2hasCapcom Vs SNK 1&2. After years of yearning for a proper re-release of those games, they’re finally going to get it.
It’s not due out until 2025, though it’s coming out hot on the heels of SNK’s surprise re-release ofSNK Vs Capcom: SVC Chaos— andTerry Bogard’s imminent appearance inStreet Fighter 6. Still, these crossovers aren’t all created equal. Some are better than others, so these are the best Capcom-SNK crossover games, ranked by quality.
SNK managed to bounce back from bankruptcy thanks to some careful dealing that saw them buy back all their old IPs. However, it set them back a lot compared to their pre-bankruptcy days, which can be seen inSNK Vs Capcom: SVC Chaos. Some people blame its muddy graphics, sound, and animation on the aging Neo Geo hardware, but graphical powerhouses likeThe Last BladeandGarou: Mark of the Wolvesran on it perfectly fine.
It’s more likely they suffered time constraints to get the game out while their deal with Capcom was still valid, and they didn’t have enough hands on deck to polish it up enough, leading to the messy result. Still, it has its admirers, as it has a lot of unique gameplay quirks that can’t be found in other games, like the tide-turning Exceed supers. It also has fun character interactions akin toArt of Fighting 2orMortal Kombat 1, and an interesting roster. No other game sinceSVChas featuredRed Earth’s Tessa ortheMegaman Zeroversion of Zero.
5SNK Vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
It Ditches The Grooves In Favor Of Attack Mode
As wonky asSVCis, SNK actually made the most crossover games out of their deal with Capcom. It’s just that the bulk of them were on the Neo Geo Pocket Color, anunderrated handheld machinemade to rapidly replace their monochrome Neo Geo Pocket. It has some great games and great controls, though it could never beat the almighty Game Boy Color.
Still, people can’t playSNK Vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clashon the GBC. It was a card-dueling game exclusive to the NGPC that played likeMagic: The GatheringorYu-Gi-Oh, only with chibi renditions of SNK and Capcom characters as cards, Special Points as mana, and Action Cards as Enchantments. It was simpler too, though no less charming, and can still be played today via theNeo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol.2on the Nintendo Switch.
4SNK Vs Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition
Big In Japan, But Too Big To Travel
The big downside toCard Fighters Clash 1is that it isn’tSNK Vs Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition. Released only in Japan, it offered the sameMTG-lite gameplay but with even more characters from both companies, and it came on a single cartridge instead. IfDino Crisis,Project Justice,Garou: Mark of the Wolves, andKing of Fighters ’99fans wanted to make decks with their favorite characters, they could do that now with this game.
It also threw in 40 Reaction Cards players could use to counter their opponents’ cards during their turn, making the card slinging feel more like a fight. It was the last game to be officially released on the NGPC, and it hasn’t had an official re-release since then. Not even in theNGPC Selectionvolumes. The only way people can play it now is if they look for the game online, imported or otherwise, then look for the fan translation patch if their Japanese isn’t up to snuff.
Capcom Vs SNK’s big fault is that its sequel is an improvement in practically all areas. For example, the new Ratio system, where players form a team, whose overall strength must max out at 4, wasn’t as refined. Instead of letting players toggle the character’s strength ratio, they had fixed values. For example, Sakura is stuck at Ratio 1 (R1), and could only team up with 3 other R1 characters (Dan, King, etc.), an R2 character (Ryu, Terry, etc.) and an R1 character, a single R3 character (Sagat, Geese, etc.), and no R4 characters (Akuma, etc.).
If that sounds tricky, it was. It made picking teams feel like a jigsaw puzzle compared to its more fluid sequel. That said, it features some nice new sprites for the SNK cast, and it arguably has the best stages in the series. They don’t haveCvS2’s fancy 3D fripperies. Instead, they have a neat atmosphere with their own nice graphical effects, like the shadows in the back-alley stage, or the bolder background characters in Shinsekai and the Sakazaki dojo.
2SNK Vs Capcom: The Match Of The Millennium
8-Bits: More Than Enough To Thrill Anything That Moves
SNK didn’t just make card dueling games for the NGPC. They made what some consider to be the best crossover game between the companies inSNK Vs Capcom: The Match of the Millennium. It was certainly richer in features thanCvS1, as players could switch it between 2-player tag team action orKOF-style 3-person queue teams. They also offered better fighting styles, replacingCvS1’s lackluster SNK/S-Groove with Counter mode (i.e.KOF’s Advanced mode), which lets players power up their characters with Maximum Mode.
It had a beefy roster, including some characters who never made it into the big arcade crossovers, likeDarkstalkers’ BB Hood andLast Blade’s Akari. That’s not to mention its Olympics mode, where people play different Capcom and SNK-themed minigames to earn in-game currency to buy unlockables. It could also buy extra content forCard Fighters Clashandthe Dreamcast portsofKOF ’98andCvS1. Sadly, its Switch port is unlikely to do the same for theCFC2.
However, without a doubt, the most iconic SNK-Capcom crossover isCapcom Vs SNK 2. It only offers queue-style teams, but it fixed the Ratio system where people could stick to their mains by adjusting their strength themselves instead (i.e. Sakura could be any ratio the player wanted). That, and its 6 grooves — each based on different Capcom and SNK games — offered a new level of strategy. Characters who were bottom-tier in one groove could have a fighting chance in another, and good ones could become absolute monsters in others.
It had catchier music than its predecessor (particularly on the London stage), and more testing bosses,as Shin Akumaand God Rugal could test people’s nerves more than Geese or M.Bison. The game isn’t the most balanced game around, as anyone who’s fought Blanka or A-Groove Sakura can attest, yet its different techniques offer players of all levels the chance to expand their skills. The only thing that could excite fans more than aCvS2re-release would beCapcom Vs SNK 3.
