Review: SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos is the time travel I didn’t need

At the time, it was a dream come true for many to see The King of Fighters and Fatal Fury characters fighting against Street Fighter characters in the same game. Initially, Capcom was tasked with making the crossover, however, SNK was also in charge of developing its game that combined fighters from both companies in an experience called SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos.

The first formal fighting game as we know it was SNK vs Capcom: The Match of the Millennium which came out for Neo Geo Pocket. Then another card game came out for the same portable platform and eventually Capcom released Capcom vs SNK: Millenium Fight 2000 and Capcom vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millenium 2001. A couple of years after the aforementioned title came SNK vs Capcom: SVC Chaos.

This fighting game has all the SNK stamp tattooed on the code. It doesn’t play like a Capcom title, it doesn’t have 6 buttons and the pace of the game is totally alien to Match of the Millenium and Mark of the Millenium. Yes, because of so many names you might get confused, but let’s just say that from now on we’re only going to talk about it as such. SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaosespecially this time available on PC.

Now, one thing has to be admitted. This return is somewhat “unexpected,” especially since it may not be the most beloved or mainstream game in the series. However, SNK is ahead of Capcom in reviving this franchise that many fighting game fans yearn for.

We also recommend: Capcom will not abandon the physical format, despite the growth of its digital sales

When SNK had to develop its fighting game with Capcom characters

SNK had already made a fighting game with chibis or big-headed characters that more or less resembled previous The King of Fighters titles that were actually not bad at all. They fully fulfilled their purpose. But now, with SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos things changed considerably.

Come on, the games Capcom made felt more like Street Fighter than The King of Fighters, even though KOF’s mechanics were very well implemented. But, in terms of animations, things were very different. It was a good game and that’s it. The point here is that, well, it was SNK’s turn to release its game.

What’s happening with SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos? Well, the animations and character designs are different. You only play with 4 buttons. The gameplay mechanics are a mix of what both companies offer, but more focused on SNK’s side. The short and long jumps are there, as are the special moves and their execution. Let’s say it’s a bit “strange” if you’re used to a certain type of fighting game.

Add to that the fact that this title is from a generation that has already passed… Come on. It doesn’t even look like KOF and Garouden – also known as Fatal Fure – . This gives the game, in a way, its own identity, which is not bad. What is a fact is that it is clear from miles away that it didn’t have the budget to do anything more.

Every fight starts with a conversation

A very marked characteristic that has SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos is that before starting a duel, there is a conversation between the characters who will participate in it. Unlike the microanimations we see in The King of Fighters, here a kind of “lore” develops between the combatants.

The mechanics are very basic: 4 buttons divided into 2 kicks and 2 punches. Then, the fights are 1 vs 1 and with a ticking clock. Health is 2 bars per round, so when it’s an even duel between two players who don’t know how to fight, we’re likely to go until the last seconds of the duel.

With this game comes a new technique known as the Front Grand Step, which allows the player to cancel attacks with a forward dash. The player can execute this move while defending against an opponent’s attack, which drains a power bar.

The Groove bar in SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos can be filled 3 times while performing attacks, which encourages the player to be as offensive as possible. With 2 bars you can do special moves or cancel a guard or cancel a front guard. When the Groove is full and Maximun appears, a counter is activated and you can do all the aforementioned moves. When the player’s life is less than half, then you can execute what “Kino” fans call the fourth.

They are the ones that exist, not the ones we can have

SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos It comes with a total of 24 characters with 12 bosses, giving a total of 36. We have fighters from The King of Fighter 96, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, Metal Slug 2, Athena, Darkstalkers, Final Fight and more.

The variety of characters maintains the crossover feeling in a remarkable way. Maybe it’s not the same one that comes in Mark of the Millenium 2001, but it works perfectly so that the tradition of the duels between Ryu and Kyo Kusanagi, Ken against Terry Bogard or a very broken M. Bison against Goenitz, just to mention a few shots, is not lost.

The point here is that there is an effort to keep the duels to a minimal narrative, which helps players empathize with what is happening on screen. Not everything will be a direct fight, there will be a conversation between Ryu and Kim Kaphwan talking about what it is like to fight against a Tae Kwon Do master.

Maybe the plot of SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos not be the best. It happens that the traditional cataclysm occurred that altered all life on the planet. Then, in a purgatory, surviving fighters end up in a tournament that is organized by Athena and Red Arremer, who are avatars of the forces of Order and Chaos, who will promise the winner a wish.

One more way to preserve it

Bring back SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos to PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch was an idea that we don’t understand why it didn’t happen before. Now, being realistic, on many occasions this happens when the license is floating around in contracts and you don’t know who owns the rights, especially when it comes to digital distribution.

The game is very clear, when you run it it tells you that it is the original presentation, without any adjustments… In short, it is a ROM emulated in the best possible way. Yes, they put rollback netcode so that the online challenges can be set up and that already helps a lot, but, well, the game has to reach as many people as possible for the experience to be worthwhile.

There’s also a physical edition coming, which will serve to preserve the game in a more correct way, taking into account that you can do it from the PS4 as well as from the Nintendo Switch. Now, it’s normal to expect adjustments here and there, changes in the quality of life of the game, but the truth is that it doesn’t require it and the way it is, is how consumers remember it.

Now, with this it is worth clarifying that SNK vs Capcom
SVC Chaos It is, in every sense of the word, weak compared to the games that Capcom developed, but at least SNK did their job, unlike Bandai who just didn’t get to work on Tekken vs Street Fighter… Yes, it’s a very chipper comment, but it would have been better if they hadn’t promised it.

Should you buy SVC Chasos: SNK vs Capcom?

Fighting game fans are hopeless romantics who fondly remember special productions or those that came out many years ago. They may have been “weak” titles, but there we are. They sell them to us over and over again in compilation packages and well, we fall for it because we have chicken hearts. It must be said in no uncertain terms that we are very noble and we welcome with open arms SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos.

Now, the reality of the return of SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos The thing is that this is a title that is ultimately a retouched ROM with various display options and that keeps the mechanics intact. This does not mean that the problems that the game had at the time were corrected, quite the contrary. The good, the bad and the ugly are all there.

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We played SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos on PC with a code provided by an SNK representative in our region.