The classic arcade fighting game returns! The worlds of SNK and Capcom collide in SVC CHAOS SNK vs CAPCOM!
You’re probably too young to remember them or too old to forget, but a little over 20 years ago we gathered around large machines with huge screens known as arcades to challenge our friends in various fighting titles. From the classic Street Fighter II to multiple versions of The King of Fighters, or even more furious and modern installments like Marvel vs Capcom… But among so many options and crossover, one game caught the attention of a specific niche: SVC CHAOS: SNK vs CAPCOM.
With a more serious art style, far fewer on-screen explosions, and a gameplay style that was far from what we were seeing in Marvel vs Capcom but reminded us much more of KOF, SVC CHAOS came to give us a crossover between the characters we loved so much from SNK and those from Capcom, as well as adding some original characters to make the game much more eye-catching.
SVC CHAOS gameplay SNK vs CAPCOM
As I mentioned before, the gameplay in SVC Chaos: SNK vs CAPCOM is more complex than in other franchises, here the combo system is much more similar to The King of Fighters, with the possibility of applying “cuts” to the combos to start a new sequence of attacks and thus inflict a lot of damage, which although it is a mechanic that may seem complicated to master at first, it is just a matter of getting used to it.
On the other hand, while the stick movements for special attacks like the Hadouken remain the same, the timing of the moves needs to be much more precise or the result we expect might be somewhat different or simply not work at all.
But just because we don’t have bright colors and high-speed combos doesn’t mean we can’t perform flashy attacks. Being a game so focused on performing combos, it’s possible to fill the energy bar very quickly to launch super attacks, so the more damage we cause to our opponent, the easier it will be to finish off a sequence of blows with a super attack.
The special characters
One of the aspects that makes SVC CHAOS so attractive is its list of available characters. Although it mostly consists of classic characters from both companies such as Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Kyo, Iori, Kim, etc… some quite interesting ones are added that we have not seen again elsewhere.
Like for example the Martians from the Metal Slug game series, who although they are not so good at generating long chains of combos, do launch devastating attacks that cause a lot of damage.
The ZERO with the design from the Megaman ZERO game series also made his debut in this title, an evil version of Ken and one of my favorites without a doubt Firebrand from the Ghosts and Goblins series.
Although in the original game, you need to unlock all these extra characters, in SVC Chaos: SNK vs CAPCOM you can select them from the beginning and without doing anything, just hold down the R1 button (or its equivalent on other consoles) and position yourself over one of the characters in the central rows so that the avatar changes to the special character and you can play with your favorite.
The new SVC CHAOS SNK vs CAPCOM
Like all classic game ports, SVC CHAOS: SNK vs CAPCOM includes several filters that simulate the look of CRT monitor with scanlines and a couple more color aspects, as well as having different frames to fill in the excess spaces in the 16:9 aspect ratio.
In the gallery section, we can find illustrations of all the characters and some other scenarios, and we now have the possibility of playing online with more people.
Is it worth it?
Remembering the classics is always a good thing, and if you can get them legally in modern times, it’s even better. At the end of the day, SVC CHAOS: SNK vs CAPCOM serves to allow us to relive the times we spent in the arcades once again, and while the filters and skin adjustment could be better, they do their job of allowing us to enjoy this classic. The addition of online play and having all the characters unlocked from the start is appreciated by all of us who just want to play a few challenges with friends without having to invest so much time in the game to get the special characters.
Bottom line, SVC CHAOS SNK vs CAPCOM is worth your time whether you want to reminisce about the good old days of arcades or if you’ve never tried it and want to give a crossover game other than Marvel vs Capcom a chance.