SNK Vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos (Neo Geo, 2003)

 

This is the much lesser-known SNK version of the mashup. That's right, SNK did this one instead of Capcom, so it's considerably stiffer and more difficult than the two previous games from Capcom.

I think Mai and Chun-Li might be about to kiss.

The full artwork shows a lot more, including a scantily-clad Athena fighting Firebrand. Neither of them are selectable, so this is curious.

Yeah, this one has the SNK artstyle. It's very different from Capcom. I remember Earthquake from the Samurai Shodown series. They turned Guile's hair into an aircraft carrier, maybe taking his military background too literally.

SNK vs Capcom, not to be confused with Capcom vs SNK.

Right off the bat, this is NOT Capcom vs SNK 3 like I expected it to be, given that it followed not long after the second game. No, this is an entirely different thing, and doesn't play nearly as well as the other two games did.

You can tell SNK made this one because the opening movie is basically shot from the POV of KOF Series Main Character And Generic Highschooler Kyo Kusanagi as he faces off with Ryu.

Also WTF did they do with Balrog in the border art (this is the Switch port)? He looks ridiculous. Mike Tyson should sue.

Kyo is the SNK Main Dude, and I maintain that he's generic AF and shouldn't have been their company frontman.

Terry Bogard is still more cool and iconic, but here he plays second-fiddle. Also there is NO YURI here. I repeat, NO YURI. Seems to be like SNK really short-changed that character every chance they got, though at least they included Mai in a lot of stuff.

On the Capcom side, we've got...pretty much entirely characters from Street Fighter II here, along with Andore from Final Fight (now named Hugo, I guess so Andre the Giant's estate wouldn't sue?)

Worth noting: The "Big Four" of each series, protagonist-wise, are at the top of each set. The main dude (Kyo/Ryu), the rival (Iori/Ken), the woman (Mai/Chun-Li), and the American (Terry/Guile). Then fifth on both sides are the big endboss of that side (Mr. Karate/Akuma) who you fight depending on which side you chose at the outset. After that it's a mix.

Here's someone I don't even recognize, Shiki. Needed to do some research to find out where this back-arching, dual-swords-wielding amazoness hails from.

Alright, looks like Shiki isn't actually in the KOF series (what a disappointment) and got very limited screentime; this might be all I ever see of her. She's been Ingrid-ed. In any case, she's from Samurai Shodown 64, an arcade game (not an N64 game, surprisingly) for the Neo Geo Hyper 64 arcade architecture.

Shiki is known for her distinctive snake tattoo on her back. Her and Shanoa from Order of Ecclesia should go bowling.

Balrog SOCKS HER IN THE FACE. He must have seen his wallpaper portrait in this port.

Alright, this game is difficult. Really difficult. Here's where I learned that SNK gave zero F's about making their arcade ladders actually, you know, beatable. Luckily this game does have cheats, like giving your opponents less health than your character. You can only activate one at a time, and the health one is probably the best bet. I basically had to do this to get anywhere.

I did, eventually, manage to defeat Balrog on the up-and-up, that's about it though. The rest of the SNK catalog isn't going to have these optional handicaps, so this might be it for me looking at those. Which is really unfortunate.

This game is full of weird dialogue. If you play as a female character, literally everybody comments on how you're female. "A woman? My goodness!"

Kinda odd how it's throwing the SF2 bosses at me up front like this.

Shiki has great animations (everyone does) but it doesn't feel like my moves are all that impactful. Maybe it's how little damage most of them do.

The best bet seems to be throws...if you can get close enough to land them.

Even with diminished enemy health, this game is still a workout and a half. And this is on EASY difficulty.

Next up is Bob Sagat, seen here flattening Shiki with fireballs.

Gonna see if other characters feel better to play as, or at least more impactful.

There are 3 specific "boss fights" in arcade mode, and rather than all being at the end, they're at the halfway point, the penultimate fight, and the end. These boss fights depend on who you chose at the beginning, so there's a Capcom trio and an SNK trio. I'm getting the SNK trio, starting with this polite Goenitz guy.

He spams lightning attacks that zap straight down from the top of the screen wherever you are. Now I know where the MK series got the idea for Rain's totally overpowered main attack.

As we marvel at Mai's lower half, this is a good time to mention how difficult it is to get good screenshots of this game. The visuals are constantly blurring when moves are being carried out.

Like so. I had to dash to try and get past the lightning bolts with this guy, very difficult fight.

This guy goes beyond calling out the female-ness of his opponent, and calls her a CACKLING HEN.

Next up is Mai (w/ firm haunches) vs M. Bison (w poofy dictator pants)

Bison's slide is better than Sub-Zero's slide, fight me.

Now there's something that would make bank: Mortal Kombat Vs Street Fighter. But which style of gameplay would it use? Who would make it into the game? Not real keen on the modern incarnations of MK/SF being in something like that either, it would have to be a retro styled game. Like SF2 vs MK2 with grooves for both, perhaps.

PSYCHO CRUSHER!

I find here that ducking attacks work particularly well against the CPU, especially Mai's ducking fierce punch (an elbow to the neussen that is far sexier than an elbow to the neussen has any right to be)

So much blurring.

SNK went a little overboard with Mai's hotness level.

Akuma has zero time or tolerance for any of Mai's goofyness.

I switch gears and bring out Terry. Let's see how these guys deal with a MAN with a firm pimp hand.

The penultimate boss is Iori, the rival of Kyo Kusanagi. This guy is weird, seems possessed, and stumbles around. He's got whatever Jill Valentine had in that one MVC game where she was stumbling around.

I change things up again and bring in Dhalsim for this one, since his reach might help me overcome the difficulty level.

...is Iori alright?

I know ladies are lining up to make out with Dhalsim, but don't. Just don't do it.

I bring back Shiki for the final boss, Mr. Karate. This guy is way above everything else in the game,  and defeats me over and over EVEN with the HP nerf.

He has a sick rising uppercut. Actually his moveset is very similar to Ryu's, which makes me wonder if he's supposed to be a knockoff of Ryu that they created for Art of Fighting or something. Some of the same developers as Street Fighter 1 and all.

He also has a huge, but short-range, Hadoken.

Yeah, Shiki didn't last long before I switched back to Terry, who seems to do a lot better against the CPU. His moves actually have impact. Mr. Karate has a counter to everything, though. Fairly certain the CPU is input-reading. If that's gonna be a thing throughout the SNK-verse...then yeah, I won't be doing much of it.

Finally, I discover the secret to getting past... wait... WTF is with Mr. Karate's nose? It's like a big phallus. His wife must be pretty thrilled.

Anyway, the secret to getting past Mr. Karate...is to turtle up, and as soon as he does an attack and has his guard down...

...PUNT 'EM IN THE NEUSSEN. Assuming he has one, and not just a regular nose down there.

And do this over and over.

I vary it up a little with comboing in Terry's awesome ground-wave. It's a pretty unique move in the pantheon of fighting game main characters because it isn't airborne. It's easier to dodge, and to balance it out it does a lot of damage if landed squarely.

The ending has Terry standing over Mr. Karate before getting THE QUICKENING.

Didn't do a Capcom side replay (barely got through this one) but if you go that route, the two last bosses are Ken and Akuma. I think the mid-boss is Dan, weirdly enough.

No, seriously, your character gets The Quickening.

THISH! ISH!!

THE QUICKENING!

"You are one with all things Highlanda!"

There's a secret final boss that you only get one shot at (which means no cheats can be activated for this). On the SNK side it's Athena, on the Capcom side it's Firebrand.

Whoa. Dude. Did the quickening kill Terry? Is Mr. Karate just that powerful, that anyone who gets his power just sort of explodes?

Athena then catches Terry looking at her boobs and freaks the fuck out like an anime character. She's the one wearing a borderline-nonexistent outfit. Maybe she should put on a goddamn shirt if she doesn't want him noticing them?

I used to think this was just goofy anime stuff, but nowadays it's also "tik-tokers filming themselves at gyms" stuff. "That guy over there glanced at me for a moment! Let's dox that sicko!"

Athena has an awesome super move where she mounts a magnificent golden lion and attacks with a sword.

Yeah, Athena is one of my favorite SNK characters, up there with Alice and Yuri. At least Athena gets a lot of airtime in SNK games compared to those two, who barely get any airtime in comparison. Shiki is pretty much a non-factor too. Athena seems to be in a ton of SNK games, though she's a kid in a lot of them (the early KOF's, which were well before this game). Maybe Athena is sort of SNK's unofficial mascot or something.

I go back to the well and use stiff ground kicks. Athena is tough, but nowhere near as tough as Mr. Karate. Terry has more reach than she does, and that's what wins me the fight.

Glad I managed to get that on the first try and definitively beat the game. That was a real workout.

So, thoughts on this? Well, it wasn't anywhere near as fun as Capcom Vs SNK 2, which doesn't bode well for me playing the SNK games in general. The artwork and animations were great, and it has a darker/more serious tone than Capcom's stuff.

Before I go, here's The Importance of Commas, With Toad!

Other Capcom Things

Other SNK Things