While SNK had control over the brilliant pocket version of the game, Capcom took the reigns to create the arcade/home title; and it shows. The 3-D backgrounds present in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 were passed over instead for a beautiful collection of 2-D hand drawn stages. The fact that they are 2-D takes nothing away from these stages due to the dedication that was obviously put into them. You fight everywhere from an arcade entrance, where the Capcom vs. SNK machine is being ignored, to an under construction dojo that falls apart with every fireball, dragon punch, and throw. My personal favorite happens to be a dark alleyway in the ghetto where your matching shadows appear on the walls behind you. Plenty of small touches like lens flare, parallax scrolling, and the orange glow a character receives near fire gives this title major graphical appeal.

Unlike the backgrounds, however, not all of the characters received the brush up treatment they deserved. All of the SNK characters received a complete overhaul, right down to the last pixel. While they shed their realistic look for a more cartoon-like Capcom style, characters such as Iori and King have never looked better. A new style and plenty of animation gives some of these dated SNK characters new life. Capcom on the other hand only touched up choice characters, adding mostly to their favorites, Ryu and Ken. They seemed to almost completely ignore Sakura and Cammy who were almost total sprite rips from their previous CPS2 titles. The only noticeable changes were where they added a few frames of animation to a couple of choice attacks. This is just another one of Capcom's design choices that confuses and frustrates me at the same time. Nonetheless, the graphics still look crisp and even passed the test on a large monitor. The backgrounds remained crisp while the characters became only slightly pixelated, whereas titles such as Street Fighter III and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 started to look chunky in comparison. Even with the flaws the game still comes across as nothing less than stunning.

Aesthetics aside, gameplay is where the heart of any fighter should be. The only way to describe the gameplay in Capcom vs. SNK is a mixed bag. To start off, you must select your groove - Capcom or SNK. Unfortunately, your groove does not effect how your character handles. Instead, it only selects the style of super your character can perform. Capcom groove allows you to use the 3 level super meter from the Street Fighter Alpha series whereas the SNK groove allows you to charge up your super by holding down the two fierce buttons. Another effect of the SNK mode is if your power becomes low you are allowed unlimited supers. In this state you can also power up your super meter and perform an even deadlier desperation attack. No matter which groove you select though, you are allowed to perform the technical rolls used in the King of Fighter series to avoid projectiles and any other attack your opponent decides to unleash.

Next, you must select your characters from a three-tier system. Each fighter is assigned a number of points based off of their power level. For example, bosses like Rugal and Vega (M. Bison in the US) are a three while the less powerful characters like Benimaru and Sakura are given a one-point ranking. Which means you could end up with one boss and one weak character, two middle characters like Iori and Kyo, or you could just play 4 weak characters. Your dream team will depend on your style or favorite characters. This system is unique and adds a lot of balance to the game.

As for the fights themselves, this is where we really enter the "mixed bag" area. Ryu and Ken are as powerful as ever and were given all of their moves (save a few supers) they have ever had in any previous Street Fighter title. Then you look at the SNK side of things and notice that many of their characters were toned down for no other reason than to make them one-point characters. Benimaru is missing two of his special attacks and has had one of his move commands changed for no obvious reason. In fact, King's surprise rose has been made almost useless while her trap shot command was reversed. I have to admit that the game heavily caters to Capcom players and leaves many of the SNK fans in the dark. For Capcom players you can just pick up the controller and feel right at home while SNK players will have to get used to the modified Street Fighter Alpha engine along with the new commands for characters whose move lists had never changed before now. This is the one point in the game that frustrated me the most. It seemed completely arbitrary as to who kept what move and which command now performed another. Capcom took a lot of liberties with this title and I'm still not sure why. It's a great title but I have to wonder why Capcom switched things around like they did. There are additional EX characters you can unlock but their move list adjustments seem to be just as random. Most of the EX chracters only got worse instead of improving. As for the rest, the game runs at a decent speed. It's much faster than Street Fighter Alpha 3 but nowhere near the velocity of the Vs. series. Moves are easy to pull off, and in most of the SNK characters cases, easier to pull off than ever. SNK's King of Fighters series has always been notorious for its demand of precision and it's a nice change to easily pull off some of the specials that had previously escaped you.

Keeping tradition with Capcom games nowadays, Capcom vs. SNK is loaded with goodies. Besides the training mode and regular game options, you now have a color edit mode where you can change the color of your favorite fighter's clothes, hair, and skin by adjusting RGB values. Then you can save them to your VMU and bring your edit character wherever you go. There is also an option to link up with the Neo Geo Pocket and exchange earned points from the Pocket's Olympic mode to exchange for the more than 70 secret items. Special items like alternate costumes can be had for a measly 300 points while extra stages and characters can run you from 3000 to as much as 7000 points! Considering you only get around 300 points from beating the game you might be better off tooling around the training mode where you can receive 999 points for an hours worth of practice. Finally for those of you who don't like the point system there is an un-lockable option to play up to 4 characters of any power.

Lastly, I have to touch on the game's music. Capcom vs. SNK has music that was obviously mixed by professional DJs. It shines through in its beats and recognizable samples. You'll also find some of the stages with lyrics and one occurrence that will most likely not find its way to the states - one stage has the singer using the word "fu**ing." I admit to loving the jazz in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, tapping to the beats in Street Fighter III: Third Strike, and now, jamming with the beat grooves in Capcom vs. SNK. It may not beat out Jet Set Radio for best music but for a fighting game it has some of the best tunes ever. All I need now is my own special sampler titled "Tunes to Get Hit in the Head By."

I've been through the games countless times now and for all of its ups and downs it is still a solid title. Capcom certainly spoiled us with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 when it comes to the number of characters and just plain fun. Capcom vs. SNK may not have as an impressive roster or flashy supers but it does bring together the two worlds we thought would never collide. Capcom may have watered some of your SNK characters down but it also means they improved others. The point system may limit your arcade dream team, but it keeps the gameplay balanced. Capcom obviously made some seemingly odd design choices but all together you have a great fighter that will be in your Dreamcast for months to come. Let's just keep our fingers crossed for a new and improved Capcom vs. SNK 2.