Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
System:
Playstation 2
Publisher & Developer: Capcom
Released: 2001
Genre:Fighting (2D)
Capabilities: Dual Shock 2 Analog & Feedback Compatible,
Memory Card Compatible
Review Written: February 14, 2002
The Game
In the sequel to the original game, Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, we experience a console switch from the Dreamcast to the Playstation 2, mostly in particular to Sega stopping production, and killing off the Dreamcast. Capcom vs. SNK 2 promises new characters, stages, and much more. Will it be as successful as the first game? Let’s get onto the review and find out.
The Story
The game’s main story plays out as a televised tournament. With some reporter keeping tabs on who’s who in the tournament. Otherwise than Capcom going up against SNK, there really isn’t much of a story until you get to the final bosses, where you get several big surprises.
Graphics
C’mon this is a Capcom 2D fighter, you should know what the graphics should be like. Same old sprites for most of the characters, although they all look pretty much as good as the sprites can get, they have been showing there age for the past several years and look very dated. However, a lot of the fighters special attacks are computer animated, and look great. The backgrounds are a bit of a mixed bag, we get some old, rehashed stages that don’t look that good altogether, but we also get several new stages that are computer animated, like E. Honda’s new stage looks just amazing. The menu’s got a whole new overhaul, and they are a hell of a lot easier on the eyes than the last game. Same goes with the character select screen. The original had the worst character select screen I’ve ever seen, but this one makes up for it by a long shot. And finally, one thing I’ve always enjoyed about Capcom games that makes it way into this game is the fast loading times.
Sound
Each character has their own array of voice samples they yell out and sound effects that occur for all the moves they do. All of them are intact and sound exactly the way we heard them from the latest Street Fighter or King of Fighters game we played. The background music is all right, but nothing to special to marvel over. The announcer gets annoying right away, after every fight he gives a little spiel with huge pauses between sentences. He does a couple of cool things though, like announces random bits of commentary during bouts.
Game play
All the kick and punch buttons that have appeared in the past Capcom and SNK games are the same here, and are completely customizable to your choosing. In the previous game, you could only choose between the Capcom or SNK groove (way of powering up your combo meter), but now there are a total of six grooves to choose from, with three from each realm (C, A, P, and S, N, K). Once you built your power meter up a level, you can perform a hyper combo, which is much powerful than your standard attack.
The game has several modes of play available. Practice is the basic mode where you just pick a character and an opponent and you have an unlimited amount of time to practice all your moves. Arcade mode is the main story mode for the game. Pick from doing one-on-one, three-on-three, or three-on-three ratio matches where certain fighters of the trio have handicaps to their advantage. In Arcade mode, you work your way up the ladder battling several regular opponents, then facing the final two bosses. The other modes available to you are Game Replay mode where you save recordings of previous bouts to view at later dates, and Color Edit mode where you can edit the appearance of the cast of characters.
Replay Value
Too bad Capcom ditched the Secret Shop it used in the last game, so we actually have to beat the game to unlock all the characters and stages. Like all Capcom fighters, the game is two player so a friend can join in. There is a cool color edit mode so you can give any character a look to your pleasing. Also, the game replay mode comes in handy so if you want to review any of your old matches to learn from mistakes.
In Brief
+: Over 40 characters, Better character select menus, Fast loading times, Now six grooves
-: Seems like Capcom will never ditch the sprites, Announcer gets annoying
The Final Ratings Rundown
Graphics: 7.5
Sound: 8.3
Game play: 8.8
Replay Value: 7.9
Overall: 8.1
Rounded to fit GameFAQs Score: 8
Comments
Capcom vs. SNK 2 is a very good fighter, it’s just sad that Capcom won’t ditch those damn sprites! The game is very fun to play, but I beat it on the toughest difficulty in just over an hour. For 2D fighting fans, make sure to pick this one up, otherwise make sure to rent first.