I bring a challenge: choose your favorite fighter from SNK and Capcom. It’s a tough pick, isn’t it? Well, this game brings a resolution to that debate in the best way possible by bringing together the most renowned fighters from both companies’ franchises.

On Capcom’s side, we have eighteen characters, including the entire Street Fighter 2 roster, along with additional ones like Sakura, Dan, and Evil Ryu from Street Fighter Alpha, as well as Morrigan from Darkstalkers. Meanwhile, SNK displays seventeen fighters; most of them come from The King of Fighters. Alongside with them are Raiden from Fatal Fury and Nakoruru from Samurai Shodown.

When it comes to the gameplay mechanics, this crossover uses the typical control scheme found in SNK fighting games: four buttons, two for punches and two for kicks, with high and low variations. However, as many of you may know, Capcom’s fighting titles usually feature a six-button configuration. As a result, their characters were adapted to the new scheme while retaining all their iconic special attacks and moves.

It’s worth noting that these gameplay changes also impact the game modes. For starter, the single-player mode offers one-on-one battles. However, there’s also a King of Fighters style mode available, where you can engage in team battles with a minimum of two characters and a maximum of four. Now, unlike other crossovers, fighters can’t be swapped during a match. Instead, they’ll be replaced in succession each time one of them is defeated.

Something interesting about the Arcade mode is that it includes a strength ratio or points system. When choosing the fighters, there are four slots available. Weaker characters occupy one slot; normal characters take up two, final bosses use three slots, while hidden characters fill all four. This makes our decisions something exciting: Should you pick four fighters with 1 point each? Or take a risk with a 4 points character?

On the other hand, the game also allows you to choose the Groove, which powers up special attacks. Capcom’s Groove comes from Street Fighter Alpha, with a three-level scale. Meanwhile, SNK’s Groove was taken from KOF 98; the Groove is a bar that can be filled manually or by taking hits.

Although the original arcade machine for this game was more powerful than the PS1, the truth is that the conversion for Sony’s console maintains a very good visual appearance, displaying fairly large and well-animated fighters on screen. Perhaps the only downside is the loading times that always appear when a fighter loses all their health; this is more noticeable in battles that use four characters teams.

In conclusion, I can only say that the combination of Capcom and SNK should have been a significant event in its time. However, it went somewhat unnoticed, perhaps due to the saturation of fighting game or because SNK was facing a challenging period in early 2000s. Nevertheless, the expertise of both companies is evident in the remarkable effort that was put into creating this excellent and enjoyable game.