SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium

Genre: Fighting

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the NEOGEO Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 bundle, along with Big Tournament Golf, Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999, Fatal Fury First Contact, King of Fighters R-2, Metal Slug 1st Mission, Metal Slug 2nd Mission, Samurai Shodown! 2, SNK Gals’ Fighters, and The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny)

SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium is a Fighting Game featuring an all-star roster of characters from the two named companies’ Fighting Games. I should note that multiple games bear a similar title to this one, along with similar but different content and gameplay, so to be more specific, this is the game that was first released on the NEOGEO Pocket Color in 1999 and was brought to Nintendo Switch in 2021. Er… and also don’t confuse it with SNK Vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash, which was also released on NEOGEO Pocket Color and is now available on Nintendo Switch – that game plays very differently from this one.

Anyway, moving on… this release of the game includes display settings, a selection of borders, zoom controls, a rewind function, and a copy of the original game’s manual, but there are no significant enhancements to the game itself (unless you count the addition of same-screen multiplayer).

I should note before going on that a lot of my thoughts of the NEOGEO Pocket Color Fighting Games are similar, and as such I’m copy-pasting much of what I say about them, and changing things where applicable.

Unfortunately, due to the hardware limitations of the NEOGEO Pocket Color, this game is highly dated in multiple ways. Naturally, the primitive chiptune sound and limited 2D pixel art graphics with chibi-esque versions of the series’ characters are a part of this, but more frustrating is the slow reaction of your character to your button inputs. At the very least, this game’s roster of 26 playable characters (including unlockable characters) is pretty decent, unlike many other Fighting games on the NEOGEO Pocket Color.

Given how old SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium is, and the limitations of its original hardware, one could almost forgive this game’s limitations, but its $8 price tag puts it in line with games in the ACA NEOGEO series, including other SNK Fighting games that play better and look better, though sadly none of the games released thus far can match this game’s all-star roster of characters, and sadly as of this writing we still don’t have Nintendo Switch ports of any of the other excellent SNK/Capcom crossover Fighting games. Even so, I still think you’re better playing one of the numerous other great Fighting games by either SNK or Capcom that are available on the Nintendo Switch, and we can all hope to see one of the other said crossover Fighting games reach the Nintendo Switch eventually…

tl;dr – SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium is a Fighting Game featuring an all-star roster of characters from the two named companies, originally released on the NEOGEO Pocket Color. Unfortunately, the limitations of that hardware really hobbles this game when it’s compared to other games in the genre, including the ACA NEOGEO games you can get on the Nintendo Switch for the same price. Unfortunately, as of this writing none of those games feature this great selection of characters, so if you want to see Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui face off against Ryu and Chun Li, this is currently your only option.

Grade: C

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