Rob Lake reviews SNK VS CAPCOM: The Match of the Millennium on Nintendo Switch...
It's finally here, arguably one of the best crossover titles of the last 21-years has finally made its way to a modern console. Yes, SNK Vs Capcom: The Match of the Millennium has been ported to the Nintendo Switch!
Every character also has a rival, whom they will fight during the fourth stage. The last two stages have the player fighting the tag team of Geese and Bison, then, depending on what the side opposite to the player character's is and if the player's rival had been defeated beforehand, Orochi Iori or Evil Ryu. Only by reaching and clearing this final stage will the player's leading character's ending play; otherwise, a bad ending will be triggered.
Much of Match of the Millennium keeps the traditions seen with the other NeoGeo Pocket Colour range. The game shares its visuals and gameplay of both Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury: First Contact. Due to this, it means that the characters are the chibi-inspired versions of their normal selves. Its a staple design that SNK utilised throughout the NeoGeo Pocket Colour era, and to be fair, it looks incredibly good, especially when you consider that Match of the Millennium is a fighter that's been "squeezed" into the pocket format.
The main difference between Match of the Millennium and its NeoGeo Pocket Colour predecessors is that it looks better. If you've played either Samurai Shodown or Fatal Fury: First Contact, you'll see that the characters are slightly larger and more detailed. This is more noticeable with Mei as she "jiggles" so to speak. Both sets of characters also fall into the same red/blue on white, that's very reminiscent of both SamSho and First Contact. However, both the arenas and the cutscenes are incredibly details and awash with colour. There's a few familiar scenes such as Ryu's rooftop stage, and Morrigan's lair, which looks fantastic and instantly recognisable.
The soundtrack is also fantastic. There's a great variety of both SNK and Capcom themes, and yes, they're instantly recognisable. The Geese/Bison battle is particularly interesting as depending on who's out first decides on whose theme is playing. Its incredibly well done and sounds fantastic on the Switch.
The game also features a wealth of characters from both companies with more than a few to unlock. The unlocking of characters is a bit hit and miss as you have to clear a grid of tiles to unlock the randomly selected character. It's random so you're never guaranteed to unlock who you want straight away. This also ties into what difficulty you play, as the higher difficulty rewards more tiles taken from the grid. Its also a clever way to unlock the extra characters as the more you put into the game, the more it gives back. At the time of writing, I've managed to unlock one character which happened to be B.B. Hood...I wanted Geese!
When it comes to fights they're a mix of one-on-one, team, tag and handicap. The storyline for every character features a handicap match which sees you against a group of three, and then both Geese Howard and M.Bison. Also depending on your chosen character depends on which one of Evil Ryu or Orochi Iori. Its a nice touch but the story feels lacklustre compared to everything else. It's your traditional SNK/Capcom story of creating the ultimate fighter based on your character's success.
There's also an Olympic mode which sees you compete in a variety of mini-games. These are quite fun and serve to break up the constant fighting of the main game. These mini-games are also given the SNK/Capcom treatment as you can go up against the Metal Slug aliens and even treasure hunting in Ghost 'N Goblins. My ultimate favourite was the 1-hit KO Survival which consists of 100 rounds of 1-hit KO bouts (My record is 38!).
Controls also follow the staple NeoGeo Pocket Colour format of light and heavy attacks being touch-sensitive. In these modern times this way of controls sounds almost arcane, but considering the Pocket Colour only had two buttons, it works exceptionally well. For newcomers it can feel a little cumbersome, to begin with, but within a few fights, you'll be hitting fireballs and cracking knuckles like a pro.
In closing, I enjoyed my time with SNK Vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium. It has everything a fighter should have, tight controls, plenty of fighters and tonnes of replayability. Fans of either King of Fighters or Street Fighter will lap up everything that this pint-sized fighter has to offer. With SNK showing no signs of slowing down when it comes to porting their back catalogue to the Switch, here's hoping we get SvC: Chaos next.
Rating 9/10
A review copy was kindly provided for this review
SNK Vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium is available now on Nintendo Switch (and the NeoGeo Pocket Colour) and can be purchased on the Nintendo eShop here.
Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev
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