Growing up Neo Geo consoles were like a mythical beast, you heard about them but never seen one in person. I even had a school friend that had a cousin that had one but always forgot it when he came to visit. I always wanted one but when I was young they were way out of my parents and later on my price range but the Neo Geo itch has always been there and still is to this day. So to get a chance to play SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium on the Switch with the Neo Geo pocket colour experience was too much to pass up.
Cross-over to the Dark….stalkers
For a game that came out in the golden age of cross-over fighters, the ’90s and on a small handheld, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium has a lot to give and do. SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium features altogether 26 familiar characters from popular franchises on each side of the divide. Street Fighter and Darkstalkers taking up the Capcom fight, and King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown on the SNK side.
I am a big Street Fighter fan. It was the first beat’em up I ever played and Street Fighter II was the game that came with my SNES. I got it as a surprise from my family one Christmas, so I knew which side I was picking in this game. The great thing about fighting in the game is that the characters have most of their move sets including super and special moves. You also get to pick between three different fighting styles, Average is the standard fighting style, Counter is more for the defensive-minded player and Rush which is a fast attacking style. You will need to see which style suits your fighter and they will suit some more than others.
There are quite a few game modes. You can fight your friends on Versus mode which is 1v1, Tag and 3v3 and if you are playing handheld you both can play on the same screen which is hard to see at times but fun. You also have a short story mode, a training mode, a Tournament mode that like versus is 1v1, Tag and 3v3. There are also some mini-games in Olympics mode. This mode is fun just to take a break from the fighting, you pick a team and play mini-games such as time attacks and survivals which if you do well can unlock hidden characters and moves. The game really has more stuff on release than most “bigger” games still have.
Hadokan’t
Alas SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium like most isn’t perfect. I found the Neo Geo pocket screen really off-putting and too big, it was a nice concept but it took a lot away visually and as I said above playing versus on the Switch handheld it was difficult to see due to the split-screen being so small.
The gameplay itself is clunky at times but enjoyable. I think the fact that it is kind of an emulator hurts it as the joy-con reactions are probably better than the original pocket version. The story mode is also very short even though you could get good and bad endings for characters. It just needed to be more engaging. There is not much more wrong with the game really if you like retro handheld beat’em ups then this is a must for you and you can’t beat that price either for what you get.
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