Capcom Vs. SNK 2 is the fighting game for the hardcore. After more than ten years of Street Fighter 2 most people have already made their minds up about 2D fighting games. Love them or hate them, Capcom Vs. SNK 2 is the latest cross-over beat-me-up to emerge on the PlayStation 2. If fighting games do it for you, you cannot miss out on this masterpiece.

In the original Capcom Vs. SNK, the style of gameplay reverted to a purist form, similar to Super Turbo. The button layout also changed significantly, four buttons was a strange feeling for a Street Fighter. Medium attacks needed the joystick to be held forward, and that made buffering supers into normal attacks extremely awkward.

That was then, this is now. Capcom Vs. SNK 2 features six fighting grooves or styles and two customisable grooves. The grooves affect how your supers are built up, whether you can mid-air block, what recovery moves you can perform, and other various different attributes your character has. You can chose an Alpha 3 style, a Garou: Mark of the Wolves groove, or a Street Fighter 3 style, your choice. Six buttons are back, the SNK characters have more moves than ever.

The character line-up has swelled to 44 characters, an increase of more than ten characters. New to the fray is joke character Dan, SNK’s Joe Higashi, Kyosuke, Athena, and Samurai Spirits’ Haomuru.

The backgrounds are now rendered in 3D, admittedly nothing more than eye-candy, but still lovely to look at. 3D fighting games still cannot match the balance of the gameplay found in 2D fighters. Capcom has found the right balance between the characters and the priory, timing of the moves. With practice

Capcom Vs. SNK 2 has so much gameplay that it will take years to become a master at it. Learning the juggle, re-juggle combos, mastering the techniques, adapting your style to beat your opponents all take dedicated practice. Who can ever get tired of competitive two-player matches.?