Produced by: SNK
Genre: 2D Fighting
Players: Two, via link-up
No one ever thought it would happen. The two most prolific fighting game creators joining forces? Never.
*Dramatic pause*
Well, it has. When the SNK Vs CAPCOM "project" was announced, it turned a few heads. We all knew that we were in for something big, something special, something... spectacular. And, on the evidence of this the first stage of the "Vs" project, we were right.
The NeoGeo Pocket has, unsurprisingly, seen it's fair share of fighters already. King of fighters R1 (and R2), Fatal Fury 1st Contact, Samurai Spirits 1 and 2...but this comes as no real shock as console developer SNK are experts in this genre. The fact is that Match of the Millennium (MOTM) would need to be EXTRA special to make it stand out from the already large fighting game crowd. Within five minutes of picking up the machine you’ll realize that you were a fool to doubt that it would anything less than amazing.
First off - the graphics. They will blow you away. Any person who is still convinced that the Gameboy Color is the handheld of choice should take a look at MOTM. Everything is thickly coated with polish. The animation, the characters, the backgrounds, the intro screens...everything. Some of the backgrounds are almost up to Genesis standard. The only criticism you could level at the graphics is that the characters themselves are only three-color sprites. This is due to the limitations of the hardware and it does tend to make the sprites look a little out of place against the lush, color filled backdrops. It does not, however, affect the gameplay and the characters have stacks of animation frames to bring them to life.
The control, via the NeoGeo Pocket's wonderful "stick," is utter bliss. You're able to throw together some real mean combos and specials just like you used to on the home consoles and in the arcade. This great control method means the gameplay is fast, furious and most of all, fun. This is really like having an arcade machine in the palm of your hand. There have been sacrifices, of course - there has to be because the little NeoGeo only has two buttons (three if you count the "option" button, but that's a pain to reach), so the attack system had to be changed slightly. There are two attack strengths for both punch and kick (thus adopting the SNK four button system over Capcom's six-button setup). By tapping one of the buttons, you get a weak attack, and by holding it down, you get a strong attack. This may sound like a poor compromise but it works very well. (It must work, because SNK have used it in all of their handheld fighters so far). In terms of game modes, every fighting fan is catered for - there's a single mode (the standard one-on-one), Tag mode (the same used in Capcom's "Vs" series) and Team mode (the mode that King Of Fighters made famous). And there's a link-up mode for those of you that hunger for two-player combat, of course.
Now, for me, a great fighting game would have been enough, but remember, MOTM is EXTRA special. And this EXTRA part is the "Olympic" mode. This basically consists of several subgames and by getting "vs." points in these games you are able to unlock extra moves for the characters, but more on that in a minute. The subgames feature some of SNK and Capcom's more famous characters, such as Sir Arthur from the "Ghouls 'n' Ghosts" series, and Jubei from Samurai Spirits. Arthur's subgame, for example, is a simple platform affair. The coolest game is Felica's "Beat Mania" style music game - it almost has as much depth as Konami's famous series! Needless to say, all these games have enough gameplay to keep you going for weeks. As well as trying to beat your best score, you also have the added incentive of "unlocking" the extra moves. Most of these moves are ones you'll have seen before in past titles, but some are new and exclusive to MOTM.
To sum up - it’s worth buying a NeoGeo Pocket JUST for this game. It really is one of the best fighters I've ever played. I never thought that I'd say that about a handheld fighting game, but it's true. This title has all the depth of the arcade and console 2D fighters and then some. If you consider yourself a fighting game fan, then you owe it to yourself to play this game.
5 out of 5
