SNK vs. Capcom, or alternately Capcom vs. SNK, is a series of crossover video games by either Capcom or SNK featuring characters that appear in games created by either company. Most of these are fighting games, and take on a similar format to Capcom's own Marvel vs. Capcom series, in which the players create teams of fighters and have them fight each other. Games in this series either contain SNK vs. Capcom or Capcom vs. SNK in their titles, with the first company named denoting the company behind the game's development.

Reception to the series has been varied; the Capcom-developed titles were the most positively-received, while the SNK-developed installments received more mixed reviews.

History

The supposed origin behind this series was an issue of Arcadia magazine in which there were articles covering both The King of Fighters '98 and Street Fighter Alpha 3, both of which were released at around the same time. Readers had misread the cover, which said KOF vs. SF, to mean that there was a fighting game that would pit characters from Street Fighter and The King of Fighters. Because of this uproar, Capcom and SNK supposedly signed a deal that would allow them to produce only two fighting games concerning both franchises in 1999 (the Card Fighters series (see below) were not fighting games and therefore were exempt from the rule). It is highly suggested that SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos was only made in order to fulfill the contract obligations that SNK made prior to the company filing bankruptcy and their eventual closing in 2000. Also, if one company was the main creator of one game, the distributing company would gain the profits and not the company that licensed the characters for use (although SNK gave the rights to use the SNK characters to Capcom for the first Capcom vs. SNK game, SNK did not profit from the game, which did not help their financial problems).

While no new SNK vs. Capcom titles have been released since Card Fighters DS, characters from both companies have appeared together in a handful of other titles, including Bandai Namco's Tekken 7, Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Cygames' Granblue Fantasy, and Netmarble/SNK's The King of Fighters All Star.

SNK-produced games

• SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium – A portable fighting game developed by Dimps and released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The game features three different playing rules to choose from (Single Battle, Tag Match, and Team Battle). The game also features an "Olympic Mode" with themed minigames.
• SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash – Also released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, a digital collectible card game featuring trading card based on SNK's and Capcom's properties. Two versions were produced; the SNK Supporter's Version and the Capcom Supporter's Version.
• SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition – The sequel to Card Fighters Clash, released on the Neo Geo Pocket Color in Japan and Asia only. Includes cards based on Capcom vs. SNK 2.
• SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos – Released for the Neo Geo (both arcade and home versions) and ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. A one-on-one fighting game featuring 36 characters.
• SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS – A Card Fighters Clash sequel released for the Nintendo DS.^[8]

Capcom-produced games

• Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 – Released for Sega's NAOMI arcade hardware in 2000 and ported to the Dreamcast during the same year, the original Capcom vs. SNK features 28 characters (evenly divided between Capcom and SNK properties), two selectable fighting styles or "grooves" (based on the gameplay systems featured in The King of Fighters and Street Fighter Alpha series) and a ratio-based character selection system that determines the number of characters in a player's team based on their strength.
  • An updated version titled Capcom vs. SNK Pro, released for the arcades and Dreamcast in Japan and ported to the PlayStation in 2001, which adds Dan Hibiki and Joe Higashi to the character roster (they originally appeared only in the ending sequence of the original game). The Dreamcast version of the game also discards the shop option to earn extra characters and colors, having all of them available by default.
• Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 – Titled Capcom vs. SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001 in Japan. Released for the NAOMI hardware in 2001 and ported to the Dreamcast (in Japan only) and PlayStation 2 during the same year. The game expands on the "Groove" system from the previous game by featuring six different fighting styles or "Grooves" and adds twelve new characters in addition to the ones featured in Capcom vs. SNK Pro.
  • The Nintendo GameCube and Xbox versions were released under the title of Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO. According to the Japanese official website for the GameCube version, EO stands for Easy Operation, because of a new feature that allows the player to assign special techniques to the right analog stick (C Stick for the GameCube version).

Characters

List of characters

Character	Side	SNK-developed		Capcom-developed
		MotM	Chaos	CvS	CvS2
Akari Ichijou	SNK	Yes	No	No	No
Akuma	Capcom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Athena Asamiya	SNK	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Baby Bonnie Hood	Capcom	Yes	No	No	No
Balrog	Capcom	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Benimaru Nikaido	SNK	No	No	Yes	Yes
Blanka	Capcom	No	No	Yes	Yes
Cammy	Capcom	No	No	Yes	Yes
Chang Koehan	SNK	No	No	No	Yes
Choi Bounge	SNK	No	Yes	No	Assist[lower-alpha 1]
Chun-Li	Capcom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dan	Capcom	Yes	Yes	Pro	Yes
Demitri Maximoff	Capcom	No	Yes	No	No
Dhalsim	Capcom	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
E. Honda	Capcom	No	No	Yes	Yes
Eagle	Capcom	No	No	No	Yes
Earthquake	SNK	No	Yes	No	No
Evil Ryu	Capcom	Yes	No	Yes	Home
Felicia	Capcom	Yes	No	No	No
Geese Howard	SNK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Genjuro Kibagami	SNK	No	Yes	No	No
God Rugal	SNK	No	No	No	Yes
Goenitz	SNK	No	Yes	No	No
Guile	Capcom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Haohmaru	SNK	Yes	No	No	Yes
Hibiki Takane	SNK	No	No	No	Yes
Honki ni Natta Mr. Karate	SNK	No	Yes	No	No
Hugo	Capcom	No	Yes	No	No
Iori Yagami	SNK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Joe Higashi	SNK	No	No	Pro	Yes
Kasumi Todoh	SNK	No	Yes	No	No
Ken	Capcom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Kim Kaphwan	SNK	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
King	SNK	No	No	Yes	Yes
Kyo Kusanagi	SNK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Kyosuke Kagami	Capcom	No	No	No	Yes
Leona Heidern	SNK	Yes	No	No	No
M. Bison	Capcom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mai Shiranui	SNK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Maki	Capcom	No	No	No	Yes
Mars People	SNK	No	Yes	No	No
Morrigan Aensland	Capcom	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Mr. Karate	SNK	No	Yes	No	No
Nakoruru	SNK	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Raiden	SNK	No	No	Yes	Yes
Red Arremer	Capcom	No	Yes	No	No
Rock Howard	SNK	No	No	No	Yes
Rolento	Capcom	No	No	No	Yes
Rugal Bernstein	SNK	No	No	Yes	Yes
Ryo Sakazaki	SNK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ryu	Capcom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ryuhaku Todoh	SNK	No	No	No	Yes
Ryuji Yamazaki	SNK	No	No	Yes	Yes
Sagat	Capcom	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sakura	Capcom	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Shiki	SNK	No	Yes	No	No
Shin Akuma	Capcom	No	Yes	No	Yes
Terry Bogard	SNK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tessa	Capcom	No	Yes	No	No
Vega	Capcom	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Vice	SNK	No	No	Yes	Yes
Violent Ken	Capcom	No	Yes	No	No
Wild Iori	SNK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Home
Yun	Capcom	No	No	No	Yes
Yuri Sakazaki	SNK	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Zangief	Capcom	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Zero	Capcom	No	Yes	No	No
Total		22	36	35	48

Reception

Card Fighters DS and SVC Chaos had a polarized, mixed reception, with a Metacritic score of 48%^[9] and 57% respectively.^[10] The two Capcom-developed games and Match of the Millennium have fared better, with Capcom vs. SNK 2 achieving a Metacritic score of 81%.^[11]

In 2012, Complex ranked Capcom vs. SNK at number 38 on the list of the best video game franchises.^[12]

References