SNK VS. CAPCOM SVC CHAOS Review (PS5) – While the dust of EVO 2024 was settling, Capcom and SNK announced the return of one of their landmark crossover titles for modern platforms. Setting the stage for Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui jumping to Street Fighter 6, this crossover feels like it comes at an appropriate time for both companies.
However, the pedigree of both fighting game giants doesn’t seem to rise to the surface here, with a cross-over that has the cast, but none of the character or personality that makes each individual series shine.
There’s a slight flatness to the experience on offer here that falls below the standard of other modern re-releases and even those in the fighting game scene.
There’s fun to be had here for veteran players, but those veterans are the target audience here.
SNK VS. CAPCOM SVC CHAOS Review (PS5) – A Star-Studded Crossover Without the Shine
Clash of the Titans
In the time when SNK characters are making their debut in Capcom’s headline fighting series, I was excited to see the roots and origins of this crossover. Both companies are well known for their eclectic and memorable casts that populate their games and seeing the two come together is an exciting prospect.
Unfortunately, I ended up feeling that the concept itself is broadly underused and lacks the vitality that a fighting game should have.
Stages are bland and generally lack the personality to hold my attention. Forests, ancient gardens and crumbling castles are serviceable if forgettable backgrounds that don’t leap out to me in the heat of battle. While you could argue that they also don’t distract from the actual combat, there’s a big difference between not being distracting and being downright boring.
The setup itself for these two properties crossing over is similarly quite thin, without much connective tissue bringing the two into a cohesive whole.
While the story is never the focus of a fighting game, especially from the era where SVC Chaos was originally released, I found myself trying to dig for just a little bit more in terms of interaction.
There are entertaining exchanges between characters at the beginning of each match – and at the end of a match in story mode – and these moments help to give some life to the characters that you choose, with every combination having a unique set of lines. Story mode is a simple arcade equivalent mode where you pick a character and follow their route through a set of battles, before reaching an ending specific to them.
While these stories are relatively flimsy, they do enough to add some context to the crossover and have some admittedly entertaining conclusions that will appeal to longtime fans.
Into the Arena
Combat itself is largely based on SNK’s King of Fighters series, with the Street Fighter cast being adapted to fit into that mold. While it might take some getting used to, the core of each character remains largely unchanged in the broadest of senses. You’ll still be throwing hadokens and charging somersault kicks as you know. SNK characters are largely as you remember them.
This re-release includes secret characters that were initially unavailable in the original game. For players looking to immediately jump into the fight and go online, this decision is a welcome one that lets you get back to grips with your favourites without having to waste time.
The only odd thing is that these characters are hidden behind essentially a secret code.
If you hold L1 on the character select screen, you can access characters that aren’t on the main menu. Clearly, a relic of times gone past where cheat codes and secret characters were a staple of video game culture, I found it confusing that the character select screen wasn’t changed to just include the “secret” characters from the outset.
Once you know that they’re there, it’s a simple button press away. But it feels slightly vestigial in the same climate as modern fighters.
Each of the 38 playable characters animates in a very distinct way and manages to stay close to their source material while still coming together as a cohesive whole. Movements are expressive and end up being fairly impressive in some cases, especially when looking at Supers and Exceeds.
With this impressive roster, there is also an impressive amount of variety to cater towards a myriad of different play styles. Zero from Mega Man Zero has an exciting combination of swift sword strikes and summonable help, whereas the Mars People from Metal Slug is a bizarre zoner type of character that makes use of projectiles to get the job done.
Between these two examples and the remainder of the cast, there are a lot of archetypes to get stuck into and experiment with. Mechanics like Exceed are unique to this game and are welcome wrinkles to consider in the heat of the moment.
Rollback net-code has been included in this version of the game and does a great job at providing a smooth experience for online play. Performance is always the primary concern when it comes to online fighting games and the introduction of rollback makes for as smooth as an experience as you could want.
Back to the Lab
If there’s any genre that has benefited from advancements in technology and player choice, it’s fighting games Recent entries in landmark fighting game series boast extensive training rooms to let you hone your skills and develop a game plan in a relatively safe setting. Disappointingly – if not slightly expected – the training tools on offer here are relatively bare-bones in comparison to newer titles.
Small additions offer meaningful improvements – like a hit-box viewer for precise ideas of ranges and how moves can string together – but there aren’t enough here to truly revolutionise and modernise how players can access this title without going outside of the game. While community-driven materials have been (and will always be) a core pillar of the fighting game community at large, it’s sad that some basic introductory elements were included with this title.
There are a lot of options to explore in terms of the characters that you choose and I would have liked to have seen some attempt at introducing these characters to new players.
Other additions to the game include a gallery to showcase the extremely stylised artwork of the cast, which is a nice inclusion for those who are interested in the history of this crossover title.
It’s telling that the reveal of SNK VS. Capcom: SVC CHAOS was met with reactions of excitement and anticipation on the basis of the old games now having a chance at returning.
After playing this game, I can see why people may gravitate towards the other crossover games. While SVC CHAOS certainly has mechanical depth and a strong potential for fun, I can’t help but feel like it fails to deliver the impact that either Capcom or SNK are known for. For newcomers, this game isn’t.
SNK vs. Capcom: SVC CHAOS is now available on PS5 and PS4.
Review code generously provided by the publisher.