Well, when I first heard the news of SNK VS Capcom being in the works, the initial thought in my head was "It's either gonna suck, or not materialize at all." And for a while it seemed so, because quite frankly all we've been given to go on as far as the arcade versions is a couple of pictures that could have easily been doctored by anyone with mild Photoshop skills. But I was forgetting one key realm. The realm...of the pocket. (That's it...where's the number to the cliche police? -Ed.)

It's been a while since everybody's friendly neighborhood Otaku was really sucked into a portable game with such intensity that he was unable to put it down. I guess the closest thing in recent ages has been Pokemon, but I played that mainly out of addiction factor/boredom, not so much a burning passion for the game. And before that, I probably hadn't really been really entertained since Super Mario Land 2. Needless to say, my collection of to die for portable cartridges isn't exactly large; but, that was before I bought my NGPC...

The first thing I'll point out about SNK VS Capcom is the sheer wonder that it even exists--here we have two companies, who, if not for the existence of the other, would have monopolized the market for 2D games (In Japan anyway, where they don't play Mortal Kombat...) They, for all intents and purposes, should be bitter rivals. And for a while it seemed like it, what with the appearence of Dan Hibiki in Street Fighter Alpha, and his malicious mocking of SNK's Art of Fighting ("Yoyuu-chi!"). It was as if this would be another inter-company Dream Team that would be relegated to the imagination of fans, much like WCW vs. WWF, Sonic vs. Mario, and Marvel vs. DC (you see where this is going?)

Thus, you can imagine the gaming world's much-deserved enthusiasm at the announcement that we were going to get to see the ORIGINAL headbandeded bad boy, Ryu, layeth the smacketh down on that bishonen poser Kyo. But whats this? POCKET GAMES? Why the nerve! We are SERIOUS gamers! We demand our super-animated hyper-complex arcade machines! Wahhhhh!...

(Or so was the reaction I had.) Until I actually played the damn thing.

This game is, without a doubt, the most electrifying portable game in existence. But as I am wont to do, I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's play this review by the numbers...

Firstly, despite being a pocket game, let's look at the graphics. In screen shots, it doesnt look like much. Three color sprites. Big whoop. But you're sorely mistaken, as this game is one of the best animated handheld games I can remember, and probably has more animation in it than the SNES versions of Street Fighter 2! Maybe that's exaggeration...but it still looks good. The animation itself has more personality than I care to go to into detail explaining. All the characters have been superdeformed in order to fit the pocket sized machine they're on, but NONE of their mannerisms have been lost. Mini Mai retains her...bouncy...elements. Sakura still flashes her panties, despite the lack of appeal in doing so that is caused by her being in miniature form. Ryu is still stoic, Iori is still insanel, and Kyo is still a stupid poser. (Riisuke doesn't like Kyo in case you can't tell by now. -Ed.) If you're even remotely familiar with the characters, you won't have ANY trouble recognizing who's who. So all in all, I can safely say that this game has the best original portable graphics I've ever seen.

Gameplay is what this game has in spades. Despite the simplified mechanics, no one is seriously damaged in the gameplay department. You'll play all the characters like you've done so before. If you were an offensive beast from hell with Ken before, you won't have to alter your strategy for this round. Also, the game includes a KOF-style team mode as well as a Versus (Capcom Versus, that is) series style tag mode. And although it was kind of dissapointing not getting to see a huge set of double-team mega versus series style techniques, I guess it suits the game better anyway since the game, despite being simplified, is no VS game. So all in all the gameplay is not only juicy, but it's somewhat varied as well. Add to it eight hidden characters and several hidden moves that can be unlocked in "Olympic mode" and this game is second only to Soul Calibur in replay value.

So is there any dissapointments in this little hand held masterpiece? Ehh....somewhat in the sound department. Although the music is supremely superb, mainly because all the Capcom characters have their classic music back from the SF2 day (Heheheheh, Guile, EEEHEHEEHEHEHEHEH!!!), the characters dooesn't exactly have the same kick without the familiar voices. While I know this is a bit of a stretch for a pocket system, after hearing a digitized "Pi-ka-chu!" in Pokemon Yellow I was kinda hoping for more...and it's certainly not helped any by the classic SNK-style screwed up translations. You know the day when you hear Akuma go "Eww, creepy place!" a game isn't exactly being faithful to the original Japanese dialog.

So while the game is just short of perfect, it's still gob-smackingly amazing. Among all the other amazingly great Neo Geo Pocket Color games (i.e. Samurai Showdown 2, Metal Slug, Sonic Adventure, et al.); this is among one the titles that definitely warrants a purchase as its nothing short of impressive.

Go buy it. NOWWWWW. Or I'll hurt you.

· · · Reno