I can play King of Fighters '94, Deadly Premonition, Grim Fandango, Stunt Race FX, Titan Quest, and Catan on my Switch, but not the Capcom vs. SNK 2 aka the greatest 2D fighter ever? EVER. No, this isn't a "Put it on the Switch thread" (though put it on the Switch), because you'd think there would be a PS4 version to satisfy us but nope, even the beefy boy is being ignored. Oh wait maybe it's on Steam... oh no... Xbox? You there, Phil? The last release of CvS2 was a PS2 emulation for PS3 in 2012 in Japan and 2013 in NA, which was criticized for input lag due to emulation.
Where is this game? Why can I play Street Fighter 1 on modern day consoles but not this? Is it because of contracts? Two company's IPs are involved so it is more complicated than just slapping an old game onto new hardware, but they can't work something out? ANYTHING?
If you've never played this game, let me break down it's greatness:
+Godlike roster
In crossover games, you want a big roster, and this game had over 40 fighters to choose from. And this is not just Street Fighter vs. King of Fighters either. There are a lot of interesting deep dives and obscure picks. Rival Schools, The Last Blade, Darkstalkers, Samurai Shodown, and Final Fight (which isn't even a fighting game) are all represented in some way. A samurai can fight a succubus, this can happen.
+Six games in one
Dude: So what does this play like?
Capcom: Yes
The game's defining feature is the groove system. This isn't just giving you a different super, it completely changes how you play. You are essentially picking what fighting game system you want to engage in. Do you want to use custom combos like SFA3? A rage meter like Samurai Shodown? Wanna parry and do your best Daigo impression? You can do it all and more. These grooves are not locked to characters either, you can play Chun Li as if she were in KoF 98. It's a ton of fun to mix and match styles to see which grooves suit which characters. How many do you think they put in? Two? Three? SIX.
+Unique Team Customization
Some people love team fighters, some people prefer the pure 1v1 experience. No matter which you want, CvS2 has features to suit you. The game has a ratio system of four points that you allot to your fighters. The more points a fighter has, the stronger they are. You can have a 2-2 tag, a 2-1-1 KoF style team, or hell just put four points into your main. If this is too confusing, you can just ignore it and not use any ratios at all! You do you.
+Some of the best character art ever
Fighting game characters have to look cool. If you're not cool, what are you doing? Capcom wasn't pulling any punches and got Kinu Nishimura AND Shinkiro to do character art for every character. WORLDS ARE COLLIDING. They are splashed all over the game, giving it an incredibly distinctive look. If you ignore everything I wrote and just want to spam CvS 2 art I don't blame you.
The game definitely has its critics. Some don't like the poor balance and clashing sprites. Fair criticisms for sure, but the game is incredibly fun if you just want to smack people around with cool moves and characters.
It never got a sequel, but SNK took a shot with SVC Chaos. That game got creamed in the reviews, but it still has a following. Many want CvS3, but you know they would just put a bunch of modern gameplay mechanics in it (ewwwwww). I would take a rerelease of CvS2 on current consoles/PC first. They don't need to add much to be honest, I'd be down for a prettied up version of the console ports. Keep color edit mode in.
One day...
