SNK VS Capcom: Card Fighters DS

August 4, 2013 /

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The warning signs were all there, but I ignored them all. I’ll be completely honest, even when I saw the screenshots, I had a sinking feeling, so I didn’t expect this game to be as great of a classic as the original, but I thought it would have some semblance to the original (or its slightly modified Japan-only sequel). The latter was true, but, well… that’s the only source material from any earlier titles, and they tore that from the shared traits of its classic predecessor. Another hint came to me from the boxart. Look at the back – no screenshots whatsoever. That alone made my heart sink. I mean, screenshots are an expected part of any game box, be it for a console or portable game. Of course, from the beginning, I tried not to compare Card Fighters DS to its classic NGPC predecessor (mainly because I knew no game could’ve compared to it, due to my nostalgic memories of the original), but even without those lowered expectations, I can safely say SNK Playmore screwed up…big time.

Let’s begin with the backstory. As far as I can tell, this is a direct sequel to Gekitotsu! Card Fighters 2: Expand Edition, CFC’s Japan-only sequel. Taiki, Rico and Kido (or Kid, as he was called in CFC) all return as major characters, as does the Card Fighting Academy. Basically, Taiki, Rico and their friend, Kaito, have all been chosen to participate in the Card Tower tournament, a prestigious Card Fighting tournament. However, as the tournament begins, a white flash fills the main tournament hall, and all of the participants (save for Taiki, Rico, Kaito and Kido) have been abducted by MAX, a supercomputer programmed to control Card Tower, along with Kaito’s father and MAX’s creator, Makito. As it turns out, MAX has brainwashed all of the participants in order to use Card Battling to take over the world. (I’m sorry, I need to take a break here, I mean, I complained about Card Fighters 2’s storyline, but this is ten times worse.) As Kaito leaves to deal with this threat alone, Taiki, assisted by Rico (who provided tutorials) and Kido (card shop), goes on to stop MAX and save the brainwashed Card Fighters. I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting a decent plot with CFDS, in fact, I think the game would’ve been perfect with minimal plot (like CFC1), but what can you do?

Let’s start with the overworld navigation, shall we? CFC1 had a navigation that you’d generally see in an RPG: free movement around a large environment with the ability to interact with various characters by walking up to their in-world avatars, and using a map screen to move from area to area. CFC2 utilized the NGPC’s graphic capabilities far more vividly than its predecessor, opting for a more simplistic menu system which allowed you to choose your location and people to interact with through a simple list. Not as good as CFC1’s, but still just fine. CFDS, on the other hand, offers a weird hybrid. Sure, you can see the entire area, but instead of moving freely with the D-Pad, you use it (or the touch screen) to select who or what you interact with, be it an opponent, Kido, or the elevators that take you to a different level of Card Tower. I can’t really say I see the point of this, and it’s more annoying than CFC2’s method (which opts for green orbs, as opposed to descriptive text options), but hey, the battle system’s bound to be good, right?

WRONG.

Unfortunately, the clean, fast-paced engine found in CFC1 (and only slightly slowed down in GCF2) has been overhauled into the most annoying card engine I’ve ever had to deal with. To make my first point clear, imagine your ideal woman. This is the old 3×3 system from the first two CFCs. Now, imagine force-feeding her 500 pounds of the most fattening chocolate in the course of a day. Barring some severe fat fetish, it’s a fairly repulsive thought. This is the new 8×8 system, present in CFDS. Another problem I have with CFDS is that they split the cards into having an HP and a BP. In other words, while back in the old days, your heavy-hitter could be reduced to worthless in a few hits, but now, he’ll still be insanely powerful (and generally, CPU opponents will ignore them, because they focus more on the card’s HP than on their BP.). Needless to say, this may have been meant to balance the game, but it did the exact opposite.

Now, were these the only major changes, this wouldn’t be such a big deal. The game would probably be an 8 in terms of gameplay. Granted, an 8 card field is overkill, and the HP/BP split made the game’s AI retarded, but it’s not too bad. No, my major beef would be the new “Points” system, replacing the simplistic (and fun) SP system. There are five types of points: white, red, green, yellow and blue. You start with only three white points, and at the beginning of each turn, no matter what’s out on your field. The other four types are present as card types. In order to get these types, you can either discard cards of that type, or if there are any cards on the field, they will give you a payoff of one or more points. Now, here’s where things get trippy. Action and Counter (the “Re-Action” cards from GCF2) cards can be bought by these points, this is to be expected. Unfortunately, you also have to pay points to get Character cards in the ring. Yes, instead of gaining points by putting in characters, you have to use points to put them in. Kind of like Blodia’s old cost trick, only far more damning. Also, it costs points to use card abilities, even “Circle” (at the beginning of each turn) and “Triangle” (when you put the card in) abilities, and if you don’t have the points, nothing happens. One more thing – the AI is seriously retarded. At times, it’ll have an awesome attack lined-up, that will completely wreck me, and for no explainable reason, it won’t take advantage of these killer moves.

Another problem I have with the game comes from the whole involvement of “SNK vs. Capcom”. Basically, it’s not as prevalent as it was in earlier versions. In CFC1, there were two versions of the game, each centering around one company. In GCF2:EE, you choose from either a SNK-centric or a Capcom-centric deck. In CFDS, most floors have two halves, one SNK-oriented and one Capcom-oriented. You only get one deck at the beginning, which eliminates any choice regarding preference. On the plus side, the Shop section’s a little more realistic. As opposed to winning cards from your downed opponents, you win Card Points, which can be used at Kido’s store. There you can buy a pack of cards for 1000CP or one random card for 300CP. Granted, it’s not as great for you, but it IS more realistic.

The graphics are okay. I mean, the in-world sprites are somewhat bland and undetailed, but the card artwork looks awesome. The same goes for the character portraits, they all are well-designed. The attack effects are nice as well, but some them are very long-winded (water and ice, for example). I have a few dislikes regarding the actual in-game menus. For example, they’ve separated the attack animations and the actual decrement in HP into two different sequences, which really wastes time, in my opinion. Also, the fact that each card’s current stats are only visible when you select them (and only on a tiny bar at the bottom of the bottom screen) is annoying. Also, the top screen is filled with wasted space, at least when the attention is on the field. All the same, the graphics are probably this game’s strongest suit.

The sound is to the original game’s sound as the gameplay is to the original game’s gameplay. The music lacks any of the catchiness of the original; in fact, the typical battle theme is some bland techno, although the boss theme is somewhat decent. The sound effects are pretty generic, and there’s no voice acting, at least not in the American release, which is a real downer for me. I mean, c’mon, the original game had that badly-rendered “CARD FIGHTERS!” I was kind of expecting at least something like that.

In the end, this game has several flaws to it. Aside from the card collecting and the fact that you can choose to either go on the SNK or Capcom path, the replay rests in the hands of the gameplay, and it just doesn’t stack up, I’m afraid. Hell, even if you ignore the NGPC’s existence, this is still a fairly mediocre game. If you’re looking for a good CCG, go buy a NeoGeo Pocket Color and the original. If you have the original, hunt down the Japan-only sequel. Otherwise, look elsewhere, unless you’re desperate. For shame, SNK Playmore, for shame…

-Originally Posted by Wolfdogg

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