Video Game: Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium
"Live and let die! FIGHT"
- The announcer
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark Of The Millennium is the third installment (fourth, if you count the Updated Rerelease of CvS1) in the SNK vs. Capcom series. As the name suggests, it's developed by Capcom. It was released for arcades, the Sega Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox.The game extended the roster to (almost) all the fighting line of both companies, along with the full CvS Pro cast returning:
, who were the result of one absorbing the other's power.This time, the Ratio system was modified to allow the player to give ratios to the characters as they wished, and SIX grooves to choose from, plus a customized system which can be created by the player himself. Again, an Updated Rerelease of this game was available, called Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark Of The Millennium EO, being EO both Extreme Offence or Easy Operations, depending on the version.
Art Shift: Reuse of Street Fighter Alpha sprites, and the ensuing clash in art style and animation quality, was one of the strongest complaints. Morrigan's constant reuse of her very first sprite is still a vivid running joke in many circles.
Bowdlerise: The North American release is notable for its level of censorship not found in prior Capcom fighting games. Moves with "Genocide" (Tiger Genocide and Genocide Cutter) in them were replaced with "Destroyer". Yamazaki's S&M move name was changed as well. Rugal calling out his Genocide Cutter was replaced with a generic grunt. God Rugal was changed to Ultimate Rugal. Due to Viewers Are Morons, Shin Akuma was untouched and became a Bilingual Bonus.
Dialogue Tree: The games are full of this, with stuff like Geese throwing a Reppuuken at Bison to blow his cape away.
Non Dubbed Grunts: Like other fighting games of the time. Some special introductions are full of dialogue (and sometimes even Mythology Gags) that are completely incomprehensible if you don't understand Japanese. Special post-battle victory banter text were dropped in the overseas versions similar to what happened in the Street Fighter Zero games.
Sprite Polygon Mix: The game has sprite-based characters and 3D backgrounds.
Stock Audio Clip: Most characters were rerecorded, but others reuse voice samples from older games. (e.g. King from King of Fighters '96, Yun from Third Strike)
Took a Level in Badass: Ryuhaku Todoh was basically a Joke Character in Art of Fighting with only one special attack. It took the efforts of daughter Kasumi in sequels and then his big return in this game to show just how badass the Todoh Style can be.
The Unexpected: While a few character choices are no-brainers (Rock, Haohmaru, Athena), others are more of the "Wait, what?!" variety (Chang, Eagle, Hibiki Takane, Kyosuke, Maki).
And then there's Ryuhaku Todoh, a character whose mostly been a background cameo as a Running Gag after his first playable appearance, way back from the first Art of Fighting. Capcom Vs SNK 2 marks the second game in which he's playable.
Updated Rerelease: Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO, with many tweaks, and two new groove choices. The GameCube version dropped online multiplayer though and is the only console version (aside from the Western PS2 releases) without it.
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