SNK VS CAPCOM: SVC Chaos Review – A Legacy Reborn

No, this is not a dream; the long-forgotten crossover series in which Terry and Ken are best friends and swap caps is back. Not even the biggest fans could have anticipated this turn after such a prolonged hiatus, but all signs now point towards the return of the legendary crossover franchise in which fighters from Capcom duke it out against characters from the SNK universe, or in this case, SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.

To anyone born in this century, this may seem a relic of the past, and yes, in some ways, it may be, but the impact SvC: Chaos and its sequels like CvS2 left on the FGC legacy is immeasurable. So whether you’ve never heard of this series or have vowed only to play SvC: Chaos and no other fighting game till death do you part, this series being exhumed is great news either way.

Yes but what makes this series so memorable? Is it the pixelated graphics, in-depth combo system, unparalleled soundtrack, or the magnificent cast of characters that makes this crossover stand the test of time? Well, it’s all of the above and then some. SvC: Chaos has charm and style in spades; in this review, you’ll find out why.

Story: A Mythical Tale of Gods & Men

If you are expecting a fully voice-acted story with well-animated cutscenes, then get out your reading glasses and curb some expectations because you’re back in the early 2000s of cassette tapes, CDs, and limited storage and processing capacity. The story revolves around a world-ending cataclysm that eradicates all life on the planet. SvC: Chaos takes place in Purgatory, a realm that is not heaven or hell (Guilty Gear fans, calm down, please). Of course, no fighting game story mode is complete without some kind of a tournament that decides who is the strongest, and SvC: Chaos is the godfather of that idea. 

The goddess Athena and the demonic Red Arremer, who stand for Order and Chaos respectively, have organized this tournament and whoever comes out on top gets one wish granted. This is an ideal setup to learn about the motivations and intentions of every character as you play through the story. Each character has unique conversations with every other character in the cast, so there is a lot of replay value here to find out exactly what the beloved cast of characters think about each other.

Gameplay: Jank or Charm?

Street Fighter normally has 6 attack buttons, while SNK fighters go for 4 buttons, and SvC: Chaos opted for the latter. This doesn’t mean the fighters are limited in terms of normals by any means because characters have more command normals that give them all the moves they’re missing out on because of the reduced buttons. Like any fighting game, you have your super meter and special moves, but in SvC: Chaos, there are a lot of advanced mechanics like Super Jump, Guard Cancel Attack, Guard Cancel Front Step, Exceed Moves, and much more.

If you are already well-versed in the original, you will feel right at home. And if this is your first time playing, you will get used to the controls and some combos quickly, but there are a ton of mechanics that you can dive into and lose hundreds of hours on learning the intricacies and mastering SvC: Chaos.

Easily, the best part about SvC: Chaos is the amazing roster of characters, but that is also its biggest shortcoming. It comes with 36 characters, which include the base roster and the secret boss characters that you can pick from (by holding L1+L2 in the character select screen). While the base roster is completely fine, it’s the boss characters that break the combat, and not really in a good way. On the one hand, characters like Athena are a novelty, and each of her special moves is a super that doesn’t require a meter, which makes sense considering she’s a goddess. But then there are characters like Zero, who has a short hurtbox that big boys like Hugo can’t even hit while jumping. 

Another example of jank is that Dimitri, the poster child of Darkstalkers, can’t even hit Orochi Iori (from The King of Fighters) if he’s in point-blank range. These were game-breaking bugs back then, and they’re game-breaking bugs right now. However, the developers decided to keep these things in because they define what SvC Chaos is. Whether that is good or bad — that’s for you to decide. As long as you stick to the base roster, you will be fine, but the moment you venture into the secret bosses, prepare for broken moves, busted hitboxes, and cheap tactics, especially when playing online; more on that later. Bosses like Red Arremer are as fair as bringing a 50-megaton nuclear warhead to a fistfight… with a hamster.

Now that we’ve gotten the jank out of the way, why do I keep saying that SvC: Chaos has charm? Well, a great example of this is the aforementioned secret character Dimitri. Who, for some inexplicable reason, turns his male opponents into a female briefly while he does his super. It may not seem like much, but in reality, this means every single male character in the cast has an extra female model just for Dimitri’s super. If that isn’t attention to detail, I don’t know what is.

SvC: Chaos: Aged Like Fine Wine

Without any 3D models, lighting effects, or any flashy visual tech from the last 20 years, the old pixelated 2D art style has aged wonderfully. Whether it be supers or just characters’ idle animation, the look of SNK games from the early 2000s won’t be outdated anytime soon. The models are imported from The King of Fighters 96 and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, with some other smaller additions from Neo Geo games like Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown. With the remaster, you will be playing the SvC: Chaos at 1080p or above with stable performance across the board.

The memorable audio design remains unchanged and Capcom and SNK oddly did not include a jukebox mode. But what was included was a gallery that allows you to see all the artworks that were used as marketing or for character designs. SvC: Chaos had some original character ideas like Violent Ken that have since become mainstays in the fighting game lore.

Conclusion: It’s Not Old & Damaged, It’s a Patina

Let’s not forget that you will primarily be playing SvC: Chaos online through the phenomenal new rollback netcode, and in our review testing, the connections are as good as offline if you’re playing against someone in your region, and are rock solid even if you’re playing someone from a different country. You can set your preferred level of delay, which will determine how much rollback you will see during the match. As a rule of thumb, the further away your opponent is, the higher the delay you should set. Unfortunately, there is no cross-play option, so you will be limited to playing people on the platform you purchased.

Now, to address the elephant in the room (no, this is not a jab at Earthquake’s sizable frame), there is a lack of an Xbox version of SvC: Chaos. So far, we have no idea why SNK and Capcom decided not to bring it to Xbox, but it seems the decision is final. The recently announced Marvel vs. Capcom Arcade Collection will also be skipping an Xbox release.

Regardless, SvC: Chaos is a great time for any fighting game fan who either played it in the past or always wanted to find out what all the hype was about. Yes, the jank can sometimes be annoying, but if you move past that, there is an ocean of skills to master in an ever-evolving meta that you could play for years to come.

SvC: Chaos is the first sign that Capcom Vs. SNK 3 could become a reality in the future. With Terry making his way into Street Fighter 6 and rumors of a Street Fighter making it into Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, the future looks bright for fighting game fans.

SvC: Chaos is available on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam (reviewed). 

Review copy provided by Publisher.