Review: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (Wii)
love Marvel vs. Capcom 2. I think it’s one of the better fighting games, partially because it’s less about how to perform fighting moves and more about when to use them. The game, while popular, has a kind of mixed following, however, because it’s extremely chaotic and some people just cannot get into that. “I can’t tell what’s going on half the time because the moves take up the entire screen and also I hate Cyclops,” one now-deceased man was quoted as having said with his last breath. If he was still around, I could tell him that Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is like a calmer Marvel vs. Capcom 2. It’s still absolutely crazy compared to something like Virtua Fighter, but only because it’s incredibly Japanese and not because it’s too chaotic. One of the strengths of this game is that you can tell what’s going on while having absolutely no idea of what’s going on.
What makes Tatsunoko vs. Capcom feel different compared to Street Fighter II or some dumb game that isn’t Street Fighter? Are there parry moves? How many 30-hit combos are possible? Can I perform cross-over attacks in mid-air? How many moves are there with hyphens in the name? Cross-over mid-air mega-super-hyper-dash combo. The truth is that I’ve always been a casual fighting game fan – when Mortal Kombat was in arcades, I thought it was the greatest thing known to man because a ninja dressed in blue could rip a man’s head off with his spinal cord attached. With that in mind, I am not going to try to review this game on a deep technical level. Instead I will present to you one of three things you can take away from this review…
- If you like fighting games then you’ll like this one.
- If you don’t like fighting games then you’ll hate this one.
- If you like the idea of fighting games then you might enjoy this one because it takes itself a little less seriously than others.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is one of the more intuitive traditional fighting games I’ve ever played. While there is still a learning curve, a lot of moves for various characters seem easy to find. This will not be true for you if you’ve never played a fighting game other than Smash Bros., but no one else should feel overwhelmed. I was using basic ranged attacks, finding simple combos, and pulling off supers (though the game calls them “hyper combos” for no apparent reason) right away. Numerous control options are available for the game. You can control everything with a nunchuck+wiimote setup, GameCube controller, or classic controller (which I recommend).
<img src="/images/20100125-tatvcap-screen2.jpg" width="550" height="309" title="They should've just put "A bunch."" loading="lazy" />
A standard game begins with you choosing a team of two characters. They can be called in to perform a move here and there during a fight or you can switch characters completely at any time, just like MvC2 only two characters instead of three. Each fight is one long round. There are no two round fights in this game. I appreciate this title because I feel it’s sort of gotten rid of the fluff you see in a lot of fighters to let you focus on the actual fighting and have fun with some zany characters and unlocks. Unfortunately, the game goes a little overboard with being kind of crazy and introduces a character and boss fight that fill up the entire screen because they are so big. While a fun distraction from the more standard fights, these encounters feel like they belong in different games. In fact, the final boss is a giant ball. This in no way should be the final fight in a 2D fighting game because it defeats the point. You can’t have fun strategizing and outmaneuvering an opponent that is impossible to read.
It’s a fantastic game to throw in on a whim and much easier to get friends into than something more technical. You’re only screwed if your friends just absolutely hate the Japanese because this game’s presentation is borderline insane. You’ve got a couple standard Street Fighter characters in there, which everyone can appreciate, but then there are people you’ve never heard of like Yatterman-1 and Ippatsuman, names which sound like they belong on the periodic table of elements. Luckily, the game supports Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection if your friends are too lame to bother playing with you. I was only able to try out one ranked match online in time for this review, but it was lag free and gave the option for an instant rematch as soon as it ended instead of bumping me back to the menu. All in all, a very positive experience if I ignore the fact I’ll have to exchange friend codes if I want to bother playing against someone I know.
Charming 3D graphics depict classic 2D fighting gameplay across Arcade, Versus, Survival, Time Attack and Online modes, and make the best fighting game on the Wii for people who don’t count Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a fighting game. It skimps in a couple places presentation-wise, however. Characters all speak Japanese, for example. It’s not a big deal at all but I still found it odd they couldn’t bother to simply grab old Viewtiful Joe sound bytes so that I can understand when he says “Henshin a-go-go, baby!” Likewise, all game endings are comprised of still images with no voice over dialogue. The endings are so boring they actually serve to punish you for beating the game.
You may not know what Tatsunoko even is, but you don’t have to in order to have fun. If you only own a Wii and have been waiting for a more traditional fighting game then this is it, my friend. Of course, it’s fair to say that even if you own a 360 or PS3 you may be interested in this as well. I personally enjoy it more than Street Fighter IV if that means anything to you. If it doesn’t, then I’m not even sure why you read this.
Mr. Face never wrong!
This review was written based on a copy provided by the publisher.