SNK vs. Capcom Longplay (C64) [QHD] [Homebrew]
147Game Info
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Developer: RetroGL & JONEGG
Publisher: RetroGL & JONEGG
Year of Release: 2023
Game Review & Impressions
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The C64 was plagued by some of the shonkiest arcade conversions ever released, with a common complaint that the machine simply wasn't cut out for rending games designed for custom arcade boards replete with multiple 68000 CPUs and all manner of custom sprite manipulation and blitting frippery.
Thanks to several decades of game design theory, radically improved tools and even better knowledge of the hardware, I'm not so sure this holds true. Developers are continuing to coax increasingly superb titles out of the breadbin, and SNK Vs. Capcom is a genuine revelation.
The character sprites appear to be influenced by the likes of Super Puzzle Fighter and King of Fighters: R2 for the Neo Geo Pocket. These sprites are highly stylised versions of their original arcade counterparts, with squashed bodies and oversized limbs, which play to the strengths of the target machine's limited resolution and colour palette - the pixels might be chunky, but it's a design choice that works incredibly well. The fighting animations are fluid, featuring multiple frames, and are instantly recognisable from the coin-op original.
Most remarkable of all is the gameplay itself. Virtually the entire move-set for each of the characters is present, condensed into a control scheme which actually works on the C64's single-button joystick. An option to use a two-button stick does exist in the options menu, but the single button option is just brilliant. Crucially, the movement tracking for pulling off special moves is near-perfect; I had little difficulty pulling off hadokens and dragon punches, including mid-air versions of these specials. The super specials, activated via double repetition of the standard specials, are present and correct, and function just as you would expect. To say the developers have done an incredible job here is a total understatement; you can even chain combo attacks together, which the game actively recognises and rewards with bonus points!
If you owned a C64 back in the day, you owe it to yourself and the devs to go and check this out. It's a total masterpiece, and given the current release is billed as an "Alpha", I suspect there'll be more tweaks and refinements in the coming months.
Download Links
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- Check the video description in RetroGL's official YT video for the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP0wBpNTXv8&ab_channel=RetroGL
Chapters
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TBC