What’s the best fighting game of all time? Street Fighter 6? Sure, that’s alright. Mortal Kombat 11? Great game, if you’re into it. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Not bad at all. War Gods? You don’t even know what that game is, stop lying. Yes, these are all great fighting games. Except for War Gods. Which is terrible. Just painful. Awful way to waste your limited time on Earth. I give it a 7.9 out of 10.
But there’s one fighting game often forgotten in the mists of time. A fighting game so good that I’ve bought it on every platform it’s available - which is not many platforms. Its cartoon style makes it fun for all ages, but perfected for only those of us with more sophisticated tastes. And, baby, this game has aged like a fine wine since it came out in 1999.
It’s a fighting game that combines the skill required to play Street Fighter with the proficiency required to play King of Fighters. Yes, those are synonyms. Yes, it’s because being good at any fighting game requires mostly the same technical ability. And also because the game I’m recommending is basically a Street Fighter combined with King of Fighters. That’s right, I’m talking about SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium for the Neo Geo Pocket.
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Which I want to remind you is only $4 on Steam during the Steam sale. It’s also $8 on Nintendo Switch if you’re a regular Edward L. Doheny. Neither is a steep price to pay for some of the most fun you can have in a fighting game. $4. Come on, man. A couple things.
One, if you’re younger than ‘fearing for career stability as more capable people come up behind me’ like I am, then you might not remember the whole big to-do about Capcom and SNK doing crossover fighting games (and one card battling game which ain’t too bad either). Essentially, back in the day, Capcom and SNK had a fighting game rivalry. The companies even created characters that made fun of their competitors’ games. Dan Hibiki is Street Fighter’s most prized possession of a man, but he was definitely created to mock SNK’s weak fireballs.
Anyway, when the two companies announced a crossover in the ‘90s, we all lost our minds because crossovers weren’t really a thing yet. You weren’t there. We were dazzled when we saw Link and Samus references in Super Mario RPG. Video games used to be more quaint. Still dominated by a vocal minority of awful fans who would be furious to know you enjoyed something they didn’t. But more quaint nonetheless.
Two, I’m not talking about the big boy versions of Capcom and SNK getting together in the ‘90s. SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos and Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 are fun fighting games, wherever they are now. They came out. They delighted fans. They disappeared into the mists of video game history like King’s Quest and, uh, Space Quest. A lot of the Quests are gone now. Playing those fighting games is essentially playing one company’s very good adaptation of another company’s IP. Capcom hearts SNK. SNK hearts Capcom.
SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium for the Neo Geo Pocket (which is, I’m going to keep reminding you, only $4 on Steam right now) somehow goes further than its arcade and console counterparts. It’s basically the same Capcom fighting game characters vs. basically the same SNK fighting game characters, sure, but this game purifies it. By virtue of the fact it’s portable, the game is simpler. Instead of six buttons for Capcom or four buttons for SNK, we’re down to two here. Two.
Rather, it makes the game more accessible and fun right away. Remember, this was designed from the ground up by SNK. This isn’t a fighting game adaptation for portables, it’s a brand new fighting game with its own stages and style. Okay, well, the stages are mostly based on pre-existing stages and the style is based on pre-existing character style. But it’s all newly designed here! It was intended to be a two-button fighter. It may seem like it would limit what you can do but, in my opinion, it allows more focus. Not to mention making it easier trying out new fighters.
It’s also smooth as hell. This was designed by SNK on a console made by SNK. The budget ain’t big, but this is a fighting game with the smoothness of a fighting game. Playing it on a big screen makes this feel more like a modern indie fighting game made to look retro rather than something that’s almost 25-years-old. It’s still fresh today because the Neo Geo Pocket was born to have fighting games. And Metal Slug. Do not sleep on the Neo Geo Pocket Metal Slug games either.
Sure, it looks simple. We’re talking about a game on a second-run, barely-existent, non-backlit portable console from the ‘90s. Obviously there’s going to be limits. But that brings with it a super colorful palette and a super deformed art style. It erases the weird dichotomy between the Capcom and SNK visual style of fighting games. There’s no ‘look at Ryu as a King of Fighters man!’, it’s just the very perfect fighting game that it is. It’s cute while conveying every piece of information you need to know. And the frame rates and animation are like butter.
To be fair, a good third of the characters are locked. You have to beat the game a lot to unlock them. It takes time. Yes, this sucks. It’s also the way games used to be, so it’s not really shocking. It keeps you playing and, like its button layout, encourages experimentation with new fighters. It also means no DLC! Because it’s from 1999. But god almighty it’s nice to play a fighting game that doesn’t require three season passes and a special edition outfit that I can only earn if I play the game at 3:00 am on January 1st.
There’s also, weirdly, a lot of minigames. A Dance Dance Revolution pastiche starring Felicia from Darkstalkers. A simple platformer with Arthur from Ghouls and Ghosts. A Metal Slug light gun-style game in which you shoot aliens that look like boobs. They’re all simple, but they’re all fun. Think a handful of Capcom/SNK Mario Party games and you’ve basically got it.
Now, you might be wondering: if the game was originally portable, is there any way to play this fighting game two-player like God intended? Yes, I say. Y.E.S. Sing it to the Heavens! While the original required two systems linked together, the re-release of SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium (did I say it was only $4 on Steam?) gets over that by essentially emulating two systems at once and showing you just one screen. It may not be online, but you can play this beauty with your friends while showing them that you know quality fighting games.
Quality fighting games like SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium. Which is $4 for the rest of the Steam sale. Available now. Go get it, you monsters. $4.