By Jeremy Azevedo |
If you’re a Wii owner, you probably feel just a little bit left out after watching SFIV, Super SFII Turbo HD Remix and Marvel Vs Capcom 2 all pass you by without so much as a wayward glance in your direction.
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But clearly, Capcom hasn’t forgotten about you, as Capcom Vs Tatsunoko: Ultimate All-Stars is not only one of the freshest 2D fighters in ages, but is also exclusive to the Wii.
We talked to Capcom’s Community Manager Seth Killian about the decision to develop for the Wii, the challenges of importing the Tatsunoko licenses to the States and circumventing the infamous “friend code” to streamline online play. Check it out!
After chatting with Seth for a bit we set down to a few matches of Capcom Vs Tatsunoko against the man himself. At first glance, it appears as if there are a few too many Gatchamaen/Yattermen/Tekkamen/whatever for the game’s own good, but as it turns out, they all actually play incredibly different. Fans of Marvel Vs Capcom 2 will feel most at home with the speed and flashiness of the gameplay. Combos do billions of points of damage, super moves fill the entire screen and there are enough flashing lights to give a Pokémon a seizure. And yet, I didn’t notice a hint of slowdown or jagginess. Now I’m aware that the Wii isn’t necessarily designed for hardcore graphics rendering, but when it comes to top shelf 2D animation like this, it kills.
All of the characters were a lot of fun in their own way. Frank West in particular was a blast to play as, summoning hordes of hungry zombies to sick on my opponent (who I’m pretty sure was half letting me win/half getting his ass whupped by me fair and square). His timing is a little weird but his super combos are pretty rad. My favorite involves slamming a Servbot mask over your opponent’s head and exploding them ass-over-teakettle. The Street Fighter characters play as expected, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by Viewtiful Joe and Kaijin No Soki from Onimusha 4. They’re great new additions with really unique play styles.
On the Tatsunoko side, I’d have to go with Yatterman or Karas as my favorite. Yaterman is both agile and strong, with some really psychedelic super combos. One of them was like a giant robot dog that barfs up exploding lizards or something like that. It’s weird. Karas is just a straight badass, type character, sort of Tatsunoko’s “Akuma” if I had to compare him to someone. Maybe best of all, though, is the titanic Gold Lightan. He’s so big that you don’t get to have a partner when you use him, and it requires the entire stage to scale to his size. It almost seems unfair how big of a size and reach advantage he has, but somehow the balance remains pretty even, especially when you’ve got two other characters teaming up against him.
It also bears mentioning that we were playing on an official-looking arcade style joystick, which worked wonderfully. I’m quite a bit more used to standard controllers by now (as are most people), but there’s something to be said for a joystick setup when it comes to fighting games. When you pick up a copy of Capcom Vs Tatsunoko: Ultimate All-Stars next year (as you very well should), you should probably also consider getting a joystick to go along with it. You’ll be glad you did. Fewer blisters.
Capcom Vs Tatsunoko: Ultimate All-Stars will be available for the Wii on January 26th, 2010.
