Let’s make this short and sweet. SNK Vs Capcom: The Match of the Millennium has to be the best handheld fighting game of all time. If you owned a Neogeo Pocket Color back in the day, chances are you had MotM and encouraged all your friends to get it too. Thanks to the efforts of SNK, Capcom, and Code Mystics, this cult favorite is no longer locked to this niche handheld as it has been made available on the Nintendo Switch eShop. The best part – it is only $8 dollars. Eight. Stinking. DOLLARS! To put things in perspective a little bit, Pocket Rumble, an indie developed fighter made in the shadow of MotM, sells for $10.
Why is MotM so good? There are so many reasons it is a little hard to fathom for a non-back lit screened handheld fighting game with two buttons made over twenty years ago. The character roster is large, consisting of greats from the Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, KoF, Samurai Shodown and SNK line-up of titles, including several unlockable characters. Like the other fighting games on the system, play control is impressively handedly even with limited buttons; nothing can replace the satisfying click of the hardware’s original analog stick but the Switch Pro Controller or JoyCon do an admirable job. The number of options available is also staggering. Not only can the player adjust simple things like the number of rounds, difficulty settings, and stage 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 matches, there are also mini games and sparring matching. Even if you mastered the campaign, which has different endings depending on performance and settings, these extra features provide a ton of replay value and quality entertainment.
Check out our coverage of the other Neogeo Pocket Color fighting games available on Switch:
–The Last Blade: Beyond Destiny
Just like the other NGPC releases made available on Switch, there are numerous emulation options available to make the entire user experience more enjoyable. This includes a rewind feature to cheese those difficult AI battles, two players can now compete head-to-head on one console, and even the original instruction manual is viewable in HD at any time. As a Pro Tip, the NGPC buttons are labeled in reverse order from Nintendo’s standard; A is B and B is A. Thoughtfully, buttons can be remapped at any time from the emulator’s main menu. Once I made this switch, I was able to compete in the button tapping mini games at a much higher level than playing with reverse button prompts.
Having a digital re-release of any NGPC color is a big deal but finally having easy access to an official way to play MotM, complete with new features, is nothing short of amazing. The low cost also makes this one of the best valued games on the Nintendo eShop. All the NGPC re-releases are great but if you can only pick up, this is undoubtedly the game to get.
Better Than: many console fighting games
Wait For It: the NGPC Collection (physical compilation)
Don’t Forget About: linking it to your Dreamcast or Card Fighters Clash (kidding, kidding)
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
Rating
Our Rating - 9.5
9.5
Total Score
The best handheld fighting game of all time is now available on Switch with local 2-player mode and is only costs a few bucks.