Capcom vs. SNK: The King of Arcades: 1992: Part 1

1991 started the era of the fighting game.  With some precendent established, 1992 had both companies start to pick up momentum on the craze Street Fighter 2 and Fatal Fury started the previous year and expand on what they could do with this new genre of games, all the while pumping out the sports, shoot-em-ups and beat-em-ups that had by this point proven to be a safe bet.  At least, SNK was pumping out the other games.

Something you’ll notice about this year is that Capcom’s arcade production is dwarfed by SNK’s.  This year I’ll be looking at 10 SNK games and only 5 Capcom games, 2 of which are Street Fighter 2 reversions.  It’s as if they put so much effort into their big monster hit Street Fighter 2 that they didn’t give as much attention to the rest of them.  Their continued home console development might have played a part too, I suppose, which includes a Super Nintendo port of Street Fighter 2 that made absolute gangbusters.

This was also the year Midway got into the fighting game genre with the first Mortal Kombat, starting a legacy that would last a lifetime, but let's not make this a 3-way battle.

What else happened in 1992?  Well, there was some cartoon that revolutionized television animation and continues to get merchandise and high praise even 30 years later, but nothing important.

There are so many games (from SNK) this time that it will be split into 2 parts.

Capcom vs. SNK: The King of Arcades: 1991

In the realm of gaming, 1991 was very significant for SNK, Capcom and Nintendo.  Nintendo released the Super Nintendo, their super powerful 16 bit system that would become home to SNK and Capcom’s fighting games, which started kicking off the same year with each company’s flagships and company mascots making their (actual) debuts.  Nintendo’s war was with Sega and their Genesis on the home console battlefield though, a separate one from Capcom and SNK’s arcade battlefield happening around the same time.  Judging home ports might be a neat idea for a future article, but for now I am deciding which company is the King of Arcades for 1991.  Naturally there’s a lot to say about the two big titles for this year.

The Final Days of Nintendo Online

It is once again a dark day for gaming.  Nintendo’s last bastion of online gaming, the WiiU and 3DS, has now been shut down like the Wii and DS before it.  The only thing keeping Nintendo in people’s good graces is no more and this time there’s no excuse like the shenanigans with Gamespy that I’m aware of.

Capcom vs. SNK: The King of Arcades: 1991: Part 1

We're a year in now and the 90s are in full swing.  This year may be the turning point for the arcade scene moving forward and there are going to be a lot of changes around here, one of which should come from you! If you like the article be sure to like, comment and subscribe!