Capcom vs. SNK: The King of Arcades: 2017-2019 (Final Round)

This was the period where both company’s arcade releases truly came to a near-close.  That this round starts in 2017 says it all.  Since 2011, neither company made a single game for arcades that wasn’t an updated version of a previous one.  As I stated last time, there were ports, mobile games and console games, but the previous round set a precedent for both companies moving forward: now the console versions of their fighting games would come first.

It’s a damn good thing Capcom followed that precedent in particular because holy shit.  The release of Street Fighter 5 can be debated for being worse than The King of Fighters 12.  Compmared to the low bar that is KOF 12, Street Fighter 5 had fewer characters, fewer features and fewer modes to play, all at the price of a full retail game.  Street Fighter 5 became the target of such mockery and ridicule that people almost forgot about KOF 12.  Almost.

As if to rub it in Street Fighter 5’s face, SNK brought out a new King of Fighters game with a massive 50 characters and a fully featured arcade mode with substantial story content.  I heard stories about Street Fighter players jumping ship to KOF 14 because of how much of a rip-off Street Fighter 5 was.  There’s footage of a pro Street Fighter player telling Capcom representatives to their faces that he was going to go play Guilty Gear instead of Street Fighter 5.  It was really REALLY bad.  It’s the stuff of legends.

That is not the version being judged though.  Capcom continually added to Street Fighter 5 with overpriced DLC until they finally got a feature-rich and complete game re-released as the Champion Edition, which is what came out in arcades.  SNK had already released KOF 14 for arcades with all its DLC included by that point, plus a little spin-off.  With the release of SNK’s 2019 Samurai Shodown game later, we’ll have reached the last arcade game released by either company.  We will finally see if Capcom will cement their lead as the best arcade game manufacturer or if SNK will tie the score.

Live and let die!  Fight!