Tatsunoko vs Capcom

05 Jun 2009 at 09:48:11 by Tim McDonald

I never thought I'd be writing about this. Tatsunoko vs Capcom wasn't a game I really expected to see in the west, largely due to the legal ramifications with bringing it over here – Japanese animation giant Tatsunoko's properties have been licensed by a variety of different companies in the western world. To take this game (which features the Tatsunoko cast taking on a series of Capcom characters) into the western world requires all of those license holders to sign on to the project. Capcom, you have amazed me.

As is pretty much the standard with the Versus series of games, Tatsunoko vs Capcom is built around teams. In this case, it's teams of two characters, chosen from the game's cast of 23. These vary pretty wildly across the spectrum from known to unknown. While the majority of the Capcom characters are iconic and will be instantly recognisable – Ryu, Megaman, Morrigan, Viewtiful Joe – there are some obscure choices from Rival Schools, Onimusha, and a Japan-only quiz game. Equally, some Tatsunoko characters are more recognisable than others: while nowhere near as well-known as the Capcom stable, I reckon a few people will know Jun the Swan or Casshern.

Tatsunoko vs Capcom is all about the over-the-top silliness. Damage is measured in billions, which is fantastic; seeing “9.452 billion” as a damage count following a Hyper move or a hefty combo never ceased to bring a smile to my face. One Capcom character and one Tatsunoko character are each so big that they fill both of your team slots, leaving you unable to perform Assist attacks or character swaps, but with the advantage of huge, sweeping attacks, and giant health bars. On the Capcom side is one of the mechs from Lost Planet, while Tatsunoko gets Lightan, which is essentially a Transformer with the ability to turn into, uh, a giant golden lighter. Not that he does this in the game, we're told, because of the whole “advertising smoking” thing.

It plays out as a reasonably standard, albeit ridiculous, beat 'em up. You've got plenty of screen-filling Hyper moves with silly names, you've got cancels and counters and character switches, but surprisingly it's a game that should be well-suited to beginners. The roster's big but not overwhelmingly so, the characters are varied and interesting, special moves are easy to pull off, and the number of buttons has dropped, with Light, Medium, and Heavy attacks, but no variance between kick and punch. Those three buttons are all you need to smack your opponents about, and that smacking looks good, with the Wii more than capable of handling the bright characters and fluid animations on display.

It's simple, stylised, and a whole lot of fun. This could well be the perfect introduction to the more confusing entries in the Versus series on release, but will hopefully hold enough entertainment value for the experts to give it a try, too.

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