Fighting games are a dime a dozen on home systems. If it’s not a Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat or a Fatal Fury, it’s always going to be something new and different. The series of port over games from the NeoGeo Pocket to the Nintendo Switch started with the Gals Fighter which was a great game, but now it’s time for the boys to play…..and some of the girls too.
A game style that completely threw me off guard when I was always in the arcade was the mashup games. At first it was the Marvel Vs. Capcom, which was very cool since you got to play Wolverine vs. Balrog. But then later on a new challenger came in of SNK vs. Capcom. A complete crossover with characters from both company franchises to see who really is the best fighter. But some of these games were released years ago, and now coming to your home system. The one in particular that I was excited to see was the The Match of the Millennium SNK vs. Capcom for the Nintendo Switch.
Ported directly from the NeoGeo Pocket, MOM once again proves that matching ports can be done with a classic system with the greatest of ease. Unlike regular fighters that support the 3-6 button mashing, MOM uses the traditional 2 button control for the fighting mechanics based solely on the Neo Geo Pocket which gives you a brand new learning curve. If you have ever played a Street Fighter or SNK fighter, you have a bonus advantage, because the moves are generally the same. For example, Ken and Ryu’s moves are basically direct port from the Street Fighter franchise. Now I can’t say much on the SNK side because I never have played any of the fighters, but you can always look up the moves which are generally similar to the Capcom fighters.
With everything unlocked, there are a total of 26 fighters. But I won’t reveal the characters, since that is a nasty spoiler. Like other Neo Geo ported games, MOM allows you to change the graphic interface to whichever Neo Geo pocket system you would like to view. Also you have the choice of zooming in or out of the action to remove some of the appearance of the handheld system.
But just like Gals Fighters, the game will hold your attention long enough to actually get you through the game to see the epilogue with the characters with the result from the tournament, which sadly are the same on the Capcom side. However, there is a lot more to the game than just the fighting which is where my interest was really altered. There is an Olympics mode that lets you challenge your reflexes. From shooting down aliens, to chopping bales of hay in the right direction, this actually puts a very nice twist to the traditional fighter. My favorite part of the olympics was the endurance mode to see how many fighters I could defeat before I was defeated. When they started to recycle some of the fighters, I knew I was the best……against the computer.
The cutscenes are graphically pleasing, except it is basically the same thing for every scenario of the tournament. The controls were very basic and I was especially happy that within the game, you can read the manual and learn the moves of the characters within the game menu. Best of all, the music screamed, “I am coming from the NeoGeo Pocket!” There is just something about the music of the handheld era that really makes you feel nostalgic! This is a great pick up and play game to occupy your time when riding on the bus or airplane when you can’t connect to the internet. But at home it is also a great game to play for a while.I really wish that when the system came out, I invested some extra bank into the system and the games.
On the next review, we will be covering the long awaited NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Volume. 1. Stay Tuned!
