N-Philes

Wii REVIEW – Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars

Posted January 26th 2010 by Frankie Aguilar.

When I was just a little tyke, walking around aimlessly in an arcade looking for something worth spending my hard earned quarters on, I came across a machine that would be the gold standard against which I would compare every other fighter. I was 10, and the game was X-Men vs. Street Fighter. This crossover brawler brought us, for the first time, a tag-team based fighter that would inspire so many other such outing for years to come. Capcom would go on to create the SNK vs. Capcom series due in large to the success of its Marvel vs. Capcom titles. These games were huge hits in arcades and on home consoles alike, and with their huge rosters and trademark Capcom polish, were the cream of the crop for 2D fighters. It was only a matter of time before Capcom found another IP to milk for another crossover game: this time it's the 1960s Japanese Animation company, Tatsunoko.

If you're scratching your head as to what exactly Tatsunoko is, or was, you're probably not alone. The majority of their cartoons were made in the '60s and '70s, most of which weren't edited for American TV or made enough of an impact over here to stay on TV long. There are a few of their shows, however, that you've probably heard of. Tatsunoko brought to us the classic cartoon Speed Racer. It also made G-Force: Guardians of Space which always seemed like the awkward stepbrother to Voltron, replacing a cat theme with birds. And of course they made one of my favorite shows to watch in the morning before I went to elementary school, Samurai Pizza Cats. Sadly, the only one of those shows represented in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is G-Force.



Most important in these crossover fighters are the rosters. Coming in to this game I wasn't sure exactly what I was in for. I'm more than familiar with Capcom's characters and gameplay style, but my unfamiliarity with the Tatsunoko roster had me worried. One of the best things about the other Capcom vs. games is the ability to mix and match from both sides. The Tatsunoko crew, however, didn't disappoint. The characters they choose to bring in from their 40 plus years of cartooning are fun to play as, and match up nicely against the veterans from the Capcom team.  The Tatsunoko crew, although being mostly unfamiliar, is nevertheless filled with fantastic fighters. These extremely stylish brawlers run the gamut of fighting archetypes, with bruisers, speedsters, and well rounded characters. My favorite fighter from the Tatsunoko camp was Casshan a fast juggling type fighter, that was just about a cool as they come.  The Capcom crew definitely represents, with characters from Street Fighter, Dark Stalkers, and even Lost Planet and Okami. Also, a certain photographer from a certain cult favorite zombie game makes an awesome appearance.

The 3D look that made its debut in Street Fighter IV, returns here and while I was uncertain that the Wii wouldn't be able to handle these beautifully rendered character models flying around the screen, the little white machine proved more than capable.  The characters themselves, along with the wide variety of levels you get to choose, look great and the frame rate never suffers for the game to be as pretty as it is. The music and sound for this game are par for the course, especially if you've played SFIV. There's still a J-pop intro song over an anime/gameplay infused opening cinematic. The only difference from SFIV is that the characters still have their Japanese voice overs.

Gameplay is where this game might suffer a bit, but only in the eyes of a fighting purist. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is a lot like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and the Street Fighter Alpha series, in that its pace is fast as hell and if you're a pro juggling fighter your skills will be well rewarded. The depth of a usual Capcom fighting game is a little limited here because the Wii restricts your fighting controls to a three button system. The attacks are split up in to a light, medium, and heavy style attacks that allow for fighting noobs to get in a button mash against champs. That being said, all your midair throws, cancels, combo breakers and dodges still exist inside of this simple three button system, and series vets will enjoy this game much more once they find them.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has a bevy of unlockables and gameplay modes. Of course there's the expected arcade and training modes. Arcade takes you through multiple locales and pits you against a few different boss characters at different points in the campaign. These bosses are giants in comparison to your character but they are also your solo enemies during your encounter with them, so don't worry about these monsters being able to tag a friend in. After beating arcade modes with different characters you get a form of currency called Zenny that allows you to purchase unlockable characters, costumes and art for the characters and even mini-games. Plenty of the secret characters are unlocked through kicking ass in the arcade mode though, and with the ability to bring up your characters' moves list on an overlay during your arcade matches, this might be the best way for you to learn how this fighter works.

The mini-games are a fun distraction and can get quite addictive. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Shooters is a fun top down shooter and is the cream of the crop as far as the mini-games are concerned. Honestly it could have been its own stand alone game for WiiWare so the fact that it makes it into this game as a unlockable is beyond awesome from Capcom. You can play this co-op with three of your friends so when you get tired of beating up on each other in the game's normal multiplayer mode, switch over to Ultimate All-Shooters for some amped up competition.

Beyond the inherent versus system, and the super fun Ultimate All-Shooters, is the online battle system through the much maligned Nintendo Wi-Fi system. Friend codes aside, I was quite surprised to get into my first match with minimal lag, and no drop out. Although I ended up fighting the same guy a few times in a row, who was a Ryu Hadoken spammer, it was still a lot of fun.

Last year Capcom set out to bring its Street Fighter brand back to prominence, and prove that they could move into the "3D" realm without sacrificing the feel that they've had since the early 90's. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is the next step in the revival of the Street Fighter/Capcom machine. Up to this point, Wii owners have really only had Super Smash Brother Brawl to turn to for their multiplayer fighting fix. Without even so much as a port of SFIV, I can totally see the Nintendo fanboys being pissed at Capcom for showing them no love. Well my friends, this Wii exclusive has to be Capcom's way of saying they're sorry and asking for you back, because it's one of the most fun games I've played on Wii since Brawl. The controls might seem simple at first but there's a hidden depth to them, and the ease at which you can just pick up and play this game is phenomenal. This return to form from Capcom has me excited for where they go from here, and proves once again that they know the formula for how to make an exceptional fighter. So Wii fans, go get Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars and rub it in the faces of your Wii-less friends that gave you crap when SFIV came out.

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Tags: street fighter IV

Posted in: Reviews, Gaming

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