We live in an age where 3D graphics flirt with reality, and the war of realism is never decided because game producers continue to come out with more impressive games. Whatever happened to the 2D games that defined my generation earlier in our video game lives? Enter stage left a neat little diddy called Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO. It brings us back to a time dominated with Ken and Ryu's fireballs. Dragon punches were heard in every arcade as young heroes tried to bring the tyrannical M. Bison's reign to an end. Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO definitely has the 2D nostalgia with it. I have always loved the brilliant colors and ripe backgrounds that 2D graphics can do. Sure there's not a lot of depth, but we've all gone swimming in three foot of water, have we not? Add to the fact that all the classic SNK characters are here, and you've got a battle well worth watching. The moves that each character possesses are as brilliant as they've ever been, especially the moves that run back and forth on the border of reality. Perhaps two of the neatest things are 1. The ability to change the way a character looks (read: is colored. Always wanted a purple Blanka? You can do that now.) and 2. The special moves are spectacular. With light rays, explosions and hits so hard, they make my teeth hurt. Capcom did an excellent job bringing a classic like Street Fighter and mixing it with a little customization and grand effects of games from today's epoch.

The sound is adequate, but nothing spectacular. The music is a 'behind the scene' music and nothing that makes you hum along. It sounds as if it is recycled from fighting games of old. The voiceovers are nothing different from Chun Li's 'hai!' to Zangief's muscular howl. Simply put, the sounds are early 90's, which of course goes hand in hand with a game like this, but I thought the music could be better. Maybe a soundtrack of heavier stuff to fight to - or a fake soundtrack, if you will. I need some pulsing drum beats, with grungy guitars. I just think that an 'updated' musical score would be the perfect topping for such a sweet game from the past.

The basic concept of this game, as in most fighting games is to defeat your opponent by taking his/her life down to zero before they take yours. Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO gives you the opportunity to do this through various bash-type means. There is the embracing Arcade Mode which lets you pit your skills 1 on 1 in a tournament type of setup, or for those of us entrepreneurs in the fighting genre, there is a 3 on 3 team option. There is a Survival Mode that has a fighter with limited life taking on fighter after fighter until he dies or beats all of them. There is the age old Vs Mode that has you and a friend trying to beat each other up, taking out everyday aggression in a video game setting. There is a Training Mode where you can practice moves, combos and the culinary arts. Ha, just kidding about being Emeril! Bam! There is a Replay Mode where you can replay all the greatest kills you've made, or any of the bad A finishing moves. There is a Color Edit Mode that lets you edit the colors of any character, which is where I spent a considerable amount of time. Nothing is funnier than seeing Akuma look like a smurf with blue skin and winter white pants. There are various options which let you dictate difficulty and button configuration. I'll be honest, the Gamecube controller was a pain to play with. It's just not as beautifully laid out like the Super Nintendo's was. A lot of times, I'd be trying to do this ruthless combo, only to accidentally tap the shoulder button and end up doing a little sweep, rather than a nuclear death grasp. Also another part that really confused me was with the game systems where you pick different 'systems' which influence your control scheme, blocking frequency, super move ability, point system which acquires super move, etc. The manual says that each system can help different styles of play. The only thing it really did was confuse the heck out of me, but hey I'm a guy that, for the longest time, thought 'it only took three licks to get to the Tootsie roll center of a Tootsie Pop.' I just stuck with the first system after going through all six and learned it. I assume that if you had tons of time to perfect your Street Fighter style all over again, you could eventually perfect all six systems.

The gameplay is as smooth as any of these type games in the past have been. The camera angles are flawless, and consequently enough, the control is smooth, though the buttons were a bit 'tricky.'

This is a huge range, actually. The options are like most of Capcom's fighting games, with the lowest difficulty providing a little more than finger exercise, while the most difficult will have two or three in the ER with whelps on their hands. If anything made it difficult, it again was the button scheme. Of course, this has nothing to do with the game itself, but is dependant on the system it's on. Again, if this game were on a PS2, I believe an easier time would have been had, while had this game been on an Atari 2600 then it would have been vastly more difficult. As far as the graphics and camera angle, that only contributed to the fluidity of the game, and didn't make it more difficult or aggravating.

I will not harp on the controls again. I think that the gameplay is smooth, oddly enough, which can only help this game. I think that the manual does a bang up job of explaining all the intricacies of the game. It has no load time, which is very handy for when you have two minutes, and you really want to beat something up before the company Christmas party. It also takes little memory card space up, which at the cost of memory these days is a good thing.

Riot Rundown: Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO is a game that brought back a lot of wonderful memories, and is very funny. Its cartooniness appeals to the younger generation of fighting gamers out there, while the sheer perfect recreation of past classics keep 65-year olds like myself playing for days. I think for what Capcom tried to accomplish, they did a great job. I wish the music had been better, and I don't believe it's the best fighter on the system, but a great job nonetheless.