Glory be, a 2D fighter has hit the GameCube, and miracle of all miracles, it’s a great one. Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO is an "enhanced" port of Capcom vs. SNK 2: Millenium Match 2001 which was released in the arcades (go on, guess…) a year ago. Having already released a port for the DC (Japan only) and PS2, Capcom could have just thrown this port together and called it a day.

Fortunately, Capcom did a bit more than that. Having had the pleasure of sinking extensive playtime into the Japanese Dreamcast import a while back (as well as some time with the arcade and PS2 versions), I was more than ready to play CvS2:EO when it came in the mail today. As soon as I started my first match, I realized that the GC port looks even closer to the original arcade version than the stellar DC port did. Unless my eyes are deceiving me, the sprites seem to be a tad bit bigger, cleaner, and sport a few more frames of animation for certain moves. Speaking of added frames, thank whatever god you believe in for it, as it actually makes some moves (such as God Rugal’s slicing kick special) that much easier to see coming and therefore defend against. The backgrounds especially look a lot cleaner than the DC port ever did.

Of course, the downside is the GC control pad, which was obviously not made for any sort of standard 2D fighting game. Fortunately, if you’ve already gotten used to playing Bloody Roar: Primal Fury with the D-Pad, it isn’t very hard to adjust. While the button configuration is a tad confusing for many (and had my fiancée cursing her propensity to hit the "enormous A button" repeatedly) it can be adjusted to, and once that was accomplished, I was able to play as well as I ever have.

The GC-ism control mode added to the game basically locks down your configuration, so that you use the analog stick for movement, the L button for punches, the R button for kicks, and the C-stick for all special and super moves. Different specials are activated by pressing the C-stick in certain directions. The strength of your attacks therefore depend on how hard you press the analog button/c-stick. For a fighting game vet like myself (and everyone else I played against) it was a very strange way to play the game, but after trying it out for a bit it seems to work decently well. For those "hardcore" vets screaming bloody murder for making the game cheap, fear not, as GC-ism seems to be geared more for the extremely casual player, as it is hard to execute the proper move you might need at any time. As any vet could tell you, executing exactly the move you need at the right time without a hitch is just as important as strategy is. Getting perfect execution down with GC-ism is very difficult if not impossible.

All in all, CvS2: EO seems to be even better than I expected right now. If you’ve got a modded GC, and are hankering for a good 2D fighter, go right ahead and import (it’s rather cheap and comes with a free Memory Card 59). Just be prepared to either adjust to the GC controller (which does take time), or to spend a few bucks on a decent controller converter to use your favorite PSX controller on the GC.