Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars review

It has finally gone beyond Japan's borders.

Review written by
YoshLee

January 27th, 2010

After a long wait Tatsunoko vs Capcom is finally outside the borders of Japan. I still want to cry over the lack of Phoenix Wright in the game, but in spite of his exclusion Capcom has still given us a very good character roster, with Zero from Mega Man X, Viewtiful Joe, and even a character from Okami as the final arcade mode boss (I'm still hoping for Wright if a sequel ever comes that expands the roster though). So rather than continue moaning about it, it's probably best I judge Tatsunoko vs Capcom by its own merits and be grateful Capcom went through all the trouble to deal with the license issues and get it overseas in the first place.

Gameplay

If you're an arcade head like me and have played a vs Capcom game before, you'll have a great time getting to grips with Tatsunoko vs Capcom's fighting system. It uses a 4 button style fighting system as opposed to 6 and has a few aspects that make it differ from previous games, so even veterans may have a bit of getting used to, but through and through the combos are insane, the hit detection is good, and the combat always feels upbeat. There are a few balancing issues with the characters, in typical Capcom crossover fashion, but stick with a character long enough and you'll get the hang of them. Besides if you're a veteran you can always use Ryu or another Capcom character you've used before. There are multiple control schemes for this, while I prefer the Classic Controller most people should be fine with a Gamecube one as well. I'd advise avoiding the Wiimote style though, it just doesn't seem to have the control layout for a fighting style game, but that's your call. Also most of you have probably heard news of an arcade style controller that is purchasable. While its price might discourage you, if you do have the money I advise making the investment to buy it, after all this sort of game is made for an arcade style joystick.

As far as characters go they all have incredibly well varied movesets and special combos. Don't be fooled by the fact that nearly every Tatsunoko character seems to be a superhero wearing an unnecessarily tight outfit, you won't find one character that acts similar to another. The online play is well done too, you've got all you'd really need. There is a small bit of lag but from what I've experienced, it's nowhere near as bad as Super Smash Bros Brawl and doesn't tone down the fun to a significant extent. There's a wide variety of players out there to take on, from newcomers to experts. If you think you're ready to do some competitive battles go to the ranked matches, if you're new and want to hone your skills so you don't get beat again and again by a bunch of Asian kids who've had the game since 2009, just do some free battles or practice with another friend who's also new to it.

Save for a few small balancing and lag issues Tatsunoko vs Capcom is really everything you'd want out of a fighting game. I don't think any of you will be disappointed with the gameplay.

Graphics

The visuals in Tatsunoko vs Capcom are very well executed. All the stages are colorfully designed, with eye catching backgrounds. With the exception of Frank West, all the characters seem to look just as they do in their games and shows, they're all very colorful and well animated, and whenever you execute a character's special move, the ground begins to erupt underneath in a ridiculously stylish way, making finishing an opponent off all the more satisfying.

Sound

To be honest most of the stage songs are sort of generic. They're by no means bad, just not very memorable. One common issue with games imported from Japan, is when the English voice acting is god awful! Don't worry about that though, because the majority of the characters speak a completely different language, and I see no problem with that. After all anyone who intends to buy this game, probably sort of wanted them to be shouting in a foreign language to begin with.

Overall the music is a tad bit bland, but the game still receives points for not having any bad English voice acting.

Lifespan

As I said before, Tatsunoko vs Capcom has a different button layout from the previous vs Capcom games, so even veterans will spend time getting used to it. If you add that to a crap ton of unlockables, a roster of 26 characters to play as, a variety of game modes, and some nice online play to boot, I think Tatsunoko vs Capcom will have you covered for a while.

Overall

I was really hyped for Tatsunoko vs Capcom and I'm happy to say that hype of mine was satisfied. The Tatsunoko cast may consist mainly of a bunch of faces that you've never seen before, but that's no reason to ignore them, try them out who knows you might end up becoming a fan of one of the Tatsunoko animes (I did and I don't even like most anime), and if you don't you can always just keep playing as the Capcom characters you've been playing as for most of your life too. Simply put Tatsunoko vs Capcom is a very good game, buy it, play it, and look forward to getting KO'd by anyone who uses Karas, who just happens to be very high tiered.