Tatsunoko VS Capcom: Ultimate All Stars

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom: Ultimate All Stars is the next instalment in Capcom’s VS series

What’s Hot:

• Range of characters and game modes are great.
• Art style, animation and sound are awesome
• Easy to play, difficult to master
• Lag free online play.

What’s Not:
• Characters take too long to unlock in arcade more
• Half of the cast is relatively unknown

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom: Ultimate All Stars is a 2v2, 2.5D fighting game that features characters from the Japanese game developer Capcom and Japanese Anime house Tatsunoko Publishing. A lot of people won’t know who Tatsunoko’s characters are and this is one of the reasons why the game nearly never made it to US and UK shores. Tatsunoko produce anime including Yatterman, Gatchaman, and Tekkaman Blade, duelling with the best of Capcom including Ryu, Chun Li and Mega Man. Even though the game does not give much back story about the characters, the game is strong enough on its own to inspire people to read up on the characters.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom takes game play elements from Capcom’s other successful VS game Marvel VS Capcom 2 with its high speed, juggle focused game play. The game has 3 buttons for punch and 3 for kick (light, medium, heavy) depending on the button pressed the animation and move will change for instance if Ryu throws a Heavy hadouken it will go further and do more damage than a light or medium hadouken. The basic tag format from the previous games return, with an extra button devoted to tagging your other character in to do a quick attack, when a partner is tagged out completely they may regain some of there health. Super attacks are back in action, when these attacks are initiated the screen can explode with a range of multi coloured beams of deadly force, depending of what character you are using. Barouque combo’s that cost a small amount of health but in return you can extend your combo’s even more. The final game play element is Mega crushes, for a small amount of health and two bars of your super meter, you can end the other players combo, great if you are in the middle of a big combo. Despite all these game play elements Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is still a great game if you just want to bash a few buttons with friends.

All the basic modes you'd want are included in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. There is arcade mode, time attack, survival, and vs. play, a training dojo and a secret little bonus game that’s a throw – away. To unlock all of the characters in the game you must play the arcade mode at least 16 times, which is a bit too much just too unlock characters but the characters are worth it in the end. The game also has online play, using Nintendo’s Wi-Fi connection. You can either play with friends using Friend Codes, or random matches, after which you can add the player to your list without inputting any codes, which was a great idea, like SF4 the game has titles and emblems, leader boards and a great search function so you can easily find lag free games.

The game can use either the Wii Remote on its side or with a numb chuck, the classic controller or the game cube controller or if you have the money, the Madcatz stick. The latter three are the best to use, if you want to get serious with the game as they offer the most buttons, but the Wii remote is fine if you just want to mess around. The visuals are very impressive, mixing in an immense amount of fluid animation, while staying easy enough to see and react to in the heat of battle, with an art style that makes Tatsunoko so popular. Both English and Japanese audio tracks are included, and the overall sound design is simply amazing.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is an amazing for not only Wii, but overall. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is the true successor of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, it melds a few classic Capcom characters with an otherwise totally unknown roster and still makes a fighter that can pull anyone in within a matter of moments. The game play is simple enough for anyone, but deep enough for seasoned brawlers to really enjoy. It’s no wonder 360 and PS3 fans are asking to see this game as this is a true gem worthy of the Capcom name.