SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters is a Collectible Card Game series released by SNK Playmore between 1999 and 2007 for Neo Geo Pocket Color and Nintendo DS. The series include references and cards of several characters and games from SNK and Capcom video game series like Mega Man, Street Fighter and The King of Fighters. The Neo Geo Pocket Color games are illustrated in the SD (Super Deformed) art style, while the Nintendo DS game uses normal art style, with only a few exceptions.
Games[]
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash[]
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash (SNK VS. CAPCOM 激突カードファイターズ SNK vs. Capcom - Gekitou Kādo Faitāsu) is the first game in the series, released in 1999 for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, and the first crossover between SNK and Capcom. It was released in two version: Capcom and SNK, each with a different starting deck, different playable characters (Cap or Comet in Capcom version, Shin or Kei in SNK version) and cards that can be obtained only in certain versions, but the gameplay is the same. There is a total of 300 cards, being 120 SNK Character Cards, 120 Capcom Character Cards and 60 Action Cards.
In Japan, the game also had a soundtrack released in 1999 by Pony Canyon and a real card game known as "Versus TCG", which has all 300 cards from the game and 36 new foil Special Cards. The rules and some cards where modified, some of the changes being the deck limit of 40 cards and the new "Star" ability type.
On January 12, 2022, this game was re-released exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition[]
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition is a sequel released only in Japan in 2001 for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Instead of being released in two different versions, players choose if they want to start with a SNK or a Capcom based deck. The playable character is a 14 years old boy named Rikuto Arata. The games begins when Rikuto has his cards stolen by Neo Mantle, a mysterious card fighter, and goes after him with his friend Haruna Hatena. There is a total of 424 cards, being 160 SNK Character Cards, 160 Capcom Character Cards, 64 Action Cards and 40 Reaction Cards.
In 2008, an English translation of the game was released by fans as a patch to the original game.
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS[]
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS was released for Nintendo DS on December 2006 in Japan and on April 2007 in the United States. The gameplay, mechanics and cards had several changes, and characters from other game series like World Heroes, Devil May Cry and Ace Attorney where added. Characters from the Power Stone series are absent in this game. The playable character is a 13 years old boy called Taiki. Players can choose at any time one of the 19 faces that will appear in battles, two of them being Taiki and a Servbot. The story begins when a man named Makito created the Card Tower and its MAX system, a new card battle system that malfunction and tries to control the world, kidnapping Makito and controlling several card fighters in the tower. Taiki, Rico and Makito's son, Kaito, enter the 21 floors tower to rescue him. The game has a total of 400 cards, being 150 SNK Character Cards, 150 Capcom Character Cards, 60 Action Cards and 40 Counter Cards.
In early US versions, there is an unavoidable bug that occurs in the ninth floor of the tower, during the second play through. The game crashes after talking to an opponent named Jon, who has to be defeated in order to finish the game. On June 6, SNK announced that the replacement cartridge would be available in stores on June 25 and began the process of implementing a recall. These cartridges have been sent by mail along with a package of 5 King of Fighters trading cards. The recall ended in January 2008. Fixed versions of the game features a black and white graphic behind the title font on the cartridge's label. The label of the bugged version is in full color.
Rules[]
Terms and card types[]
- Deck: The Deck is made of 50 cards used by the player. There can be only 3 of the same card in the deck.
- Ring: The field where characters fight. Each player can put up to 3 (8 in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS) Character Cards in the Ring.
- Hit Points (HP): The player's life energy. When the HP of one player reaches 0, the opponent win the match. The maximum HP is 9900.
- Character Cards: Characters from SNK and Capcom that are used in combat.
- Battle Points (BP): The character's HP and the damage caused to opponents. During a counterattack, the characters have they BP reduced by the same value of the opponent's BP. If the BP reach 0, the character is defeated, and both player and opponent characters are defeated when they attack cards with the same BP value. BPs aren't lost when attacking the player's HP. The maximum BP limit is 9900. In SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS, the HP was separated from BP.
- Card Hit Points (HP): In SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS, the HP of Characters Cards is separated from its Battle Points.
- Soul Points (SP): When a Character Card is placed in the ring, the SP points of the card are obtained. They are needed to use Action Cards, Reaction Cards and Unite Attacks. The maximum SP value is 99. The SP was replaced by Force in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS.
- Force: Introduced in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS, Force icons replace the Soul Points from previous games. They are used to place Character Cards in the Ring, Back-ups, Special Powers, Fusion Attacks and counterattacks. There are 5 types of Force: White, Red, Yellow, Green and Blue. White Force is neutral and can be replaced by any other Force color. Players start with 3 White Force icons, and there are three ways to obtain Force: In the begin of the turn (In each turn the player get 1 White Force icon and 1 color Force icon corresponding for each Character Cards placed in the Ring), discarding cards in the hand to obtain Force of the same color, and freezing Character Cards in the Ring.
- Action Cards (AC): Cards with special effects that need SP to be used. In SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS they need Force icons to be activated.
- Reaction Cards (RE) / Counter Cards: Cards with special effects introduced in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition. Like Action Cards, they need SP to be used, but can only be used during a counterattack against the opponent. In SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS, they where renamed as Counter Cards, and need Force.
- Back-up: Link one character card in the hand with one in the Ring to rise his BP by 300 points. Back-up can be used only one time per turn, and can't be used in Frozen characters. Characters can only combine with predetermined cards. In SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS, Back-up can only be used to heal BPs that where lost in battle, and only Cards with the same trait (color) can be used.
- Unite Attack / Fusion Attack: Character cards combine attacks by using SP (5 SP with 2 characters and 10 SP with 3). If the BP is higher than the opponent's character, they can pierce his counterattack and attack the opponent's HP with the remaining BP. The Unite Attack was renamed as Fusion Attack in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS.
- Freeze: A condition in which characters can't attack or use a Square Ability, being unable to act for one turn. Characters can't attack in the same turn they where placed in the ring.
- Abilities / Special Powers: Special ability used by cards. There are three types of Special Power:
- Triangle Ability: Card which ability can only be activated when the Character Card is placed in the Ring, and can't be canceled as long as the character is in the Ring.
- Square Ability: The card can be activated at any time the player want, and the Character Card is frozen after activation, and can't be used while the character is frozen.
- Circle Ability: The character's special power. The effect is activate as long as the character is in the Ring. The effect is disabled for one turn if the character is used in a Unite Attack.
Gameplay[]
In the begin, players shuffle their decks and draw 5 cards to the hand.
Phases:
- 1. Active Phase: All Character Cards in the player's Ring are released from the Freeze Phase, and they can attack or use Square Abilities. Some characters may stay in Freeze Phase depending on Action Cards and Abilities.
- 2. Draw Phase: Draw one card. If there is no card in the pile during this phase, the player lose. Some Abilities can skip this phase, avoiding players to draw cards.
- 3. Main Phase: One or more of the following can be done during this phase:
- Place a Character Card in the Ring. Only one character can be placed per turn.
- Use Back-up Attack (Only once per turn).
- Use Square Abilities.
- Use Action Cards.
- Attack opponent with one or more character cards normally or with Unite Attacks. End the turn after the attack.
- End the turn without doing anything.
- 4. Counterattack Phase: The player counterattack the active player by doing one of the actions below. The turn ends after this phase.
- Let the characters attack the player's HP.
- Counterattack the attacks with characters.
- Use Reaction Cards.
In SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS, the gameplay was modified. The main changes are the replacement of SP by Force icons and the Ring now allow 8 Character Cards in each side, and any amount of characters can be placed in the Ring in one turn as long as there is enough Force icons to pay their AP cost. In the begin, players draw 6 cards to the hand instead of 5.
[]
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash[]
Image | No. | Character | BP | SP | Rarity | Back-up | Ability |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C107 | Mega Man | 600 | +5 | B | Roll Rush |
Enemy Ability (Square Ability) Selects 1 character with Ability. Steals Ability from that character. | |
C108 | Roll | 400 | +0 | C | Mega Man Rush |
Roll Buster (Square Ability) Decreases all characters's life (including this one) 200 pts. | |
C109 | Rush | 200 | +2 | D | Mega Man Roll Galford |
No ability | |
C110 | Proto Man | 300 | +1 | D | Huitzil Blodia Mega Man |
No ability | |
C111 | Mega Man X | 600 | +1 | C | Mega Man Zero |
Parts Change (Square Ability) Draw 1 AC Card from hand and discards it. Draw 2 cards. | |
C112 | Zero | 600 | +2 | C | Huitzil Zero Akuma Mega Man X |
No ability |
Image | No. | Name | SP | Rarity | Effect |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A051 | Activate! | -4 | C | During this turn, a character getting Back-Up gets it endlessly. |
Additionally, Rush is one of the back-up cards from S034 Galford.
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash Versus TCG[]
No. | Card name | BP | SP | Ability |
---|---|---|---|---|
ca-107R | Rockman | 500 | +3 | Enemy Ability (Square Ability) Selects 1 character with Ability. Steals Ability from that character. |
ca-108U | Roll-chan | 400 | +1 | Roll Buster (Square Ability) Decreases all characters's life (including this one) 200 pts. |
ca-109C | Rush | 200 | +2 | Rush Drill (Star Ability) Shuffles deck after this character's returned to deck. |
ca-110C | Blues | 300 | +1 | Mysterious Robot (Star Ability) KOs this character. Get 100 HPs for each card in hand. |
ca-111U | Rockman X | 600 | +1 | Parts Change (Square Ability) Draw 1 AC Card from hand and discards it. Draw 2 cards. |
ca-112C | Zero | 600 | +2 | No ability |
ac-051U | Tron ni Kobun | N/A | -4 | During this turn, a character getting Back-Up gets it endlessly. |
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition[]
Image | No. | Name | BP | SP | Rarity | Back-up | Ability |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C107 | Rockman | 600 | +5 | B | Roll-chan Rush |
Enemy Ability (Square Ability) Selects 1 character with Ability. Steals Ability from that character. | |
Text translation: | Robot built by Dr. Right. Can obtain the ability of enemies! (Rockman series) | ||||||
C108 | Roll-chan | 400 | +4 | C | Rockman Rush Cathy |
Roll Buster (Square Ability) All characters (including this one) receives 200 damage. | |
Text translation: | Her cute appearance is reverse outwards her Roll Buster, which can knock down enemies! (Rockman series) | ||||||
C109 | Rush | 200 | +3 | D | Rockman Roll-chan Galford |
No ability | |
Text translation: | Rockman's support robot. Can transform to rescue Rockman. (Rockman series) | ||||||
C110 | Blues | 300 | +2 | D | John Mr. Big K' |
No ability | |
Text translation: | Sometimes an enemy... sometime an ally. A mysterious robot, what are his true intentions...? (Rockman series) | ||||||
C111 | Rockman X | 500 | +1 | D | Rockman ZERO Leona |
Parts Change (Square Ability) Draw 1 AC Card from hand and discard it. Draw 2 cards. | |
Text translation: | A peace loving Reploid. Draw his X-Buster when in action! (Rockman series) | ||||||
C112 | ZERO | 600 | +3 | C | Zero Gouki Rockman X Zero |
No ability | |
Text translation: | Uses the Z-Saber, is X's combat companion. A cool, go-getter Hunter. (Rockman series) | ||||||
C148 | Rock | 600 | +2 | C | Roll Roll (M) |
Adventure (Square Ability) Select one card from the opponent's hand and place it in the top of his discard pile, draw a card from the bottom oh his discard pile. | |
Text translation: | Young Digger with heart full of courage and adventure. (Rockman series) | ||||||
C149 | Rock (M) | 700 | +0 | S | Roll Roll (M) |
Rock Buster (Square Ability) KO this character. Gives 300 damage to all other characters. | |
Text translation: | Run fast freely from left to right! A great adventure will now begin! (Illustration: Maeda Shima) | ||||||
C150 | Roll | 500 | +4 | C | Rock Rock (M) |
Operate (Square Ability) Choose 1 Character Card in your ring and place it in the bottom of the deck. | |
Text translation: | Rockman's childhood friend and a mechanic expert. (Rockman series) | ||||||
C151 | Roll (M) | 500 | +3 | S | Rock Rock (M) |
Spare Parts (Triangle Ability) Choose 1 RE card from discard pile, add it to your hand. | |
Text translation: | Navigate skillfully to Rockman. It's a Digout without mistakes!! (Illustration: Maeda Shima) | ||||||
C152 | Tron | 600 | +1 | C | Rosa B. Jenet |
Kobun Assistance (Circle Ability) In the Draw Phase, draw 1 extra card. | |
Text translation: | Eldest daughter of the "Bonne family" air pirates. Is accompanied by 40 Kobuns! (Rockman series) |
Image | No. | Name | SP | Rarity | Effect |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A051 | Tron ni Kobun | -4 | C | During this turn, a character getting Back-Up gets it endlessly. | |
Text translation: | Tron: "Everyone, march!!" Kobun: "Yes yesss!" | ||||
A063 | Lunch Rush | -3 | A | Players show their Hand to each other and draw 1 card for each AC card they have. | |
Text translation: | "Miss Tron!" stomp stomp stomp stomp |
The back-up for some non-Mega Man cards are Mega Man characters:
- Rush can back-up S034 Galford and S036 Nakoruru/Ra.
- Rockman can back-up S037 Nakoruru (S).
- Tron can back-up S127 B. Jenet and C156 Ruby Heart.
- ZERO can back-up S156 Zero.
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS[]
Note: There are a few mistranslations in the game, like Proto Man's Special Power "Bruce Strikes Back" (Blues Strike), Mega Man's Special Power "Lock Buster" (Rock Buster), and Wily being called "Wiley" and "Wylie" in the descriptions of Proto Man and Bass. In both English and Japanese versions, the description of the two Zero cards where switched between the Mega Man X series card and the Mega Man Zero series card.
Axl | ||||||||||
Trait | Blue | Rarity | D | HP | 400 | BP | 400 | |||
A.P. Cost | 1 White | Output Force | 1 Blue | |||||||
Special Power | This card has no Special Power. | Use Cost | ||||||||
Power description | This card has no Special Power. | |||||||||
Card Text | Prototype for a new reploid who can mimic the appearance and powers of other reploids, Axl suffers from amnesia. He feels loyal to Red for his kindness and joins Red Alert to become a Maverick Hunter like his idols X and Zero. | |||||||||
Bass | ||||||||||
Trait | Blue | Rarity | C | HP | 300 | BP | 400 | |||
A.P. Cost | 2 White and 1 Blue | Output Force | 1 Blue | |||||||
Special Power | Sonic Crusher (Triangle Ability) | Use Cost | 2 White | |||||||
Power description | Selects 1 Action Card from your Hand to discard it. KO's 1 opponent Character Card that has no special power. (If there's no Character Card this card is KO'd.) | |||||||||
Card Text | One of Wylie's Special Numbers made with the unknown alloy Bassnium, he aims to bury Mega Man by his own hands. He has already betrayed his own creator Dr. Wylie and teams up with support bot Treble to bring about his ends. | |||||||||
Doctor Wily | ||||||||||
Trait | Red | Rarity | C | HP | 200 | BP | 300 | |||
A.P. Cost | 1 White and 2 Red | Output Force | 1 Red | |||||||
Special Power | I'm Frickin' Genius! (Triangle Ability) | Use Cost | 2 White | |||||||
Power description | Gives you color Force Icons for the amount of Character Cards in the Ring. | |||||||||
Card Text | This guy's an evil scientist plotting to rule the world. He was a pal of Dr. Light at university but it went sour. Tired of always being one step his colleague, he constructed a robot factory in the Pacific and set out to rule the world. | |||||||||
Mega Man (Illustrated by Yoshinoya) | ||||||||||
Trait | Red | Rarity | S | HP | 600 | BP | 300 | |||
A.P. Cost | 1 White and 2 Red | Output Force | 2 Red | |||||||
Special Power | Charged Lock Buster (Circle Ability) | Use Cost | 3 Red | |||||||
Power description | The die rolls when this Character Card is KO'd. The opponent gets 100 times the number on the die of damage. | |||||||||
Card Text | Created by Dr. Light this home robot asked to be changed into a fighter robot to put an end to Dr. Wily's world conquest. This tiny droid is powered by the sun and fabricated from Light's ceramic titanium alloy. Spikes seem to be his weakness. | |||||||||
Mega Man X (Illustrated by TONKO) | ||||||||||
Trait | Blue | Rarity | A | HP | 300 | BP | 500 | |||
A.P. Cost | 1 White and 3 Blue | Output Force | 2 Blue | |||||||
Special Power | Ultimate Armor (Circle Ability) | Use Cost | 1 Blue | |||||||
Power description | When this Character Card counterattacks, the die rolls at the end of this card's battle. You get Yellow Force Icons for the number that you roll. | |||||||||
Card Text | The autonomous robot Dr. Light had sealed away, he leads elite Maverick Hunter Squad 17 and is endowed with A-Class ability. Discovered by Dr. Cain, the data from X was used to make a new type of robot, the series known as Reploids. | |||||||||
Proto Man | ||||||||||
Trait | Green | Rarity | C | HP | 500 | BP | 500 | |||
A.P. Cost | 1 White and 1 Green | Output Force | 1 Green | |||||||
Special Power | Bruce Strikes Back (Square Ability) | Use Cost | 2 Green | |||||||
Power description | Select 1 card from your Pile to discard after you draw 2 cards. | |||||||||
Card Text | First prototype of Dr. Light, he went MIA once completed. Dr. Wiley took him in and turned him into an attack robot. Wiley also put on a visor to hide his true identity from Dr. Light. Proto loves to be and act on his own. | |||||||||
Servbot | ||||||||||
Trait | Yellow | Rarity | C | HP | 400 | BP | 200 | |||
A.P. Cost | 1 White and 1 Yellow | Output Force | 1 Yellow | |||||||
Special Power | Grab the Beast! (Square Ability) | Use Cost | 2 Yellow | |||||||
Power description | Restores 200HP to HP of this Character Card. | |||||||||
Card Text | An all-purpose mechanism built by Tron Bonne and one of 40 others who each have distinct personalities in service of Bonne. They love Tron like a mother but are always in trouble for their mistakes. Tron has made 40 but 41 seem to exist... | |||||||||
Tron Bonne | ||||||||||
Trait | Red | Rarity | C | HP | 200 | BP | 200 | |||
A.P. Cost | 2 White and 2 Red | Output Force | 1 Red | |||||||
Special Power | Bonne Bazooka (Square Ability) | Use Cost | 1 White and 2 Red | |||||||
Power description | KO's 1 of the Character Cards in your Ring. Gives 200 pts. damage to all Character Cards in the Ring. | |||||||||
Card Text | Big sister of the 3 Bonne kids and a genius engineer. She designs and manufactures various kinds of mechanisms. Wise beyond her years and loath to lose, her creations are far superior to Roll Caskett's. She has the hots for Mega. | |||||||||
Zero | ||||||||||
Trait | Red | Rarity | C | HP | 200 | BP | 300 | |||
A.P. Cost | 1 White and 3 Red | Output Force | 1 Red | |||||||
Special Power | Z Saber (Square Ability) | Use Cost | 2 Red | |||||||
Power description | Gives opponent 100 pts. damage. | |||||||||
Card Text | The legendary reploid Ciel awakened from a century sleep to help the Resistance battle against Neo Arcadia. As he fights, he begins to recall his past. His current has his old core memory with a brand new body. | |||||||||
Zero (Illustrated by Ogura Eisuke) | ||||||||||
Trait | Green | Rarity | A | HP | 700 | BP | 700 | |||
A.P. Cost | 1 White and 3 Green | Output Force | 2 Green | |||||||
Special Power | Weather Changing System (Square Ability) |
Use Cost | 2 White and 3 Green | |||||||
Power description | KO's this Character Card. Discards all cards in the Hands of both players. | |||||||||
Card Text | Special Type A Maverick Hunter and leader of Zero Squad, he is a shrewd, mission-focused, and ruthless advanced robot. He wields the Z-Saber that suits him for close battles. Zero can also analyze DNA to acquire the skills his foes. | |||||||||
Can o' Energy | ||||||||||
Trait | Yellow | Rarity | A | Use Cost | 4 White and 2 Yellow Force | |||||
Power description | Restores 500 of your own HP. | |||||||||
Card Text |
Manga[]
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS had a manga adaptation by Yuuga Takauchi (高内優向) on Fami2 Comic from January to March 2007. In the first chapter, the protagonist used Mega Man and Terry Bogard to defeat Baby Bonnie Hood, Mudman and Red Arremer.
Trivia[]
- G-Mantle, a character that appears in several SNK games, is present in the first and third game of the series (renamed as "Mask, the Game Crusader" and "Germont" in the English versions). The second game has characters based on him: Neo Mantle, Robo Mantle and G-Mantle Lady.
- Many locations and character names from the series are based on games, characters or real life people related to Capcom and SNK. For instance, the characters Cap Com and Comet Com are based on Capcom, the character Kido Yoshiji (known as Kid in the first English game) that works in Joy Joy is based on the game Joy Joy Kid, and the character Fō Gotton that works in Lost World is based on the game Forgotten Worlds.
- Besides the cards, Mega Man has a few references in the games. In the first game there is a fictional Neo Geo Pocket game called "Mega Man Z" for rent and a girl thinking if she should call a dog as "Poppy" or "Rush".
External links[]
- SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash official webpage (archive)
- SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition official webpage (archive)
- SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS official webpage
- SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition English translation patch
- SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash guide at StrategyWiki