SvC Chaos: SNK Vs Capcom

Introduction

After SNK's "rebirth" following their massive pullout of the US market, they got together with Capcom to plan the fourth SNK and Capcom crossover. The fruits of their labor came in 2003 when "SvC Chaos: SNK Vs Cacpom" was released for the NeoGeo. Unlike the Capcom VS SNK games (where Capcom acted as the developer), SvC was developed by SNK-Playmore (SNK also developed the NeoGeo Pocket Color game "SNK VS Capcom: Match of the Millenium"; the first Capcom/SNK fighting game). That said, SvC sports a decidedly SNK tone. The game is faster than the average Capcom game and is based on a modified King of Fighters engine. SNK redrew all the Capcom characters in their own style and it shows. SvC sports a roster of over 35 characters and takes its characters from various sources in the Capcom and SNK stables. The game also features a very unique dialogue tree where every character in the game has specific comments for all of their opponents (who reply in a unique manner as well), a feature that should be included in more fighting games.

Game Mechanics

The Terms

Well... You have a joystick with 8 directions on a arcade. The inputs of the joystick are called:

u = up
d = down
f = forward
b = backwards
uf = up-forward
ub = up-back
df = down-forward
db = down-back

With all these directions, you can make inputs. The basic inputs are called:

QCF = quarter circle forward = d, df, f
QCB = quarter circle back = d, db, b
HCF = half circle forward = b, db, d, df, f
HCB = half circle back = f, df, d, db, b
DP = dragon punch(Ryu's Shoryuken) = f, d, df (It's not hard to do, really.)
RDP = reverse dragon punch = b, d, bd
360 = full circle motion

As SvC is a NeoGeo game, all players have 4 buttons(In alphabetical order) in order to attack the opponent(The Capcom characters can only use 4 buttons too, but these chars have some Command Moves with the cr.MK, and in Demitri's case, a full set of normals). They are called:

A = LP = Light Punch
B = LK = Light Kick
C = HP = Hard Punch
D = HK = Hard Kick

If you want to play, you need to know those guys below, they're important to begin your combos, some strategy stuff, and other things...

cr. = This means that the character needs to be on a crouching state
s. = This means that the character needs to be on a standing state
cl. = This means that the character needs to be close to the opponent
f. = This means that the character needs to be far from the opponent
j. = This means that the character needs to be on a jumping state
sj. = The character needs to do a super jump

Some Other Terms

Light Attack Chain/Combo = This is a term that you'll read a lot on some sections. As the name states, it's just a combo with the character's Light Attacks involved. Some characters need it in their game, and some can't even do one, that just varies.

Link = First, remember: Link isn't a chain. Link is just comboing two moves, being them normals, Command Moves, Specials, Supers, and things like that. Some characters can link one normal into another one, or one Super into another Super, and there we go.

Knockdown = It's just a move that knocks down your opponent and gives to him the opportunity to do a recovery roll

Hard Knockdown = A move that knocksdown your opponent, but won't give him/her the opportunity to recovery roll. Example: I'm playing with Ryu, and my "friend" is with Kyo. At some point in the battle, I decided to jump. The Kyo player jumps too, and I forgot to attack(Best player ever). The Kyo player uses his air Command Move that he has on the KoF series(If you played with Kyo on any KoF game, you'll most likely know this move). If he hit the punch on my character, it will be impossible for me to do a recovery roll. This is how the Hard Knockdown works. But if you don't know the command, and you want to test, here it is: In air: d+HP. (The opponent needs to be in air too, but it can be used while he/she is in the ground). Some throws have this feature too.

Basic Strategy

Basic Rules

Rounds - Each battle on this game consists of a fight of (up to) 3 rounds between you, and your opponent(A "friend" or the CPU). At the beginning of the round, each player's life is full. This bar, in fact, is made of two bars: A yellow one, and a red one. The red one will only go down once the yellow one go away. The first player to take the life of his/her opponent to zero, wins the round. The first player to win 2 of the 3 rounds, wins the match.

The Controls

Attack Buttons - The buttons on the arcade have the traditional Neo Geo style:

A and B - The Light Punch(LP) and Kick(LK), respectively.
C and D - The Hard Punch(HP) and Kick(HK), respectively.
In general, the Light attacks are less powerful, but they're faster, and the Hard attacks are more powerful, but, in general, slower than the Light attacks.
If you're used to the Capcom style(With 3 buttons for punch and kick), I'm sorry, but the Neo Geo games don't use 6 buttons.
(Important note: I'll most of the time, use LP instead of A, LK instead of B, and there we go, mainly for the Capcom players, because the Neo Geo players are already used to the ABCD layout.)

Moving Your Character

The Joystick - Moving with the Joystick is something simple. If you press left, your character will move to the left, and if you press to the right, your character will move to the right. Simple. But it's not just that. You need to know that here we don't use left and right. We use BACKWARD and FORWARD here. So how can I know where is backward and forward? Simple:

• If your character is facing to the right(that means the side of the second player), then pressing left on the joystick means backward, and pressing right on the joystick means forward.
  
• If your character is facing to the left(that means the side of the first player), then pressing left on the joystick means forward, and pressing right on the joystick means backward.
  

Blocking

With the Joystick - To block an attack, a player must press backwards when the opponent attacks, otherwise, you'll just move away from the opponent. If a player blocks while standing, he can block middle, high, and air attacks(But you'll be vulnerable to low attacks). The block can be used while crouching, and this stance will block the low and middle attacks(But you'll be vulnerable to the air attacks, and the ground overhead attacks). Some high attacks can miss against certain characters.

Guard Meter - Well, every successful block will decrease your Guard Meter(The green meter). It can be refilled slowly if you don't block any attacks. The Guard Crush happens when a character block too much, this makes the character stunned for a little time. After the Guard Crush, the Guard Meter is refilled.

Advanced Strategy

Dash - Something basic, but advanced anyway. To use this just press ff(To dash forwards) or bb(To dash backwards). Your character will do an quick dash/running animation, and this looks simple, but it's not only that. You can attack or use a special move while dashing, and this is good, but don't abuse this feature. You can jump while dashing too, and the character will jump higher with this.

Autoguard attacks - Autoguard is when a character automatically blocks an attack while performing a Command/Special move. Some of the moves that have this feature don't go to a block pose, instead a block animation appears on the screen, with a brief pause, and then the move continues. Like in the normal block, triggering the Autguard makes the Guard Crush gauge go down. Some Autoguard moves are cancellable, in example: Ryo's f+LK. This is a Autoguard command move. Let's suppose that I'm with him (Ryo, I mean) and the opponent is with... Kasumi. The round begins and the Kasumi player decided to jump in my direction. Ryo's f+LK has the Autoguard feature(And it's like a normal block, and he has a version to autoguard the low attacks), as I said before, so the Kasumi jumps, and uses her j.LK on me, but I used the f+LK, so this will "block" the attack, and I can counter Kasumi's attack easily.

The Super Meter - Any character's meter starts on the level 1 at the beginning of the match. You can fill it up as this things occur:

• If you take damage (excluding the normal throws);
• If you use a special move;
• If you use an normal attack that hits your opponent;
• If you make an attack that is blocked (excluding the Super and exceed moves)
• If your opponent taunts you (Gives you something like a quarter of one level, I think)

The meter will decrease if some of this things occur:

• If you use a Normal Throw(A+B or C+D) that misses (Costs a quarter of one level, I think)
• If you use the GCF (Guard Cancel Frontstep) with ff (Costs about 20% of one level)
• If you use the GCF (Guard Cancel Frontstep) with A+B (Costs about 60% of one level)
• If you use a Guard Cancel Attack(See below)
• If you use a Super Move(Costs one level)

Guard Cancel Attack(GCA) (aka CD counter) - To perform this, just press The HP(C) and the HK(D) buttons while blocking an attack. It costs one level of the Super Meter, so use with caution. When you do the input while blocking, your character does an attack(Like the CD on the KoF series) that knocks your opponent across the screen. It don't do any damage, but it'll add 50% to your Guard Crush Gauge. You can normal cancel it if it hits or if it's blocked.

Guard Cancel Frontstep(GCF) - This thing is important, so you need to master this technique. There are 2 ways to use this(Choose only one, please):
First Way : Use ff while blocking, it's like a dash, and it's harder to do while blocking, but you can save the Super Meter if you master this(As I said, this costs about 20% of one level).
Second Way: Press LK(B), and HP(C) while blocking. It's easier to do while blocking, because you don't have to worry about the joystick to use this. As I said before, this costs about 60% of one level. A good choice for beginners.

High Jump - The fighters of this game can perform two different jumps: The normal jump(Just press up on the joystick), and the High Jump. To do this jump, quickly move the joystick down and then up(This works with up-forward and up-back), or do a forward dash(f, f), and then just jump. If you do that, your character will jump higher than average. Although the engine used in the game can be a copy from KoF, there is no short hop.

Throws/Throw Escapes - In this game, each character have at least 2 throws with different cominations. The first is A+B(The two Light attacks), which throws your opponent forward. The second one is C+D(The two Heavy attacks), which sends your opponent backward(To your back's direction, I mean). Just go to someplace near the opponent and press one of those two(Some characters have special throws, but let's use only those two now). Throws are unblockable, but you can escape from them. How? I can only say one thing: It's hard. To escape from a throw, you need to press the exact combination made with the throw(Excluding special throws) immediately after the animation begins. If a player used LP(A) and LK(B) on a throw, the other player must use the same buttons(And only them) in order to escape the throw(You can use cheats too, but cheats are wrong).

MAXIMUM Mode - When the Super Meter reaches the level 3, the gauge becames "MAXIMUM" and starts flashing. At this time, the meter begins to decrease. You can cancel/supercancel almost every move at this time, so this mode is good for combos. If you perform any move that "drains" the meter(go to "The Super Meter" section for details), the gauge will decrease. During the MAXIMUM mode, you can use a move that decreases the meter even if you don't have enough power left. Afterwards, the MAXIMUM Gauge will revert to the normal and not-so-boring Gauge. Once this gauge is empty, it fills back to the level 2, and you have to gain more power afterwards. If you refill it, you can go back to the MAXIMUM Mode.

Exceed attacks - Exceeds are like Super Moves, but you don't need a level to use it, and you don't need to be in MAXIMUM mode to use them. The requirement to use this are: The name of the character needs to be Flashing. This can only happen if you when you lose your first bar(The yellow one), and you have only the red one. There's something important in the Exceeds: You can use them once in the battle(No, not in the round, in the battle... That means, if you use an Exceed on the first round, you cannot use on round 2 or 3, so USE WITH CAUTION!!!!

Recovery Roll - This is something easy, and good to begginers. It's a normal thing on the KoF series, so if you're used to it, it's a good progress. But if you don't know, just press A+B in the time that you land(If you're in a knockdown state). This allows your character to recover on their feet quickly instead of being knocked down.

Move buffering - This is something tricky, but important. This strategy allows Super/Special/Exceed moves to come out with a different input(Sometimes it can be hard). A nice example is dashing in the middle of the input, for example... Let's use Ryu's Shinkuu Hadouken. You probably know the input,right?(If you don't know, which can be rare, here it is - QCF(2x)+P) Now let's try to add a dash in the middle of the input. How? Just do this input: QCF, ff, QCF+P. You got it? If not, just practice with another move/character(It works with every character, and almost all of the Super/Special moves in the game, so you have many choices, but can be hard with some characters).

This left you confused? It was the intention. You will be confused in battle, your opponent will confuse you, you will confuse yourself, and the CPU... The CPU can confuse you too, so... Remember: SvC is a confusing game with many tactics and every player has only one goal... The victory...

--Redarts (talk) 04:53, 17 December 2015 (MSK)

Game Versions

• Arcade (NeoGeo MVS/AES)
• Playstation 2
• Xbox

Tier List

--God Tier--

• Geese
• Zero

--Near God Tier--

• Orochi Iori

--Top Tier--

• Demitri
• #Red Arremer (Freaking zoning character. He just isn't above Demitri because the Vampire can easily defeat his minions, in the ground or in the air; Geese can just infinite him to death; Zero can do things from far away to stop his zoning; O. Iori is just fast enough to stop him.)
• Violent Ken
• Chun Li
• Guile
• Kim
• Terry
• Kyo
• Tessa

--Upper mid--

• Goenitz
• Dhalsim
• Iori
• Mr. Karate
• Ryu
• Shiki
• Earthquake
• Sagat

-- Mid tier --

• #Serious Mr. Karate (He could be Top Tier, because he is a boss character, but... He needs to be on MAXIMUM Mode to do his things. Oh, he can't cancel normals too, in case you don't know.)
• Ryo
• Mai
• #Shin Akuma (Using the logic here, Shin Akuma is just a stronger Akuma, which means that you can use the same strategies to beat the two of them. But Akuma is hard to beat, his mode won't matter that much.)
• Akuma
• Choi
• Mars People
• Ken
• #Athena (Not sure if she is Low Tier, but I'll put her here, because I like weak bosses.)

-- Low tier --

• Kasumi
• Genjuro
• Hugo
• Boxer
• Dictator
• Claw
• Dan

Characters with a # are selectable only on console versions of the game. Even if this Tier List can be accepted, some Low Tier chars can have advantages against characters from higher tiers(If you're above, that doesn't mean you're invincible. A Dan/Claw player can win a Geese/Zero player, hardly, but he/she can. If your opponent has a health bar, that means he/she can lose.). For the console-only characters, it's just my opinion on where they are located.

The Characters

• Akuma/Gouki
• Balrog(Boxer)
• Choi Bounge
• Chun-Li
• Dhalsim
• Earthquake
• Genjyuro Kibagami
• Guile
• Hugo
• Iori Yagami
• Kasumi Todoh
• Ken
• Kim Kaphwan
• Kyo Kusanagi
• Mai Shiranui
• M. Bison(Dictador)
• Mr. Karate (Takuma Sakazaki)
• Ryo Sakazaki
• Ryu
• Sagat
• Shiki
• Tessa
• Terry Bogard
• Vega(Claw)

Sub-Bosses

• Geese Howard
• Leopold Goenitz
• Mars People
• Orochi Iori
• Dan Hibiki
• Demitri Maximoff
• Violent Ken
• Serious Mr. Karate
• Rockman Zero
• Shin Akuma

Final Bosses (Only playable on the home versions)

• Red Arremer
• Athena

After you click in one of those above, put the cursor in the character's animation to see his/her best win quote(In my opinion, I mean).