Introduction
Capcom vs SNK is a fighting game released by Capcom in 2000 as part of a crossover agreement with SNK. It is also the first game in the Capcom vs SNK series, and features characters from Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and King of Fighters.
The game was ported to the Dreamcast. A later revision of the game, adding the characters Dan and Joe, was released and can also be found on the Dreamcast and Playstation. But no one plays that one anyway.
Game Mechanics
Unlike most Capcom fighting games, CvS only uses 4 buttons, omitting the medium punch and kick entirely.
Grooves
The game features two grooves-essentially differences in how your super meter functions- called SNK groove and Capcom groove.
Capcom groove: Similar to the meter in Street Fighter Alpha, this meter builds up as you do stuff. The meter also has three levels-a level 1 super is done with a weak punch or kick, a level 2 with fierce punch or kick, and a level 3 with both punches or kicks. These use one third, two thirds, and the entire meter respectively.
SNK groove: In this groove your meter will build extremely slowly when you do moves, but can be manually charged by holding down both fierce buttons. Once filled, you have access to a level 1 super until it drains out. When your character is near death, their lifebar will begin flashing- this means you have access to unlimited level 1 supers. Charging up a meter at this time will give you a level 3.
EX Characters
All characters except for Nakoruru, Morrigan, Akuma, Iori, and Ryu have an EX character mode. The EX characters are notable for having different moves in general. Some characters suck ass in normal mode, but are badass in EX mode, and vice versa.
Ryu and Iori do technically have EX modes, but they are separate characters. These are Evil Ryu and Orochi Iori.
Ratios
In CvS, every character has a fixed ratio. You have only 4 ratio "points" with which to make up a team, allowing you to make arrangements of up to 4 characters. These ratios also indicate how much damage each character can dish out, and how much they can take.
Ratio 1 characters
Sakura Cammy Blanka Dhalsim King Benimaru Yuri Vice
CvS Pro only: Joe Dan
Ratio 2 characters
Ryu Ken Zangief Chun Li Guile Balrog E. Honda Morrigan Kyo Iori Mai Terry Raiden Kim Ryo Nakoruru
Ratio 3 characters
M. Bison Sagat Vega Geese Yamazaki Rugal
Ratio 4 characters
Evil Ryu Akuma Orochi Iori
Tiers
As a general rule ratio 3 and 4 characters are useless. Four ratio 1s tend to be strong teams, but there are ratio 2 characters that are strong in their own right.
Tier-list
Top Tier
Nakoruru EX Balrog Guile