Reviews// Capcom, SNK & Sammy revive the 2D beat 'em up

Sammy is also offering up its own well-respected beat ‘em up series, Guilty Gear for release on Xbox. The iteration on the cards is Guilty Gear X2 Reloaded (due out 26th November), which – in the true tradition of 2D fighters, is just a re-hashed, re-vamped, re-jigged, re-released older game. Guilty Gear was released in 2001, to be followed by Guilty Gear X and then Guilty Gear X2; and X2 Reload is the follow up to that... Guilty Gear revised mark 3, if you will. Then, of course, there’s also the non-European release of Guilty Gear Usaka – which arguably could genuinely claim the title of Guilty Gear 2. It doesn’t though, because that simply wouldn’t be confusing enough.

Perhaps the greatest, and certainly most substantial, element of this 2D revival is the general inclusion of online play for each of the Xbox incarnations. The magic of Xbox Live could well invigorate the Dreamcast’s legacy, with Ryus and Kens all over the world once again allowed to take their extraordinary (or utterly moronic, depending on interpretation) talents to the competitive forefront. Anyone who’s tried to play CVS2 Live against a Japanese teenager - who has sworn his life to an arcade machine - getting beaten, literally, in the blink of an eye, will know full well that, as humiliating as it invariably is, online international fisticuffs is the best way forward for humanity. Even if you do lose, which you definitely will, you can say clever swear words over the voice communicator, clawing back a slice of dignity with every witty insult hurled at your non-English speaking rival. “Ha, well yes, you may have beaten me, but at least I’m not a big wally. Ha! take that!"

In essence, the gaming public will be faced with a 3 way mix’n’match battle: Capcom versus SNK versus Sammy. The Capcom/SNK clash has gone on for an age, and the fan-fuelled debate over which is the better brand is something of a holy-war. It amounts to the subtle, yet infinitely important (to some) differences between the Street Fighter 2 and King Of Fighters series. They both boast very similar mechanics, and a near-perfect gameplay balance, and this latest swathe of titles will be subject to the same close comparisons. Ultimately, it’s a matter of personal taste.