Game #940: Capcom Fighting Evolution

 ...or how Capcom made their own Mugen game and sold it.

 As good as Capcom All-Stars was looking, Capcom decided to can the project. But since they had spent a lot of money on it.... they decided to spend as little money as possible and try to get some money back, that's how the lazy hack-job that is Capcom Fighting Evolution was born. They set out to make the most shameless cash-grab possible, and they succeeded, at the time, until EA would come out with their FIFA Legacy Editions.

 The game was made on the cheap, so it brings back sprites and mechanics from other games. You get four characters from Street Fighter II(Using either CVS or SFAlpha sprites), four from SF III, four from Darkstalkers, four from SFAlpha and four from Warzard, alongside Pyron who is acting as an unlockable and final boss, for whatever reason, and Shin Akuma as the bonus unlockable boss. They made one new sprite set, the one for Ingrid, and her animations are super cute, so she is wasted in this game. So... that's a total of 23 characters. It's a crossover game, made on a five dollar budget... with a scant 23 characters. Really? Ken Masters? Nowhere to be seen. Morrigan Aesland? Nowhere to be seen. Dude, this is an asset recycle extravaganza, it should've had at least 40 characters, there's no excuse. Want to be lazy, be lazy, but at least give me something.

 Oh, and characters don't REALLY play like they used to. I mean, it may be nitpicky, but some of them.... got gutted. SFIII characters get all three supers and a generic two-stock energy bar, instead of having to pick one between three. And SFAlpha characters have Custom Combo AND their supers by default. As for how the game plays.... you pick two characters and you can tag between them after a round. Rival Schools style, but with no tag attacks or assists or anything interesting, it's as boring as it gets. Other Capcom VS games are super hype, with energetic announcers, flashy menus and HUDs.... nothing like that over here, it's a lifeless MUGEN clone. And modes? Arcade, VS and Training, that's all you get. Not even in-game movelists, is this the PS1 era of fighting games?

 Capcom has often times recycled assets, but most of the time it's not too bad. Some could argue that some of Darkstalkers' sprites clashed against the new sprites in CVS 2, but I didn't think it was too bad. But just imagine Street Fighter III sprites next to Darkstalkers'. It's not a pretty sight. Then picture Street Fighter Alpha sprites next to Warzard's monsters. It doesn't work, the art styles don't mesh well at all. And the background art? Oh my god, it's hideous. The backgrounds look washed out, and the cherry on top is that they used official art or sprites for character cameos, one stage even uses a Dee-Jay official art piece that clashes next to the other recycled art assets due to the different coloring style. And these backgrounds feature very minimalistic animation that actually works against them, making them look very unappealing.

 About the only thing I can praise, besides Ingrid's sprite, are the ending, using what looks to be Udon's art to present a full comic-book-style page per character. Not the most detailed endings ever, but they are pretty to look at.

 There's not much to say about this travesty. It's boring, lazy and worst of all... forgettable.

3.0