SNK vs. Capcom, or alternately Capcom vs. SNK, is a series of crossover video games by either Capcom or SNK featuring characters that appear in games created by either company. Most of these are fighting games, and take on a similar format to Capcom's own Marvel vs. Capcom series, in which the players create teams of fighters and have them fight each other. Games in this series either contain SNK vs. Capcom or Capcom vs. SNK in their titles, with the first company named denoting the company behind the game's development.
Reception to the series has been varied; the Capcom-developed titles were the most positively-received, while the SNK-developed installments received more mixed reviews.
The supposed origin behind this series was an issue of Arcadia magazine in which there were articles covering both The King of Fighters '98 and Street Fighter Alpha 3, both of which were released at around the same time. Readers had misread the cover, which said KOF vs. SF, to mean that there was a fighting game that would pit characters from Street Fighter and The King of Fighters. Because of this uproar, Capcom and SNK supposedly[by whom?] signed a deal that would allow them to produce only two fighting games concerning both franchises in 1999 (the Card Fighters series (see below) were not fighting games and therefore were exempt from the rule). It is highly suggested[by whom?] that SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos was only made in order to fulfill the contract obligations that SNK made prior to the company filing bankruptcy and their eventual closing in 2000. Also, if one company was the main creator of one game, the distributing company would gain the profits and not the company that licensed the characters for use (although SNK gave the rights to use the SNK characters to Capcom for the first Capcom vs. SNK game, SNK did not profit from the game, which did not help their financial problems).
While no new SNK vs. Capcom titles have been released since Card Fighters DS, characters from both companies have appeared together in a handful of other titles, including Bandai Namco's Tekken 7, Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Cygames' Granblue Fantasy, and some of their own titles like Netmarble/SNK's The King of Fighters All Star and Capcom's Street Fighter 6.
In a 2021 interview with Polygon, director Hideaki Itsuno confirmed that at one point, there had been plans for a new, 3D installment in the series, but that it had been cancelled due to SNK's bankruptcy. The 3D assets created for Capcom vs. SNK 3 were later repurposed for the cancelled Capcom Fighting All-Stars;[1] said project was set to include The King of Fighters protagonist Kyo Kusanagi as a guest character during its planned release after a deal was struck with the then-reformed SNK Playmore.[2] There were interviews with SNK that it would be possible to renew their contract with Capcom to make new SNK vs. Capcom games,[3] but in another interview, both companies stated that they would not do any further collaboration with each other, claiming SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS would probably be the last crossover game between both companies.[4] However, in an interview from January 2009, Yoshinori Ono, the producer of Street Fighter IV, expressed interest in a possible third game if fans demanded it.[5]
In August 2022, SNK and Capcom artists Eisuke Ogura and Shinkiro – the latter of whom is currently at Capcom after famously working at SNK – created special promotional posters featuring both companies' characters to celebrate the 2022 Evolution Championship Series tournament, the first live EVO since the COVID-19 pandemic. In a subsequent interview, SNK producer Yasuyuki Oda stated that "both parties" were interested in a potential revival of the series.[6]
Subsequently, both Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui were revealed as part of Street Fighter 6's Season 2 DLC at the 2024 edition of Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles. This made them the first characters in a mainline Street Fighter game to not be from a Capcom IP.[7]
Card Fighters DS and SVC Chaos had a polarized, mixed reception, with a Metacritic score of 48%[9] and 57% respectively.[10] The two Capcom-developed games and Match of the Millennium have fared better, with Capcom vs. SNK 2 achieving a Metacritic score of 81%.[11]
In 2012, Complex ranked Capcom vs. SNK at number 38 on the list of the best video game franchises.[12]