At one time, Capcom and SNK had quite a rivalry on their hands, as they both worked incredibly hard to produce some of the world's best fighting games. In a way, both companies succeeded. SNK excelled with their King of Fighters series, while Capcom continued to pump out Street Fighter titles and soon delved into Darkstalkers and several Marvel-licensed games. Then, the two reached some sort of agreement, and the best of both worlds happened. Capcom battled it out with SNK in the videogames. The first release, Capcom vs. SNK, did quite well for Capcom, both in the arcade and on the Dreamcast. Capcom followed it up with the obvious Capcom vs. SNK 2, which enjoyed great success on other platforms. But SNK didn't really answer back with their own ammunition, with the exception of a very likable Neo Geo Pocket beat-em-up.

Of course, that changed once SVC Chaos debuted in arcades. This crossover title rejuvenated the fighting game market with its deep gameplay, classic control scheme, slick animation, and its ability to focus a bit more on styles than Capcom vs. SNK 2 did not. Now, courtesy of the good people at SNK, Xbox owners are about to get a taste of the game's greatness.

Originally slated for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom has since become an Xbox exclusive. And what an exclusive it is, as it packs a great deal of 2D fighting action. You can choose from a number of Capcom fighters (such as Ken, Ryu, Guile, Zero, and others) or SNK fighters (Mai, Terry, Ryo, and more) and then duke it out in a number of modes, be it Arcade, Versus, Practice, and Online. Yes, the game is online, and fully supports Xbox Live for some heated match-ups. Now you can take on chumps from across the way without having to trouble yourself with visiting the local arcade.

The game's gameplay techniques rely heavily on skill, although you can get better in Practice mode. Not only do you have to build up a Power Meter for special maneuvers, you also have to master defensive techniques to avoid the enemy's devastating attacks. You can also build up for an Exceed Move and cause incredible damage, or time your attacks better with the Forward Ground Step Move, involving a bit more timing than the typical move. If that doesn't do it, you can still get into the regular special moves and throws. There's something for everyone here, but the more you know, the better you're rewarded.

SVC Chaos features greatly tightened control, which works wonderfully on the Xbox pad. We were pulling off combos with ease and pulling off super moves with no problem. You can also alter different button combinations and move things around if it doesn't fit to your liking, so customization is a plus here. The game has a number of fighters to its credit; 36 plus hidden characters, including some mother load hidden bosses that are bound to destroy you if you aren't careful.

The music sounds like typical SNK quality, and the sound effects are right on. The only thing that appears to be lacking at this point are the graphics. The game looks true to its coin-op brethren, but it appears that some of the animation is a bit out of place. Perhaps it's the raw power of the Xbox showing the game's simplicities a little too clearly. Or maybe it was a work in progress, something that Playmore's bound to have fixed by the game's final release this fall. Either way, for what it's worth, it still didn't look too bad. It just needs to be touched up a bit.

Overall, though, this should be a fan's delight. SVC Chaos looks to be happily delivering the arcade experience at home. The addition of online goodies should make this that much more needed in your game library. Who says you can't benefit from a little Chaos? We'll have more on SVC Chaos in the near future.