STORY:	N/A
GRAPHICS & DESIGN:	8 out of 10
SOUND:	8 out of 10
GAMEPLAY:	10 out of 10
FUNFACTOR/TILT:	8 out of 10
OVERALL SCORE:	8 out of 10

Fighting games are back! I’m a guy who grew up in the arcades playing fighting games like Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat; while I loved those games to no end I had pretty much come to the conclusion long ago that fighting games were a thing of the past. So who would have thought that in 2009 and 2010 fighting games would again become popular? Titles like Blaze Blue, King of Fighters 12 and Tekken 6 have shown that the genera is far from dead. Much of this re-emergence in popularity is due to the release of Street Fighter IV. Unfortunately for Nintendo Wii owners there really haven’t been any quality fighters. That’s finally changed with the release of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars, a new title in Capcom’s versus series that pits famous anime studio Tatsunoko’s legendary heroes against Capcom’s legends. Originally released in Japanese arcades the game made it’s way to the Nintendo Wii in late 2008. Those of us here in the States and our good friends in Europe have had to wait over 12 months due to licensing issues that kept the game from making its way over. Thankfully those issues have been resolved and the time it’s taken to localize the game has not been in vein.

The story? Well, there’s really not one. You and your opponent each pick two fighters and duke it out. Fighting games have never really been known for their stories and that’s probably for the best. Gameplay is always what matters for fighters and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom works wonderfully if you have the right controllers. Yes, you can use the Wii-mote but veteran players are going to want to use either the classic controller or a GameCube pad for the best play. Like Street Fighter IV, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is a 2.5D fighter (3D characters on a 2D plane). The action feels much more like Marvel vs. Capcom compared to Street Fighter IV. You can tag in and out during the match and use a variety of tag team moves and finishers. Also like MvC, you’ll jump high into the air, perform combos that are worth billions of damage (yes, I said billions) and use epileptic finishing moves to finish off your opponent. The gameplay is really terrific because it’s very easy for new players to get into but also complex enough so that advanced fighting game vets who want to really sink their chops in may do.

Sure, fighting games are all about gameplay but in today’s modern gaming industry, there’s no doubt that graphics matter too. Graphically, TvC isn’t as good as Street Fighter IV. That’s not to say it looks bad by any means though! Colors are beautiful and vibrant with lots going on in the very varied backgrounds. The character models are also very detailed and it’s obvious that developer Eighting took special care of each one. The music, like the graphics is vibrant with a lot of really catchy techno beats.

There are some minor gripes. Though the ending art work (which is done by Udon) is really well done, it would have been nice to have seen some anime endings. Also, some of the giant characters can be rather unbalanced, although the game tries to remedy this by not allowing those characters to have tag partners. I will say though that TvC’s final boss isn’t nearly as annoyingly cheap as Seth from Street Fighter IV.

While I may not like Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as much as Street Fighter IV I think fans of the Capcom vs. series may actually like it MORE than Street Fighter IV. The gameplay is terrific, the graphics are great, the music is catchy, the online mode is fully functional and actually works as it should (what a concept)! If you’re a fan of fighting games then you really can’t go wrong with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. If nothing else, it will quench your fighting game thirst until Super Street Fighter IV hits shelves later this year.

-Jason Glasco