oh ho ho this is indeed true love we are making. Probably my favorite fighting game of all time right here, it combines all the best things about capcom and SNK fighting games into one bundle of yes. The roster is a bit standard and not as wacky as say an MvC game but that's not really the vibe they were going for. With the roster of fan favorite characters plus the various "isms" to pick from, this is a love letter to the fighting game genre from the two companies that made the genre so loved to begin with.

Been thinking about this game lately, and I haven't done an informal bullet-point review in a minute so lemme ramble for a bit will you? :3

-By this point, the myth of "honest footsies" ever existing in isolation has been debunked wholesale across the genre, but CvS2, particularly at the mid-level (which I would (generously) say I occupy), is far and away the most tempered, neutral-focused 2D game I can think of (aside from SamSho IG but that's cheating!!). You can point towards roll cancels and A-groove combos all you want but the vast majority of what I do here are the things that people who earnestly believe "combos are the worst part of fighting games" dream of. Couple this with the notably low damage output and the longer-than-life-itself timer per round and this game might honestly be so straight-laced that the weak-willed in the audience will be frantically checking their pockets for keys to jingle, lol.

(why this game was played in like FT5s back in the day will forever elude me, who the FUCK made that decision)

-Between the timing windows and lack of input buffer, the gulf that separates easily predictable combo situations like jump-ins and the tougher stuff like maximizing damage via normal links (1-2F links Everywhere) is So Wide that in play with any kind of stakes, you're much more likely to submit and rely on the fundamentalzz, keeping your relationship with the game in a semi-permanent "pretty good but still learning" stasis. Reminds me a lot of SFIV and newer FG fans' relationship to that game, but unlike that game there are far fewer archetypes here whose express purposes are to skip that part of the game and break it down into 50/50s or wakeup gambles. Which is good! I think!

-it's one of those things that's almost too obvious to speak to, but the fact that this game has 6 interchangeable game systems that communicate between each other and is somehow not fucked beyond repair in practice is an outrageous badge for an FG to be able to wear. There are clear lines between each one's applicability, but aside from mmmmaybe P-groove I wouldn't dissuade anyone from following their hearts if asked (and it's not even that P is bad necessarily, just much harder to excel with given that parrying, which is already hard, is correctly assumed by Capcom to be powerful enough to quarantine in its own groove).

-That said, groove choice is a substantial decision in this game with consequences, which is once again something that sounds too obvious to state but for whatever reason people are surprised that this game's meta is as messy as it is despite there being like 300 choices to make, nevermind team comp bringing this number up by several factors. I wouldn't say this game's team comp is quite as iconic and impressive as MvC, but between the groove and ratios you have a lot to chew on and IMO!! it's more enjoyable on its surface how you approach it here considering in Marvel it defines basically every choice you make going forward. FAR less strategically rewarding admittedly but being a Marvel player is a disease I have yet to contract in my lifetime so forgive me for the preference.

-CvS2 gets shit for the mismatched sprites and, yes, Morrigan's VSav look doesn't make a lick of sense here, but I think the SNK sprites that Capcom cooked up for this game and the one before it are underrated as hell. Everyone on that side of the roster looks fantastic, and the low-contrast coloring that Capcom's fighting games are known for fit SNK characters far better than the reverse seen in SvC Chaos (though I do like the look of that game in a perverse kinda way). The only aesthetic drawback this game has beyond the sprites is that the spontaneous and stylish stages from CvS1 have few equals here. But everything else clears, we love the yellow diamonds here at FM Towns Party.

-I find it hard to pin down a "favorite" fighting game, as the circumstances for liking them are so out of my hands. Like yeah, I love Tekken 3-5 dearly and always have, but unless Namco suddenly becomes very cool and implements (good) netcode into those games, I can't imagine I'm playing folks with any regularity soon. 3S is sort of a mirror reflection of that: while there are plenty things unique to 3S that grind against me as a long-form game to play, it's also trivially easy to play with people in comparison, and even in more casual settings it seems like many are enamored enough to at least take it for a spin. Outside of my newest fling SF6, which has been a miracle worker of sorts in these regards, CvS2 might be the game that threads all those needles the best.

desculpa fãs de marvel vs capcom 2 mas pra mim esse jogo e meu favorito de crossover. simplismente não tem como disputar, Rooster MAGNIFICO, uma das melhores OST ja vista, Cenarios perfeitos e com muitas referencias, e gameplay com fodendo 5 estilos de luta alem de vc poder criar o seu. eu joguei TANTO, mas TANTO isso, eu passava todo dia meu horario de almoço vendo video de combo desse jogo e sempre eu ficava impressionado.
me desculpa mas esse jogo e um dos meus favoritos de todos os tempos mesmo sabendo q geral prefere MVC2.
10/10 Saudades do meu dreamcast.

One of the better Capcom soundtracks with a great announcer. The roster while great, really just looked like Street Fighter VS SNK. Yes there is Morrigan and Kyosuke but majority of the Capcom roster is basically Street Fighter. The fighting mechanics are great with the different grooves. Overall a great package for a fighting game.

Enjoyment: 6.5/8
Replayability: 0.5/1
Graphics: 0.5/0.5
Sound: 0.5/0.5
Total: 8/10

This is my favorite fighting game in terms of "complete package" and the best too; it has the most epic arcade mode I've ever seen in any fighting game, and depending on your score during the fights, you get Shin Akuma / God Rugal, or Akuma base / Rugal base as the final boss in the arcade, as I said it all depends on the player's performance, if you have a high score you can fight against Geese or Bison; it has probably the best set of backgrounds + soundtrack, I really love the style of the sprites of the 2D characters with the 3D backgrounds, it's very well done, it has many game modes for a FG until today, I really enjoyed playing online on the Dreamcast , has my favorite cast of characters in any fighting game, no other has Terry Bogard, Rock Howard, Sakura, Shin Akuma, Orochi Iori, Chun-Li and Ken all in one game, with 6 Different grooves to choose from, being customizable, and the Ratio system that is awesome, if you train enough, your characters are very good, even the lowest tier, it is obvious that there are dominant characters in this game, but the case here is, with the right choice of Grooves for your character and the right Ratio for each one of them (if you're playing in that mode), in addition to the necessary dedication, you get good, very good, and you feel gratified with that because it was with your own training, intelligence and dedication that you got good at this game, whether playing with 1, 2 or 3 characters on your team, they are all totally viable, and the Grooves and Ratio system only reinforce that. Another reason for this game to be 10/10 is the Color Edit mode, I kept changing the colors of the characters a lot, one of the first memories I have in any FG, is to make the Balrog look like Dudley just by changing the colors. About other aspects of the game, this game has the most hype training OST ever, the training scenario is awesome too, the online mode is good as already said, the Survival mode was really cool, and the Replay mode was very rare to get see in FGs of the time, it was good that they implemented this tool, the feeling of running of the characters too, is something that I never felt to be managed so well in another FG before, the "feeling" of everything about this one is just very good game, down to the collision particles of the moves, supers and specials, even the announcer is spectacular, the announcer, that's what I can say, THERE IS NO MORE FUCKIN' AND ICONIC ANNOUNCER IN ANY OTHER FG IN THE UNIVERSE, take that hot take there. This is one of those very few fighting games that you actually get to play in different ways for each character you choose. This game is very nostalgic for me, it was the only FG I played with my brother and my sisters too, good memories. This game has a place in my memories, it was, is, and always will be my favorite fighting game.