I've come to the stark realization that I'm not as big a fighting game fan as I like to think I am. I was an impressionable pre-teen (or tween, as they're called these days) when Street Fighter II took the world by storm; it was a cathartic release to what a twelve-year-old viewed as an oppressive world. I used to pour over the manual, studying the special moves harder than most devout Christians would the Bible. Even though the genre is rooted in competition, I was content with thrashing the computer opponents on the lowest settings. Those were happy times.
Nowadays the thought of novella sized move list scares me heartily and the lowest set AI can hand me my ass faster than you can pronounce "Shoryuken".
Even though fighting games have fallen into the endless abyss known as a niche and I'm about as skilled as your grandma, I can't help but become smitten when something new comes along that promises flaming uppercuts and the ability to do endless punch/kick combos. I don't pretend to know any of the minutiae involved, I just tend to stick with enjoying it to the extent of my admitted feeble abilities. What that means is they have a much shorter lifespan than they used to inside my consoles.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars unfortunately has even less of a shelf life because I'm just not as endeared to the cast of anime brawlers, especially in lieu of me downloading Marvel vs. Capcom 2 a while back. It's not that they don't look cool, because they do; it's just that there's no history behind it for me. Beyond having heard of Battle of the Planets and being forced to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion by my youngest brother - I know nothing of Tatsunoko. As if to assure this game polarizes me, Capcom also included some of their more obscure characters that are known to me but aren't as beloved in my eyes. Hi there blonde guy from Onimusha...where's Ken and those guys?
Usually I can look beyond my inability of being culturally conscientious so long as the game play can pull me in...but that didn't happen, either. In the grand scheme of things, I'm more inclined towards fighters are strictly one on one and a bit more on the technical side. Because the flashy, team-switching battles in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom overwhelmed my old man eyes and more often than not I found myself on the losing end every time. If I've learned anything since Street Fighter II ruled my world, it's that fighting games should be played with other humans, even when said people happens to be your little brother...who can hand me my ass without blinking. Which is, to say, the reason why it's merrily on it's way back to GameFly; because I had no interest in playing it by myself.
I'm sorry this pseudo-review didn't give you a lot of the information you might be looking for. But I wasn't interested in going online and having my soul crushed by fighting savants, and the endings and unlockables weren't compelling enough for me to trudge through the single player arcade mode either. Don't read into my views of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as being negative towards the game; just that it wasn't my style. I appreciate that Capcom had the stones to bring this stateside, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't know what a Yatterman is. And something of this pedigree is just unheard of on the Wii; which is slightly sad because people will still look down on it regardless.
In the grand scheme of things, playing Tatsunoko vs. Capcom will probably make me appreciate the simplicity of Super Street Fighter IV when it releases. But it will also remind me that I seemingly can only get my fix with that series; making me the gaming equivalent of a meth addict. What a comforting thought as I close out this post. I don't shoot drugs, just fireballs.
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