Yes, I'm presently playing the SNK Supporter version. I respect Capcom's skill as a developer, I've loved them since the original Mega Man, and Street Fighter shall always have a place in my heart, but as far as this particular rivalry goes, I'm on the side of the mighty men of old who created King of Fighters '97, the game that kept me going through two hideous years of graduate school.

Now that I've said this, you'll probably see a new preview tomorrow from dyed-in-the-wool Capcom-ite Frank Martinez, our web designer, proclaiming that I should have been playing Street Fighter Alpha 2 all that time, and that Capcom fans the world over will march to victory on a road of bones. Ah, well.

Whichever version you wind up playing, though, you'll be getting a great game. SNK Vs. Capcom is, yes, a card game, very much along the lines of CCGs such as Magic or Pokemon (hocch! ptui!), but with certain vital differences that make it quality entertainment, rather than a creation of the devil. For one thing, you don't have to spend twelve grillion dollars on it to field a competitive deck. For another related thing, it doesn't encourage possession, avarice, deceit, or other crypto-fascist counterrevolutionary balderdash. For the most important thing, it features sweet character art of absolutely all the Capcom and SNK stars you can imagine (and plenty that you can't).

The card game is surrounded by a simple RPG setting rather like that of Pokemon. You're an aspiring card champion, traveling from arcade to arcade throughout Tokyo hoping to challenge the best players, build your deck, and one day prove yourself the most deranged SNK (or Capcom) fan alive. Thus, there's more to do than just play cards; your superdeformed avatar travels around town to card-battling hotspots (arcades, toy stores, Neo Geo Land, et cetera), where you can encounter new opponents, people to trade cards with, trading machines, and other wrinkles that add variety to the basic game.

But of course the card game is what will occupy most of your time; perhaps more than is healthy, because it definitely has addictive potential. Its streamlined rules and statistics allow it to move very quickly, unlike the more involved Pokemon Card Battle. You have two types of cards: characters and actions. Actions generally produce simple instantaneous effects, while characters are fielded to beat up other characters and your opponents. Characters generally have only two pertinent attributes: their "BP," Battle Points, which is simultaneously the amount of damage they can deal and take, and their SC, the number of Spirit points you gain when you put them into play. Spirit points activate action cards, multi-character combination attacks, and I believe some character abilities. More powerful characters have special abilities that can be used at various times; for example, Psycho Soldier's Sie Kensou uses his Meat Bun ability when you put him in to play, powering up your life in an homage to his intro pose in King of Fighters. Except, wait, after '97, it should lower your life, shouldn't it? Or did they change it back to the '96 pose in '98 or '99?

Pardon me, slipping into demented KOF fan mode. Won't happen again.

Winning games allows you to collect cards from your fallen opponents. There are, if I'm not mistaken, 300 cards all told, and every one of them is illustrated in a great original SD style. The art is sharp as a tack; I haven't found a single piece that I don't like. Every SNK or Capcom character you can think of is here, and you can bet there are some that will have you scratching your head (rather like the helper characters in Marvel Vs. Capcom; I'm probably the only guy alive who recognized the Midnight Wanderers). I'm not talking about just King of Fighters and Street Fighter; there are ancient Capcom arcade stars, the Last Blade crew, refugees from one-shot appearances in Art of Fighting sequels, and more that I literally have no idea about.

It's too bad that Pokemon Pikachu is rolling forth to conquer all this holiday season; with Nintendo's iron fist of marketing might behind it, it has an unbreakable hold on the mass gaming audience. Hardcore types like you and I, however, know that SNK vs. Capcom should be where it's at for handheld collecting-trading-battling action. So get yourself a Neo Pocket, get a link cable, threaten your friends with death until they do the same, and proceed to clash card battle until you pass out. Should tide us all over very nicely until the SNK vs. Capcom fighter hits the streets.