Reviewed By: Mindesyn, Byronic Gaming, Canada Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars for the Wii is a 2-D fighting game that matches up well-known characters from Capcom's roster of games with some of Japan's most beloved characters from anime powerhouse Tatsunoko Production.
The game is a traditional fighting game in the vein of Street Fighter as it is 2-D based and use similar gameplay mechanics. The game has numerous modes, options and content to keep you busy. Modes include Arcade, Versus, Training, Survival, Time Attack, Shop, Gallery, Online, Options, and even a side scrolling item collection mini game during the credits, and a 2-D shooter mini game option.
Arcade consists of choosing 2 fighters to make up a tag team since the game is in tag team format. From Capcom's 30-year history comes characters like Ryu and Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series, Morrigan from Darkstalkers and company mascot Mega Man Volnutt from Mega Man Legends. Tatsunoko's near half-century of Japanese animation excellence is represented by the likes of Ken the Eagle and Jun the Swan from the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman anime (known in North America as Battle of the Planets or G-Force), cybernetic warrior Casshan and comedic action hero Yatterman No. 1. All together, there are more than 20 colorful combatants to choose from in order to form the ultimate tag team combination.
Completing Arcade not only gets you one of two endings, depending on which character in your tag team delivers the final blow, but earns you Zenny, the currency in the game that allows you to purchase content from the shop such as new stages, and alternative palette swaps for the character costumes.
Graphics were very similar to other Capcom vs. franchise installments that border on cartoon like. Combining many different anime and game characters into a single art style would be a big job, yet Capcom vs. Tatsunoko does it perfectly. Super attack animations were over the top, vibrant and colorful in tradition Tatsunoko fashion. Backgrounds and effects were animated but not interactive which was disappointing and basically a genre mainstay nowadays.
Voice acting wasn't anything special as far as fighting games go. Among the generic grunts, and martial art yells were few dialog moments, not being too familiar with most of the Tatsunoko roster I couldn't discern if the voice overs were fitting or not. Intensities and pitch were overly well done, that fit the situations and the game very well.
Gameplay was most like Street Fighter in the sense of controls and mechanics, the special bar is there, the health and timer, you tap up to jump, down to crouch, back to block and so forth. Team attacks and combination attacks were both present from various past Capcom vs. games.Characters were balanced to the point that it didn't really make a difference which character you choose besides special moves and general feel of their moves.
The controls were very similar as well, even with the multiple options on controller types, ranging from holding the Wiimote sideways, or with the Nunchuk, the Classic controller, and the Gamecube controller. I opted out for the simple Wiimote control scheme, which merges the special moves with one button and basic combo attacks with the other. Classic and Gamecube controller schematics were a bit more in depth and suited for more advanced players and a more old school Super Nintendo feel.
Overall Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars is one of the few good fighting games on the Wii and not well known and underrated. Its full of unlockable content and demands multiple playthroughs to unlock endings, costumes, and special gallery content. Not to mention that if you are unfamilar with the entire Tatsunoko franchise, this game does a fantastic job getting you acquainted with the series it represents. The online and versus is solid and competitive without being too spammy and the CPU difficulty is fair on the setting you choose. I highly recommend this title even if you are not a fan of Japanese culture or their animation. Bottom line is that this is a solid fighter on the Wii that is lots of fun to explore and unlock.
For Byronic Gaming I give this game 3.8 Franchise Crossovers out of 5.
