By Mark Rodriguez
Volume 1 starts right in the middle of the game's opening intro, with Ryu charging up his Ha-Do-Ken and Kyu getting ready to use his 114 Shiki-Aragami. Both fireballs clash and cancel each other out. Kyo throws some burning punches, with Ryu manages to catch his fist and push it away. He then counters with a Sho Ryu Ken to the face. Kyo manages to get up and smack Ryu upside the head with his R-E-D Kick, but Ryu smacks him away with his Hurricane Kick. Ready to finish this, Ryu charges up and prepares to fire off the Shinkuu Ha Do Ken.
Kyo sees this and prepares to counter with his own Super Special, the Repressed Anger of the Kusanagi 108 (the SNK guys are gonna have long names for their attacks, get used to it now). Just then, a third fighter jumps into the scene, zooming in between them with incredible speed. It's Shin Akuma and he asks the fighters if they're done playing around. Just then Ryu notices someone standing atop a nearby rooftop.
As the two new fighters jump in to attack, Ryu fires off his Shinkuu Ha-Do-Ken, and Mr. Karate jumps right into it. Meanwhile, Kyo also does his super attack, but Akuma teleports through it and grabs his fist. Serious Mr. Karate hits Ryu with his Haou Shikou Ken that goes right through Ryu's fireball and burns him alive. Akuma smashes Kyo with his Shungoku Satsu. Akuma and Mr. Karate hold onto the defeated Ryu and Kyo and comment on how weak they are.
Ryu wakes up in a strange room with bizzare glowing stairs. A mysterious kid appears and tells Ryu he is there due to a mental connection with him, and that he has just witnessed his own death. Ryu asks the kid who he is, and he says his name is Shin. He says Ryu was destined to die this way, but he another chance if he enters the tournament of this parallel world. He also says Ryu was chosen by the gods, so he doesn't have the choice to refuse. The kid then disappears as Ryu asks what he's up to and what this parallel world tournament is all about.
Elsewhere, Bison, Vega, Balrog and some random old guy named Dr. Jones have taken over Geese's 'Geese Connection' organization now that Geese Howard is dead. Bison determines that now that he has merged Shadaloo with Geese Connection, he will also inherit Geese's enemies, and sure enough Terry Bogard appears to fight.
Terry breaks through the protective glass and tries to smack Bison with his Burn Knuckle. However, Riot of Blood Orochi Iori suddenly appears and catches his fist. Terry tries to fight back, confused as to why Iori would work for Bison, and is hit by his 127 Shiki-Aoi-Hana (his three hit attack). Terry manages to get up and tries to hit him with his Crack Shoot, but he's knocked away by Iori's 100 Shiki-Oniyaki (burning uppercut). Iori hits Terry with his Rage of the 8 Maidens (super attack with multiple strikes), and due to a split second moment of hesitation, Terry nails him with his Power Geyser.
Terry's move actually sends Orochi Iori flying back. Bison then calls on Balrog. As Terry prepares to land a Burn Knuckle on Iori, Balrog suddenly intercepts him and punches him in the gut. Balrog intensifies this with the Crazy Buffalo attack and sends Terry flying out a window, falling to his death similar to Geese Howard did in the games. Bison tells Vega he is not allowed to die. The Spanish Ninja manages to catch Terry in mid-air and stop his own descent by sticking his claws onto the side of the building.
Bison tells Dr. Jones that Orochi Iori is a good creation, but he still needs work. Dr. Jones says that their plan will work once they find 'that person'. Bison says if his plan succeeds, everyone will be rules by his iron fist.
Elsewhere at an amusement park, Kyo is getting the living crap beat out of him by Demitri. He tries to knock him away with his 100 Shiki-Oniyaki, but the vampire catches him by the leg and slams him into one of the carnival rides. Kyo is bleeding badly and determines this guy he's fighting isn't human at all. He barely dodges Demitri's drill attack, but then he turns into a bunch of bats that confuses him. The vampire smashes Kyo from underneath with his Demon Cradle. As Kyo is tossed to the sky, Demitri decides to charge one of his special moves and fires off a Chaos Fire.
Kyo counters the attack with his own fireball. He tries to attack, but Demitri low sweeps him and nails him with his Bat Spin attack. The narrator mentions that Kyo hasn't had a battle this tough since his fight against Goenitz (KOF 96) and is sent crashing to the ground. Demitri comments that he heard Kyo was one of the top human fighters, and is gravely disappointed. Kyo tries to hit him with his Repressed Anger of the Kusanagi 108, but the vampire just shrugs it off and hits him in the gut. Demitri punches Kyo in the face and then punches him into the ground. He then grabs Kyo, turns into his more demonic form and turns Kyo into a woman. Yep, Kyo has been Midnight Blissed.
The comic suddenly flashes back to Demitri's history, being a powerful vampire who was chased from the demon world to the human world. Returning to the demon world 100 years later, he finds all his enemies were now long gone. But to control the demon world, he must overthrow the demon overlord, which is why he fights in the Parallel World Tournament.
As for Kyo, the comic mentions his fight at the end of KOF 97 in which he teams up with Iori and Chizuru to lock away the Orochi. However during this, a stray energy emission killed Kyo, which led him to the Parallel World.
Back to the present, female Kyo manages to get away from Demitri's grip and attacks him with his flying kicks. As he does this, he returns to his male self. Kyo then nails the vampire with a fireball explosion and then smacks him with his Super Special, the Exceed Enigmatic Endgame No Style.
The technique sends Demitri flying into a roller coaster, basically blowing up the whole ride. He then crashes down, slightly injured, but majorly pissed. Kyo tries to attack, but Demitri grabs his fist and breaks it, and then slams his head into his knee. Demitri apologies that this isn't a fair fight, since he is too strong to fight a human, and punches his fist RIGHT THROUGH him. As Kyo manages to get to his feet, Demitri prepares to finish him with his Demon Flare. However, it's now sunrise, so Demitri turns into a bunch of bats and flies away. Kyo is surprised Demitri doesn't finish him off and then passes out due to his injuries.
Suddenly another magical being named Cap appears and asks if the first fight was fun. Kyo tells him he should try fighting with a vampire. The kid has magical healing abilities and heals Kyo's broken hand and tends to his gaping wound. Kyo asks if he can also revive the dead, but Cap says it is beyond his power.
Cap explains the rules of this world. He says only people with a SVC ID card can enter the tournament. Everything that exists in the real world can exist there based on the person's thoughts and desires. Anyone can be healed up to three times and can only use their Exceed move once a day (why?). There are ten other fighters besides Kyo and the survivor will be revived and granted one wish. If noone wins within a certain time limit, everything in the parallel world will be destroyed.
Kyo asks who is the strongest now, and Cap says it is the robot Zero (as seen in the game Mega Man Zero for the Game Boy Advanced). He is so powerful he has even defeated Demitri once. Cap gives Kyo his SVC ID card and says it has many used, but he will leave it up to him to find them out. With that said, Cap disappears. Kyo thinks of his girlfriend Yuki and says he will do whatever it takes to come back to life and return to her.
Back in the real world, Guile and Chun Li are informed that Bison had taken over Geese's organization and has captured Terry Bogard. Chun Li tosses notes away, getting tired of seeing the same reports all the time and hoping it would be the last time... and Guile... laughs... or something...
Their superior says it won't be as simple this time and hands them another note. It seems Bison has started making clones of powerful fighters. Guile's mission is to destroy Bison's organization, while Chun Li has to protect the captured fighters. As they drive towards their destination, Chun Li spots a Shadaloo jet flying overhead. She goes ballistic and starts driving on the sidewalk trying to catch up to it. Due to her speed, it seems they are about to crash so Chun Li KICKS THE POLICE CAR DOOR OFF AND SLAMS HER FOOT ONTO THE GROUND MAKING THE SPEEDING CARD STOP.
We'll be seeing a few crossovers this month, and we're gonna start with one based on a crossover videogame. If you think the Malibu SF comic series was kinda sloppy, this one was literally all action, pin ups and splash pages, and what little story in it is just plain weird. I'm talking about the SNK VS Capcom Chaos comics made by Happy Comics, translated by Japan and produced with supervision from both SNK Playmore and Capcom. But first a brief explanation on the game this was inspired from.
In 2000, Capcom produced Capcom VS SNK Millenium Fight 2000 which would throw the fighters of Capcom and SNK at each other. Unfortunately, aside from Morrigan from Darkstalkers and Nakoruru from Samurai Shodown, the game felt more like Street Fighter VS King of Fighters. Capcom later made Capcom VS SNK 2 Mark of the Millenium with even more characters and variety as well as different modes of play. SNK made their own game, SNK VS Capcom Chaos and it offered a bit more variety, having characters like Goddess Athena from the original Athena game and Tsabasa from Red Earth. The game's roster was still kinda weird and lacking, having way too many Ryu/Ken-ish characters and having a grappler like Hugo for the Capcom side and none for the SNK side (Earthquake was a giant, but not a grappler).
Now that we explained a little about the games, let's go for the comic at hand. These comics are actually trades of what I assume were single issue comics back when they originally appeared in Japan and/or Korea, and translated into English. I bought the first three at Anime Vegas back in the day and found some of the later issues on Amazon later on. I will try my best to cover them all but some volumes will be missing because for some reason Volume 6 or so is going for over a hundred nowadays, and no thank you.
Here's SNK VS Capcom Chaos Volume 1, where the fighters enter an alternate dimension where the only way to enter... is by dying. And brace yourself, there's gonna be so much fighting and special moves, you're gonna think I'm recapping someone's championship fight at an EVO gaming tournament.
Volume 1 starts right in the middle of the game's opening intro, with Ryu charging up his Ha-Do-Ken and Kyu getting ready to use his 114 Shiki-Aragami. Both fireballs clash and cancel each other out. Kyo throws some burning punches, with Ryu manages to catch his fist and push it away. He then counters with a Sho Ryu Ken to the face. Kyo manages to get up and smack Ryu upside the head with his R-E-D Kick, but Ryu smacks him away with his Hurricane Kick. Ready to finish this, Ryu charges up and prepares to fire off the Shinkuu Ha Do Ken.
Kyo sees this and prepares to counter with his own Super Special, the Repressed Anger of the Kusanagi 108 (the SNK guys are gonna have long names for their attacks, get used to it now). Just then, a third fighter jumps into the scene, zooming in between them with incredible speed. It's Shin Akuma and he asks the fighters if they're done playing around. Just then Ryu notices someone standing atop a nearby rooftop.
As the two new fighters jump in to attack, Ryu fires off his Shinkuu Ha-Do-Ken, and Mr. Karate jumps right into it. Meanwhile, Kyo also does his super attack, but Akuma teleports through it and grabs his fist. Serious Mr. Karate hits Ryu with his Haou Shikou Ken that goes right through Ryu's fireball and burns him alive. Akuma smashes Kyo with his Shungoku Satsu. Akuma and Mr. Karate hold onto the defeated Ryu and Kyo and comment on how weak they are.
Ryu wakes up in a strange room with bizzare glowing stairs. A mysterious kid appears and tells Ryu he is there due to a mental connection with him, and that he has just witnessed his own death. Ryu asks the kid who he is, and he says his name is Shin. He says Ryu was destined to die this way, but he another chance if he enters the tournament of this parallel world. He also says Ryu was chosen by the gods, so he doesn't have the choice to refuse. The kid then disappears as Ryu asks what he's up to and what this parallel world tournament is all about.
Elsewhere, Bison, Vega, Balrog and some random old guy named Dr. Jones have taken over Geese's 'Geese Connection' organization now that Geese Howard is dead. Bison determines that now that he has merged Shadaloo with Geese Connection, he will also inherit Geese's enemies, and sure enough Terry Bogard appears to fight.
Terry breaks through the protective glass and tries to smack Bison with his Burn Knuckle. However, Riot of Blood Orochi Iori suddenly appears and catches his fist. Terry tries to fight back, confused as to why Iori would work for Bison, and is hit by his 127 Shiki-Aoi-Hana (his three hit attack). Terry manages to get up and tries to hit him with his Crack Shoot, but he's knocked away by Iori's 100 Shiki-Oniyaki (burning uppercut). Iori hits Terry with his Rage of the 8 Maidens (super attack with multiple strikes), and due to a split second moment of hesitation, Terry nails him with his Power Geyser.
Terry's move actually sends Orochi Iori flying back. Bison then calls on Balrog. As Terry prepares to land a Burn Knuckle on Iori, Balrog suddenly intercepts him and punches him in the gut. Balrog intensifies this with the Crazy Buffalo attack and sends Terry flying out a window, falling to his death similar to Geese Howard did in the games. Bison tells Vega he is not allowed to die. The Spanish Ninja manages to catch Terry in mid-air and stop his own descent by sticking his claws onto the side of the building.
Bison tells Dr. Jones that Orochi Iori is a good creation, but he still needs work. Dr. Jones says that their plan will work once they find 'that person'. Bison says if his plan succeeds, everyone will be rules by his iron fist.
Elsewhere at an amusement park, Kyo is getting the living crap beat out of him by Demitri. He tries to knock him away with his 100 Shiki-Oniyaki, but the vampire catches him by the leg and slams him into one of the carnival rides. Kyo is bleeding badly and determines this guy he's fighting isn't human at all. He barely dodges Demitri's drill attack, but then he turns into a bunch of bats that confuses him. The vampire smashes Kyo from underneath with his Demon Cradle. As Kyo is tossed to the sky, Demitri decides to charge one of his special moves and fires off a Chaos Fire.
Kyo counters the attack with his own fireball. He tries to attack, but Demitri low sweeps him and nails him with his Bat Spin attack. The narrator mentions that Kyo hasn't had a battle this tough since his fight against Goenitz (KOF 96) and is sent crashing to the ground. Demitri comments that he heard Kyo was one of the top human fighters, and is gravely disappointed. Kyo tries to hit him with his Repressed Anger of the Kusanagi 108, but the vampire just shrugs it off and hits him in the gut. Demitri punches Kyo in the face and then punches him into the ground. He then grabs Kyo, turns into his more demonic form and turns Kyo into a woman. Yep, Kyo has been Midnight Blissed.
The comic suddenly flashes back to Demitri's history, being a powerful vampire who was chased from the demon world to the human world. Returning to the demon world 100 years later, he finds all his enemies were now long gone. But to control the demon world, he must overthrow the demon overlord, which is why he fights in the Parallel World Tournament.
As for Kyo, the comic mentions his fight at the end of KOF 97 in which he teams up with Iori and Chizuru to lock away the Orochi. However during this, a stray energy emission killed Kyo, which led him to the Parallel World.
Back to the present, female Kyo manages to get away from Demitri's grip and attacks him with his flying kicks. As he does this, he returns to his male self. Kyo then nails the vampire with a fireball explosion and then smacks him with his Super Special, the Exceed Enigmatic Endgame No Style.
The technique sends Demitri flying into a roller coaster, basically blowing up the whole ride. He then crashes down, slightly injured, but majorly pissed. Kyo tries to attack, but Demitri grabs his fist and breaks it, and then slams his head into his knee. Demitri apologies that this isn't a fair fight, since he is too strong to fight a human, and punches his fist RIGHT THROUGH him. As Kyo manages to get to his feet, Demitri prepares to finish him with his Demon Flare. However, it's now sunrise, so Demitri turns into a bunch of bats and flies away. Kyo is surprised Demitri doesn't finish him off and then passes out due to his injuries.
Suddenly another magical being named Cap appears and asks if the first fight was fun. Kyo tells him he should try fighting with a vampire. The kid has magical healing abilities and heals Kyo's broken hand and tends to his gaping wound. Kyo asks if he can also revive the dead, but Cap says it is beyond his power.
Cap explains the rules of this world. He says only people with a SVC ID card can enter the tournament. Everything that exists in the real world can exist there based on the person's thoughts and desires. Anyone can be healed up to three times and can only use their Exceed move once a day (why?). There are ten other fighters besides Kyo and the survivor will be revived and granted one wish. If noone wins within a certain time limit, everything in the parallel world will be destroyed.
Kyo asks who is the strongest now, and Cap says it is the robot Zero (as seen in the game Mega Man Zero for the Game Boy Advanced). He is so powerful he has even defeated Demitri once. Cap gives Kyo his SVC ID card and says it has many used, but he will leave it up to him to find them out. With that said, Cap disappears. Kyo thinks of his girlfriend Yuki and says he will do whatever it takes to come back to life and return to her.
Back in the real world, Guile and Chun Li are informed that Bison had taken over Geese's organization and has captured Terry Bogard. Chun Li tosses notes away, getting tired of seeing the same reports all the time and hoping it would be the last time... and Guile... laughs... or something...
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| LMAO WHAT THE HELL IS GUILE DOING? Why is he laughing? |
Their superior says it won't be as simple this time and hands them another note. It seems Bison has started making clones of powerful fighters. Guile's mission is to destroy Bison's organization, while Chun Li has to protect the captured fighters. As they drive towards their destination, Chun Li spots a Shadaloo jet flying overhead. She goes ballistic and starts driving on the sidewalk trying to catch up to it. Due to her speed, it seems they are about to crash so Chun Li KICKS THE POLICE CAR DOOR OFF AND SLAMS HER FOOT ONTO THE GROUND MAKING THE SPEEDING CARD STOP.
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I guess this is testament to just how powerful Chun Li's legs are supposed to be, but sorry. Unless she's Power Girl, her leg is snapping in half right here. And violently. After doing such a feet without snapping her leg off like a twig, they find Iori surrounded by the monitor cyborgs from the Street Fighter II Animated Movie. Iori fights them off without any trouble and says he only care about finding Kyo. The narrator asks why Bison wants the original Iori if he already has a cloned Orochi Iori? Elsewhere Ryu has already been having nightmares of dying soon, so he decides to seek out Akuma for a battle. Isn't he already dead? If this happened sometime before the fight with Kyo and such, the comic should damn say so. Ryu calls out Akuma, but gets no answer. He then feels the area filled with intense ki. He then finds Akuma fighting it out with Mr. Karate, his equal. I like how the comic makes a big deal about Mr. Karate being all mysterious and whatnot when we all know he is Ryo and Yuri's father... and definitely should not be as equally matched with Akuma. Ryu recognizes Mr. Karate from his dreams and wonders what it all means. Mr. Karate tosses a Ko-Oh Ken at Akuma, which he blocks out by doing his Tatsumaki Zanku Kyaku. Karate manages to knock Akuma right of the move with his Kohou uppercut. Ryu can only watch as Akuma survives the attack and fires off his Go Hadoken. Karate jumps over it, and Akuma gets ready to hit him with his uppercut. Karate also prepares his own version. Akuma's Messatsu Go Shouryu clashes with Mr. Karate's Kyokugen Kouho. |
Both fighters survive the epic clash, and then have another challenge: Akuma's Messatsu Go Hadoken VS Mr. Karate's Haou Shikou Ken. They both match strength and see that they are dead even. They both decide to end the fight with their ultimate moves... in which both will die. As they do this Akuma says they will both meet 'over there'. Ryu is wondering why they're so determined to die. As Akuma and Karate's fists clash one final time, both of them are destroyed and Shin shows up to take them to the parallel world. Ryu is confused, and Shin tells them that he will meet him again in a dream, and that the dream he saw was his destiny which he cannot change. He says that he has been chosen to enter the parallel world tournament. Ryu asks him how to enter. Shin tells him that just like what he saw with Akuma and Karate, he will have to die. The kid vanishes as Ryu is shocked to know he has to die soon.
Meanwhile Chun Li watches as Iori destroys the monitor cyborgs. Bison is also watching as Balrog sends more cyborgs after him. Iori destroys them all with his 100 Shiki-Oniyaki and says the only one that is a match for him is Kyo. He's been searching for him ever since the fight against Orochi.
Suddenly Iori's mind is linked to Cap, the mystery kid from the parallel world. He tells Iori that if he's looking for Kyo, he is no longer in the real world, but in the parallel world, and he shows him his fight against Demitri. There is only one way to enter this world and Iori knows how. He snaps back into reality and challenges Balrog to hit him. The boxer is confused, but isn't about to pass up this chance. Balrog socks Iori with the Gigaton Blow which is described to be twice as powerful as the Crazy Buffalo he used on Terry earlier. Iori tells him to try again and Balrog starts punching him like crazy and finally sends him flying into a truck.
Iori is still alive and is seriously pissed off that Balrog couldn't kill him. He throws the truck into the air, which makes Balrog and the remaining cyborgs retreat. As the truck explodes behind him, Iori now knows what he must he do. To the shock and horror of Bison and Chun Li, Iori slits his own throat and happily dies, knowing that he will meet Kyo in the parallel world.
My Thoughts-
Whoa is this comic all sorts of weird. I'm not sure exactly what the story is for the crossover in the actual game (if there is one), but this whole parallel world is all sorts of whacked out. The gods have chosen these fighters... and they have to die to enter this world. And the only one to survive can come back to the real world. I have no idea why they can only use their Exceed moves once a day... it's THEIR moves to use as they see fit. This is one of those types of crossovers, similar to Street Fighter X Tekken, where it's already assumed the characters from Capcom and SNK already co-exists even before this parallel world stuff started.
I do like the kids being named Cap and Shin, as you might not know, the S from SNK stands for Shin (SNK stands for Shin Nihon Kikaku).
The opening was cool, it's just like the intro to the game... but later on we find out Kyo's been dead since the end of KOF 97... so I guess... this was all a dream...? I wish it was better explained, but yeah... I guess in the end we find out that the opening scene was a dream of Ryu's and that eventually he will also die to enter this parallel tournament. I don't see how 'the events cannot be changed' and whatever because he obviously can't die the same way he did in the dream since Karate and Akuma killed themselves. I won't comment on how they made Mr. Karate so serious and powerful because, well.... that's how he's portrayed in the game for whatever reason.
The artwork is awesome, though sometimes it does change a bit here and there. There are a lot of recaps whenever the scenes change so I do wonder if this is several books in one. I can't imagine how short of a read the stories would be if it was split into smaller volumes, since the book is full of splash page after splash page after splash page. Every time a new character is introduced, pin-up page... every time someone does one of their special moves, pin-up page or even a 2-page splash. Again the artwork is spectacular, but it does make for a real short read.
The narrator does go on and on, describing everything, going into backstory of the characters (which is useful for people that haven't played the games) and even questioning what the hell is going on at times.
Again the book is interesting and fun to read if you wanna check it out, and the fights are pretty intense. You might spend a while staring at the awesome special moves expressed in artistic glory. I don't know how many volumes there are, but I was only able to afford three of them at Anime Vegas several years ago. I'll be sure to review the other two and hopefully track down the rest at a later time.
I'm wrapping it up for this one by saying that I still call BS on Chun Li just jamming her foot into the ground and somehow making her speeding vehicle come to a complete halt without having her leg snap off and fly across the highway. She really DOES have the strongest legs in the world..... Logic be damned.
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| This panel earns a cookie |
To read the next part hop over to- SVC Chaos Volume 2
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