Fighting games have entered an interesting new era where just about anything seems possible again, especially when it comes to the building blocks coming back together between two iconic rivals in the business.
With Terry and Mai joining Street Fighter 6 plus now Ken and Chun-Li heading to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, fans have been wondering and growing hungrier for the chance to see Capcom vs. SNK 3 after more than two decades.
Japanese publication Famitsu recently held an interview with SNK Producers Yasuyuki Oda and Joshua Weatherford during Tokyo Game Show 2024, and thanks to our own Nicholas “Majintenshinhan” Taylor, we have the translations for their discussion.
One of the important topics that came up was of course that of crossovers judging by what we’ve seen so far of both companies taking part in new games and rereleasing the original Capcom vs. SNK games on the upcoming Capcom Fighting Collection 2 as well as SvC Chaos.
Those at Famitsu asked the SNK developers about the chances to see more Fatal Fury characters in Street Fighter 6 and vice versa, but the producers took things a bit farther than that.
Oda himself was the first one to bring up CvS here.
“There’s nothing decided as of right now so I can’t say anything about that, but at the end of the day the worldwide fighting game community keeps saying “Please make a new Capcom vs. SNK”, right… We’re very aware of this, haha,” said Oda.
“To be perfectly honest, the hurdle for doing something like that is quite high, but we’re always in communication with the development teams at Capcom and we’re on very good terms, so I don’t think it’s impossible.”
Weatherford followed that up with another interesting statement that he too wants CvS back though it sounds like it may materialize in other franchises before a full on fighting game may happen.
“It might be a long path to get there, but we’re steadily moving forward,” said Weatherford. “For me personally, what I’d like to do next is bring Capcom vs. SNK back. Kind of like Super Smash Bros.”
“I know that Oda-san isn’t a fan of this idea, but Ryu is in Fortnite, right? Let Terry shoot a gun too, and revive Capcom vs. SNK there! Fall Guys has Terry and Mai so, if they can bring Ryu and Chun-Li there we could bring Capcom vs. SNK back to life in a lot of different areas!”
That seems to be all they were willing to talk about on that subject since Oda closed it out by saying, “And that’s that,” with a laugh.
Even before the most recent Fatal Fury announcements, fan interest in a new crossover was raised even higher with some of Terry’s interactions with Ryu and Ken in SF6 where the characters broke the fourth wall a bit and stating that their “paths will certainly cross again.”
This could have just been in reference to Ken and Chun coming to City of the Wolves though it seems to leave the door open for more.
The SF6 devs have stated earlier this year that they want to make new games with Marvel and SNK as well with Oda also saying he’s interested in working more with Capcom in the future too if these current endeavors are well received.
Those on the Capcom side of things seem to have a deep love and appreciation for the SNK classics considering all of the deep Easter eggs and references they packed in with Terry, so it’d be really cool to see what they could do now with a full project in the modern era.
But while both sides seem to be very open to the idea, it’ll likely come down to licensing and timing.
Given the current gaming landscape, a new Capcom vs. SNK would probably have to wait until at least Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury are in a bit more of a lull so as to not cannibalize their individual projects.
Sharing a few characters back and forth is also a big step, but getting a full game combining the IP of two companies is a few more even beyond that, which would require a lot of legal back and forth to work out a deal that benefits them all.
If Capcom had the choice, there’s a strong chance they’d hop on a new Marvel vs. Capcom first for the wider appeal too although SNK’s licensing team would be easier to make a deal with.
But even if we do get a new Capcom vs. SNK someday, it looks like that time won’t be for multiple years in the future at least.
This is also the same article where the SNK Producers talk about why they specifically chose Ken for Fatal Fury, and you can find the full interview on Famitsu.