Capcom vs. SNK 2 Mark of the Millennium

"Live and let die! FIGHT" - The announcer

Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark Of The Millennium is the third installment (fourth, if you count the Updated Rerelease of CvS1) in the SNK vs. Capcom series. As the name suggests, it's developed by Capcom. It was released for arcades, the Sega Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Game Cube and Xbox.

The game extended the roster to (almost) all the fighting line of both companies, along with the full CvS Pro cast returning:

Capcom side

• Returning: Ryu, Ken, Sagat, Chun-Li, Guile, Zangief, E. Honda, Blanka, Dhalsim, Balrog, Vega, M. Bison, Cammy, Akuma, Sakura, Evil Ryu, and Morrigan.
• Newcomers: Eagle, Yun, Kyosuke, Maki and Rolento.

SNK side

• Returning: Benimaru Nikaido, Kyo, Vice, Rugal Bernstein, Iori, (and his Orochi Evil Counterpart) Mai, Terry, Raiden, Kim Kaphwan, Ryuji Yamazaki, Geese Howard, Ryo, King, Yuri and Nakoruru.
• Newcomers: Chang & Choi, Athena, Rock Howard, Haohmaru, Ryuhaku Todoh and Hibiki Takane.

The two bosses were created for this sole game: God/Ultimate Rugal and a special version of Shin Akuma, who were the result of one absorbing the other's power.

This time, the Ratio system was modified to allow the player to give ratios to the characters as they wished, and SIX grooves to choose from, plus a customized system which can be created by the player himself. Again, an Updated Rerelease of this game was available, called Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark Of The Millennium EO, being EO both Extreme Offence or Easy Operations, depending on the version.

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Tropes used in Capcom vs. SNK 2 Mark of the Millennium include:

• A Boy and His X: Nakoruru and her hawk Mamahaha.
• A God Am I: Both Shin Akuma and God Rugal have this in their names. And it's not for show...
• Ambidextrous Sprite: Sagat's eyepatch.
• Art Shift: Reuse of Street Fighter Alpha sprites, and the ensuing clash in art style and animation quality, was one of the strongest complaints. Morrigan's constant reuse of her very first sprite is still a vivid running joke in many circles.
• Ascended Extra: Ryuhaku Todoh, Maki and Eagle, characters who had formerly appeared in the first Art of Fighting, Final Fight 2 and the original Street Fighter respectively, made their unexpected returns as playable characters. Indeed, it has been said that Capcom deliberately chose more obscure newcomers for that game.
• Assist Character:
  • Yun is assisted by Yang
  • Morrigan by Lilith
  • Kyosuke by Batsu and Hinata
  • Chang shares his moveset with Choi
• Bowdlerise: The North American release is notable for its level of censorship not found in prior Capcom fighting games. Moves with "Genocide" (Tiger Genocide and Genocide Cutter) in them were replaced with "Destroyer". Yamazaki's S&M move name was changed as well. Rugal calling out his Genocide Cutter was replaced with a generic grunt. God Rugal was changed to Ultimate Rugal. Due to Viewers are Morons, Shin Akuma was untouched and became a Bilingual Bonus.
• Dialogue Tree: The games are full of this, with stuff like Geese throwing a Reppuuken at Bison to blow his cape away.
• Everything's Better with Spinning: Zangief.
• Excuse Plot
• Gainaxing: Mai. (obviously)
• Gratuitous English: Finest K.O., though it got changed to Dramatic K.O. for the European and North American releases.
• Loads and Loads of Characters
• Market Based Subtitle: Millionaire Fighting became Mark of the Millennium when it was ported overseas.
• Medium Blending
• Non Dubbed Grunts: Like other fighting games of the time. Some special introductions are full of dialogue (and sometimes even Mythology Gags) that are completely incomprehensible if you don't understand Japanese. Special post-battle victory banter text were dropped in the overseas versions similar to what happened in the Street Fighter Zero games.
• Original Generation: God Rugal and Shin Akuma.
• Panty Shot:
  • Sakura, thanks to the magic of recycled Alpha sprites.
  • Maki.
• Pet the Dog: Balrog's ending has him donating his reward money to a charity.
• Please Put Some Clothes On: Maki.
• Shout-Out: Check the page.
• SNK Boss: Predictably. Shin Akuma and God Rugal.
• Sprite Polygon Mix: The game has sprite-based characters and 3D backgrounds.
• Stock Audio Clip: Most characters were rerecorded, but others reuse voice samples from older games. (e.g. King from King of Fighters '96, Yun from Third Strike)
• Stripperific: Morrigan, who's technically not even wearing clothes!
• Took a Level In Badass: Ryuhaku Todoh was basically a Joke Character in Art of Fighting with only one special attack. It took the efforts of daughter Kasumi in sequels and then his big return in this game to show just how badass the Todoh Style can be.
• The Unexpected: While a few character choices are no-brainers (Rock, Haohmaru, Athena), others are more of the "Wait, what?!" variety (Chang, Eagle, Hibiki Takane, Kyosuke, Maki).
  • And then there's Ryuhaku Todoh, a character whose mostly been a background cameo as a Running Gag after his first playable appearance, way back from the first Art of Fighting. Capcom Vs SNK 2 marks the second game in which he's playable.
• True Final Boss: God Rugal and Shin Akuma.
• Updated Rerelease: Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO, with many tweaks, and two new groove choices. The Game Cube version dropped online multiplayer though and is the only console version (aside from the Western PlayStation 2 releases) without it.