SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash

SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash is the first of three collectible card game-themed games based on popular SNK and Capcom fighting game characters published between 1999 and 2006. In an attempt to cash in on the Pokémon craze, the game was released in two versions, SNK Version and Capcom Version.

Unused Graphic#

This unused placeholder card is listed as card 0 within the game's code. Note the "COMMING SOON" graphic in place of the usual portrait.

Demo Version Remnants#

A table at address 0x20357b contains screen handlers. In particular, the entry at 0x20357f is executed when pressing A on the title screen. We can override this handler to jump to some demo screens. The following patches apply to the International SNK Version.

Patch 0x2c705 = 00 00 00 00 loads an early title screen.

Patch 0x357f = 55 b7 22 00 loads a "COMING SOON!" screen.

Patch 0x357f = 87 36 20 00 loads a demo sequence. Here, Kyo and Ryu both re-use their sprites from SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium. There's also a "PR DEMO" text screen that would be loaded before it, but a conditional jump is always taken, skipping that text screen:

002036ab f2 05 be        lda        XIX,LAB_0022be05
         22 34
002036b0 21 10           ld         A,0x10
002036b2 1d f1 18 20     call       FUN_002018f1
002036b6 0e              ret
; ...
0022be05 68 3f           jr         T,LAB_0022be46 ; load demo sequence
; ...
; load text screen

To restore the text screen, we can modify the instruction at 0x2036ab to load the address after the jump, by additionally applying patch 0x36ac = 07.

Patch 0x2c705 = 1b 79 c7 22 loads a release date screen, which then sends the player to the "NeoGeo Land" map, similar to the Japanese non-interactive prototype. Unlike that prototype, here the player has full control.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page.

The following text may point to additional leftover code:

0x2D33B:

COM CABLE
COM UNIT
MY INPUT
COM INPUT
SEARCH
DOWSING

0x2E611:

EXHIBITION MATCH
NORMAL MATCH
DEATH MATCH

Debug Menu#

Patch 0x357f = e3 36 20 00 loads this debug menu.

Hirosawa Test#

Displays cards, press A to view the corresponding description.

Ishibashi Test#

Sugimoto Test#

Runs some of the introductory sequences. Press Option to open a menu that loads particular screens related with the card matches. While the Japanese version has text for the menu entries, the International version just shows an empty menu, although the entries are still functional.

Yamauchi Test#

A text scaling test mimics the opening sequence of the Star Wars movies:

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page.

Some additional text doesn't seem to show up in any menu entries, although it's located near them:

0x33E13:

TASK TEST
PUBLIC TASK
SMALL  TASK

0x3429A:

PRINT TEST

D Button Menu#

After starting a game, press D to open an ingame debug menu. The D button is mapped to an external Neo Geo AES controller used in dev boards, but is also mapped by some emulators (e.g. ares).

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Figure out what these debug functions do.

GAME#

On the International version, this menu has some rendering issues due to missing font tiles, which are present in the Japanese version:

There's a total of 2 sets of 3 entries, which are switched by selecting the "Next" entry. Some of these entries also have their own sub-menus.

Set 1:

Set 2:

DIP#

INT#

TASK#

Development Text#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page.

0x118B:

SPR 64 OVER

0x500F:

MODE SEL
QUEST
BATTLE
ENDING
CARD

0x7E74:

QUEST