Capcom Fighting Evolution for Xbox (2005)

Original ad published in the June 2005 edition of EGM (no. 192)

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An average fighting game with nice marketing

During the second half of the 00s, connectivity became a big thing in most media outlets. Games would derided or given high marks depending on their online capability, so it's no surprise that the Capcom offering you see here was strongly promoted on the back cover of most magazines of the era with that in mind.

Although Capcom Fighting Evolution was released for both the PS2 and Xbox, the printed material you see here is solely for the green beast by Microsoft. For retro gamers like myself this was no surprise. The Xbox had a huge advantage over Sony's machine in terms of connectivity.

Zangief takes on Sakura in a rather uncomfortable position.

The American product came ready to play online, you just had to pay 50 dollars for the Xbox Live subscription. Sony's machine was a nightmare to get online. You had to buy a separate modem and pray the thing worked. Sports games in particular were very laggy. I remember trying to play ESPN NFL 2K5 online and just giving up because throwing pass just fucked up the entire game with ridiculous stuttering.

[I still consider Sega's game much better than any EA Madden 200X offering. But only if it's played offline. Visual Concept's masterpiece is fast, fun and never seems to be unfair. I'm not the only one who venerates the football game.]

Back to Capcom Fighting Evolution. It was just an average fighting game that gathered a bunch of different Capcom franchises. Other that that, there's little to say. It can be fun with friends, although I can't vouch for it when played in online multiplayer mode.

What is interesting is the graphical style Capcom chose to market the game. It's a far cry from the previous Street Fighter II success, although it does retain some of the aesthetic decisions made in the latter part of the 90s. There's lots of red flame on the page, lots of shouting going on to portray the game's dynamic sense of intensity (the fighting was pretty fast for the time, with nice 2-D graphics and some 3-D backgrounds). 

All this is nicely balanced with the monochromatic section in the upper-right part of the page, although, as you can see, the copy of the ad was again featured in another tone of red, similar to Ryu's fist bands. Characters are depicted in anime-style artwork

Some nice screenshots of actual gameplay and the actual cover of the Xbox version of the game round out the package.

Capcom Fighting Evolution for Xbox print ad copy

A tribute to classic arcade fighting games!

20+ Legendary fighters from five Capcom Arcade classics finally meet online!

Choose from characters spanning Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III, Street Fighter Alpha, Darkstalkers and Red Earth (never before released in the U.S.!)

Xbox Live with voice chat support! Find out about the Capcom Fighting Evolution online tournament at www.capcom.com/cfe