Trading card games have been around for years now, but never have their video game counterparts been as popular outside of Japan as racing games, shooters, platformers, sports games, flight simulators, or action adventures. An updated version of a classic title is entering the arena in SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS, but can the game hold your attention for any more time than it already takes to read the title? Is it worth purchasing immediately, as the game contains a game-ending bug? No. But would it be worth purchasing when a corrected version of the game is released? Read more for the full review!

Story: 2/10

There are a lot of potential stories you could come up with to necessitate card battling so many people. Perhaps a tournament, or some sort of training system. Or maybe you just do it because you love battling everyone. However, none of these are the story of SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS. Your friend's father has been killed, and you might fight your way to the top of the tower where the computer he built, which has gone crazy, resides. On the way you must battle everyone on every floor before you can go to the next floor. Until you beat them in a battle, everyone is hypnotized by the computer.

It's a pretty flimsy story, but I suppose it works. The real purpose of the game isn't to learn about the characters, or get wrapped up in the story. It's to build a better deck, earn money to buy better cards, and battle your friends via WiFi. A great story isn't needed, but it could have been a lot better.

Gameplay: INC.

The basic mechanic of SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS follows any traditional Trading Card Game. You build a deck of cards to play with, and then they are shuffled and drawn to create a hand. Cards can be activated by putting them in the "ring" and on your next turn they become available for attacking. You can also lock cards down to gain "force," which is required for using some special abilities. All Cards are aligned as one of four colors, red, blue, green, or yellow, and their abilities often require having force in their specific color.

There is no tutorial to explain the specifics of the game, so for a first time player like myself, it took a few games to understand the basics. The manual doesn't explain everything, but it will lead you through the basics. There is a glossary available in the File Mode that explains some terms that are not in the manual, so reading both before playing is advised for players new to the genre.

A lot of the game mechanics like drawing and discarding dead cards is handled automatically, and the computer characters play very quickly, so you're not waiting a lot during the game. The stylus can be used to select cards and choose actions, but using the d-pad and face buttons are oftentimes easier. The only way to look at all the information on a card is to use the shoulder buttons, and using them along with the stylus can be difficult. Although I didn't see any documentation explaining this, the A button is used to select cards and their actions, while the B button moves you to the "End Turn/Attack" button.

All the information on the cards is available during battle, with most of the information being displayed on the screen with little icons in various locations. It's intimidating at first, but after a few battles it becomes more clear. Like most good games, the concepts are simple to learn, but take a long time to master. Strategy is very important, and the computer opponents have various attitudes during play. Some attack constantly, whereas others seem to only defend. As you progress, they get more aggressive, and have better cards in their deck, so there will be some challenges. You have the ability to upgrade your deck by purchasing single cards, or packs of several cards from stores throughout the tower, and you can of course build your deck from any of the cards available, so there is a lot of strategy in that customization.

EVERYONE SHOULD AVOID THIS GAME FOR NOW! ONLY CONSIDER PURCHASING IT WHEN A CORRECTED VERSION IS RELEASED!

A bug currently exists that prevents the completion of the game. It has been acknowledged by the publisher, and is being corrected as quickly as possible. That makes it impossible to recommend anyone purchasing this game in its current state. As soon as this bug is fixed, this review will be updated.

Graphics: 7/10

SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS has simple, but clean graphics. Each of the cards used for battling has colorful unique graphics, and it's easy to quickly spot your favorite cards as you look through your hand. During battles, the bottom screen is fairly cluttered with information, and the cards in your hand are very small. This can make it hard to determine what they are without selecting them, but after becoming more familiar with your deck you can pretty easily tell what each little card is.

While cards are attacking, some simple animations are used that signify the attacks. Everything from bullet shots to lightning bolts are shown destroying the various cards. Unfortunately there's no way to skip these animations, so if you have more than a couple cards attacking, you have to wait a minute or so for all the animations to complete. They look nice, but there aren't as many varieties as I would have liked.

Sound: 5/10

The music and sound effects don't add anything to the game, but they adequately fill the silence. As you travel up the 21 level tower, some floors have different themes to them, and the music changes somewhat. This isn't extremely often, so much of the music is the same. Sound effects during battles don't change, but in a simple game there isn't much need for constantly changing sounds.

I've played several battles with the sound off, and the experience was only a little different. There are a few audio cues that you'll begin to recognize as significant, but the experience doesn't depend on sound to be enjoyable.