TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS

Two Worlds Collide!

Get ready to rumble as two great fighting traditions come together with explosive results – exclusively on Wii!

The seventh game in Capcom’s hit VS. series, TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS continues the tradition of the franchise by pitching famous characters from the Capcom game universe into battle against a roster of opponents from a whole other world.

This time around, the likes of Ryu, Chun-Li and Alex from Capcom’s Street Fighter series will square off against characters created by famous Japanese animation studio Tatsunoko Production. With almost half a century of animation excellence under their belts, Tatsunoko Production have built up a wealth of rich characters that promise to become just as familiar to gamers in Europe as they already are to anime fans in Japan.

Explore the site to see the game in action, learn more about the fighters flying the flag for both Tatsunoko and Capcom, and to discover how the chaotic action in TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS can be brought to order by new fighting game fans and experienced campaigners alike.

Characters

When the moment arrives to go toe-to-toe in TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS, you’ll have a vast array of fighters at your disposal. With more than 20 unique combatants – each one boasting spectacular individual moves - it’s up to you to form your perfect tag-team pairing by selecting two warriors whose skills are a perfect fit with your particular fighting style.

Take a look at just four of the contenders or visit Capcom’s official site for the complete roster!

Ryu

Ryu is a dedicated martial artist who aspires to become a true fighter. He tirelessly wanders the globe looking for stronger opponents to ensure he continues to improve upon his techniques and strength. He has previously revealed in other VS. series his desire to gain the mutual respect of his opponents strictly through battle. His special Hadoken and Shoryuken moves are, inarguably, his trademarks.

Chun-Li

Chun-Li, a famous Chinese fighter and Interpol agent, is a prominent martial artist who is renowned for her speedy and powerful kicks. Whether showcasing her fighting ability on the job or in the ring, she has never given up hope of finding her missing father. She knows that the Shadaloo crime organisation, and its leader, her long-time arch-enemy M. Bison, are linked to her father’s disappearance.

Ken the Eagle

Ken is the Science Ninja Team leader. His real name is Ken Washio, he’s 18 years old, and he works as a test pilot. As Ken the Eagle he uses an eagle-shaped boomerang weapon known as the Bird Run. One of his objectives is to find information about his father, whom he barely knew due to them being separated from one another when he was young.

Jun the Swan

The only female member of the Science Ninja Team (which fights the evil organisation Galactor), Jun specialises in explosives and sabotaging enemies’ forts. In battle she uses a customised yo-yo-type weapon that has been merged with a knife, and mesmerises her enemies with her sophisticated moves.

A Fighting Chance

Ready yourself for all-action battles that are instantly accessible for new players and stacked with potential for experienced fighting game fans. TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS boasts a four-button fighting system that ensures the game perfectly embodies the old “easy to play, hard to master” adage. Find the right fighting method for you by choosing to play with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, the Classic Controller, the Classic Controller Pro or the Nintendo GameCube controller as you get to grips with the multitude of moves the characters under your control are capable of pulling off.

While newcomers will quickly feel at home when the fighting starts, seasoned pros can take the action to a new level by pulling off incredible attacking and defensive manoeuvres. Mastering Aerial Rave combos, Assault attack moves, the Baroque extended combo system and much more means you’ll be equipped with the necessary skills to tackle the toughest of opponents. And with each character in the game boasting their own unique skill set, the potential for becoming a true master of the breathtaking combat system knows no bounds!

Dynamic Duo

Adding extra spice to every battle in TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS is a combat system that calls on players to select two characters each time they lock horns.

Selecting your favourite two man/woman/cyborg/robot tag team allows you to rotate at any moment between your chosen fighters, ensuring you’re equipped to adapt to whatever your opponents throw at you. On top of that, having two fighters at your disposal enables you to use Assist Attacks and create your own unique fighting style that makes the most of their special moves and balances one character’s weaknesses against the strengths of the other.

Which dynamic duo will you depend on to get the job done?

Opponents Are Everywhere

As well as going head-to-head with a friend at home, TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS opens the way for you to take the fight online over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Facing players from all over the world, you’ll be able to see where you stand in the grand scheme of things via worldwide leaderboards that can be scaled by accumulating Battle Points and titles in ranked matches. Before you step into combat, you can scout the opposition and learn their playing style via tags that denote whether they boast an attacking, guarded or evasive style. You’ll also be able to show off your own sense of style by setting a personal icon that shows up when you’re preparing to brawl.

Can you scale the heights and prove you deserve a place among the planet’s elite fighters? TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS provides the way, all you have to do is develop the means!

Ryota Niitsuma: Producer, Capcom

Ryota Niitsuma knows fighting games. Plying his trade in the creation of some of the most successful and critically-acclaimed brawlers to come out of the Capcom stable, it’s reassuring to find him at the helm for the upcoming TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS on Wii. We caught up with Mr. Niitsuma in London to learn about the history and future of Capcom’s VS  series, as well as why chaos can sometimes be more appealing than order.

Could you start by telling us a little bit about your role in the development of the game?

I’ve been mainly working as a producer on various fighting games, including a number that aren’t going to be released outside of Japan. But my previous role was as an assistant producer for Street Fighter IV, and now I’m a producer for TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM: ULTIMATE ALL-STARS.

A lot of gamers in Europe may be unfamiliar with the Tatsunoko universe. Could you give us some background to Tatsunoko as a whole, and how the idea to integrate their characters within a VS. game came about?

“Tatsunoko” is the shortened term for “Tatsunoko Production”, which is a prestigious anime studio that has been making many animes for 30 years. So a lot of gamers in Japan have grown up with Tatsunoko anime, and the studio offered Capcom their licence to make a game, something which coincided with plans we had for a new fighting game.

So those two elements naturally merged and led to the starting point for TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM. Tatsunoko’s offer also coincided timing-wise with plans for a new instalment in Capcom’s VS. series; which includes Capcom VS. SNK and Marvel VS. Capcom. So these three factors all together brought about TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM as the latest game in the VS. series.

When it comes to making a game in the Capcom VS. Series, how do you decide which fighters will appear as playable characters on both sides?

Fundamentally, it being a part of the VS. Series, I wanted to brew a chaotic atmosphere - so we have picked from all sorts of games and franchises. The basic rule was that we picked one character per franchise, with the exception of Street Fighter, and that’s because we picked one character from Street Fighter I, one from Street Fighter II and another from Street Fighter III. But for all other titles and franchises it was just one character per franchise.

We’ve tried to pick some unexpected characters for a fighting game, just to bring a few surprises for people when they play. Hopefully this should offer a sense of variety and make it more enjoyable.

This is now the seventh game in Capcom’s VS. Series. Why do you think the concept of two universes clashing has proved to be so appealing for players?

I think the essence of it lies in the fact that this collision of two worlds is something that doesn’t normally happen, and probably shouldn’t happen, but it does! I think there’s also an appeal in the fact that usually when we think about Capcom fighting games, they’re quite serious, and directed towards hardcore gamers, whereas the VS. Series is more of a huge party that stands alone – where things are slightly simplified without sacrificing the core fighting system.

For every fight, players will choose a combination of two characters. What effect does that mechanic have on the gameplay as a whole?

Traditionally in the VS. Series there are a lot of characters to choose from, and we have two-on-two fights because we know that users are greedy when it comes to the variety of characters, and nobody would want to pick just one, but rather two or even three. So by bringing more characters together on one screen, up to four at once, it creates more chaos when you play - which is the direction we want to take the VS. series in.

Being able to choose at least two characters is probably essential for this game because, for instance, with Street Fighter IV, where it’s one-on-one, players tend to be more serious, more static and more careful with their movements. Whereas two-on-two is so messy in a way – almost to the point where nobody knows what’s going on. But that is the attraction, and offers a real sense of fun. So choosing two characters really pushes that aspect to the forefront.

By all accounts, it hasn’t been easy to secure a release for this title outside of Japan. Why were Capcom passionate about making sure gamers elsewhere in the world were given the chance to play this game?

Capcom have been wanting to reignite people’s passion for fighting games for a while, and we saw this title as a great opportunity to make the fighting genre appeal to a wide audience. Talking about fighting games appealing to a wide audience may sound odd, but we wanted to show that titles like this one from the VS. Series are very much in line with the idea of a party game that anyone can enjoy.

Obviously, we had to go through a lot in terms of licensing, but nothing is impossible when you want to make something happen!

Part of the accessibility you mention is down to the game’s easy-to-grasp control scheme. Are you satisfied that as well as being easy for newcomers to get to grips with, the game contains real depth for experienced Capcom fighting game fans?

Most certainly. This is definitely a fighting game with the Capcom branding, and we know what that means. We just wanted to lower the entry barrier to fighting games, but this will definitely be enjoyed by any hardcore fighting game fans.