Ken's in there somewhere.

There's no denying the profound effect Capcom's popular series of beat-'em-ups have had on the 2D and 3D fighting genres, and series like the possibly immortal Street Fighter and evil twin Darkstalkers have spawned a league of memorable characters beloved by gamers. I really do wonder why it is that people just love beating ten kinds of snot out of these characters with any other group of heroes they can lay their hands on? The Vs series has seen some pretty powerful groups take on Ryu and friends, and screenshots from the latest offering, headed to Wii, indicate that while you may not have heard of Tatsunoko, they are nevertheless ready and willing to punish their rivals in the upcoming Tatsunoko vs Capcom.

The name Tatsunoko (a Japanese animation production company) might have you scratching your head, but it's a good chance you have indeed come across one or two of these characters, especially if your childhood cartoon watching extends back a few decades. Ken the Eagle is probably the most recognisable of the bunch (although difficult to discern in the latest batch of images due to kicking too much butt), hailing from classic anime series Gatchaman, which was brutally tortured during its transition to Western audiences in the late seventies as Battle of the Planets.

Also making an appearance is the original Tekkaman, whose later spin-off, dubbed Teknoman, is a more recent example of a popular sci-fi anime series. After that things start to get a leetle bit obscure for those outside the anime fandom, making the game's original Japan-only release not altogether unsurprising. Happily for Wii-owners who like to get into the ring, a English-language release is confirmed. If you're interested, there's a handful of character artworks available that could bring the memories flooding back; twenty characters are confirmed so far with the possibility of a few more creeping into the international release.


The controls have been simplified for the Wii's enormous variety of controllers, with a basic four-button system easing beginners in. This modest control scheme sitll provides plenty of scope for complexity, with masters able to move on to a variety of vividly named techniques including Aerial Rave mid-air combos, Delayed Hyper combos, Mega Crash defensive moves, Assault attacks, and an extended combo system called Baroque, although hopefully it won't be. Play remains firmly grounded in 2D despite characters strutting about in the third dimension, and continuing the tradition of the Vs series, tag team and Assist moves are vital to success.

It looks like Tatsunoko vs Capcom will hit North American shores around the holidays, and while no PAL territory or local release date has been suggested yet, I think we can cross our fingers without too much fear of eternal cramping. In the meantime, for more Vs action, don't forget Marvel vs Capcom 2's imminent release on the Playstation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade; despite official statements containing apparently invented release dates, we're still waiting for that one, too...