Capcom’s latest verses fighter should have never made it to UK shores. Filled with a huge selection of obscure characters from one of Japan’s biggest animation companies it’s quite possible that only the eldest or most hardcore of gamers will be familiar with names like Jun the Swan and Yatterman.

Ultimately however, your knowledge of Japanese anime or the characters in question matters very little, as Capcom’s latest crossover title is a game that’s brimming with love, meticulously crafted characters and some of the craziest beat-em-up action we’ve ever experienced.

Want to summon up Battle of the Planet’s fiery phoenix and send it careening into an astonished Morrigan? You can do that? Fancy steaming across the screen, hanging off the side of a gigantic robotic dog? You can do that as well. Have an urge to have Dead Rising’s Frank West dress up as Megaman and release a special that fills the entire screen? No problem.

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom is a game that revels in its silliness and the end result is one of the most enjoyable fighters that we’ve played for some time. Of course its fighting mechanics aren’t a patch on the excellent and incredibly deep controls of Street Fighter IV, but this is so much more than the simple mash-em-up it appears to be and fans of both the Vs and Super Smash Bros franchises will be well catered for.

It’s also been greatly pared down compared to previous Vs games, delivering a sleeker, simpler button setup that won’t scare off newcomers but will still allow plenty of depth for the old timers. Attacks register as weak, medium and strong, with a fourth button being used to either summon in your team mate – unlike later VS games you can only choose two characters – for a quick attack or switch over to them, allowing your current fighter to recover any recently lost health. Special moves are also extremely simple to pull off and it’s possible to team up with your partner to do even more over-the-top attacks; though said attacks quickly reduce your five level special bar. Despite the simplicity of the button layout, Capcom’s new fighters still manages to offer depth to experienced players thanks to new fighting mechanics like the Variable Aeriel Rave that allows partners to tag in mid air and the Baroque Cancel that allows a character to snap out of a current animation at the sacrifice of some red health. In short, Capcom’s latest brawler features subtle hidden depths.

It’s the fighting roster is arguably the greatest aspect of Capcom’s latest brawler however, and not just because it features three awesome heroes from Battle of the Planets (or Gatchaman as it’s known in Japan). While you’re unlikely to have heard of the vast majority of Tatsunoko’s characters the vast majority of them work tremendously well and feel like they’ve been in beat-em-ups for all their anime lives. In fact even the vast majority of Capcom entrants have never been in a proper beat-em-up before, but you’d never have guessed it, so well have Capcom integrated them into the beautiful game engine.

Highlight is easily Dead Rising’s Frank West who proves to be something of a revelation. Sure he looks like Vince Vaughan after he’s been smashed in the face with a frying pan, but he’s an absolute beast in the game hitting characters for six with a baseball bat, throwing shopping trolleys at them or simply grabbing an unfortunate foe by the legs and swinging them around until they fly off into the ether.

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