Capcom Fighting Jam

Capcom Fighting Jam (カプコン ファイティング ジャム), released in North America as Capcom Fighting Evolution, is a head-to-head fighting game from Capcom. It was originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Namco System 246 hardware and ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game features characters from three different incarnations of the Street Fighter series, as well as characters from the Darkstalkers series and the CPS III arcade game Red Earth, with each character employing the fighting system from the game which they represent.

Gameplay
Capcom Fighting Jam features characters from the Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter III and Darkstalkers series, as well as the single game Red Earth. There are four selectable characters representing each series, excluding original character Ingrid and the boss characters Pyron and Shin Akuma. Each character uses a fighting system from the game which determines the techniques they can use and their super move gauge. Ingrid uses her unique fighting style with her own techniques, for a total of six fighting styles.

The game consists of two-on-two endurance-style matches similar to that of Rival Schools: United By Fate. The player selects a pair of character and then begins a match with one character. In the Japanese version of the game, if their current character is defeated for one round, then the next round will begin with the other character. In the American version, the character can remain the same whether he or she wins or loses.

Street Fighter II
The Street Fighter II characters follows the playing style of Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Each Street Fighter II character only has a single-level Super Combo gauge that allows them to perform a Super Combo at MAX level. They cannot air block nor dash like other characters, but can stand up quickly when they fall to the ground. Unlike Super Turbo, each character has two Super Combo moves. Despite representing Street Fighter II, the graphics for Ryu and Bison are actually from their Capcom vs. SNK incarnation, while Guile is from the Street Fighter Alpha series and Zangief received an entirely new sprite just for this game.


 * Guile
 * M. Bison (Vega in Japan)
 * Ryu
 * Zangief

Darkstalkers
The Darkstalkers characters have a three-level "Special Stock" gauge like in Night Warriors, allowing them to perform "ES moves" (Enhanced versions of their regular special moves) or "EX Specials" (their super moves). They can also perform "Guard Cancels" (a counterattacking special move) and "Chain Combos" (which allows them to link any basic moves with another one of equal or greater strength). Darkstalkers characters can air block and dash, as well as do standing-up attacks and move while they're down.
 * Anakaris
 * Demitri
 * Felicia
 * Jedah

Street Fighter Alpha
The Street Fighter Alpha characters have single-level "Custom Combo" gauge and can perform a specific Super Combo or a Custom Combo at MAX level. They can also air block and perform Alpha Counters or recovering rolls.
 * Guy (Originally from Final Fight)
 * Karin
 * Rose
 * Sakura

Red Earth
The characters from Red Earth has a Gem gauge which allows player to stock up to two gem afters the gauge fills up. When the player has a gem in stock, they can level-up their character and make them stronger or perform a Mystic Break super move. The Red Earth characters has a blocking technique called the "Ultimate Guard", which allows them to block all attacks (except throws) without consuming energy. They can also follow an Ultimate Guard with an "Ultimate Counter".
 * Leo
 * Hauzer
 * Hydron (Nool in Japan)
 * Kenji (Mukuro in Japan)

Street Fighter III
The characters from Street Fighter III have a two-level Super Art gauge. Unlike in Street Fighter III, the characters in this game cannot select a Super Art move before battle, but they have access to more than one Super Art (much like their Street Fighter II counterparts) as well as EX Moves, powered-up versions of their regular Special Moves. Players can also "parry" an opponent's attacks, which allows them to avoid an attack without damage and counterattack.
 * Alex
 * Chun-Li (Originally from Street Fighter II)
 * Urien
 * Yun

Original character

 * Ingrid - Ingrid is the only new character featured in the game, although she was one of the new characters intended to debut in the unreleased 3D fighting game Capcom Fighting All-Stars. She uses a unique fighting style with a three-level Super Arts gauge. Ingrid makes a return appearance in Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX for the PlayStation Portable. According to her storyline in this game, she is a time traveller who came to the time of this game in order to obtain the Psycho Energy from M.Bison.

Bosses

 * Pyron (from Darkstalkers)
 * Shin Akuma (Shin Gouki in Japan) (from Street Fighter II)

Soundtrack
Capcom Fighting Jam: Original Soundtrack, an officially licensed soundtrack of the game, was released on December 12, 2004 in Japan only. This album features the original music found from the game composed by Noriyuki Asakura. The first pressing of this album came with an exclusive mini disc that featured both vocal and instrumental versions Ingrid's Theme by Maiko Kubo. The cover artwork was done by Shinkiro.


 * 1) PLAYER SELECT
 * 2) VS SCREEN
 * 3) Severe Way
 * 4) GOES A SYOTEN-GAI!
 * 5) At ease!?
 * 6) To kill time
 * 7) Prospered fatherland
 * 8) The jungle of a jungle
 * 9) Night of Hong Kong
 * 10) WINNING DISPLAY
 * 11) CONTINUE
 * 12) NAME ENTRY
 * 13) RANKING DISPLAY
 * 14) GAME OVER 1
 * 15) HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER
 * 16) HERE COMES INGRID!
 * 17) Infinity Chamber
 * 18) Desperate struggle
 * 19) TRAINING STAGE(家庭用/Home Version)
 * 20) GAME MENU(家庭用/Home Version)
 * 21) ENDING
 * 22) STAFF ROLL
 * 23) GAME OVER 2

Bonus Disc

 * 1) Heat Haze
 * 2) Heat Haze (Instrumental)

Reception
The game generally wasn't well received because all of the characters except Ingrid were copy-and-pasted from their respective games but with drastically cut-down animation frames. Comparisons were instantly drawn to the similar "Vs. series" games and the gameplay of this newest fighter seemed to lack the finesse of those earlier games. Many series favorites such as Ken, Cammy, Sagat and E. Honda were also relegated to the backgrounds of the stages instead of being playable characters which did little to aid the game's popularity. The game also received criticism that certain moves that the characters originally had were not available to the player, which led to some backlash from fans of the games. The game enjoyed a brief period of competitive play in Japan, but was soon dropped from most major tournaments.

Producer Yoshinori Ono has admitted that the game was essentially a salvaged version of Capcom Fighting All-Stars, and has also stated how the crossover, mechanics, and inclusion of the various gameplay systems inherent to each series lead to balancing problems. Ono also said that he replaced another producer who had been in charge of the game's creation before leaving during the middle of its production.