Battling at Full CAPacity
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Introduction
I'm sure every Pokémon fan at some point has thought to themselves how exhilarating it would be to fight a proper Pokémon battle. While smashing Birkal in a Random Battle can be fantastic, it's easy to get a bit envious seeing Ash tell Pikachu exactly what to do, where to move, and when to do it. The CAP Anime Style Battling does a great job making Pokémon battling much more free form, but if you are looking for a battling substitute that focuses on real time decision making, then your choice is Battle CAPacity. Battle CAPacity is a traditional 2D fighting game created by Cartoons!, based on the first twelve Create-A-Pokémon projects. The object of the game is simple. Knock out all of your opponent's health before he can yours using your attacks, abilities, reactions, and wits.
Controls
Battle CAPacity follows a similar control scheme to many of its fighting game genre brethren and should be familiar to people who have played those games before. Movement is simply executed by holding left and right. Each character can jump forward, straight up, and backward. Blocking is executed by holding back (left if you are facing right, right if you are facing left) or down-back depending on the type of move you wish to block.
Every fighter has three physical attacks with varying levels of power. A-level attacks are generally weak, short ranged, and quick. C-level attacks are strong, cover more ground, and slow. B-level is somewhere between the two. Different versions of these physical moves are possible by crouching or jumping while attacking as well as some characters having specific unique attack inputs.
Along with normal attacks, each fighter has "special moves" available in their arsenal. In general, these moves are inputted by a certain sequence of movement inputs followed by an attack button. The strength of the attack button chosen will often change some aspect of each special move. An example would be Syclant's Fury Swipes, a move that causes Syclant to rise into the air throwing out a flurry of slashes. The way to input Fury Swipes is to press down, down, and then input an attack button in rapid succession. If you choose an A-level attack, Fury Swipes will cause Syclant to rise into the air slashing once. If you choose B-level, Syclant will rise higher into the air and slash three times, and C-level will go even higher and slash five times.
More specific to Battle CAPacity is the X-Attack system. An X-Attack is essentially a powered up version of each special move, either increasing the utility of the move or giving it a new option altogether. The X-Attack version of Fury Swipes causes Syclant to rush into the air at a 45 degree angle. If her opponent is in the air and in her general vicinity, Syclant will hack-and-slash at her opponent and send them to the ground. This gives Syclant a great way to finish combos, while her other X-Attacks give her different functions.
X-Attacks come with a cost, however. At the start of every round, each player is given one X-Attack. You can use this as many times as you like as long as you don't hit your opponent with the attack. If you hit your opponent with the attack, whether they block it or not, you lose your X-Attack and they gain yours. The X-Attacks can be transferred back and forth as long as you and your opponent keep sending them back and forth. It's up to you if you find it worth using your X-Attack or if it is not worth the risk of letting your opponent have access to them.
The next mechanic is arguably the most satisfying. As you fight your battles, different actions you perform will fill up a small bar at the bottom of your side of the screen. Hitting your opponent, getting hit, blocking, and doing special moves all help this bar build up to full. This is your Super Meter and once this bar is full, you can execute your Super Attack. These moves are your ace in the hole, often doing massive amounts of damage to your foe. Pyroak charges up SolarBeam and destroys the health of his opponent if they are unlucky enough to get hit by it. Stratagem uses Giga Drain to dash forward and if he connects with this attack, his opponent loses a significant amount of health, and Stratagem heals half of the damage dealt back. Super Attacks must be used carefully, however, because if you mistime your attack and miss, then your Super Meter will be depleted and you will have nothing to show for it.
Your last option when controlling your fighter is your ability. Each fighter has an ability, similar to how each Pokémon has an ability. At the expense of some of your Super Meter, you can perform whichever ability your fighter has. Revenankh can use Rest to slowly regain health. Kitsunoh uses Will-o-Wisp to gain space control and pressure the opponent.
Default controls are configurable to what you would like by going to the Options drop down menu and selecting Keyboard.
Meet the Fighters
 | Syclant is the glass cannon of the game. With very good offensive options and speed to back it up, Syclant aims to get in the opponent's face and stay there. Once she is able to get a solid hit on her opponent, she can combo them for large amounts of damage. She plays a dangerous game, however, because if her offense falters and she starts to take damage, her health will quickly deplete. |
 | Revenankh is the obligatory grappler character of Battle CAPacity. His game revolves around Power Whip, a very damaging move that cannot be blocked and can only be avoided by jumping. Revenankh will often have trouble getting up close to his opponent and will have to sacrifice some health to do so, but once he is in range the opponent is in for a world of hurt. If the opponent gets knocked down, the guessing game between Power Whip or one of Revenankh's other moves can be extremely brutal. |
 | Pyroak is best played as a wall, either playing more stationary, or bringing the wall to the opponent. He can play a strong defensive game by fighting at a distance with his projectiles, Energy Ball and Fire Ball, and can punish any approaches from the air with Flamethrower. If Pyroak plays offensively, he can use Energy Ball as a shield to cover his approach and use Pyroak's strong, powerful attacks to take down the opponent. |
 | Fidgit is a fighter with two very different play styles. First, he can play a simple but effective mid-range game. He has some good far-reaching normal attacks along with Earth Power and Snatch to keep the opponent from running away from him endlessly. Otherwise, Fidgit plays a very offensive combo heavy style. Encore, Fidgit's ability, gives Fidgit exceptionally good damage output if used in combos, at the price of depleting his Super Meter and raising his opponents. |
 | Stratagem plays as a master hit-and-run artist. If played well, the opponent will never have a good chance to hit Stratagem for solid amounts of damage, which is crucial for salvaging Stratagem's low health. Stratagem uses his great mobility to launch an onslaught from afar. The combination of Ancient Power and Power Gem can be used to make an obstacle course for the opponent to make his way through. While they are fixated on trying to get close, Stratagem can often zoom in with levitate and get a free hit or two before they even realize what is going on. |
 | Arghonaut is the playground bully, using his brawn to beat down his foes. With his good health and survivability, Arghonaut aims to close in on his opponent and batter them down with his solid pressure and strong meaty attacks. Mach Punch allows for a fast approach while Mega Punch can absorb one hit and set up a free Bulk Up. Despite these tools, Arghonaut's main trouble getting past projectile-based keep away. |
 | Vitalimar is a grappler like Revenankh, but trading survivability for movement options. Vitalimar will be in the opponent's face in the blink of an eye pressuring them with normal attacks, grabs, Body Slam, and Wring Out. Characters without defensive options will be hard pressed to withstand Vitalimar's onslaught. He himself is terrible on defense, however, so if he is put on the defensive, he has a hard time getting out unscathed. |
 | Cascavian is a character that focuses on good fighting game fundamentals and is the closest thing to an all-round beginner character. He doesn't need to rely on gimmicks in order to break open his opponent. The better you are at fighting game basics, the stronger Cascavian plays. He can do everything well along with having a stellar one-time use ability and great advanced combo potential. |
 | Kitsunoh is true to his character and is the mastery of trickery. While his damage isn't spectacular, continuous mix-ups will eventually wear the opponent down. Will-o-Wisp and Teleport are great for playing games with his opponent's mind and forces them to be on their top defensive game. And to mix it up even more, Kitsunoh can play a very good defensive game using Will-o-Wisp as a wall and punish incoming opponents with Iron Head. Swapping between the two play styles can be brutal for the opposition. |
 | Cyclohm plays a similar role to Stratagem, but executes it in a different way. Instead of being a fast-moving projectile-based character, Cyclohm is a slow tank, with better health, tools, and damage. Thundershock is great for coaxing enemies into the air where they will fall prey to Twister, which leads to good damage and sets up for more Thundershock pressure. When Cyclohm is forced to move, though, he needs to be careful as his movements are very slow and floaty. |
 | Colossoil is a bulldozer, plain and simple. He has the highest health in the game and deals some of the best damage too. Once he gets in your face, he has great offensive options to take away your health in chunks. Colossoil is a character of extremes, though. He has no option between off and overdrive (fastest air movement speed and slowest ground movement speed) so he can have trouble getting exactly where he needs to go. |
 | Krilowatt is the master of movement and dodging. A fast walk speed and the ability to zip around the screen at will make him very difficult to hit when coupled with the fact that he is such a small target. His damage and health aren't very high, but has the option to play a solid offensive game as well as a strong defensive one, whichever the situation calls for. |
 | Voodoom is the "stance change" character of Battle CAPacity, having two movesets. He starts off with his sword sheathed. He has some good midrange options in this form and is very good against approaches in the air. Using Vacuum Wave, he can set up great pressure on knocked down foes. When he uses Night Slash, Voodoom switches to his Slash stance. Slash stance trades defense for offense, with great pressure but bad defensive options. Using his sword, he has excellent range on his attacks, and most of them will do small amounts of damage even if they are blocked and if the opponent can't hit Voodoom out of Slash stance quickly they will see their life bar drain. |
 | Skulloton is a pure offensive force to be reckoned with. Bonemerang provides him with great cover and support in his pursuit to get in on the enemy and knock them down. He has low health, but his damage output from his powerful combos and strong mixup game make up for it. |
 | Tomohawk stays true to his typing and is the master of the skies. He isn't incapable on the ground, having a serviceable projectile game, but his multitude of aerial options make it easy to tell where his true strength is. With U-turn to swoop around foes, Tailwind to approach them, and Air Slash to fend them off, Tomohawk has every option he needs in the air. Air Slash also gives him ridiculous juggling potential, giving him the most damaging, reliable combos in the game. |
How can I play?
Battle CAPacity has had quite a few iterations to its name. While Version 7 is the most recent, Cartoons! plans on releasing a new patched version fixing bugs and such by the end of the year! Keep an eye out for it! The Battle CAPacity website will have the download available. Until then you can find the current download and more in-depth strategy on each character, as well as a guide to playing online. If you have more questions, feel free to swing by #battlecapacity and ask for a game or two while you're there!
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