Retro Game Review: Marvel Vs Capcom 1 and 2 from 2007
Systems: Arcade, Dreamcast, PS2
Overall:***** 5/5
Game Summary:
This series was an amazing compilation of both tactical combat and buttonmashing insanity. The first of this set was a fresh breath of air. Streetfighter Vs X-men was the first in a line, before that was the X-men fighting game for the Arcade that few people remember the name of (Even I forgot).
As for replay value and all that- Marv V Cap 1 and 2 were pretty amazing. The first game had the tag-team aspect of it where as number two had a triple tag team setup. Well much can be said about these games but the most can be said for the amount of characters and player styles that they had. If you liked the old school Street Fighter style you could go with one of your favs (except Blanka- poor Blanka!) or you could play as a few of the characters from Darkstalkers or…you could open up a can of crazyness with Dr. Doom, Spiderman, and Hulk! The systems of “special moves” were made for everyone to enjoy. Unlike SNK or other 2D Fighting games you could practice on M V C and get all the moves down and customize your combos.
Graphics: They were about standard for what the game was. The special attacks and Hyper Combos gave the game a unique feel. The characters were great, you could see them smile and frown. The detail was done well. You could tell who was female (thanks Capcom) and who was male. They didn’t downplay gender roles either. Jill from Resident Evil was wearing her gear and Morgan from Darkstalkers was wearing well…what she wears. Jin has his giant robot and T-Bone has hers. The only problem I have with the graphics is that the backdrops all seem dreadfully underdone. They look great and all and there is some action going on but for a game done in late 90s when games like Virtual Fighter, Tekken and DOA were grinding forward and improving.
Music: Ripping soundtracks from the origin games and fitting music to characters whom have never really had a theme was perfect. When fighting you get a great feeling when whipping a combo out on a buddy.
Replay: As mentioned before it was good. Its a great game to play others at- as for “Playing it again”….
M V C 1: Had no real incentive besides the ending few scenes where the characters had a bit of story to wrap up with. Lacking but not a bad start to a great game
M V C 2: This game had an incentive to unlock playable characters (Every time you beat it with separate teams in arcade) or buy them on console (With points earned playing through the game). Their was no story at the end but you got to fight new people and new teams and well until you unlocked everything and everyone it was almost like an expensive cut of fudge- you want to take more bites!
In the End:The games were great. X-men Vs. Street Fighter was the beast that spawned the franchise games that rocked. Cap and SNK even did a few crossovers but were more for the hardcore fighter addicts. Marv Vs Cap was awesome and targeted a great audience. As for the future of these games…Rumor says that XBox360 may be getting a online release of this game ported directly into your hard-drives! Or it could be a 40 dollar release and could go to the PS-3 but by the looks the game would place best on the Xbox and the Wii (Really the Wii wont need a fighting game since they are getting BRAWL).
Retro Review Circa 2007: Ported from No Deal forum
-Robert R.