Marvel vs. Capcom

This article is about the series. For the game, see Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes.
Marvel vs. Capcom

Current Marvel vs. Capcom logo
Genres Fighting
Developers Capcom
Eighting (Marvel vs. Capcom 3)
Publishers Capcom
Platforms Arcade, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, iOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Platform of origin Arcade
First release X-Men vs. Street Fighter
September 1996
Latest release Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
2017

Marvel vs. Capcom (マーヴルVSカプコン Māburu bāsasu Kapukon) is a series of crossover fighting games developed and published by Capcom featuring characters from Marvel Comics and Capcom's own video game franchises. It was the first Vs. series involving Capcom, who would later produce other Vs. series with SNK Playmore (SNK vs. Capcom) and Tatsunoko Production (Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars).

The Marvel characters depicted in the earlier games were often based on their appearances in various 1990s animated series, particularly X-Men, and were often voiced by the same voice actors. Similarly, the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 cast bear similarities to and share voice actors with their late 2000s animated incarnations, such as those seen in Wolverine and the X-Men, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

On December 3, 2016, Capcom officially confirmed the next installment of the series, entitled Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. An official trailer was released at the PlayStation Experience.

Titles

Video games

Overview of all titles and versions in the Marvel vs. Capcom series
Title Release Original platform(s) Ports
X-Men vs. Street Fighter 1996 Arcade Sega Saturn (1997); PlayStation (1998)
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter 1997 Arcade Sega Saturn (1998); PlayStation (1999)
Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes 1998 Arcade Dreamcast (1999); PlayStation (2000); PSN, XBLA (2012)
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes 2000 Arcade Dreamcast (2000); PlayStation 2 (2002); Xbox (2003); PSN, XBLA (2009); iOS (2012)
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds 2011 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 N/A
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 2011 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 PlayStation Vita (2011); PlayStation 4 (2016); Microsoft Windows, Xbox One (2017)[1]
Marvel vs. Capcom Origins 2012 PSN, XBLA N/A
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite 2017 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One N/A

Capcom's partnership with Marvel began in 1993 with the release of The Punisher, an arcade beat 'em up based on the comics.[2] Capcom then created their first Marvel-based fighting game, X-Men: Children of the Atom, in 1994. Marvel Super Heroes soon followed in 1995.[2] Many of the gameplay mechanics used in the Marvel vs. Capcom series were first developed and refined in these two fighting games, serving as precursors to the series. Former Capcom USA Strategic Marketing Director of Online and Community, Seth Killian, stated that many fighting game aficionados, including himself, consider them to have laid the foundation for the Versus series.[3]

X-Men vs. Street Fighter was released for arcades in 1996, introducing the series' signature tag team action by combining Street Fighter-style combat with tag team features.[2] The game was succeeded by Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter in 1997, expanding the character roster to the larger Marvel universe. Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes later debuted in 1998, including characters from numerous Capcom video game franchises. The sprite-based games culminated in 2000 with the arrival of Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, which featured a cast of 56 playable characters.[2]

Shortly after the release of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox ports for Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom lost the use of the Marvel license after a string of legal issues put the series on hold.[4] After a decade-long hiatus, the franchise was revived with the 2011 release of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. The series' traditional sprites transitioned into 3D character models while retaining the 2D-style combat. An updated version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, was released later in the same year with additional characters, stages, modes, and other gameplay enhancements.[5][6] A compilation of Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, called Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, was released on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in 2012, featuring high-definition visuals, online multiplayer, challenges, and unlockables.[7]

Related media

On July 2, 2012, Udon Entertainment announced the release of Marvel vs. Capcom: Official Complete Works, an art book consisting of promotional artwork, sketches, and bonus material from the many video game collaborations between Marvel and Capcom, from the 1993 arcade game The Punisher to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The book made its international debut at San Diego Comic-Con on July 11, 2012, in an exclusive hardcover edition. A standard-format softcover was released in October 2012 by Diamond Comics.[8]

Gameplay

The conventions and controls for the Marvel vs. Capcom series have evolved over its near two decade-long run. Following the same gameplay mechanics from Street Fighter II, the series initially began with the standard one-on-one, best-two-out-of-three rounds format as seen in X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes. Players would select a character to use in battle and use various attacks to exhaust their opponent's health meter or have the most cumulative health when time ran out. X-Men vs. Street Fighter limited each match to one round, but added two-on-two tag team features. Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter later introduced the concept of the "assist" by allowing the player to summon their offscreen partner to perform a special move without switching characters. The feature was tweaked in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, which allowed you to select an assist character before each match and only allowed the player to use their assist a limited number of times. The assist features from Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter were used instead in the following sequel, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, once again granting players the ability to call in their offscreen characters at any time during the match without constraint. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 also increased the number of characters per team by one, providing the series' three-on-three battle format, which would be used until Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite in 2016, which saw the return of two-on-two matches.

As Capcom's design philosophy for the series changed to expand their user base and reach a wider audience, the control scheme has been repeatedly modified to accommodate people unfamiliar with fighting games.[9] The first five games utilized the same configuration of an eight-directional joystick and six attack buttons that was previously established by Street Fighter II. In Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, the controls were cut down to four attack buttons and two assist buttons in order to make the game more accessible. The control scheme was further simplified with the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, which included three attack buttons, two assist buttons, and a "launcher" button.[10] In addition, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 included two different control scheme options: Normal Mode and Simple Mode. Simple Mode, tailored to casual players, allowed players to perform combos and special moves more easily at the expense of limiting a character's available moveset.[11]

Playable characters

Marvel

Character XvSF MvSF MvC MvC2 MvC3 UMvC3 MvCI
Apocalypse [Note 1] [Note 1] ?
Blackheart [Note 2] ?
Cable ?
Captain America [Note 2]
Captain Marvel
Colossus ?
Cyclops ?
Deadpool ?
Doctor Doom ?
Doctor Strange ?
Dormammu ?
Galactus [Note 3] ?
Gambit ?
Ghost Rider ?
Hawkeye ?
Hulk [Note 4] ?
Iceman ?
Iron Fist ?
Iron Man
Juggernaut ?
Magneto ?
Marrow ?
MODOK ?
Nova ?
Omega Red ?
Onslaught [Note 5] ?
Phoenix ?
Psylocke ?
Rocket Raccoon ?
Rogue ?
Sabretooth ?
Sentinel ?
She-Hulk ?
Shuma-Gorath DLC DLC ?
Silver Samurai ?
Spider-Man [Note 2] ?
Spiral ?
Storm ?
Super-Skrull ?
Taskmaster ?
Thanos ?
Thor ?
Venom [Note 4] ?
War Machine [Note 4] ?
Wolverine [Note 6] ?
X-23 ?
Notes
  1. 1 2 In X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, the player can fight as the game's final boss, Apocalypse, against waves of AI-controlled enemies in "Boss Mode."
  2. 1 2 3 In Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, alternate versions of Blackheart (Mephisto), Captain America (U.S. Agent), and Spider-Man (Armored Spider-Man) appear as secret characters.
  3. In Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the player can fight as the game's final boss, Galactus, against waves of AI-controlled enemies in "Galactus Mode."
  4. 1 2 3 In Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Superheroes, alternate versions of Hulk (Orange Hulk), Venom (Red Venom), and War Machine (Gold War Machine) appear as secret characters.
  5. In the PlayStation version of Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Superheroes, the player can fight as the game's final boss, Onslaught, against waves of AI-controlled enemies in "Boss Mode."
  6. In Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, an alternate version of Wolverine, named Bone Claw Wolverine, appears as a separate playable character.

Capcom

Character XvSF MvSF MvC MvC2 MvC3 UMvC3 MvCI Franchise
Akuma [Note 1] ? Street Fighter
Albert Wesker ? Resident Evil
Amaterasu ? Ōkami
Amingo ? Marvel vs. Capcom
Anakaris ? Darkstalkers
Arthur ? Ghosts 'n Goblins
B.B. Hood ? Darkstalkers
Cammy White ? Street Fighter
Captain Commando ? Captain Commando
Charlie Nash [Note 2] ? Street Fighter
Chris Redfield ? Resident Evil
Chun-Li [Note 3] ? Street Fighter
Crimson Viper ? Street Fighter
Dan Hibiki ? Street Fighter
Dante ? Devil May Cry
Dhalsim ? Street Fighter
Felicia ? Darkstalkers
Firebrand ? Ghosts 'n Goblins
Frank West ? Dead Rising
Guile ? Street Fighter
Hayato Kanzaki ? Star Gladiator
Hsien-Ko ? Darkstalkers
Jill Valentine DLC DLC ? Resident Evil
Jin Saotome ? Cyberbots
Ken Masters ? Street Fighter
M. Bison ? Street Fighter
Mega Man ? Mega Man
Mega Man X Mega Man
Mike Haggar ? Final Fight
Morrigan Aensland [Note 3] Darkstalkers
Nathan Spencer ? Bionic Commando
Nemesis T-Type ? Resident Evil
Norimaro [Note 4] ? Marvel vs. Capcom
Phoenix Wright ? Ace Attorney
Roll ? Mega Man
Ruby Heart ? Marvel vs. Capcom
Ryu Street Fighter
Sakura Kasugano [Note 5] ? Street Fighter
Servbot ? Mega Man
Sonson ? Marvel vs. Capcom
Strider Hiryu ? Strider
Trish ? Devil May Cry
Tron Bonne ? Mega Man
Vergil ? Devil May Cry
Viewtiful Joe ? Viewtiful Joe
Zangief [Note 5] ? Street Fighter
Zero ? Mega Man
Notes
  1. In Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, the player can fight as the game's final boss, Cyber Akuma, against waves of enemies in "Boss Mode."
  2. In Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, an alternate version of Charlie, named Shadow, appears as a secret character.
  3. 1 2 In Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Superheroes, alternate versions of Chun-Li (Shadow Lady) and Morrigan (Lilith) appear as secret characters.
  4. Norimaro is exclusive to the Japanese arcade and console versions of Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.
  5. 1 2 In Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, alternate versions of Zangief (Mech-Zangief) and Sakura (Dark Sakura) appear as secret characters.

Reception

In 2012, Complex ranked Marvel vs. Capcom at number 37 on the list of the best video game franchises, commenting that "a frenetic pace and over the top effects work together to make this franchise stand the test of time."[12]

See also

References

  1. Morse, Ben. "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite Hits in 2017". Marvel. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 UDON Entertainment (2012). Marvel vs. Capcom: Official Complete Works. Hong Kong: Diamond Comics. p. 2. ISBN 9781926778495.
  3. Killian, Seth (2011-02-11). Marvel vs Capcom: a history of the Vs fighting series. GamesRadar. Event occurs at 00:17-00:52. Retrieved 2011-02-28. Seth Killian: So the history of the Versus series technically starts with X-Men vs. Street Fighter, but many fighting aficionados including myself really date some of the origins back to games called X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes which introduced things like chain combo and aerial rave [...] all of that lead us eventually into X-Men vs. Street Fighter...
  4. Klepek, Patrick (2010-04-20). "Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds First Impressions". G4TV. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  5. Baxter, Shawn (2011-07-20). "Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 Announced". Capcom-Unity. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  6. Robison, Seth (2011-08-30). "PAX 2011: Why You Need ULTIMATE MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3". Newsarama. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
  7. Elston, Brett (2012-07-05). "Marvel vs Capcom Origins coming to XBLA and PSN in September". Capcom-Unity. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  8. "Get Marvel vs. Capcom: Official Complete Works". Marvel Entertainment. 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2012-07-22.
  9. Klepek, Patrick (2010-04-20). "Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds First Impressions". G4TV. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  10. "Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Preview". Game Informer. GameStop Corporation (206). June 2010.
  11. Brudvig, Erik (2010-09-16). "TGS: Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Gets Simple - Xbox 360 News at IGN". Uk.xbox360.ign.com. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
  12. Jones, Elton; Brittany Vincent; Larry Hester (2012-09-25). "The 50 Best Video Game Franchises". Complex. Retrieved 2012-12-08.

External links

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