"Capcom (and Marvel) continue to confiscate their originality problems with score-saving new features"

Capcom has always been competing against such hardcore 3-D Fighting games such as Virtua Fighter, Tekken, et. al. with brand new ideas to revitalize their 2-D Fighting Game Arsenal. Capcom began placing their 2-D Fighting Game series on the line when Mortal Kombat first came out. However, Capcom has been making improvements to their 2-D Fighting Game engine over the past years. Although the Naomi Engine (Capcom has made a deal with Sega to release most of their games under the Dreamcast and the Naomi Board) and newer features that I dare NOT TO ENCLOSE will help give 2-D Games new meaning, Capcom doesn't score high on originality with Marvel Versus Capcom 2. This game has classic X-Men quality gameplay and Capcom scores pretty well on certain categories but Capcom for sure doesn't score too high on originality with the latest release of the ''Crossovers'' (and the first ''Crossover Fighter'' through a deal with Sega) even though the gameplay has high ratings.

Graphics

Well, lessee. The anime graphics are well-drawn and well-detailed thanks to Capcom's recent deal with Sega to release newer 2-D Games under the Naomi Architecture. The Marvel characters are pretty well-drawn and are faithfully detailed from head to toe, in their entirety when they first appeared in the comic book shelves some 40-something years ago, with all of their specialties included. The Capcom characters, although well-drawn, would use a little work because some or most of these Capcom characters are pretty much carryovers from previous Capcom fighting games or such-such (and it's quite unimpressive to see for a 2-D Fighting game running under Yu Suzuki's Naomi Engine, the same engine used in Dreamcast Systems). Either way, animation is pretty good, from fireballs to super arts. The Naomi has more RAM than any of Capcom's CPS Boards, giving this game virtually NO SLOWDOWN whatsoever. The game moves well at about 30FPS (maybe 60FPS if I'm wrong on this) and the special effects also have no slowdown whatsoever. With the Naomi, 2-D Fighting has never gotten really smooth and detailed (the Backgrounds are eye-candy with the help of the Naomi). It would be surprising if Capcom has made a deal with Sega to run any of their future 2-D Efforts with the Hikaru instead. Imagine if you use the Hikaru on this game, and then this 2-D'er will move at about 60FPS all the time. Naomi or Hikaru, this 2-D Game has no slowdown at all, and because of this, I thought that I should give this game a better score.

Mechanics

As with all crossover games, you are given the option to jump higher than a regular jump. Unlike earlier crossovers between Marvel and Capcom games, you will only have four attack buttons and two assist buttons. This can create quite a problem because I'm more used to the 6 Attack Button configuration. You will only be able to fire off quick and strong attacks this time around but you will be able to call one other character (or maybe even more) with the two assist buttons (which replaces the Strong Punch and Forward Kick buttons) that might turn the tables for you or make things even worse depending on how you use it. The four attack button configuration allows you to tag with two other partners in the game. The Joystick allows you to block, move, dodge, dash, crouch, and even jump. The controls are really dependent on which character you choose as the controls has always been variable ever since Street Fighter II first came out in 1991. What is in my wish list for this game though is that I would like to see 8 buttons instead of 6 (6 buttons for attacking, 2 for ''Interferrence of your partners'') but the controls are still easy to get used to, despite the (rather absurd) absence of the Strong Punch and Forward Kick buttons.

Variety of Characters

Capcom has always been famous for pulling off an adequate amount of characters for every fighting game they create and release through the fighting game market. You are offered a huge selection of characters and it's a lot larger than the selection from previous crossovers between Marvel Comics and Capcom. Instead of selecting 2 characters (like you usually did in previous crossover games), you will be asked to select a team of three. While about 60% of the characters are carryovers from previous Capcom 2-D Efforts, I would say that there are plenty of new characters that you will need to master and there are some unknowns that you will have to live with. You start with a short amount of characters when the machine is from scratch. The new part of the game, however, is that the machine will reward you with secrets-a-plenty depending on how often you play the game (While Namco's Time Release System rewards arcades for the amount of time the arcade kept the cabinet, Capcom's brand-new ''Frequent Players Rewards'' is said to reward players for playing the machine more often). I'm not gonna waste my time telling you what it is but if you play the machine long enough, then you will know what I mean. The new characters help keep the series fresh. If you think that the originality is poor, then read on.

New Features

The obvious one is the ''Frequent Players Rewards'' which rewards players depending on how often the machine is played. Another new feature worth looking at is the fact that instead of having characters having one type of ''interference attack'', or having other characters aiding you during battle, Capcom has decided to come up with something that will make sure that characters are not just being called to assist and/or having one assist attack. The system is called ''Universal Involvement'', where each character has three ''interference'' attacks (You can call them anytime), and at the same time the character also has to be participating in a fight as well. A tag team partner can ''interfere'' while the battle is going on but at the same time, must also participate whenever everything else fails. Also not to be overlooked is the fact that characters may join hands to create a powerful blow that variates depending on what characters and interference options you choose from. With the Universal Involvement System, you must be aware that now teammates who dare interfere on your behalf will take damage so you will have to be careful when using interference as a last resort. Maybe the Universal Involvement System will help heal the wounds of poor originality.

Gameplay

To compensate for the lack of the Strong Punch and Forward Kick Buttons, you can select from three character types once you select a character and you can select from two speed types. The gameplay is pretty much similar to previous Crossover games except that you can choose who you want to ''tag on'' as you please. Each character has his/her own assortment of special moves and super arts that they can use once they get enough CHI to utilize it. You have to study all types of characters in order to know the advantages and disadvantages of each character and his/her type (It's much like selecting your Super Art in Street Fighter III). This takes a lot of time to master and persevere so you might end up wasting a lot of money learning the many characters and what type that is best for themselves.

Originality

Although Capcom scores high on Gameplay, Graphics (with the help of Sega's Naomi Board, I would like to see Capcom use the Hikaru on one of their future 2-D releases), mechanics, the introduction of the ''Frequent Players Rewards'' System, and the Universal Involvement System (which makes helpers participate in the fight as well), this game doesn't score high on originality because most of these characters are carryovers from previous Capcom efforts, Marvel Fighting Game ''partnerships'', and earlier Capcom projects with a minimal amount of newer characters. Wouldn't you like it if the fighting game engine Capcom used would be totally different from the Marvel Fighting Game formula? ARGH!!! I'm getting sick and tired of seeing all of these familiar characters returning back-to-back in virtually every Capcom 2-D Fighting Game effort just to make sure you have an adequate amount of characters to select. Sure there will be a lot of people who loves the selection of the characters just because they are familiar to them but keep in mind that they are all just carryovers, which is one of the reasons why I had to do a mandatory deduction of the game's overall score. Another reason why I have to give this game mandatory deductions on its overall score is because the gameplay (although much of the fighting theories have changed) is just not original enough, since the engine is derived from Capcom's X-Men: Children of the Atom. Sure there are some Street Fighter III properties found on this game but I would like to see a totally new fighting engine that allows you to recover energy and so-so.

Obvious weaknesses

For some reason, this game also has some balance problems, as some characters has advantages over the others. Also, corner traps are kind of futile in the game as these corner traps has to be removed. Experts will whip a beginner right away with these cheap corner traps so I would like to see the corner traps disappear forever and the talents of each character balanced out so that no character can have an advantage over the other.

Overall

The only problem with this game is that the game has a lot of originality problems. Otherwise, the game still plays the way a Capcom fighter has to play. However, to be honest with you, I can't place this fighter over X-Men: Children of the Atom, DarkStalkers, and the original release of Street Fighter II because these games helped Capcom gain originality from those games. Although Capcom has a problem with their originality, I thought that I should give this game a better score after playing it for a while. Capcom continues to compensate their abscense of their love for 3-D by improving the 2-D genre with smooth and more fluid animation while retaining all the kick-ass gameplay properties from past efforts. It's a good game but a fighting game powered by the Hikaru Board and with higher originality would really benefit Capcom for the years to come. For now, this game deserves a better score from me despite some key areas Capcom needs to work on.

Consensus

With Sega licensing Naomi to Capcom just now (and in the future, other game companies might find themselves lucky enough to ''borrow'' Naomi from Sega), Capcom continues to put the pressure that their 2-D venue refuses to die after years of 3-D renovation which killed much of the 2-D back in Mid-90's (and it's possible that a future 2-D game from Capcom will be powered by Hikaru in the future). Capcom continues to hold onto their 2-D Venue by using Naomi instead of their native boards to smoothen up their ''Crossover'' fighting engine a bit. However, what I would like to see in the future from Capcom is a 60-120FPS 2-D Fighter that will enable better balanced gameplay. Don't get me wrong, Capcom did a good job holding their breath with this project even with the killer originality flaw. Imagine if this game ran under Hikaru instead of Naomi, then this game would have received a better score just because Graphics would then run insanely smooth with the Hikaru as opposed to the Naomi. Although I'm pretty biased towards 3-D ''things'', Capcom seems to be improving every year, and Marvel Versus Capcom 2 is a good example to see why Capcom seeks to keep 2-D Alive. Capcom continues to give Sega unconditional third-party support and will continue to do so in order to make ''The Ultimate 2-D Fighting Game'' ever released in the Arcades.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/23/00, Updated 04/07/02