"Ultimate. Crossover. Ever."

Introduction
Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of the Superheroes - Ultimate Crossover Ever

Punch, kick, jump, it's all under your control. This series is the third one, and without a doubt, the best one yet. Nowadays, when you drop by the local arcade, you'll see empty seats around other 3-D fighting games. Why are people so engrossed in just a 2-D fighting game? They have good reasons to do so, and I'm going to explain more about that. Read on.

RAM ALL DA BUTTONS NOW!!!

A typical starting move of a new dude to MvC would be ramming all the top or bottom three buttons at once. Sure, it would be cool if someone doesn't know the ability to block but that's just a complete waste of one power bar. People need to ration, and time their attacks well. Although I'm pretty sure that I haven't reached the professional status yet, MvC still doesn't fail to impress me over and over again. The graphics of this typical 2-D fighting game left me rather flabbergasted. Each character was given a new cartoon-ish look, or rather an anime look. Not a bad idea, since the game doesn't really focus on the graphics much. It's the gameplay that many are looking out for.

MvC is all about eliminating your opposition force. Each player is given the choice of 2 characters, and their skin colors. In addition to that, if you don't play dirty, you're given a random side partner. You can also choose the controls. Beginner is just as it says it, you don't really need to do fancy joystick moves. Manual is what the more intermediate players would choose. Although the majority of the actions would be harder to pull off, manual opens the path to the devastating air combo or aerial attack. Pulling off one of these moves is impressive to see in local arcades, and is definitely not easy. Some people may think that it's just alternating buttons, but there's more than what meets the eye. Players will need to execute an attack that springs the enemy into the air, then launch the air combos. Very cool.

CROSSOVER!

Successful attacks will be praised, blunders would be what people would attempt to avoid. The coolest and most deadly combos ever are performing a crossover dual attack. Pulling one of these moves will result in the two characters launching their special attacks straight at the enemy's nose, and it would cause almost an instant kill if the enemy did not block. All these are at the cost of 2 power bars. A pretty easy job, I must say. There is another kind of crossover that results in your two characters attacking the enemy at the same time. However, their attacks won't be that accurate, as you will be controlling both of them at the same time. This attack could deplete your power bars rather drastically, but it is worth the trade-off if you pull it off well.

IN CLOSING...

Graphics are stunning, the gameplay is awesome. And the audio is not to be missed. This is perhaps one of the best crossover of all times, and maybe one of the few top beat 'em up platform arcade games. So, sacrifice your small change and get some fun already! Must I say some more?

Results
Gameplay: 10/10
Excellent
Graphics: 9/10
Nothing short of stunning.
Audio: 8/10
Story: 2/10
Well, nothing much to say, eh?
Replayability: 10/10
BEAT 'EM!
Buy or Rent: Buy
If you mean the PS version, that is. =P

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/12/03, Updated 03/12/03