Marvel vs. Capcom

"The ultimate clash of superheroes and super powered peoples!"

So the VS Series had been going strong for quite a while with Capcom. They had X-Men vs Street Fighter, and Marvel Superheroes vs Street Fighter. What could possibly be next? Along comes Marvel vs Capcom, where a pool of Marvel characters face off against a pool of Capcom characters including a few fighting game characters of course. Megaman and Ryu vs Venom and Spiderman, you got it. Morrigan and Chun-Li vs Gambit and Wolverine, done!

The game was a launch title for the Dreamcast along with two other fighting games those being Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter 3tb. Honestly I would've been torn between Soul Calibur and Marvel vs Capcom if I had the choice back then. Soul Calibur may have been the Dreamcast's first killer app but MvC : Clash of the Superheroes was a close second on the fighting scene at the time. This game plays fast and furious while still being somewhat technical at the same time, not too much because it's part of the VS Series but much more than MvC2 in this reviewer's opinion.

Presentation

Everything is in 2D on this game, thus giving the game a more natural look than MvC2. Again you've got your standard fighting game options along with a few other things that some games don't have. You can adjust the size of the screen and adjust the screen it's self. There is a sound test and a vibration option as well. In the game you've got two life bars your current character's and your partner's in the wait. You've also got your super bar and your time limit indicator.

When you go to select your character you've got a space like deal showing the earth in the background and your character select grid in the foreground. Whenever you put your cursor over a character it shows a half mug shot of your character, this looks really cool with the whole space set up in the background, gives everything kind of an epic feel. A very clean cut and cool presentation package overall.

Score : 9.4 – Awesome

Gameplay

This game is pretty different from it's sequel whereas MvC2 has a 4 button set up, the original is a 6 button fighter and in my opinion, that makes things a little more technical and harder. I'm not saying that 4 button games aren't technical, look at all the SNK games…but Capcom taking it down a couple buttons doesn't make anything harder or more difficult, it makes things easier in my opinion. Another thing that really sets this apart from the other game is the fact that you can only have a team of two but you also have this thing called a Duo Team Attack where you can have your partner come out and attack with you while controlling them both…unless you are playing Cross Fever which is a 4 player versus mode, one of the major selling points of this game. Cross Fever is crazy, chaotic and in a word...awesome, if you even have this game or are planning on getting it you must get more controllers or Arcade Sticks so you and three other friends or more can play Cross Fever. This game also has an attack similar to whats in MvC2 with the trio super but it's just a duo super, not as ridiculous looking but still devastating, not as devastating as Duo Team attack however.

One thing that may disappoint people a bit is the small character roster, 15 characters if you don't count the hidden ones which actually aren't even worth getting, they're just pallete swaps of characters in the game gimped move sets or other stipulations such as Gold War Machine which can't be stunned, or Red Venom is always in this custom combo like mode and has gimped moves of the real Venom's move set. While I do think the character roster is a little lacking and they could've added a few more people like Ken, Bison, or Psylocke or Magneto but you can usually do fine without more characters. Two of the mentioned characters are part of the helper system in this game, when you pick your team a grid comes up and randomly selects a helper character like Psylocke, Magneto, or Arthur from Ghouls n' Ghosts that you can call in to do a quick attack, there are ways to select what you want but I feel that it takes away a little fun when you do so. As for modes of play you have Arcade, Versus if you don't have four people or four controllers/sticks, Training and Cross Fever. The gameplay is fast, furious and fun.

Score : 8.8 – Great

Graphics

The sprites and backgrounds are fantastic and nothing looks really jaggy or unnatural due to everything being in 2D. All of the sprites look very good and nothing looks out of date or forced into the game. I must mention that whenever you do a super move or duo attack that a really cool background pops up that his this whole space-like rock formation thing going on, there really isn't a way to explain it but I really love this effect.

Score : 9.5 – Awesome

Sound

The one thing that bugs me is the music that plays at the character select, it's a little too repetitive but at least you don't hear “I wanna take you for a ride!” a million times. All of the other music tracks are really character themes and most of them are seem to match with the characters, especially Chun-Li's, Morrigan's, Strider's and Wolverine's. The character voices and sound effects are clear and sharp, the hit noises sound really cool as well, a very hard smacking noise really selling the impact, this is Q-Sound though so of course it's top notch.

Score : 9.0 – Great

Replay

This is a solid fighting game so there is a healthy amount of replay value already. Of course stuff like Cross Fever really helps things out as well. There really aren't many things worth unlocking, the unlockable characters are actually just jokes and I can't see why anyone would really want to bother with them unless they wanted to unlock Onslaught, the boss of the game, who is also very powerful and it would be ridiculous if another person got to control him. Really people will be coming to play this game for the sheer fun it offers.

Score : 8.6 – Great

Overview

The first Marvel vs Capcom is a better fighting game in my view, and if you're a Dreamcast owner and you love fighting games you should definitely pick this game up if you get the chance. You will love the Cross Fever battles if you have enough controllers/sticks and you will enjoy the great presentation and gameplay the game offers. Simply put one of my favorite Dreamcast games of all time, and one of my favorite fighting games of all time.

Overall Score : 9.1 – Awesome

Score modified to 9/10 for Gamefaqs.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/06