Marvel vs. Capcom 2

"This ride has a few balance issues but is still very fun!"

The VS Series was nothing short of a phenomenon in the 90s, it was something amazing that just exploded onto the gaming scene. It started when Capcom produced X-Men : Children of the Atom an Arcade game featuring only X-Men characters. While there aren't any other characters except Akuma in this game (and he's hidden on top of that) this was the first game to flesh out the VS mechanics such as the Super Jump and Air Combos. After that game more games using this style of gameplay were produced like X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel Superheroes, Marvel Superheroes vs Street Fighter, are you beginning to see a pattern forming. Capcom then produced Marvel vs Capcom, and thus that game lead to the final game of the VS Series, Marvel vs Capcom 2.

If anything you could consider MvC2 to the final bow to the VS style games and one of the final bows to Capcom's 2D fighting games. MvC2 is also one of the finest and rarest Dreamcast games out there meaning if you have a Dreamcast, you should own this game.

Presentation

MvC2 has the largest character selection out of any fighting game to date! You have 56 characters to choose from (after unlocking them all) on a large neon lighted globe. It may seem overwhelming at first but you'll ease into it. The menus are nice looking and effective. You also have all of your basic fighting game options along with the ability to adjust your speed. I also have to give props to whoever did all that character artwork, it's very nice and makes the game feel a little legendary whenever you see the character art.

Score : 8.6 – Great

Gameplay

This game is pretty different from is progenitor. Instead of a team of two you now have a team of three, this means no more 4 player battles. The game also been reduced to four attack buttons from six and you usually assign the triggers (if you're using a controller) for something like calling in a partner to attack. Along with this whole three person team thing you can do a special attack where all three team members do their super move at once using three bars of special of course. One bad thing about this game is that it's not exactly balanced. There is a list of characters that can kind of rule the fight and there are also glitches that people may use at their own discretion but I don't really see anyone using things like that or playing the game real cutthroat style at home.

Some people like to call this game strategic. Others claim it's button mashing or it's too simple or something. I'm kind of inclined to agree with both opinions. When you pick your team out you choose what their helping move will be when you call them out and of course there are the vast differences between all the characters. As for the simple part, I'd say because it's been reduced to four button play and the fact that you can just hit buttons to do combos and to do the big team attack, all you have to do is press two buttons at once.

Score : 8.3 – Great

Graphics

One thing that bugs me graphically about this game is how some of the sprites don't really end up looking too good on this game. I have no idea why that is but it also doesn't help with the fact that the backgrounds are done in 3D. In my opinion sprites and 3D backgrounds don't mix very well, it makes things look unnatural to me. Besides that most of the moves have really nice effects and a majority of the characters actually look pretty good…others…not so good. I will say that most of the stages actually are pretty nice, like the big rooftop/clock tower stage, the Airship, factory and that river one.

Score : 8.1 – Great

Sound

The character select track will make you want to set firecrackers off right next to both of your ears. The glacier stage is another track I can't stand! All the other songs are good though, not very memorable but good. The character voices come through pretty clearly and the sound effects are nice and crisp. I love it when you throw someone and beat their character, a nice thud followed up with a yelp and a big noise, priceless. Oh and if you do not like any of the background music and you really care enough, there is a way to replace all the tracks on the game, I'm one of the ones who don't care enough though.

Score : 7.7 – Good

Replay

This game has lots of replay value to it. First off you only start off with 24 characters and you have to unlock the other 32. How do you do that? Well you go play Arcade mode quite a few times to earn points to go buy characters and extra costumes from the Secret Factor. Of course you could earn points the cheap way by leaving your Dreamcast on in training mode when you go somewhere and come back later or go to sleep and wake up in the morning and exit to earn your points.

I don't recommend this method though because if you end up playing this game a lot and you REALLY want to unlock stuff you may end up keeping your Dreamcast on 24/7, which generally isn't good for any console. Some characters are pretty cheap while others cost maybe a whole Arcade game's worth of points. You also have extra stages to unlock through the same means, this will take awhile. You also have your friends to play with, this is a big plus because the AI isn't very challenging at all. When you're playing this with friends, you're guaranteed to have a blast.

After your initial play through you may think that the game will get old after a bit and you not ever play it again. That's just not true because you will be playing this game again occasionally as long as you have people you know that like it for as long as you'll have a Dreamcast.

Score : 10 – Legendary

Overview

While MvC2 may not deliver much on the atmosphere and balanced gameplay departments but the sheer amusement and replay value you'll get out of it more than makes up for it. Again this is a must own Dreamcast title, even if you're not really into fighting games it's actually one of the easiest to pick up. Pretty much anybody can enjoy this game.

Overall Score : 8.5 – Great

Score modified to 8/10 for Gamefaqs.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/06