Marvel vs. Capcom 2

"Over the top, button mashing 2D fighting---my favorite!"

Capcom strikes gold with the latest entry in the popular VS game series. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 isn't the ultimate fighting game I thought it was going to be but it's still an all around great fighting game. This time around, probably because they were using Sega's new Naomi board, Capcom decide to make some pretty big changes in the game. The biggest change that upset quite a few Capcom fans was the new button layout. Gone are the medium punch and kick buttons, in their place are Assist 1 and Assist 2 which calls out one of your partners to do a quick attack. Then there is the 3 on 3 tag format that had a much bigger impact on the game than I imagined. In the previous game matches averaged about 40 seconds to complete, in MvC2 matches usually end when the time runs out! Its really annoying too because it forces you to constantly rush, rush, rush, while playing which can cause you to make some deadly mistakes. No big problem though, in the options screen you can simply set the time to infinity.

High Points
56 playable characters
The Graphics
The new controls

Low Points
That awful singing!!
Where are the endings?!
Abyss is a pathetic last boss

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 are excellent. Capcom meshed 2D characters with 3D backgrounds, the combination looks a little odd (and fake) at first but it's very unique and looks great. However even though I liked the graphics I personally found them to be a tad disappointing, they where good but the 'WOW' factor has almost gone away from this series. I still remember how cool it was seeing X-men COTA and Marvel Superheroes for the first time. Even today they look great mainly due to the fact the backgrounds were incredible, they were interactive and changed while you played. For instance in one stage you'd start off fighting on a highway and by the end of the fight you'd be on boat floating down a river.
Even with the large numbers of characters the animation is still smooth, in fact it's better than before and a few characters have new frames added in.
Unfortunately there is some slowdown that is very noticeable and gets in the way of the gameplay. Then you have the pixelization that runs rampant through out the game like when you see an explosion or during some of the supers. Honestly they didn't bother me, what did bother me however was the laughable last form of Abyss, lots of pixes on him.

Sound: 8/10
A lot of people hate the music in the game and even though I liked it has to be said, it really doesn't fit the game much. For a game that is hyper kinetic and fast paced you'd think something like Techno, Rock , maybe even hip hop music would have been more appropriate. Also there are no character specific themes, yes I know that would be asking for too much since there are 56 characters but Capcom should have at least given the default characters their own themes.
The sound effects are pretty much the same they have always been in this series except that there are obviously new voices added to the new fighters.

Gameplay: 10/10
Capcom moves to the next level and puts in triple tag team action! If you thought the other games got out of hand with all the flashy attacks and screen filling supers wait till you see this bad boy in action. Your super meter can now fill all the way up to level 5, to take advantage of this Capcom adds in what they call the Hyper Delay Combo which is basically an EX combo. You perform a super move then midway through you can cancel it and have your partner jump in and do one of theirs. Don't go thinking that you can cancel three powerful supers and finish off an opponent though, with each hit the damage is lessened although you will find a few of them that can pretty much suck away your opponents life bar. You can also call in your partners to do quick attacks, this is basically just a modified version of the helper system that was in Marvel vs. Capcom 1. I like it but I wish their was a bit more variety in it, for instance only a few characters has the ability to heal or enhance.
Besides all the new stuff expect the same good ol' fashioned 2D button mashing this series is known for.

Streetfighter Alpha 3 and King of Fighter 98 had a huge selection of fighters, nearly totaling 40! MvC 2 actually out does them both by having a grand total of 56(!) playable characters. This is where one of my gripes with the game come in, most of the characters are returning ones from the previous VS games or were already preexisting Capcom characters in another fighting game. I would have loved to have seen the likes of the Punisher, Spider girl, or Thor on the side of Marvel while Bionic Commando, Tyrant, and Arthur represent Capcom. Instead there are only a few new faces for Marvel and the Capcom side was a bit obscure, taking virtual unknowns like Son Son and Hayato as well as the popular Jill Valentine from Resident Evil. C'mon Capcom! Surely someone like Nemesis would have been a much better choice than Tronne Bonne and her Servebot! It really doesn't matter though, with 56 characters there is bound to be someone you like.

Although I give the gameplay a 10 I do not think it is perfect. With the exclusion of endings there is 1 thing that bothers me about this game {and most other Capcom fighters}; where are the new moves? Veterans like Spiderman and Captain America have the same moves from Marvel Superheroes (which was 4 games ago) and Ryu and Ken are still using the same moves they had since the original SF2. C'mon Capcom how hard can it be to add in at least 1 new move to each character {and I'm not talking about Supers}. If it weren't for the large amount of characters in the game I'd have some serious problems with all this.

Control: 9/10
I'm not quite sure but I think the DC pad was the reason why Capcom changed the controls around for this game. At first I thought I wouldn't like the new setup but I love it and I found it very easy to adapt to. Many old school Capcom players scoffed at it and said it was too hard to get used to.
Bah.
I've been playing Streetfighter games since 1991 and it only took me roughly 15 minutes to adjusts to the controls.

Challenge: 4/10 Below Average
On the hardest level the cpu can sometimes put a good fight but roughly 30 minutes is all you need to beat the game with any team. The last boss Abyss is a joke, despite the fact that you must defeat him 3 times he's a cinch because he takes damages like a sissy. Certain characters (Silver Samurai, Storm) can easily beat him with just 2 super moves. The only trouble he might give you is if you don't block a couple of his supers but even then you still have 2 other characters to cover for you.

Replay: 10/10
This game is never going to get old. Even though there are hardly an extra modes like World Tour Mode you can play for hours in the VS mode against a friend. Plus there are characters, colors, and stages to unlock in the secret factory, making sure that every time you beat the game there is always something new for you to see. And once you get everything from the shop you can choose three of the same people! Nothing's better than playing as 3 Juggernauts! But a word of warning; there are no individual endings in the game, only 1 generic ending all the characters share. Speaking of which......

Story: 1/10
If you watch the ending scene you can piece together a very faint story of the game, other than that this game has nothing about story, no endings, no character descriptions in the manual, heck the characters don't even talk smack after the match anymore. Some people may not mind but I do! It's not really the story I want but some endings; half of the fun of the 1P is gone because every character doesn't have their own ending.

Overall: 10/10
This is easily one of the most impressive fighting games I ever played and it ranks up there with Weaponlord (the most underrated fighter ever!), the original Streetfighter II, and Soul Blade as one of my favorite fighting games. We can only hope Capcom makes a sequel that surpasses this (i don't know about anyone else but I'm tired of these half assed upgrades). Anyways if you are a fighting game fan this is a game that you must buy, just be sure and get a vmu or else you won't be able to save your characters. Now if Capcom can be convinced to make a Marvel Superheroes 2 with at least 56 characters then I wouldn't even need to even look at another fighting game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/11/00, Updated 04/26/01