Marvel vs. Capcom

"Onslaught's going down."

Apparently this game was one of the reasons why I bought a Dreamcast and if you were a fighting game fan like myself then you would understand. Well anyway now that the Marvel super heroes have teamed up with the Street Fighters there seems to be no other choice but to have them go against other members of the Capcom clan right? Exactly. Well if you are familiar with the arcade version of MvC then you will be right at home with the DC version which is almost the same thing with all the of its tag teaming action present with zero count em zero loading times. Pretty much the only thing I didn't like about MvC was that it only had 15 characters in it(Not counting hidden fighters)and that was less then the amount of people in MVSF but for some reason I found this game more fun then its predecessor. On the Marvel side we have Spidey,Captain America,Wolverine,Gambit(Whoo Yoo he's back),Venom,Hulk,and War Machine(A very odd choice to me besides why him and not Iron Man? Oh well he was probably my favorite character in this game anyway). On the Capcom roster we have Ryu,Zangief,Chun Li,Strider,Captain Commando,Morrigan,Jin from Cyberbots,and the blue bomber himself Megaman. A nice cast of characters that showcases both universes pretty good but I wish they added in Cyclops,Shuma Gorath,Zero from Megaman,and some others that I can't mention right now(Heck Zero hasn't been in a Vs. game yet). Unlike the last game where you would call out your teammate to help you in MvC you are given a random Special Partner that helps out for a limited number of times and they are other people from the Capcom and Marvel worlds like Thor,US Agent,Magneto,Arthur from Ghouls 'n' Ghosts,and Ton Poo one of the bosses from Strider(I know most of you reading this already know about that but this is just for the folk that are new to this game). The boss is none other then Onslaught who many comic fans may remember as that no good son of a gun that started the Heroes Reborn mess(But it was cool seeing Jim Lee doing Fantastic Four though). So now you have the chance to beat up on Onslaught for starting that whole ordeal but it ain't easy since he has two forms and you have to fight both of them one at a time(Without having the chance of being healed up). Well now in the words of the in game announcer ''Lets go Crazy''.

Graphics
Well its about time they changed Ryu's headband from white to red but I think that is the only character sprite that looks different from the last game. Everyone else looks good and new characters like Venom and Captain Commando fit right at home with the rest of the characters. The backgrounds looked nice and I liked how they were themed like this one that is set in Avenger's Mansion,and there is also the rooftops of Manhattan with the Fantastic Four's headquarters in the back,and one stage is a remake of the first level of Strider(If you ever played through Strider then you have to see that one because it will bring back found memories). Everything looks good and it just goes to show how well the Dreamcast can handle 2D games and let us not forget about the zero loading times.

Gameplay
The standard two on two gameplay from the last two games and the arcade version. Despite the small selection of fighters this game is a lot of fun and it is on par with the arcade version. No loading times interrupt the fight(I don't know how many times I have to bring that up?)and there is no slowdown involved well except maybe during Morrigan's Soul Eraser Hyper Combo but I think that's about it for slowdown. Even though I kind of pointed this out above but the tag team element from the original arcade version is intact unlike the PSX versions of the vs. series where they had to take that out to give the game more memory(Even thought I liked the PSX ports in some way). Too bad they didn't add to much to this game like a World Tour mode but there is a Survival mode here and a nifty four player mode(Only if you have three other controllers with you). There is also a hidden mode where you can play as Onslaught but down part is that it is more like a Survival type mode where you fight an infinitive amount of people and it isn't really fun to play as him against your friends but I guess its alright for a couple of times to play as the big meanie himself. Either way the game is a blast to play with either yourself or with other people and who wouldn't dig the four player mode.

Control
Playing this on the DC controller is kind of hard due to the weird button arrangement. You really have to get used to using the back buttons from Fierce and Roundhouse attacks and it is hard to do Double Team Hyper Combos and Two on Two Hyper Combos which is a new feature to the Vs. series(It's kind of a cheap thing though). If you don't want that then you should get a fighting stick with your game but so far I have managed to look beyond that for now at least. With the regular DC controller playing this game is kind of frustrating but it isn't impossible. At least the control pad is alright so it wasn't that bad.

Sound
The voices sound great like Ryu's classic hadouken or Venom's quote ''We're going to eat your brain''. The announcer to me sounds an awful lot like the one from Megaman 8(I'am positive it is since the she says ready sounds awfully familiar). The music is great like Spidey's BGM,Ryu's theme which is a remix of the classic SF2 intro music(Remember with those two guys fighting it out in front of that crowd of people),Roll's theme which actually has lyrics in it(It is in Japanese though),but my favorite of them all is Strider's which was a remix of the Raid BGM from the first level of his game. Well done, well done.

Replay
Yeah there is what you think I was going to say no? This game is a blast to play plain and simple and you and your buds will be playing this for a long time. Heck even though Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is out I still play the original(Sure the sequel may be better but that don't stop me from enjoying the original game). The replay value is high so there you have it folks.

Final Word
The DC sure can do 2D fighters and this game is no exception indeed. Capcom fans will love it and so will fighting game fans in general. Marvel vs. Capcom has hardly anything going against it and it doesn't fail to entertain you. Just get an arcade stick and a couple of your pals and you will be all set for one hell of an experience.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/01, Updated 06/28/01