Marvel vs. Capcom

"Hella fun! But you really, REALLY need an Arcade Stick..."

Even though I hold MvC to be the funnest game I've ever played in the arcade (and now at home), I have to write two reveiws for it; one if your willing to get an arcade stick, and one if your not. If your not, pick up Soul Calibur instead; while it would be nice, you don't really need an arcade stick for that game.
Graphics
w/ Arcade Stick: 9
w/o Arcade Stick: 6
With an arcade stick, you have the ability to say, do the moves, so the graphics are a dizzing array of colorful fireballs and super combos that are a treat for the eye. Easily the best 2-D graphics of any game to date. Without the stick (and the computer's difficulty turned down to four stars or less), the game looks like an arcade perfect Street Fighter 2; a 16 bit game. This is because the characters animations become limited as your selection of moves does.
Play Control
w/ Arcade Stick: 10
w/o Arcade Stick: 2.5
If you own, or are willing to buy, an arcade stick, this game has silky smooth, seemless controls that add to the over-all fun of everything. Without the stick, the Strong Punch and Stong Kick buttons are all out of place. You can change the control set-up so that it isn't quite as awkward, but then you'll have two other buttons in crappy places, wich, with some characters, are needed to aim moves. Plus the fact the the pad bends in instead of out is really horrible. The pad is great for games like Sonic Adventure, but for fighters (wich DC has a GREAT selection of), it's real crap.
Sound
w/ Arcade Stick: 8
w/o Arcade Stick: 7
OK, so it may seem weird that the damn sticke effects sound, but hear me out. As you play a seemingly crappy game with the regular pad, stuff like the weird, jazzy music and corny voices can get annoying. Everything good can turn bad, in other words. With the stick though, the corny voices and music really add to it, making it that much more fun.
Gameplay
w/ Arcade Stick: 10
w/o Arcade Stick: 3
With a stick, the game is deep, rewarding, and most importantly, FUN!! It can be a button masher or a deep fight-fest. No matter what your game is, it'll be great with MvC. Get three friends together who each got an Arcade Stick (hearing people bitch that they have to play with a pad is no fun), and let the games begin in the amazing Cross Fever mode. Without the stick, the game is jerky, slow, and all around crappy.
Overall
w/ Arcade Stick: 37 out of 40
Bottom Line: Hella fun!!
w/o Arcade Stick: 18.5 out of 40
Bottom Line: Get an arcade stick!!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/00, Updated 01/02/00