Marvel Super Heroes

"Fighting games- They're not just for X-Men anymore."

Marvel Super Heroes is the next title in a line of Marvel related Capcom fighting games. After the success of X-Men: Children of the Atom, Capcom needed something that delivered the same flair, but offered something new to keep gamers coming back for more. So they dropped the X-Men premise, expanded the license to include the entire Marvel universe, and came up with a plot that would allow them to add to the game play.

The story borrows heavily from the whole Infinity Gems crossover that happened back in the early '90s. Basically, Thanos wants to become the supreme ruler of the Universe, but to do so, he needs the power contained within the Infinity Gems. You choose between various super heroes and villains (including a couple returning characters from X-Men) who engage in combat to either help save the Universe...or destroy it. Of course, when you beat the game, you are treated to the typical Capcom fighting game ending that really tells little of why your character was fighting and more of what happened to the character after the battle. Still, using the Infinity Gem War plot adds a little more depth to the game, depth that was lacking from X-Men: Children of the Atom due to the no-show of a substantial story.

Graphically, Marvel Super Heroes is a step up from X-Men: Children of the Atom in the sense that it has more detail. Unfortunately, this is the Playstation version and as such is missing a large amount of animation. Having played the import Saturn version, I immediately noticed differences in graphic quality. This is due, in part, to the 1 meg ram cart that you can use with the import version to give the graphics a boost in its performance. Since the Playstation version is lacking any such ram cartridge, we are forced to play it with a heavy loss in the number of frames of animation. However, to judge this version as it stands, Capcom still did a good job of making the best of the Playstation's processing power and lack of heavy ram.

Marvel Super Heroes does a good job of bringing home all of the arcade sound. The problem is the audio from the arcade wasn't all that great. The music is good, but nothing too memorable, and far from the level of pulse-racing excitement that Street Fighter Alpha gave us. Voice work continues in typical Capcom tradition, each of the Marvel characters sounding almost exactly like you'd expect them to sound given their personalities. And, as usual, you'll not hear anything new for audio effects. The worst thing about the sound is, just like the arcade version, all of the audio has a washed out static echo to it. I've never been able to figure out why this is, given that every other Capcom arcade game of this time period had crystal clear audio quality. Whatever flaw was present in the arcade version has now found its way into the home version as well.

Of course one can't expect perfect control of a Capcom game on the Playstation (that is until Street Fighter Alpha 3 proved to be the exception to the rule) and Marvel Super Heroes does little to disprove this reputation. For the most part, the game is very responsive and just as insanely hectic as its arcade counter-part. But because of the fast-paced nature of the game, the controller sometimes doesn't register all of the directional commands of a special move and you end up doing nothing at all. This seems to mostly occur at inconvenient times when you need to perform a super move to save your arse from certain death and end up with nothing more than a quick foot shuffle followed by a jab. Needless to say, your opponent will not be impressed. Capcom should have made the controls a little more forgiving and allowed for a margin of error.

Marvel Super Heroes has one exceptionally redeeming quality: its design. Sure its nothing more than a Street Fighter clone on crack at heart, but with the addition of the Infinity Gem system, all the rules go right out the window. Through out the game, an Infinity Gem will randomly appear during a match. If you grab it, you can either use it or hold on to it for a later battle. Be wary of hoarding the gems though, as a powerful blow can knock one loose from you grip, giving your opponent an opportunity to snag it. Each of the Infinity Gems represents a different aspect of the cosmic energy that binds the Universe together. Using one will grant you a limited amount of its power. A skilled player will take advantage of this by combining the right gem with the right character. For example, if you are the powerful, but slow, Hulk, you'll want to use the Infinity Gem of Time. With both incredible speed and unstoppable power on his side, he will be invincible...for a small amount of time at least. Fights have been won or lost because of Infinity Gems, making the game play all that much more enticing.

There's not a whole lot of extras to be found in Marvel Super Heroes, just a couple of hidden characters in the form of Dr. Doom and Thanos. Gone is Akuma from X-Men: Children of the Atom (damn you Capcom!) and Anita from the Japanese version of Marvel Super Heroes. This is one of those times when I wish Capcom would have gone the extra distance to throw in a few more characters, even if they just borrowed them from X-Men: Children of the Atom. Still, Dr. Doom and Thanos do make some worthy addition to the line-up.

Overall, Marvel Super Heroes is a great game, especially if you are a fighting game fanatic. The Playstation version isn't bad if that's the only version you can find, but if you own a Saturn and can track down an import version of the game, you'll be in Capcom heaven.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/10/09

Game Release: Marvel Super Heroes (US, 1997)