Nice one
Pimpjira. This series was particularly commercially successful during the PS1/Saturn era.
As a consequence on the PS1 we got 5 games in this universe:
- Marvel Super Heroes
- Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter
- Marvel Vs. Capcom Clash Of Super Heroes
- X-Men Children Of The Atom
- X-Men Vs. Street Fighter
That alone speaks how big this was, and that lead us to what many including me consider the best fighting game of all time:
- Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 New Age Of Heroes
Only rivaled by Capcom Vs. SNK 2 Mark Of The Millennium.
The reason why I place these at the top is because they are the only games that have been capable to balance arcade competition between humans while still keeping it worth playing for the AI alone. Most fighters are usually made one or the other. They are good to beat or they are good to compete. These had the best of the two worlds.
You can enjoy them at a smashing buttons levels, all the way to actual knowledge of frame data and link combos level. That's what made Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 so special, and that's without taking into account it also has some of the most beloved characters of our generation.
After more than 10 years we end up getting finally another sequel:
- Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Fate Of Two Worlds
It resonated very well with the public because of the comic art style perfect for Marvel characters, it entered the field trying to follow the steps of its predecesor in every way, however the world was different by then, and casuals were more intimidated by fighters than they used to be, and were not enough to hold the brand despite the Marvel name. So Capcom figured out soon that the real market was in the FGC, and that lead us to get an immediate update:
- Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3
No matter how simplified the controls remained, the depth of the gameplay is such that casuals would soon find out that this was not their thing, and despite the game being still relevant among major competitions, casuals dropped from the scene.
In an attempt to test the market after this, Capcom released:
- Marvel Vs. Capcom Origins
They realized the market was not big enough to make a big investment in a casual market so they waited.
However soon Capcom found with Street Fighter V that they can still cash in if they release a barebones version of a game and slowly build it over time, similar to a free to play game business approach. A model that was first applied to fighters and discovered by Tecmo with their DOA series and the financial success that was for them.
So as a consequence they have announced a brand new game called:
- Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite
The reason why it wasn't called 4 is because Capcom is planning to keep it as a platform, just like Minecraft, Destiny, and the like, so it always remains relevant with the constant updates and it can still cash money years after release.
The only thing that worries me about the new one is the lack of X-Men. X-Men defines the series because those are the characters we grew up with. We love the new ones like Deadpool, Guardians Of The Galaxy, and Dr. Strange, they have been already present in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, but we also want the X-Men. Hopefully they cash with those later on.
From X-Men I want:
- Apocalypse
- Beast
- Bishop
- Cable
- Colossus
- Cyclops
- Forge
- Gambit
- Genesis
- Iceman
- Jean Grey
- Jubilee
- Juggernaut
- Magneto
- Morph
- Omega Red
- Professor X
- Psylocke
- Pyro
- Sabretooh
- Sentinel
- Shard
- Rogue
- Storm
- Wolverine
I doubt we'll get them though.
Battle Arena Toshinden Vs. Bushido Blade should be in the making by now. It baffles me no one is asking for this.
