XBLA Review: Marvel vs. Capcom 2

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was one of the last arcade games I remember donating my quarters to at the turn of the century. The days of the Quarter-arcade were slowly falling out of the modern lexicon, as dollar games raised the flag of “cost too much” and home consoles were more convenient and nearly comparable in graphics.

If you were a fan of Street Fighter or any Marvel Comic book you had to play it. The game featured all the great mechanics of Street Fighter, along with your favorite characters from “X-Men: Children of the Atom” and “Marvel Super Heroes,” both Capcom games. I can still remember the first time I heard Wovlerine say “Berserker Barrage” and Cyclops yelling “Optic Blast,” followed by a resounding “Jesus Christ” dragon punch.

Recently, Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix was released for Xbox live arcade, porting the original hit to next-gen HD consoles. So, it should come as no surprise that Marvel vs. Capcom was next on the release list from Backbone Entertainment and Capcom. Unlike the Dreamcast version, which required you to unlock characters and costumes, the XBLA version gives you the full 56-character roster right out the gate. So, you can pick from characters in Street Fighter, X-Men, the Avengers, Darkstalkers, Mega Man and the greater Marvel Universe. I couldn’t be happier.

Everything about Marvel vs. Capcom is exactly the same, right down to the legendary coding snafus. So, if you see someone playing with the Juggernaut online, you probably should know they are aware of the Jugger-glitch. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 features 3 player team battles, where you can swap characters in and out, as well as just asking a one of your teammates for a quick assist. Just like in wrestling, if your character is running low on energy, it is best to swap him/her out so that they can have time to rest. Controls are relatively easy for most players to pick up. And, you can just press both assist buttons to unleash your special abilities. Seasoned gamers will be able to take greater advantage of this ease of use.

Newly added in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is a training mode, where players can practice combos and figure out what team best suits their gaming style. If you’re all about unlocking Xbox Achievements, you will probably work on just making teams out of just the X-Men characters, Avengers or Street Fighter.

Backbone added on an HD upgrade for Marvel vs. Capcom 2. You can now play the game in full Widescreen, however there are slight caveats. For one, not all of the backgrounds were adapted for the Widescreen format, so you’ll see some of the action cut off. Also, some of the special moves don’t always take full advantage of the wider real estate. Backbone decided to take a less risky approach in this XBLA translation, restricting the actual action to the original 4:3 layout. Gamers are also given three viewing options to help capitalize on their HD displays: crisp, smooth and classic. Classic is the plain-vanilla original. Crisp sharpens the sprites on the screen much like it would in a graphics program like Photoshop. Smooth actually has no real benefit visually and is almost a throwaway feature.

Of course, no fighting game would be complete without online multiplayer. And, Marvel vs. Capcom does an excellent job of creating 6 player lobbies where gamers move into and out of fights. We experienced no noticeable slow down while gaming, except in those normal online lag instances where another gamer has a low ping rate.

Marvel vs. Capcom is an excellent addition to the XBLA. This is one game that, after nearly a decade, still holds a place in several gamers’ hearts. The competition never gets old with online play. This is one game that I can recommend without any inhibition.