Marvel vs. Capcom - The COMPLETE History (1993-2020)

i want to take you for a ride to date the marvel vs capcom series of fighting games has spanned four installments the first game released in 1998 but the origins of the series go back a lot longer than that all the way back to 1993 in fact today i want to go on a journey and look back at the decades-long history of the bizarre and fun collaborations between one of the greatest comic companies in the world and one of the greatest gaming companies in the world this is the complete history of marvel vs capcom the first marvel game made by capcom was the excellent arcade beat'em up the punisher back in 1993. perhaps because it was based on one of marvel's lesser known franchises the game was only a modest hit in the arcades but it was the first of many marvel games to come [Music] x-men a year later in 1994 x-men children of the atom capcom's first marvel-based fighting game hit arcades released only a few years after street fighter 2 and a contemporary of the x-men animated series children of the atom was destined for success this game laid the foundations for the rest of the marvel vs capcom series with fast-paced frenetic gameplay giant flashy special moves and a stacked roster much to marvel fans delight alongside expected folks like wolverine and storm with slightly more obscure characters like the russian super soldier omega red and the multi-armed spiral to go along with the roster was a bunch of stages based on the x-men the stages were lush and lavish like the savage land with dinosaurs running around in the background and rather neatly some of the voice actors of the then popular x-men cartoon show reprised their roles for the game this felt like an x-men game made by x-men fans children of the atom was a little rough around the edges however some of the menus and assets looked a little out of place and ugly and some aspects of the gameplay were a bit off but hey this was the progenitor and you've got to respect it x-men also featured capcom and marvel's first crossover moment the result of a contractual clause by capcom to include a street fighter character in the game akuma appeared as a secret character [Music] hitting arcades in 1995 marvel superheroes expanded the scope of the previous game including a whole host of non-x-men characters in a game centered around marvel's infinity gauntlet storyline the roster once again featured a really nice mixture of big names like spider-man hulk and captain america with some surprisingly strange choices like the cosmic entity schumachurath and blackheart marvel superheroes was largely the same game as x-men but with a different roster and a number of noticeable improvements for one thing the game's presentation and art direction were a lot nicer and more consistent marvel superheroes also boasted a unique gimmick the inclusion of the infinity gems which you could wrestle your opponents for possession of when attained the gems gave each character slightly different powers which added to the chaos there's another crossover character here too this time it's a really oddball choice in the form of anita an npc from the dark stalkers universe of games who is awfully overpowered at roughly the same time capcom also released war of the gems on snes a scrolling beat-em-up game featuring 16-bit downgrades of a lot of marvel superheroes as [Music] sprites that brings us to the first fully fledged crossover game released in 1996 which was x-men vs street fighter with a mix of eight x-men heroes and villains and nine street fighter combatants ripped straight out of street fighter alpha this was the true beginning of the marvel vs capcom series from the opening cut scene of the game where cyclops and ryu iconically shake hands this one was awesome the characters seemed like a natural fit and the x-men animated series inspired x-men and alpha-era street fighter art styles merged gracefully and beautifully it felt like the menus and overall presentation of the game had also benefited from a spruce up too from a gameplay perspective x-men vs street fighter introduced a number of ideas that would become hallmarks of the crossover series in particular the tag team battle system utilized in all later games in x-men vs street fighter it was a two on two system the tag team style system was first tried by capcom in one particular game mode in street fighter alpha and rolled out to become a core game mechanic here x-men's apocalypse also appeared as the final boss of the arcade mode of the game the first in a tradition of gigantic screen hogging end game bosses x-men vs street fighter was a slow burner in american arcades at first but eventually caught on over in japan it was a giant success from the get-go and in 1996 it was reportedly japan's most successful arcade cabinet assuring us a sequel would be on its way at home console ports of the games received mixed reviews the often insulted sega saturn generally ran capcom fighting games closer to arcade quality than the playstation due to ram limitations the playstation port dropped the tag team component of the game all together ensuring the saturn port received a much warmer reception than the disappointing ps1 port [Music] marvel vs street fighter from 1997 is perhaps the least fondly remembered of the pre-marvel vs capcom games incredibly similar to the previous game it did what it said on the tin introduced a few more marvel characters to the mix to rumble with the street fighter crew former capcom usa community manager and fighting game advisor seth killian stated that one of the primary goals for marvel superheroes versus street fighter was to tone down the insanity that occurred on screen when compared to x-men versus street fighter but ultimately what it really aimed at in terms of mechanics was trying to tone down some of the insanity that we got in x-men versus street fighter so try and avoid some of those infinite combos try and just sort of reign it in a little bit and what we discovered very quickly was that's not what people like that's not fun so this was really an important milestone not only as a game but really as a lesson for the future about insanity is good uh craziness is good this is the hallmark of this series let's keep the focus there marvel vs street fighter did introduce the world to a new gameplay mechanic in the form of the variable assist that would play a central role in future installments and had a sleek looking presentation that would be reused in marvel vs capcom it also featured one new original character a unique non-marvel non-capcom character in the japanese arcade and home console versions named nurimaru based on japanese comedian noritake kinashi why norimaru never made it to the west is up for disputes some sources claim licensing issues while others suggest the character was removed at marvel's behest not a good look i guess for hulk to receive a whooping from a slightly creepy old otaku dude nurimaru's creation was documented extensively on a japanese television show called bear with me if you want to see a sneak peek into the design process for this bizarre character check it out on youtube [Music] and that brings us to our first official marvel vs capcom game that debuted in japanese arcades in january 1998. marvel vs capcom feels like a refined sleek and stylish game that pays homage not only to marvel but also to the long and storied history of capcom this time too the roster introduced two new marvel characters to us fan favorite venom and war machine included due to a licensing issue regarding the use of iron man the capcom side represented the trademark quirkiness and out of the character selection that the previous games had also exhibited fan favorites like ryu morrigan and mega man were joined by relative unknowns like strider captain commando and jin marvel vs capcom didn't push the boat out too far in terms of significantly game-changing innovations except for a change to the assist system with each pairing of fighters being assigned a random assist character from the annals of marvel and capcom history there's some really obscure and wacky choices here for assist characters youtuber desk has an awesome video exploring who exactly all these characters are check it out in the description marvel vs capcom felt like something truly special from its hyperactive presentation to its glorious soundtrack to its tried and tested chaotic gameplay to its beautifully realized sprite art it was a celebration of a successful five-year partnership between marvel and capcom and a celebration of marvel and capcom's separate lineages coming together like never before capcom also eagerly played up the craziness of the game this time around in an attempt to learn our lesson from marvel superheroes versus street fighter we tried to think of some of the craziest things that were possible and we thought what about having both characters on screen at the same time and you can control them both and they have unlimited super meter and we're like no no that's stupid that's not too much but they did it anyway and uh that's where we got these duo team attacks um and some of the most powerful teams in the game we had like war machine and gold war machine who would shoot out these shoulder cannons and just fill the screen with so many missiles the actual game hardware would slow down one disappointing aspect of the game in my opinion was its selection of secret characters who beyond role consisted solely of recolours furthermore the limitations of the playstation continued to haunt the versus games with the tag team element of the game once again removed from the playstation port ensuring a lukewarm critical response from contemporaneous playstation reviewers on the other hand dreamcast reviewers generally love the game thanks to its more faithful port marvel of versus okay this is where things got really crazy a two-year wait would see marvel vs capcom 2 drop in the year 2000 and what a way to see in the new millennium marvel vs capcom 2 was the most explosively chaotic installment in the crossover series at that point a hulkingly huge roster of 56 characters from the depths of marvel and capcom history battled it out in tag team 3 vs 3 combat marvel vs capcom 2 played like a frenetic fever dream a true celebration of the now extensive crossover lineage the game was something of a super smash bros ultimate of its time bringing back virtually every marvel character that had ever appeared in a fighting game to do battle against a ridiculously diverse bunch of capcom characters including new faces like amigo the sentient cactus the huge roster and all the possible team combinations resulting from the three-on-three gameplay led to a game that felt like it had endless possibilities and commanded plenty of play time to master the game was legendary but there's plenty of contentious elements to it too the soundtrack opted for a smooth breezy jazz sound throughout although i personally liked it it's admittedly not the most fitting choice for a fast-paced fighting game the game also featured three-dimensional backgrounds for the first time which looked cool but they clashed with the by then somewhat outdated character sprouts and also bore no resemblance to locations from the marvel or capcom universes these small bugbears aside however i think it's fair to say marvel vs capcom 2 will go down in history as one of the fighting game genre's greats it did indeed break a lot of ground upon its release in many ways it was one of the arcade industries last big hitters before the market began to significantly dry up it also thanks to the innovative sega dreamcast became the first marvel vs capcom game to feature online play though only in japan the period after marvel vs capcom 2's release coincided with the rise of evo the annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games marvel vs capcom 2 became a popular fixture of the tournament from its inception in 2002 all the way through to 2010. part of the allure came from how utterly broken and unbalanced marvel vs capcom 2 truly was with only four characters magneto cable sentinel and storm being considered competitively viable picks evo helped to cement marvel vs capcom 2's legacy and reputation but plenty of semi-viral moments from other tournaments and competitions found themselves being uploaded and enjoyed on the early days of youtube too oh he's so pringles wear your curly mustache oh [Applause] unfortunately such dizzying heights would be followed by a disappointingly quiet period shortly after the playstation 2 and xbox ports of marvel vs capcom 2 released the fruitful partnership between marvel and capcom would come to an end as marvel looked to explore new pastures entering into a lightning agreement with activision to develop new marvel games before the two would eventually reunite they both struggled in the fighting game department capcom's capcom vs snk crossover series was successful but when that partnership dried up too capcom released the very poor capcom fighting evolution while the ea developed marvel fighting game marvel nemesis rise of the imperfects failed to make a splash after an agonizing eight-year hiatus development on a long-awaited third game kicked off in 2008 when capcom reacquired the marvel license in what proved to be a very good move capcom brought in ryota nitsuma as producer who had worked on the successful japan exclusive crossover game tatsunoko vs capcom ultimate all-stars in mid-2010 the world was treated to its first trailer of cinematic footage we got to see ryu duke it out with wolverine morrigan take on iron man and chris redfield grapple with the hulk in february 2011 marvel vs capcom 3 fate of two worlds finally released worldwide and would go on to be a substantial commercial and critical success from a gameplay perspective marvel vs capcom 3 followed in the footsteps of marvel vs capcom 2. it inherited the three-on-three tag team system in the assist mechanic ensuring the chaotic feeling of marvel vs capcom 2 remained intact visually though the game introduced the marvel vs capcom franchise to modern fully realized 3d graphics and the result was glorious the game opted for a distinctly comic book slightly cel-shaded art style that holds up well to this day everything from the character models to the menus to the stage backgrounds looked like they'd enjoyed a few layers of polish it just looks so darn good once again capcom built a quintessentially wacky roster consisting of a mix of known favorites and new more obscure characters this time around marvel took a more heavy-handed approach in dictating the game's roster capcom were informed that venom was absolutely off limits for example while schumer gorath and newcomer deadpool were originally vetoed by marvel but eventually included on capcom's insistence marvel vs capcom 3 would feel like a love letter to marvel vs capcom fans filled to the brim with lots of nods and references to marvel and capcom lore and history of particular notes each character had an abundance of different skins and costumes each carefully researched to reference a particular historically relevant costume of that character a massive step up from the palette swapping of previous games comic writer frank thierry was brought in to give the game a few doses of attitude and charm thierry wrote a lot of pre-fight and post fight one-liners another loving bit of fan service where players got the opportunity to see the characters briefly interacting with each other one common criticism the game received is the poultry static image endings for each character a far cry from the exhilarating opening of the game also the game's arcade mode was originally planned to have a more prominent story an idea that was eventually dropped though a 12-page comic book that came with the special edition gave the game the vague outline of a story at the very least based on the positive review scores and sales that marvel vs capcom 3 attracted it certainly seemed like it satisfied the fan's itch for a new crossover game capcom's original plan was to drip feed players dlc including new characters but in a change of plans a second iteration of the game was released instead ultimate marvel vs capcom 3. later in 2011 capcom released an updated version of the game ultimate marvel vs capcom 3. with a bunch of interesting new characters like ghost rider and nemesis some gameplay and balancing tweaks and a couple of new modes thrown in for good measure it was generally considered to be the definitive way to play marvel vs capcom 3 but not everyone was happy with capcom essentially re-releasing the game less than a year after its original release an old-school method employed by capcom since the days of street fighter 2 it left some fans feeling scorned especially because it still left some stones unturned like the lackluster endings not being improved so now let's go over this what do we get in ultimate marvel vs capcom 3 well spectator mode i'm not counting that new balancing not counting that that could be taken care of in patches both of which we're supposed to be so you get 12 new characters six of which nobody cares about for a full for a retail game for a retail price what is forty dollars fifty dollars forty dollars however as with marvel vs capcom 2 ultimate marvel vs capcom 3's strong presence at evo helped to cement its legacy as a worthy installment in the series in 2013 the relationship between marvel and capcom once again came to an end marvel at this point were a property of disney who had their own video game wing and entertain the idea of self-publishing their own marvel games without outside assistance for marvel vs capcom fans the move would be disastrous and would see all marvel vs capcom games removed from digital storefronts and all hope of another installment in the marvel vs capcom series dashed [Music] in 2016 disney would dissolve disney interactive studios and thus the door was once again open for a rekindling of the relationship between marvel and capcom marvel vs capcom infinite the result of a renewed partnership between the two was first shown at the playstation experience back in 2016. although the cg trailer inflamed a lot of fans excitement there were initial doubts about the preceding gameplay trailer marvel vs capcom infinite officially dropped in september 2017. in an attempt to make the game more accessible it made a few interesting mechanical choices that hearken back to pre-marvel vs capcom 2 games gone was the 3 vs 3 tag teams in favor of the classic 2-1-2 format also making a return with the infinity gems or should i say infinity stones each with a unique power gameplay alterations aside one thing that seemed to unanimously disappoint fans was the aesthetic the game went for reusing a lot of marvel vs capcom 3 character models but stripping them of the comic book charm of previous games marvel vs capcom infinite was considered pretty ugly that also carried over to so much other stuff the character models you see on the character poses and the final the final poses and the character artwork just reflected a lot of the story mode stuff and it just looked ugly characters looked worse than they did from the previous game as possible i mean look at look at hulk like hulk is the best example um if the previous marvel vs capcom games were to make them look like comics this was to make them look like the movies but i mean look how insanely detailed like the skin is like you can see the pores on hulk's skin i don't think anyone is asking for that level of detail thor this is odd the visual tweaks that the characters did receive ended up making them either look too sanitized or looked like ugly rob liefeld creations furthermore there was also a large emphasis put on the game's story mode in theory this might have been a move to give fans who complained of marvel vs capcom 3's lack of story something to chew on but in practice the story was considered badly written and intrusive and somehow marvel vs capcom infinite manages to make dante and chun li look like counterfeit action figure versions your grandmother bought you for christmas and then there's the story which is filled with cringe-worthy one-liners delivered almost entirely without charm long story mr mayor and that's not to mention the roster a lot of the issues boiled down to disney acting as a guiding hand to bring the marvel vs capcom franchise more in line with the marvel cinematic universe the roster in particular suffered because of this any non-marvel cinematic universe franchises like the x-men or fantastic four had no representation in the game a massive flub considering wolverine had been the definitive flagship character of the series the likes of doctor doom magneto and deadpool were replaced with marvel cinematic universe adjacent characters like captain marvel gamora and the winter soldier it was a trade-off that fans weren't happy about capcom's director of production michael evans alienated fans further by defending the lack of x-men characters by saying your modern marvel fan maybe they don't even remember some of the x-men characters but they know some of the guardian characters or black panther you know what i mean the result of all of this was marvel vs capcom infinite being something of a disappointment it received a lukewarm critical reception a negative response from a lot of fans but the most damning indicator of marvel vs capcom infinite's negative reputation came with the announcement of evo 2018 for the first year since its inception there would be no marvel vs capcom at the event the marvel vs capcom franchise had been usurped by dragon ball fighterz which delivered fans a fan service laden three-on-three fighting game in the spirit of marvel vs capcom 2 and 3. in theory marvel vs capcom infinite should have been a no-brainer fans have a huge appetite for crossover games as super smash bros ultimate proves but marvel vs capcom infinite had both a limited scope thanks to disney's interference and a purportedly extremely limited budget that amounted to less than a single season of street fighter 5 dlc and that brings us to 2020. this year an unverified rumor hit the internet suggesting that marvel vs capcom 4 is in the works if it is i hope it brings the series back to its former glory and doesn't skimp on the roster do you expect to see another installment to the series who would be your dream picks for the potential roster let me know in the comments below what about killmonger he wants to see marvel vs capcom 2 back on digital storefronts and so do i and that brings this complete history video to a close here's a couple more complete history retrospectives i've done if you want to check them out if you enjoyed please consider giving the video a like and subscribing for more in the future and thanks for watching good working soldiers

Channel: Johnny Vector

Views: 75,728

Keywords: marvel vs capcom, mvc, marvel vs capcom 2, history of marvel vs capcom, marvel vs capcom history, marvel vs capcom retrospective, marvel vs capcom 2 evo, marvel vs capcom 3, ultimate marvel vs capcom 3, max dood marvel vs capcom, maximilian dood, marvel vs capcom infinite, marvel vs capcom ending, marvel vs capcom secret, marvel vs capcom legacy, marvel vs. capcom, marvel vs. street fighter, the punisher arcade, x-men: children of the atom, marvel vs. capcom 4

Id: GStw85ZeFR8

Length: 26min 57sec (1617 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 12 2020