 |
Review: Marvel Superheroes vs. Streetfighter (alternate) |
Are you ready true believers? Capcom and Marvel have joined forces once again to bring you: It’s MARVEL SUPERHEROES VS STREETFIGHTER! Feel sensational thrills! Don’t miss out on the enjoyment of a lifetime! Behold: amazing fantasy! Don’t miss the most amazing tag-team fighting game ever! Are you ready for a new challenger? Now, come join MARVEL SUPERHEROES VS STREETFIGHTER!
There’s a kind of almost child-like enthusiasm running throughout Marvel Superheroes vs. Streetfighter. From the ebullient shouting of the introduction sequence, that promises miracles and practically begs you to play, to the bold outlined character portraits and spinning starfields that appear in the background. Nothing here is real, or serious. You, the player are going on a wonderous journey, as the announcer promises when you press the start button: “Welcome to the adventure!”
This is the second “Versus” game from Capcom. For the first, they put several Streetfighter characters into an enhanced version of the X-Men engine, souped them up so they stood a fighting chance and held their breath. X-Men vs. Streetfighter was a colossal success, it’s popularity stemming from its crazily spectacular super attacks, the do-anything combo engine and beginner-friendly gameplay. Financially, it was (and still is) very succesful, critically, once the “woooo!” factor wore off, the cracks began to show. The abundance of infinite combos, glitches, and the fact some of the characters were a little *too* beginner-friendly meant that play was uneven and players with no talent could abuse their way to a cheap victory. It was not a pretty sight.
At this point a sequel was inevitable. In length it came and it was Marvel Superheroes vs. Streetfighter. If you’re old like me, you’ll remember the original X-Men: Children Of The Atom arcade game, and it’s sequel Marvel Superheroes. Sadly, the sequel to XSF does not follow history and insert SF characters into the MSH engine (no infinity gems) - instead it pits the SF people against…well…some of the characters from MSH using the same engine as it’s predecessor (albeit with some slight enhancements.) Character-wise, the Capcom side loses Charlie and Cammy, and gets Dan and Sakura, and the Marvel side keeps Cyclops and Wolverine, but gets rid of all other X-Men, and replaces them with MSH players. Obscure characters such as Shuma-Gorath and Blackheart made the cut, but good ones like Psylocke and Iron Man are nowhere to be found. Strange. With 18 characters and 7 hidden ones (mostly palette swaps) - there’s plenty of variety and lots of moves and combos to learn.
I’d also like to point out that Omega Red is one of the coolest characters in this, or in any fighting game.
Of all four “Versus” games - it seems that this is the one that has had the least effort put into it. It’s using the XSF engine, and all the characters but one (Norimaro) are from other games. The backgrounds and music are remixed from XSF, and the presentation is the only really new thing about it. That’s not to say it’s a bad game, it isn’t, but if you’ve played SFA2, COTA, XSF and MSH, there is really very little visually that you haven’t seen before. Heh, it’s a shame I haven’t reviewed the above games (yet) - as I could just cut and paste a review from them all. It is a step forward from XSF in some respects. For the first time, your second character has another role to play, that of a ‘helper’ that can be called in to attack briefly. With hindsight, this is a key evolutionary moment in the VS series. The next game in the series, Marvel vs. Capcom featured a roster of non-playable helpers to pick from, and MvC2, which is beta-testing as I write this, has even altered the standard controls to allow helpers to play an even bigger part than ever. Much else remains the same, or very similar. Launchers, chains, air combos, flying screens, OTGs, your favourite combo from XSF might not work, but there are plenty more that will.
I won’t even bother to try and describe the story, if there even is one. I guess the Marvel chaps have enlisted the SFers to help fight the dreaded (re-used) Apocalypse, (who to this day remain a spectacular ((if easy)) boss) and his most evil creation yet - the appallingly overpowered cyborg son-of-a-bitch, Mech-Gouki. This is the Japanese version, so the pre-Apoc. chats are wasted on me, as are the endings, which incidentally look like a five-year old drew them.
There’s another key point to make about owning the Japanese version - the character of Norimaro. As far as I can tell, he’s a joke character, created (and voiced) by a Japanese comedian. He doesn’t really fit in visually, and he’s not much of a fighter either - as generally his moves involve falling over or screaming, or some reference to the fact he’s a mad Capcom otaku. He’s not in the US arcade version, the US Playstation version and there *was* no US Saturn version. I remember there was a big fuss as people from the US and Europe were importing the Japanese version, and Capcom were trying to stop stores from selling them. [Bad Godzilla-style dubbing]: “Oh no! We must not expose the west to Norimaro!!!” I just don’t get it.
But licensing horrors aside, and ignoring the lack of innovation and hard-work that should have gone into a game like this, MSF still manages to be a fun-packed eye-melting extravaganza. Part of its appeal lies in its hyper-kinetic presentation, there’s never a moment where nothing is happening, and even the select screen manages to amuse. I also enjoy the ultra-camp superhero stuff going on. Cyclops shouts “DREAMS DON’T DIE!!!” on his win portrait, and Captain America is as nauseatingly patriotic as ever.
It has to be said unloading a 50-hit dual super on your opponent is heaps of fun, super activation calls up a huge portrait of your character, and the background explodes into a rainbow of rapidly-scrolling colours. It’s a real “oh yeah? Well eat *THIS!*” type thing, and appeals highly to my shallow personality. Once again the Saturn (4mb RAM cart only) proves its worth as the 32-bit god of 2D. Look at the loading. It’s barely visible (and well hidden too.) I have to say, when this came out, general consencus was that it was arcade-perfect. A year or two and Dreamcast SF3 later, it’s clear that it isn’t. Not quite. There’s occaisional slow-down when big characters or supers are on screen, and the whole thing feels like the Saturn is somehow straining to cope. But when 2 giant Blackhearts are leaping around firing demons and lightning at each other, you’ll lean over and kiss your Saturn for what it can do.
Sonically, it’s a lot weaker. Bland remixes of old SF and MSH themes is the order of the day, though the sheer amount and variety of speech present goes some way to alleviating the problem. Exclusive to the home versions is the survival mode, plus some extra options, such as infinite meter and same character fights (4 Wolverines…yay! :) I feel I should be harsher on this game than I am. It’s a very cynical exercise in production, relying more on cut-and-pasting skills than creativity, and recycling is very much the relevant word. But it has a feel about it, the atmosphere of fun and fantasy is strong, and it is easy to be seduced by the flashing lights and pretty colours, to join in when the announcer yells his inanities. Despite the lack of original features, I like Marvel Superheroes vs. Streetfighter. And you should too.
