Collection essentials #456: Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (DC)

The three previous Marvel-and-Capcom crossover fighting games all featured a roster that was about the same size. This meant that as new characters were added in a new installment, others sat on the bench. Then, for this new title launching in early 2000, Capcom decided to break down the revolving door. This new crossover fighter would feature practically EVERY fighter from the two Marvel fighting games Capcom made, plus every one from the three crossover titles. The only exceptions (if I’m remembering right) are bosses, one secret character, and one Japan-exclusive character. Other than that, everyone is here, plus plenty of new fighters too. Marvel vs. Capcom 1 had a roster of 15 playable fighters. Marvel vs Capcom 2 has FIFTY-SIX!! 

There are major gameplay changes, too. The first is that matches are three-on-three tag team fights instead of two-on-two. There is much more emphasis on “assists” now, that is, calling in one of your non-active fighters to perform a brief attack. Now two of the game’s buttons are entirely dedicated to your teammates. As a compromise, the standard layout of three buttons each for punches of kicks has been reduced to two. So there are still six buttons, but only a light and heavy variation of punches and kicks with no “medium”. With a new emphasis on assists, each character has three different assist moves they can perform, and a player must pick which of the three they want when selecting the character before the match.

With such a massive roster, the game is not super balanced. There are some characters that are clearly much stronger and more capable than others. However, this doesn’t really ruin the fun. Aside from a few joke characters, the imbalance is much less apparent in casual play, and there are enough “good” characters to keep the hardcore fans satisfied too. Some level of imbalance is acceptable with a roster this large.

A rather notable thing about this game is the music, which is quite a departure from the previous games. The tunes in this game have a sort of “jazzy” vibe that is not what you’d typically expect from a fighting game. And it’s a bit odd because the songs have nothing to do with Capcom games or anything related to Marvel. Character “win quotes” are gone, too, i.e. lines the winning fighter says after battle, and so are character-specific endings, so it feels like there is a bit less flavor from the two universes than normal in this game. That’s a bit of a downside, although I do kinda like the music.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was the last game of its kind for quite a while. And I kinda don’t blame them, because you get the sense that this is the apex, the thing that they were building up to with their previous installments. The game was a huge and enduring hit. It’s one of the most popular 2D fighters of all-time, greatly enjoyed by casual players and also widely played by competitive fighting game fans.

I remember first seeing Marvel vs. Capcom 2 back in the day, finding it in an arcade somewhere. Of course my first reaction was, “WHOA that’s a ton of characters!!” I only occasionally got a chance to try it out in arcades. But once I got my Dreamcast in 2003, I was able to grab the copy shown in the photo shortly after, and then I could fully indulge. And I sure put a lot of time into it! I fooled around with every fighter in the game at one point or another. My go-to team wounded up being Iron Man, War Machine and B.B. Hood, because I loved how much damage their combined hyper combo could do. I enjoyed the occasional casual match when I came upon this game in arcades, though most of my time playing this game has been against the computer.

Due to licensing issues with Marvel, this game has sometimes had trouble with getting as many re-releases as its demand would seem to call for. There was a digital-only version available in the 2010s, but eventually it got delisted due to license expiration. But thankfully, the game just recently got a re-release on modern platforms both digitally and physically as part of the “Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics” collection. If you’ve never played MvC2, I highly recommend you do so, as it’s one of the top all-time classic fighting games for very good reason. It’s more than earned its spot as an essential in my collection.