Hands On: Marvel vs. Capcom

Marvel vs. Capcom came in over the weekend and because we truly strive to sacrifice as much as we can for our beloved readers, we painfully mashed away at the ol' Dreamcast controller for the past three days to give you the scoop. Who says we don't care?

For those of you wondering how good the conversion of Marvel vs. Capcom for Dreamcast is (being concerned with the DC's 2D abilities and all that), you have nothing to fear. The DC port of Capcom's ultimate CPS-II fighter is mind-bogglingly kick-ass. Despite the almost universal concern about the DC's controller absolutely sucking for 2D games, let it now be known that, while not as good as the standard Saturn controller, it is much better than using the PlayStation controller for 2D fighting games. This probably has much to do with the comfort and flexibility of the DC's digital-pad. Stiff appearance's aside, the DC's D-pad proves to be a supple and cooperative cohort, although the four-button layout delegates two crucial kick and punch buttons to the analog shoulder pads. Some good advice would be to go to the button-configuration screen and assign the weak punch and kick to the shoulders, reserving the medium and hard punches and kicks to the A, B, X, and Y buttons.

For anyone who's familiar with the game will find nothing to complain about here concerning gameplay. The game moves criminally fast, while an equipped Puru Puru vibration-pack adds an impressive palette of force-feedback oomph to the chaos and carnage.

Obviously you can select from Marvel and Capcom's finest combatants, with welcome arrivals from Capcom in the form of Rockman (Megaman), Strider, Captain Commando, and Jin, one of the pilots from Cyberbots. While the action may seem like an over-the-top version of Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, the addition of a special partner for an additional attack, allows even more Capcom and Marvel characters to enter the fray. With the inclusion of a Cross-Over mode, Capcom's uber-fighter let's four players simultaneously slug it out, bringing Marvel vs. Capcom, and 2D fighters in general, to an eye-searing new level of versus fighting. The animation is fast, fluid, and practically arcade-perfect. The only downside is the cheap last boss, Onslaught. Typical of Capcom fighters to have a cheap jerk at the end, eh? This guy makes Magneto look like a punk.

While the game has yet to cool down from our constant play, keep your eyes peeled for a full review. The rumored Capcom vs. SNK might seem like the ultimate 2D fighter, the need for careful gameplay balance might limit that game to more SF Alpha-esque proportions. For over-the-top fighting carnage, this just might be the ultimate example of the genre. Sorry PlayStation fans, but you just can't play this game on any other system in its true form. Now how about Street Fighter 3-Third Strike?