How Much Have I Played Before Posting Comments Below and Giving A Score?:
Heaps! I bought this game for my Xbox many years ago and I have played it and finished it dozens of times. I even own a copy of it on my iPhone so I can play it when I'm not in front of my Xbox!
Heaps! I bought this game for my Xbox many years ago and I have played it and finished it dozens of times. I even own a copy of it on my iPhone so I can play it when I'm not in front of my Xbox!
My Comments:
This is one of my favourite games of all time on any console! It's a 3v3 2D arcade fighter where you can switch your characters out at pretty much any time you want mid round. All characters have their own independent health bars. If one character is knocked out the next one will jump in, going until one side has no characters remaining. I love the mid-round tagging mechanic, to the point where I actually used to actively dislike any 2v2 or 3v3 fighters which did not use this mechanic. (I have since stopped this blanket dislike of games which do not use the MvC2 mechanic, but MvC2 tagging is still by far my preferred way to handle multi-character fighters).
It must be said that the graphics in this game are a little blocky and pixelated, especially when compared to the smooth sprites in SF3 on SFAC. Some of the older sprites (eg: Morrigan) look particularly rough. However, this is more than made up for by the fact that there are just SO many characters to choose from! Probably the best roster of fighters in any fighting game...ever! I love the fact that the sprites range from the teeny tiny Servbot to the massive screen-filling Sentinel and Juggernaut. In fact I love occasionally rocking a Servbot/Juggernaut/Sentinel team just for this reason. Backgrounds are beautiful and smooth and feature multiple layers of parallax scrolling.
The supers are easy to execute and each character has a variety available to use whenever their meter is sufficiently full (unlike some other Capcom games where you need to choose a single super before the match starts). Team combined supers, assists, mid-round-tagging with life regain, super jumps...there's just so much going on in this game! The animations are huge and totally over the top, and the action is chaotic. Yet it's not chaotic to the point of being a MvC3-style-mess.
It's simply a beautiful, responsive, multi-layered fighter that's easy for a beginner to pick up and play, yet with enough depth to to keep you learning new things with it for years and years. The AI is much less brutal than a lot of other Capcom (or SNK) fighters. About the only downside is the fact that the roster is fairly unbalanced, and if you were playing someone who really knew what they were doing they could get you into infinites that you can't get out of. But in casual play, or versus bots, this isn't too much of an issue.
The soundtrack to this game is a collection of similar sounding lounge, jazz, funk, pop tunes with horns, pianos, xylophones and occasionally some female vocals. They're quite distinct and can become a little repetitive during extended sessions, but usually there's so much action happening on screen that I'm not really paying much attention to the sound track. Something I generally do pay attention to though are audio cues from the characters. Like pretty much all 2D fighters, the characters call out audio-cues when they execute certain special and hyper moves (and assists). Not all moves trigger distinct audio cues though, and the characters themselves are always switching in and out, so it's generally more helpful than annoying.
At the end of each play session you accrue points and you can spend these points in the "Secret Factor" unlock shop. There are so many unlockables in this game, from characters and stages to art work and alternate colours. Once these are all purchased you will then be able to unlock the ability to make team consisting of 3 of the exact same character. However, despite a lot of time spent with this game, I still haven't got to the last unlock yet. It takes a long time to unlock everything (if you don't idle boost it...which I don't). This gives you even more incentive to keep playing (as if you needed any more incentive), and makes you feel like you're getting rewarded for every minute you put into each session.
Could this game be better? Well of course it could. There could have been some effort put into creating a back-story for the characters instead of having the same generic ending for everbody. A survival mode could have been added. Some of the sprites could look nicer. But even despite these absences, I seriously love this game!!! It remains easily one of my top 10 games on original Xbox, and probably my fave fighting game of all time!
This is one of my favourite games of all time on any console! It's a 3v3 2D arcade fighter where you can switch your characters out at pretty much any time you want mid round. All characters have their own independent health bars. If one character is knocked out the next one will jump in, going until one side has no characters remaining. I love the mid-round tagging mechanic, to the point where I actually used to actively dislike any 2v2 or 3v3 fighters which did not use this mechanic. (I have since stopped this blanket dislike of games which do not use the MvC2 mechanic, but MvC2 tagging is still by far my preferred way to handle multi-character fighters).
It must be said that the graphics in this game are a little blocky and pixelated, especially when compared to the smooth sprites in SF3 on SFAC. Some of the older sprites (eg: Morrigan) look particularly rough. However, this is more than made up for by the fact that there are just SO many characters to choose from! Probably the best roster of fighters in any fighting game...ever! I love the fact that the sprites range from the teeny tiny Servbot to the massive screen-filling Sentinel and Juggernaut. In fact I love occasionally rocking a Servbot/Juggernaut/Sentinel team just for this reason. Backgrounds are beautiful and smooth and feature multiple layers of parallax scrolling.
The supers are easy to execute and each character has a variety available to use whenever their meter is sufficiently full (unlike some other Capcom games where you need to choose a single super before the match starts). Team combined supers, assists, mid-round-tagging with life regain, super jumps...there's just so much going on in this game! The animations are huge and totally over the top, and the action is chaotic. Yet it's not chaotic to the point of being a MvC3-style-mess.
It's simply a beautiful, responsive, multi-layered fighter that's easy for a beginner to pick up and play, yet with enough depth to to keep you learning new things with it for years and years. The AI is much less brutal than a lot of other Capcom (or SNK) fighters. About the only downside is the fact that the roster is fairly unbalanced, and if you were playing someone who really knew what they were doing they could get you into infinites that you can't get out of. But in casual play, or versus bots, this isn't too much of an issue.
The soundtrack to this game is a collection of similar sounding lounge, jazz, funk, pop tunes with horns, pianos, xylophones and occasionally some female vocals. They're quite distinct and can become a little repetitive during extended sessions, but usually there's so much action happening on screen that I'm not really paying much attention to the sound track. Something I generally do pay attention to though are audio cues from the characters. Like pretty much all 2D fighters, the characters call out audio-cues when they execute certain special and hyper moves (and assists). Not all moves trigger distinct audio cues though, and the characters themselves are always switching in and out, so it's generally more helpful than annoying.
At the end of each play session you accrue points and you can spend these points in the "Secret Factor" unlock shop. There are so many unlockables in this game, from characters and stages to art work and alternate colours. Once these are all purchased you will then be able to unlock the ability to make team consisting of 3 of the exact same character. However, despite a lot of time spent with this game, I still haven't got to the last unlock yet. It takes a long time to unlock everything (if you don't idle boost it...which I don't). This gives you even more incentive to keep playing (as if you needed any more incentive), and makes you feel like you're getting rewarded for every minute you put into each session.
Could this game be better? Well of course it could. There could have been some effort put into creating a back-story for the characters instead of having the same generic ending for everbody. A survival mode could have been added. Some of the sprites could look nicer. But even despite these absences, I seriously love this game!!! It remains easily one of my top 10 games on original Xbox, and probably my fave fighting game of all time!
How Much Has Nostalgia Clouded My Judgment:
Maybe a lot. I was completely enamoured by Xmen vs Streetfighter back in the arcades. Marvel vs Capcom 2 is just like that arcade game only better in every way! I have owned it and played it for years and will always have a soft spot for it.
Maybe a lot. I was completely enamoured by Xmen vs Streetfighter back in the arcades. Marvel vs Capcom 2 is just like that arcade game only better in every way! I have owned it and played it for years and will always have a soft spot for it.
My Score (out of 10):
10.0
10.0
Will I Play This Game Again?:
Yes. Til the day I die!!
Yes. Til the day I die!!