A year and one long month was the wait for fighting game fans to get Capcom’s new fighter to their homes. As usual Capcom and Sega didn’t disappoint, once again bringing their fabled fighting series to home consoles in all its’ arcade glory. Evey aspect of the arcade version was here including one excellent Dreamcast game mode, “Cross Fever”. As you would guess this formula made for one great game. As expected Capcom kept all the usual series architecture but this time tweaked it in such a way that it brought the series to a new level. All the Aerial Raves, Tag Counters, Hyper Combos ,and Infinite Combos are here for the taking. As well as one of the best cast of characters to ever be in a fighting game together. New characters like Jin, Captain Commando, Megaman, and Morrigan make their first versus series appearance. While veterans such as Ryu, Spider-Man, Zangief, and Captain America are back for another crack at it. Keeping with their recent trend Capcom also added six hidden fighters, Roll, Shadow Lady, Orange Hulk, Gold War Machine, Lillith, and Red Venom. These characters are all selectable by joystick patterns on the character select screen.

With MSH vs SF introducing the assist tactic, Capcom improved it one step further in MvC. The assist character is now a third randomly generated character. These assists are limited to a certain amount depending on the one selected. There are twenty assist characters all from various Marvel and Capcom games and comics. Their assist ability is relative to who they are. Arthur from Capcom’s Ghost & Goblins throws lances, while Thor from Marvel Comics generates lightning from his Hammer. Every assist has their own little niche that when figured out can make for some amazing combos or traps. The depth of these fighting games Capcom brings to us is tremendous. These assist characters can also be picked by using button codes to always get the same character. For example, holding Jab punch, Light kick, Strong punch and start immediately after picking your second character will always yield Colossus as your assist character. There are two secret assist characters, Shadow (Charlie) and the Sentinel, these can also be accessed by button codes.

The final addition to this game was for the Dreamcast only. Since Capcom’s relationship with Sega stemmed from the days of their 2D powerhouse the Saturn, Capcom gave Sega the Cross Fever mode. This mode allowed for four player tag team battles. Each player was their own character making for two teams of two. When the player was tagged in whomever chose that character was now playing. This was an awesome addition to an already amazing arcade port. I myself played with friends at the arcade and switched as the players were coming in, now four players can play together. The Dreamcast also had an extra hidden character, Onslaught. Once the player unlocked the six hidden characters Onslaught was selectable. This was no big deal since you could only use him on his own stage to fight.

Capcom once again hss done it. Taking a great fighter and changing it just enough to make it a legend. Marvel vs Capcom is reveared as one of the best fighting games to hit the arcades and home consoles. The cast of characters and the extra assists make for some serious depth in a 2D fighting game. This is one for the history books.