Not feeling nostalgic? Don't worry, you can shut off the filtering and make the display full screen. With its rounded corners and lines of resolution, it's uncanny how similar it looks. Just to add another level of authenticity, Capcom has added a filter that approximates the look of the original arcade cabinet. The artwork looks like it was pulled out of the pages of a Marvel comic book, which is the highest praise you could possibly give this style of game. Both games feature impressive boss battles, character endings and colorful backgrounds that change as the fight roars on. The result is incredibly polished arcade titles with top notch visuals and a good sense of depth. By 1995, Capcom had all but mastered the art of making 2D fighting games. Of course, much of that comes down to the know-how of everybody involved. This is a great change of pace that offers its own set of exciting moments and secrets to uncover.ĭespite being well over a decade old, both games have held up extremely well.
And because it's a one-on-one fighting game, it feels substantially different from the more frantic tag team action of Marvel vs. Street Fighter might have made more sense in this compilation, it's nice to see the comic book giant get a release that isn't crowded with Ryu and Ken cameos. While a game like Marvel Super Heroes vs. It's a unique gimmick that makes this 1995 arcade hit feel more like Capcom's Power Stone than a Street Fighter game. These orbs allow players to power-ups their character, earn life, speed up and more. For one thing, much of the fighting revolves around these little orbs that get beaten out of your opponent. Marvel Super Heroes introduces a number of weird concepts that never made it into Marvel vs. Looking back at it now, it's clear that Capcom was using these games as a sounding board for their different ideas. Capcom effortlessly brings together X-Men characters (Wolverine, Magneto, Psylocke), assembled Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk) and convinces Spider-Man to take part in this blockbuster fighting game. On the other side of the collection sits Marvel Super Heroes, a one-on-one fighter starring twelve of your favorite comic book characters. Learning each character is also easier when there are only 22 to choose from. While all kinds of chaotic special moves happen throughout the round, I almost always had enough time to plan ahead. Considering how frantic and crazy the sequels became, the slower pace of the original is a welcome treat. You can bring out a third computer-controlled helper from time to time, but you will only ever select two different fighters. This is a delightful cast that is fun to pair up. Mega Man and Roll bring some pint-sized power, and Gambit wins a spot over a whole host of more popular X-Men characters. Strider's Hiryu makes a surprise appearance, as does Captain Commando. You don't just get the regular characters you also get brawlers pulled from the archive. You get the usual suspects, including Ryu, Chun Li, Zangief and Morrigan on Capcom's side, and Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America over at Marvel.Ĭapcom could have stopped right there and everybody would have been happy, but they took the extra step needed to make this 1998 tag team fighter truly special. There are 22 characters in total, evenly spread out between Marvel and Capcom. Capcom 2's staggering 56 playable characters, the first installment is downright quaint. Although the subject matter is the same, their differences help complement the other.Ĭompared to Marvel vs. While purists might grumble about the selection, the two games in the package are the best of the bunch. Street Fighter, two arcade hits that would have fit in perfectly next to the original Marvel vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs. For that you would need to go back to X-Men: Children of the Atom in 1994.
Of course, neither of these games are the real origins of Marvel vs. Along for the ride is Marvel Super Heroes, the 1995 arcade hit that helped lay a lot of the fundamentals that would later be used in Capcom's versus series. For the first time ever, fans of both Vega and Wolverine will be able to own all three Marvel vs. As the title suggests, the first game is none other than Marvel vs. Capcom Origins is an endlessly addictive compilation featuring two Capcom arcade hits.