Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (360): I was a huge fan of the first two Marvel vs Capcoms’, so I was practically kicking in Gamestop ‘s door to get my hands on MVC 3: Fate of Two Worlds when it first came out. Little did I know that I had just fallen right into the classic Capcom trap. Yup, those clever bastards suckered me with their infamous multiple versions of the same title trick (although this was forgivable)*. 8 months after the release of Fate of Two Worlds the Ultimate Edition was released with 12 new fighters and being the weak, weak, gamer that I am, I couldn ‘t resist the call of all that shiny new-ness. Mainly because I was disappointed with the initial selection of fighters they had chosen. So I gave my copy of Fate of Two Worlds to Shawn and rushed off to buy the newest version of MVC3. With the Ultimate Edition I had nothing left to complain about. It ‘s essentially perfect and rates right up there with MVC 2 (which is my favorite 2D fighter of all time). I really love the updated graphics, the gameplay is actually faster and more frantic than the second game, and the super combos are practically seizure-inducing. On a side note, Deadpool ‘s super combo (BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!), is hilarious. Speaking of combos, this game is really geared towards combo fanatics. With the one button strike that launches your opponent up into the air the game engine makes unleashing massive combos a LOT easier than MVC 2. Last night, I hit my personal best combo: 78 hits using Nova ‘(clears throat) ‘.against an AI opponent that wasn ‘t fighting back. Or moving. Don ‘t judge me. I’m not proud. I learned long ago that there is a big difference between practicing combos on a dummy and fighting a real opponent like Shawn. Even after hours of studying my strategy guide (Q: Who the hell buys a strategy guide for a 2D fighter? A: This guy), practicing air combos and chaining together super combos; I was no match for my buddy ‘s thumbs of button-mashing fury. Needless to say that strategy guide is in a box somewhere and Bradygames made my list.

*To be fair, Capcom was planning on releasing the 12 new characters as downloadable content, but because of the earthquake and tsunami Japan suffered in 2011, it significantly delayed the release of the content to the point where Capcom said ?Screw it ?, and just released a revised edition of the game. Although, in my opinion, I think they would have ended up doing it anyways. It is Capcom after all.