Tag Archives: Capcom

Digital Playground

Marvel vs. Capcom Collection

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Introduction

I tried to branch out with Marvel Strike Force this week. While that experiment ended in failure, thankfully I planned to discuss something near and dear to our heart here at 2 Generations Gaming. Marvel vs. Capcom collection brings together some of the most fun fighting games from my teenage years and young adulthood. While they don’t fire the same nostalgia synapses as, say Street Fighter 2 or Mortal Kombat, at least one of them holds a very special place in my heart.

The Others

I never played Marvel Super Heroes or X-Men vs. Street Fighter at the time. I think, by that time, my interest in fighting games waned and I moved on to other games, most notably Resident Evil. So, Capcom still took much of my money. This interest in horror games then extended to Silent Hill and Fatal Frame. That still ranks as one of my favorite games of all time.

I played both X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes in the arcade. Like Darkstalkers, I welcomed the new take on the Street Fighter fighting engine with more stylized graphics. They eventually gave me the best of both worlds with Street Fighter Alpha, a game that I only played on home systems. By that time, I moved out and owned a full priced PlayStation (those of you who know, you know that it dropped in price a month after I bought it, thereby guaranteeing that I’d never again pay full price for a console) and lived alone. Games like Street Fighter Alpha kept me company during that time.

Unlike Darkstalkers, both X-Men and Marvel Super Heroes featured familiar characters, so I gravitated towards them in the arcade. In X-Men, I played Wolverine, Psylocke, and Cyclops mostly. Then, in MSH, I mained Spidey, Hulk, and Cap. Those preferences ran deep and carried over into the other game in the series that quite possibly sits at the top of my favorite fighting games list. I never actually made such a list and Mortal Kombat 11 occupied an insane amount of my time. Well, I have an idea for a future article.

The One

While I played and enjoyed Marvel vs. Capcom, the second one captured my attention when I played it. Then, I introduced my children to fighting games with that very game. We played the game together daily, enjoying ourselves almost beyond belief. I’ve written on more than one occasion that becoming a dad changes you. Honestly, those changes mostly strengthen and solidify you as a person.

I gamed growing up because it gave me an escape from the crap I endured at school daily. It allowed me to spend some time with my brothers and have fun instead of being the butt of everyone’s jokes. When I played games with my kids, I hoped to give them the same feeling of belonging and happiness. I think I succeeded. All of them still, to this day, play together in Minecraft and The Sims. We all play Mario Party and Mario Kart as a family during school breaks. And, now, with this collection, we can relive those fun times with Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

The Verdict

I bought the street Fighter collection years ago and played it once or twice. I think Aiden played with one of his friends a couple of times. But, overall, it collects dust as a forgotten relic of a teenage me, not grown up dad me. I think that if I buy Marvel vs. Capcom collection, it will be worth it just for the laughs that the second MvC brings.

Digital Playground

Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite First Impressions

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Introduction

Would you believe it took this long for me to come up with Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite first impressions? Of course you do. You’ve been here long enough to know that we take a while to get around to things sometimes. Honestly, I fully intended to cover this game when it first released. If I look back at my notes, I’m sure I’ll find at least one mention of the game in there over the last five years.

Then, I fell victim to the online troll factory that slammed the game as “not as good as the others” and it fell off of my radar. I genuinely forgot it existed until I went searching for a way to play MvC 2 and found out that I can buy the deluxe edition on Steam for like 11 bucks. Or I could. Looks like I missed the sale by a day. Hmm, that puts a new wrinkle into things.

Well, Isn’t That A Pickle?

I’m not paying 40 bucks for something that will be 8 or 11 again most likely by the end of the month. Instead, I’m gonig to set up an alert for the next time it goes on sale and we’ll all have to wait for my Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite first impressions. Until then, I’ll keep playing X-Men Arcade.

Digital Playground

Street Fighter 6 Early Impressions

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Introduction

On Monday, I gave my early impressions of Mortal Kombat 1. As I wrote in that article, I talked about how Chris and I discussed getting the gang back together for old time’s sake. I suggested talking about Mortal Kombat 1 and Street Fighter 6 Early Impressions as a soft landing spot. We both played the games from the very first in both cases. Well, not Street Fighter. Nobody played that one.

But, you get the point. Once Chris learned that I played Street Fighter, we put it into our regular rotation for a time during the monthly nerd nights. Looking back on it, we always lamented that once a month seemed like too long to wait. Now, I for one, would kill to be able to meet once per month. The cruel irony of fate. I work less and also, somehow, we have less time to hang out. Oh well, self pity over.

How Do I Write This Thing?

When I first heard about Mortal Kombat 1, I immediately Googled to see if the game actually existed. When I heard about Street Fighter 6, I went about my business. I might have texted Chris about it, but it certainly made less of an impact on me. And, here comes some nerd shame admission that we are so good at around here.

I haven’t played a Capcom fighting game since Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I haven’t enjoyed a Capcom fighting game since Marvel vs. Capcom 2. I played Street Fighter 3 a couple of times and never played Street Fighter 4 or 5. Actually, looking back on it, Chris and I might have played some Street Fighter 5. If so, it’s forgettable. I bet that’s the main reason that this game made so little impact on me. I played Mortal Kombat 9, X, and 11 and enjoyed every single one of them.

Humble Beginnings

Okay, let’s start over and see if I can find my love for Street Fighter like I did with Mortal Kombat. First, my very first memory of the game escapes me. I remember distinctly reading EGM (the property still exists) or some other such magazine to figure out tips and tricks to get better. I learned about how the fighting system stores moves and by chaining together basic attacks with a special attack, you create an unblockable combo move. Now, it’s coming back to me.

Ryu and Ken were always my favorites. But I liked Sagat for some time, too.

I started to convince myself that Street Fighter required more skill and it briefly became my game of choice. Because you played on only one quarter when you won back then, I wanted to be able to get as much out of my coin as possible. I think the same article also introduced me to the concept of zoning and counter moves. I never got to “professional” level, but I definitely put together several 5 to 10 game win streaks in my day.

Street Fighter Alpha 2

My glory days for Street Fighter came during the Alpha phase. The 2nd one came at a time when I found myself getting back into video games. I lived alone for a brief time when I moved to Massachusetts. I needed to fill the time not spent working. So, I bought comics, Magic the Gathering cards, and a PlayStation. Fun fact: I promised myself after buying the PlayStation that I’d never pay full price for a console again. I kept that promise to this day.

I loved the art style of Alpha and the new characters and combo system. Because this game came out before the advent of at home high speed internet, I played mostly by myself and never got a chance to play against anyone other than Christine. While fun, it never truly captured the glory of those days in the arcade.

The Verdict

I gave very few Street Fighter 6 Early Impressions in this article. I think that because I have two friends who play the game and Aiden also enjoys playing Mortal Kombat against his friends that I have more invested in that game. I still like the aesthetic of Street Fighter and get excited by new game announcements. But, it just doesn’t hook me like MK.

Digital Playground

The Death of Marvel vs Capcom

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Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite is dead. Let’s just get that out there in the open. I know, you know it, Capcom knows it. Capcom knows it so much that they omitted MVC from their Capcom Pro tournament. Think about that. The company that designed, marketed and released the game is saying that their own game is not good enough for their own tournament. Holy hell, people. This is a sad day for me as I have been a huge fan of the MVC series and to see it get the ol’ Street Fighter V treatment, aka releasing an unfinished game, and then to basically lose support from its studio, is a travesty to me. At least Street Fighter V has been updated and Capcom supports it. Do you know how many Twitch viewers MVC gets? A few hundred at a time. Really. A few hundred. Which essentially means that the general gaming community has lost interest in it. To pour another pile of crap onto this growing mountain of fertilizer, it won’t be included in EVO this year. For those of you not familiar with EVO, it’s essentially the World Series of fighting games. This is a death sentence. If the game is now not going to be in any noteworthy tournaments that’s a wrap folks. It appears that Dragonball FighterZ has taken its place as the premier 3v3 tag fighter on the market (rightfully so).

So with all that doom and gloom out of the way, I’m really trying to find a way to look at this from a positive point of view. Is this the wakeup call that Capcom needs? Are we as a collective group saying, ?Stop releasing beta versions of your fighters or your product will sit on the shelves?? God, I hope so. Enough is enough. Capcom has always been guilty of performing the blatant cash grab (re: releasing the same game over and over again with a new mode, or with a couple of new fighters that you have to download), but to knowingly release an unfinished game and forcing the consumer to download massive update files to patch it, is unforgivable. They have done it twice in a row with Street Fighter V and MVC. By the way, Street Fighter V was rereleased as Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, which is the exact same game as the original version but comes with a download code for more characters. Yup. Cash. Grab. I love Street Fighter, I really do, and I was so disappointed when I bought SFV only to find that I needed to download a 9gb file just to play it. With that said, I love the MVC series even more, so it’s even more of a travesty that Capcom, well, Capcom’ed it, and released the game with a weak roster which has led to weaker sales. So what better way to remedy poor sales then by’rereleasing the game in a steelbook case and a download code for more characters. You know what? With some games this would be okay, and by some games, I mean any game that feels like a finished product. I know that in the past I have complained about DLC as being greedy but I know that’s the way the gaming world works today: companies have to try to get as much revenue off of a title as possible and if it’s by selling digital content then it’s easier to increase their margin and also cover the production costs of eventually rereleasing the title with everything included. In the case of MVC, it feels like the download code should have been given out for free in order to decrease the unhappiness of the community, instead of trying to sell another copy of the game with everything that was missing from the first version but in a metal friggin’ case. Capcom, clearly you’re able to release quality games, you *literally* just did with Monster Hunter World, why can’t you show the same love for your fighter fans?

I hope this isn’t the end of the MvC franchise but I have a hard time believing that Capcom will be in a hurry to invest money and resources into another title after they have essentially pulled support from the franchise. Who knows? Maybe after Avengers: Infinity War is released and sells a bazillion and a half tickets, Capcom will be inspired to ride the hype wave. Ah well, either way life goes on, so I’ll dry my eyes and then play some Dragonball FighterZ.


Also, MvC 2 is the best of the MvC series. I don’t know why people say 3 is. 52 characters! 52, people! *drops mic*