365//365: Day 064 – Marvel Superheroes (PSX)

I never had the privilege of owning a Sega Saturn until 2008. With this, I missed out of a number of key 2D fighting titles done right. Thanks to the extra memory, the Sega Saturn was able to pump out Capcom fighting games with just about arcade perfection, while the Sony PlayStation suffered from many limitations. One of my all time favorite arcade fighting games, Marvel Superheroes, was ported onto the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation. With the memory limitations of the PlayStation, does the game still hold up well enough to the point where the detrimental do not outweigh the fun?

With most Capcom fighting games on the PS1, animation is removed and sometimes backgrounds are a bit simplified in terms of animations or scope. Marvel Superheroes manages to retain a faithful enough feeling in terms of looks and fluidity. Some backgrounds were dummy-down, like Hulk’s amusement park stage. There’s no type of animation or movement from the Ferris wheel in the background. Some of the changes really do not impact me that much, as the gameplay is what hooked me in hardcore for a long long time. Animation wise, while it’s not choppy, it’s not arcade perfect. It moves well enough, and the characters all look as colorful and comic book like as they did in the arcade.

Most of the characters featured in MSH took part in the battle with Thanos in The Infinity Gauntlet #4 & 5. Some, like Psylocke, were just thrown in for the sake of saving time and not putting in major characters, like Silver Surfer, or Thor.

Controls are about as good as they get with this type of game. They feel faithful enough, and the PS1 controller handles movement and attacks well. Nothing will ever replace an arcade cabinet and those beautiful controls, however Capcom still managed to make the controls work as a whole. The refining of the air combo and chain combo systems served as the launchpad of such classics as X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

What helped give Marvel Superheroes the most innovation from the other Capcom fighters, was loosely basing the story around the Infinite Gauntlet saga. Thanos obtains six gems that help to complete the mastery of absolutely anything in the universe. Those gems are Time, Space, Power, Soul, Reality and Mind. But throughout the game, you fight characters holding one of these gems, sans Mind. Pick up a gem from your opponent and activate them with a quarter circle back and all three punches. Each gem has a different power. Soul heals you slowly for about 5-7 seconds, Time makes you move and attack faster, space provides super armor (two hits before you can be stopped and slowed down) and so on. Each character has their own specific gem that they receive an added advantage with, like Magneto gaining a force-field with Space, and Psylocke gaining two clones to fight with her when using Time. The system worked so well, and added a layer of depth to the game that I feel worked better than partner assists in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.

MSH also ushered in the era of air combos, giving guys like Justin Wong more ways to own you ten ways from Tuesday.

Audio wise is where things start to turn south. The voices sound like they were recorded in mono, totally dislodging its self from the cleaner sounding music, although the music its self is not really memorable. Sound effects also lack somewhat. While they don’t sound like the were recorded in mono, the power behind it is not there anymore. To begin with, MSH never had anything that memorable, or to be quite honest, good. So the home port was faithful to that degree, but sound samplings don’t sound as good.

There’s also a bit of slowdown when there’s a lot going on, or with both characters up in each others faces, attacking each other. If you have the game speed set to normal, often times it feels unplayable, because the game moves at such a slow pace. Put it on Turbo and although there are still some slowdown pockets here and there, it doesn’t hamper the action as much as if you had left it on Normal. The load times are a bit painful though. Between fights and even between the end of a fight and your little victory spiel.

Finally, while I do appreciate the character selection, and although most move commands are similar to each character, MSH could have benefited immensely from four more characters, tops. I was a HUGE fan of the Infinity Gauntlet series, but I don’t once ever remember seeing Psylocke, Juggernaut or even Magneto is the pivotal battles against Thanos for control of the Infinity Gauntlet. The use of stock characters was a massive letdown, as Capcom missed out on adding some of the heavyweights into the game. I don’t remember Thor being a minor character in the battle with Thanos, same with Silver Surfer, who nearly stole the gauntlet from Thanos in issue four. I can understand recycling characters from X-Men: Children of the Atom, but hell, if you wanna use stock characters, put Cyclops in the game. He was very much visible in that battle with Thanos, and was in the previous Capcom Marvel game.

Stunning Thanos in Marvel Superheroes -- not an easy thing to do!

While the omissions are disappointing, to say the least, and there are a number of technical faults, Marvel Superheroes is still a great game, and a lot of fun. The game holds a special meaning to me, as I was one of the people responsible for its creation. No lie. Many years ago, while the Infinity Gauntlet comic series was wrapping up, I had filled out one of those Capcom suggestion cards from a copy of Street Fighter 2: Turbo for the Super Nintendo, and suggested that they’d make a fighting game based off of the Infinity Gauntlet series. Years later, my suggested looked to have been taken. So for all those that enjoyed the game, whether it was the PlayStation, Saturn or arcade version, you’re welcome!

Rating: 7.4