Recently, a debate came up between “E-Sports” and the “FGC”. You can find all the info you need ,here, here and here.IF you’re interested, click through at your leisure, read them and form your own opinion and stance. You’ll also need Sir Scoots rant that started this whole thing to get some perspective, and it can be found here.

This has been a topic that’s been raging on twitter for some time between people deep within both communities at every level. To say it could be like Marvel’s Civil War would make it seem cooler than it actually is, but people are choosing their sides on this like there’s an actual registration act and things are actually changing within the community because of it.

So before we get started, lets define the key terms that are at the core of this issue.

Professional Sports, as opposed to Amateur Sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance.”

Electronic Sports (E-Sports) comprises the broad scope of competitive video game playing. Other terms include “competitive gaming”, “professional gaming” and “cybersports”. Games that are played as E-Sports normally belong to the “Real-Time Strategy” (RTS), “Fighting”, “First-Person Shooter” (FPS), “Massively-Multiplayer Online” (MMO), and “Racing” genres. They are played competitively at Amateur, Semi-Professional and Professional levels including participation in leagues and tournaments. Because they are usually compensated for playing at a higher than average level, the definition of a “Pro” gamer is someone whose sole income is generated from gaming.

The Fighting Game Community or FGC is the collection of players, tournament organizers and online streaming teams that keep the competitive aspect of a wide selection of fighting games going from local to national/global levels. This is done in an organized and regimented, yet informal manner however as the FGC has no governing body, having a scene anyone can join.

Alright, so where do I stand on this debate?

First off, I feel that Fighting Games have always been an “E-Sport” from the time of their creation. I feel that the Fighting Game Circuit is similar to more individual sports such as Tennis, Bowling, etc. rather than the traditional league based sports like Football, Basketball, Baseball, etc. because hey just aren’t compatible on the same terms. One good reason for this is, similar to any individual sport, they travel the country competing in different tournaments with the chance of winning prize money. In line with this, the money for the player competing is limited to three things: the amount of people entering the tournament, the pot bonuses, and in some cases the extra money matches that are played on the side. The way I see it, if players choose to attend a big event with a bigger turnout, they have a bigger pot in the end because you have more pot monsters in attendance(people who contribute to the pot with no real chance of winning). If they happen to get sponsored along with all of this then that’s a bonus, but In this system, the player is in total control of their entire career. Those who knock this method argue that under a league, you’re going to get more money per event, guaranteed.

It isn’t that being an E-Sport for the FGC couldn’t work. It could, just not for the top players. It could work for the mid-tier, to close to top-level players, but not the best. For example, with most professional leagues, if you sign a contract, you’re bound to that league. Just look at the NBA, for example. When players are under contract in the NBA, they cannot play in any other league overseas or no without voiding their NBA contracts. The reason for this is simple: Leagues want to protect their brands. Imagine, if the top players in the NBA could play where and when ever they wanted, you’d have a ton of things like the recent lock out happening all the time, with players jumping overseas for 1-year paydays that beat their current contracts. The quality of the NBA would suffer overall if there were seasons where star players weren’t playing on their teams, when they’re supposed to consistently have the best players in the world.

Back to how this relates to gaming, if you have the the top names in the community playing in your league, why would you let them play in other leagues and events if you are trying to show that yours is the best? So let’s say, if Jwonggg (Justin Wong) signs with X-League, he is now under contract and cannot play in any other league or event where he can make money. If you watched the indie documentary The King of Chinatown, Justin made quite a bit of money for his team in a year playing in events and such. Under a league format, he couldn’t have done that if those events weren’t sanctioned or if whatever deals he signed conflicted with those of his league. I know, one could argue, “Well, what if the contract allowed him to play in other events, but not leagues?”, or “What if it allowed him to play in other leagues and events?” My answer to that is: What would be the point of signing someone to your league if there’s no exclusivity? You sign a contract, and it becomes a waiting game with the hope that it averages out to more than what you would have made playing in various events, which is basically guaranteed money.

There are always events to attend, too. Currently now there are tons of local,regional and major tourneys within the FGC. While not an always perfect system, it does a good job of self regulation within itself. New tournament organizers (TOs) pop up and fade from existence frequently along with big names, but what makes the FGC great is that if you really want to be apart of the community and be accepted you have to get out there. It’s welcoming if you’re able, and people take notice of hard work with a serious attitiude being appreciated. Everyone in the FGC knows fighting games need to be played offline in order for the matches to be played at their fullest, as offline tournaments are practically the litmus tests of competitors. This is because to be honest, the netcode for most fighting games sucks, and they wern’t made to be played with things like input lag and frame delays. There is a reason online rankings in fighting games aren’t taken as seriously as much offline victories, and I feel it should stay that way.

Getting back to those mid-level to high-mid players, they are the ones that however could benefit from an online league because as it stands right now, frankly I don’t see them traveling long distances just to get blown up (i.e. ‘beaten badly’) in tournaments by those same top level players. In a league format, the league could basically monitor in house talent and develop some players and enter them in events in an attempt to showcase their brand. These same mid-level players would also get some chances that they normally wouldn’t be able to get because they don’t have time to practice or actually dedicate serious time to the game due to, with other reasons, perhaps having a life and job outside of professional gaming.

Under this tried format, most of the games will take place online so they can have a ranking system for their offline events and majors. Leagues like MLG currently do this with internet services like . While it’s an admirable system looking to get the whole country involved, it’s flaws become quickly apparent due to disputes (over match outcomes), disconnects (sometimes the internet doesn’t want to be bothered or someone ‘ragequit’), boosting (making fake accounts or having friends lose to you so you can boost your stats), not to mention shoddy connection issues, missed matches, etc. I’d have to say, if the league uses these standings to determine seeding for a fighting game event, that would be to say politely, bad. I mentioned earlier fighting games have notoriously poor net code combined with bad connections. If you add mild cheating or lag switching as a result of these bad connections you’ll have players who are ranked highly that shouldn’t be, another common flaw. It needs to be managed much better in order to work on the level of the FGC.

But then, there’s also the publishers. In my opinion, one of the biggest problems keeping fighting games from being considered an E-Sport is quite simply some companies don’t want them to be. There’s a reason Capcom didn’t allow WCG, MLG or any other leauge to ever run Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom officially as tournament games. Companies in general seem afraid to take that kind of commitment to a league. Part of the problem is issues on how their game(s) will be portrayed, along with wanting a piece of the direction if you’re using their intellectual properties. Most of the companies that create these fighters are Japanese and the Japanese have their own way of doing things when it comes to stuff like this. The rule sets or the way the ranking system is run may anger the publishers too. There’s a ton of things that can go wrong between two companies in terms of communication and execution, not to mention that in a league capactity it also takes a great deal of control away from the actual community, the ones who shape the scene to begin with.

In closing, the bottom line? At the end of the day we can all find things wrong with both sides rather than finding the right things. I say that the league notion for fighting games is tough and as it currently stands, there are no leagues that can run them properly. It isn’t a bad idea to want them, but it’s going to take some serious work and consideration. I think if multiple leagues picked up the same game and allowed players to freely play between them that would properly capture the spirit of of the community. Among other things, the local scene has to be integrated into what they are doing as well. You need to have locals AND regional tournaments as well as true majors. It isn’t a simple answer in the least, and everyone has one, but answers

are

there, you just have to work for it.

X-23

Come at me bro

Ghost Rider

OMG! When I saw him announced I wet myself a little. His level 3 super move the Penance Stare, super moves including bikes and chains are awesome. What is not to love about a skeleton with a flaming head riding a bike. His game play is a lot slower than what I’m used to. His air combo series is different due to the properties of his attacks. He plays a bit like a bigger character(he can’t link too many normal attacks together thus affecting his combos) and a lot of keep away which is something that I don’t normally do. His jumping S attack is soo good. He will more than likely be on my Phoenix team. He didn’t have an air dash but I can live without one.

Nova

I was curious about him, uhh in a very heterosexual way of course. Nova has flight, an 8-way air dash and no true level 3 from what I’m told. I tried figuring out his move list and could only figure out two of his moves. Once the game comes out I am sure that I’ll know everything else. What I did notice is that Nova gets 3 air actions available to him before he has to land similar to what Phoenix used to have. So that opens up the combo possibilities. He’s definitely going to be on his own team I think I’ll pair him with X-23 and one more, I just don’t know who yet. Eric was super excited about him.

Iron Fist

I thought he was going to be horrible but he is actually quite interesting. I would need to sit in the lab(training mode) with him and figure stuff out. He’s not as slow as I thought he would be. His combos look cool plus he gets an aura around him after a successful attack, I just don’t know what the aura does per-say. I wanted to ask Seth Killian but he was busy listening to the demands of some random 5 with a 5 page wish list of changes for Ultimate. I will hold the final judgement on him until I get some hours in.

Nemesis T-Type

S.T.A.R.S......

Phoenix Wright

Objection

Strider Hiryu(will never leave Eurasia alive)

Bonus points if you sometimes say that when you say or read his name. Anyway Strider is good. He’s very mobile and he has a ton of combo options. He does a good deal of damage and really does it fast. The only real downside is that he cannot take a hit. He dies very fast and sometimes suddenly, I’ve guessed on someone calling him and he died from the super move that I did.

Virgil

I’m very meh about him. He has some good looking combos but he isn’t as good as Dante was. Characters kept falling out of his combo loops. He fought mainly like a blue Dante with maybe about 50% less of the metrosexualness of the original but with 45% weeaboo.

Firebrand

He seemed to have the serious rush down game but he really didn’t do too much damage overall. I guess when more stuff comes out he’ll become way more scarier.

Another character I got to fight was Hawkeye. I killed him fast so I didn’t get to see what he did oh well Ultimate Marvel 3 is next month.

With the imminent release of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, gamers are witnessing a line up of characters that, to be frank, seem to be mostly the B-listers, rather than the mostly heavy hitter lineup already present on the stand alone version of Marvel vs Capcom 3. I’m not taking away anything from a franchise character like Frank West, Phoenix Wright or Dr. Strange, but with several perennial heavy hitters like Mega Man and Venom no where to be found, it seems that there’s a movement towards certain characters from Marvel and Capcom that are slowly becoming a more established presence, rather than adding in those that are more of a staple to each company.

For kicks, I decided to use my intermediate knowledge of Capcom franchise characters, as well as my somewhat old school, yet mostly forgotten Marvel Universe knowledge in selecting the eight characters that this fighting game franchise will most likely never see. Although Marvel is now owned by Disney, I will not pull any obscure Disney references into this list (Like a playable Oliver from Oliver & Company, with a lvl 3 super being a sing-a-long.) They will be a mix of Marvel and Capcom characters that might not be the most well known (C-list, maybe even H-list here and there) as well as how plausible they would be in this crossover battle. Then again, if someone like Phoenix Wright can make it in, who’s to say none of these characters could fit in as well?

Howard the Duck  (Marvel)

Claim to fame: Short lived comic series in the 70′s, feature length film produced by George Lucas, rare cameo appearances in She-Hulk and Spider-Man based comics.

Powers: Howard the Duck has no powers, though he is a 3 foot tall duck who knows Quack Fu. He smokes more cigars than J. Jonah Jameson, Wolverine and Nick Fury combined.

Appeal to those previously unaware of their existence?: The character himself has a certain amount of charm, but may not resonate well with those with the most faint of recollections of him.

Plausibility: Howard the Duck can more than work within the UMVC3 universe. A short stature fighter, up close character like Viewtiful Joe with a reliance of hand to hand combat, with counter moves similar to Wesker and Taskmaster, could definitely be plausible. If desperate enough, Howard can pull out the laser vehicle from his feature film as a super, similar to the Rush Drill Mega Man had in MVC and MVC2.

 Carlos Miyamoto (Capcom)

Claim to fame:  One of three playable characters in Final Fight 2, featured in Alex’s ending in Capcom Fighting Evolution.

Powers: He’s a ninja….that’s about it.

Appeal to those previously unaware of their existence?: Barely anyone who has even played the Final Fight franchise will recall Carlos. He was ugly, poorly dressed and lacked any kind of positive traits.

Plausibility: Pretty much none. In Final Fight 2, Carlos was the middle ground fighter; average speed, average strength, average skills, average….carpentry skills? You could have called him General Generic and he would have lived up to that moniker. His special attack has him swiping his katana all around him, which wouldn’t really matter much in UMVC3. Strider can pull of bladed weapon combat much better and Ryu can pull off up close martial arts a lot better. If shoehorned in, Carlos would definitely give Roll tier a run for its money!

Mangog  (Marvel)

Claim to fame: One of the more powerful antagonists in the Marvel Universe and an adversary of Thor.

Powers: Limitless stamina, strength that exceeds Thor, loses/gains power overall if deprived/surrounded by mystical/psionic powers.

Appeal to those previously unaware of their existence?: Longtime fans of The Mighty Thor would recognize Mangog, most other comic enthusiasts would not. Unless Mangog takes a change in art direction, his visual appeal will not grab anyone who didn’t previously know who he was.

Plausibility: Surprisingly, Mangog would be a rather functional character to add into UMVC3. He’s slightly above average in agility and speed, but can be placed in the stereotypical mold of the giant sized charcters and their sluggish speeds. Not only could Mangog suffice as a character with long arms, but he also has mystical energy blast capabilities. He could easily be a huge character that can excel at ranged and up close combat.

Sawada (Capcom)

Claim to fame: Had a cup of coffee in Street Fighter: The Movie.

Powers: The uncanny ability to be completely overlooked by anyone who has seen Street Fighter: The Movie.

Appeal to those previously unaware of their existence?: The only people that will really notice that Sawada made it into UMVC3 as DLC are hardcore Street Fighter fans that are wondering how Swada made it in, yet M. Bison, Sagat, Blanka and others have not.

Plausibility: Sawada in general was an enigma to Street Fighter: The Movie. Teleports, hybrid Guile and Fei Long attacks and other oddities in his move repertoire, Sawada could make a legitimate claim as a viable piece of DLC to add to the UMVC3 roster. With the number of Street Fighter characters in general exceeding at least five dozen, Sawada would be met with more complaints than ever having a chance to see if he truly would be a flash in the pan fighter. But really, would you deny a character with a super that looks as ridiculous as this:

Runner (Marvel)

Claim to fame:  Over 5.5 billion years old, completely golden in color, once recovered the Space Gem from the belly of Galactus.

Powers: He runs fast. Though his foot speed is clocked in at orbital velocity, his flight speed reaches warp speeds. Ironic, huh? He also has a virtually immortal body, doesn’t age, and uses his cosmic life force to projetc energy blasts and rearrangements of matter on a planetary scale.

Appeal to those previously unaware of their existence?: People will easily gravitate to his look and wonder “why has the Silver Surfer upgraded his status to Gold, and where is his surfboard?” Developers can easily make his golden sheen glow, shine or look more than presentable. In terms of people caring whether this character existed in the first place, his history isn’t very decorated. More comic book readers will know who Howard the Duck and Mangog are before they can point out who the Runner is.

Plausibility: Out of every character listed, Runner would probably be the most plausible comic book character to turn into a fighting game character. His foot speed can be parlayed into his walk speed or used as a tool his his offensive arsenal. Flight can come into play as well and become one of the fastest to recover from a flight start up. Energy blasts are no brainers and his health can be somewhat reflected off his his virtually immortal body. He can either be impressive, or Phoenix-like broken.

Tofu  (Capcom)

Claim to fame: He’s a walking block of tofu, armed only with a knife and a handful of herbs, trying to survive the zombie filled streets of Raccoon City.

Powers: The ability to replace chicken in a meal, with a plethora of ways you can prepare it. That’s about it, but hey, that’s better than Carlos!

Appeal to those previously unaware of their existence?: Those who have played the Resident Evil series since the beginning will know who Tofu is and his significance. While not directly related to the developing story arc, Tofu is an unlockable character in Resident Evil 2 that can be played in a mini-game called “Tofu Survivor” which is a harder version of “The Fourth Survivor.” While the star of The Fourth Survivor has guns and limited ammo, Tofu will only have a knife, making his mini-game much more difficult to complete.

Plausibility: It’s a block of tofu with hands, a beret and a knife….what do you think? They could easily give him some ballistic weaponry, but then he’d be a white block version of Chris, or even Jill from MVC2. Out of every character featured on this list, Tofu has nearly no plausible way to be added as a standalone character.

Cyber (Marvel)

Claim to fame: One of the D-listers (from what I can remember) in Wolverine’s rogue gallery, has apparently had run ins with each other as early as World War I.

Powers: Nearly his entire exterior is coated in Adamantium, physical strength yet to be fully revealed, limited healing factor abilities, retractable Adamantium claws on the tips of each finger that held a potent hallucinagenic poison.

Appeal to those previously unaware of their existence?: From what I’ve known about Cyber, he was never one of the more significant enemies of Wolverine. Things could have changed though. The metal exterior Cyber possesses does look wicked, though would get people wondering why Colossus wasn’t added in his place.

Plausibility: Cyber’s move-set could work as a hybrid between Wolverine and Sabretooth, with a more blatant emphasis towards what Sabretooth used to do in X-Men vs Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom 2. While MVC3 has Wolverine and X-23, there’s no real reason to have a third character that would play too closely to those two.

Wraith  (Capcom)

Claim to fame: One of four new characters to the never released in the US sequel to Saturday Night Slam Masters, called Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II.

Powers: Wraith is a wrestler with supernatural powers. With a snake-like head and neck, Wraith can extend his face towards his opponent and bite them. He’ll perform throws with his mouth biting on the mid section of the opposition and either flinging them to the side, or jumping straight up and thrashing them onto the ground. Wraith can also spin his head around and emit a fiery shield that stays close to him while his head spins around.

Appeal to those previously unaware of their existence?: It’s bad enough that hardly anyone will recall Saturday Night Slam Masters, but the fact that Wraith is from a never released in the US sequel, means he’s deeply embedded into obscurity. The thing is, Wraith is actually one of those characters that would fit in rather well into the whole UMVC3 universe. His look is unusual, and could pass more as a Darkstalkers character than anything, but has a realistic chance of gaining attention from those who’ve never heard of either the sequel he was in, or the series in general.

Plausibility: Behind Runner, Wraith could more than likely mesh into UMVC3‘s DLC world. He can be mostly considered a hybrid grappler/close melee offense character with a couple of minor mid range gimmicks thrown in. Think Alex from the Street Fighter III series, or even Abel from Street Fighter IV. Hey, if SonSon could make an appearance in MVC2 after 96% of all gamers not knowing that SonSon was a legitimate franchise character back in the days, Wraith could more than pass as a viable choice.

Originally I had penned in five characters in total between Marvel and Capcom that I thought would never make it in as DLC. I could have easily done a lot more, but I want to see who you guys and gals think would be a character from the Marvel and Capcom universe that would never make it in as DLC. Leave a comment below with your selections!

You look confused – let me fill you in.

Lets go through a little bit of a backstory first – just before the summer of ’92, Capcom unveiled their home port of the wildly successful arcade fighting game, Street Fighter II. I had only previously played this brawler once on a school trip to the Rocking Horse Ranch in ’91. While everyone else was jumping into pools, riding horses and eating cheeseburgers, I used the $20 my parents gave me solely for the arcade room. I only got to play twice that day (damn teenagers hogging it all up) but ever since then, I couldn’t stop thinking about the next time I could get some more playtime with it. So when I finally saw it in person that the famed FAO Schwartz toy store, the elation I experienced was incomparable at that time. The price tag at the time was an absurd $82 or so, and being the only place in New York City with it in stock, it was either beg and plead for my parents to purchase it for me, or do the rational thing and wait for the local game shops to receive a new batch in, and a much less inflated price point.

Welcome to our world of unreasonably expensive yet not necessarily high class toys!

Naturally, the 11 year old me begged and pleaded until I got it.

At that time, I had no idea that Capcom had released a “Championship Edition” in the arcades, which enabled the four boss characters to be selectable combatants, along with other tweaks here and there. What I did learn soon after was that Capcom was about to release Street Fighter II: Turbo in the next year. Since Championship Edition never made its way to the Super Nintendo, I was completely stoked that I could finally get an upgraded version of the video game that my parents had spent $82+ for months ago! No more having to fiddle with Game Genie codes that let me play as bosses on Street Fighter II, all the while making the game completely unstable and virtually unplayable for even short periods of time. Not only would I get playable boss characters, but some of my favorite characters would get a new move or two, as well as a ten star turbo speed setting! Whoever passed this one up would be laughed at for months to come! So during the summer of ’93, I once again begged and pleaded for my parents to purchase Street Fighter II: Turbo for me, to which they replied “didn’t we spent nearly $100 on this for you already?” Persistence paid off as I once again I got the latest Capcom fighting game in the palms of my hands.

A few months later, I saw a preview for a brand new installment to the Street Fighter II series, called Super Street Fighter II. Four brand new characters? More tweaks to my favorite existing combatants? Sign me up for this one too! The following summer, I performed the same ol’ song and dance, and heard the same question asked by my parents, but I still got my copy of Super Street Fighter II!

Our young minds couldn't comprehend what Capcom was doing - we just ate it all up and asked for more.

A couple of days after I acquired the latest Street Fighter game, I looked through the contents of the box. Remember all of those useless papers and explanations that amounted out to mostly nothing? Well, remember those postcard sized questionnaires that companies would insert into each game box? I had stumbled upon it and took a good look at it. Around the early to mid 90′s I was into comic books in a big way. Nearly all of my weekly allowance would be plunked down on comics at my local comic shop. At that time, I was rereading the Infinity Gauntlet miniseries, which chronicled the demigod Thanos and his rise to omnipotence with the gathering of the six Infinity Gems. Whoever possesses all six of these gems would be gifted an unlimited power, being able to control anything, do anything and mold the universe to their liking.

As I was filling out that questionnaire for the hell of it, and I noticed a “suggestion” section at the very bottom. Being that I was beyond enthralled with the Street Fighter II series, I made the suggestion that Capcom mold a brand new fighting game around the Infinity Gauntlet miniseries, complete with Infinity Gems giving a plethora of powers, and so on. A day later, I mailed the sucker in, and just as quickly as I sent it in, I completely forgot about it.

Nine months later, I see an ad for a new Capcom title called Marvel Superheroes. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the game had something to do with the Infinity Gauntlet series. I quickly remembered that questionnaire card I had sent in, and was blown away – did Capcom really take what I said to heart? My young mind was completely swimming in ecstasy! I waited and waited for a Super Nintendo port, all the while plunking down quarters at a local pool hall that I discovered, which housed my dream fighter.

I like to think that I had a hand in its conception.

It wouldn’t be until a day after my 17th birthday that I would encounter a home port of Marvel Superheroes – on the Sony PlayStation. Sure, the load times were abysmal, and it experienced slow down at a near constant level, but good Lord I ate it all up! Even though I finally had my own hard copy of the game, I couldn’t help but to think about Capcom’s latest game, X-Men vs Street Fighter. Utilizing a brand new tag mechanic and extending the over-the-top combos and super moves, I now had X-Men characters battling many of the Street Fighter cast members! I would try and weasel my way into getting paid for my high school internship when I wasn’t supposed to, and use the money afterwards to play X-Men vs Street Fighter in the same pool hall that I spend countless hours in with Marvel Superheroes. I couldn’t wait to get this one home as well! Unfortunately for me, the PlayStation version eliminated the tag mechanic, due to the limited amount of RAM within the unit. That didn’t stop me from buying it anyway, although it was a mere shell of its former self. But before I could even think about the home version, another arcade brawler was slated for release – Marvel Superheroes vs Street Fighter, which was very similar to X-Men vs Street Fighter, but with a slightly different cast of characters!

Okay, I can go all day with this, but I want to begin to elaborate on a few vital points I am trying to make here.

In our youth, we were more susceptible to falling for these traps than the adults were at that time. Our persistence in begging and pleading was one of the only reasons our parents would even put down some of the insane amounts of money asked for at the time. It’s hard to blame our younger selves for being….young. That shiny new toy that you need to have exists these days as well, though it’s not as easy to just throw down all that money for something (outside of gaming in general, like a new car, vacation, extravagant cosmetic augmentations.) The gaming market was still aimed more towards kids and teens than adults, so companies such as Capcom could get away with releasing their hot arcade titles on home consoles at an alarmingly fast rate. Because the demand has been there for so long, all of these games with the most minute changes kept coming down the line. There was no DLC or any like it (in the US, Japan did have the Satellaview, but that’s a whole other can of worms) so consumers were forced to shell out for some of those outrageously priced games if they wanted to keep up with the latest craze. While a new franchise would come along (Marvel Superheroes, which was the more over-the-top shenanigans that Street Fighter II had lacked), those new franchises would offshoot into something slightly new, which would spawn something with the most meager changes, and so on.

Fast forward to today and we have companies that are continuing this practice. Activision releases a Call of Duty game every year, where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to discern any changes from each new installment over the last. Rather than just releasing a new sports game every few years and paving the way for DLC roster changes, EA Sports and 2K Sports are releasing new sports titles, barely re-skinned, with changes that didn’t really need to exist. For years we even had Guitar Hero and Rock Band releasing new games, DLC packs onto discs and so on, with changes being nearly non existent between each succeeding release. For so many years, SNK milked out its own fighting game series with the King of Fighters franchise. Though Capcom didn’t coin the “milking” phrase entirely (take a look at Hudon Soft’s Bomberman series, though many titles were not released outside of Japan) they are still a contributing factor. What’s another factor?

You are.

With the changes being as minute as they are, why do we continue to line the pockets of lazy developers?

Your wallet is enabling these companies to release the same game with tweaks that could have been best served as a moderately priced, or even a free DLC (free depending on how much is added.) Every single time we open our money cave and purchase these titles, we’re supporting the efforts, or lack thereof, each developer puts into these lazy ports. Hell, Capcom has been at it even to this day. A year after Street Fighter IV was released, Super Street Fighter IV came out, which again, could have been a plausible DLC product. The price was $20 cheaper than SF4 was, but still felt like too much money, so soon after. A year after that, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition is released as both a $15 DLC for existing copies of Super Street Fighter IV, and $40 on disc. The quality of the DLC was an absolute joke; why couldn’t Capcom change the flippin’ title screen to reflect the fact that I paid $15 for this DLC, yet the $40 retail disc has this addition? That’s not even taking into account the lack of challenge mode additions for the new characters, no rival battle convos like the other characters have, etc.

Now we have Mavrel vs Capcom 3, which has been out for just under six months, receiving a new version in what will be 9 months since its release. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 will be adding a dozen new characters, include the $5 a pop Shuma Gorath and Jill DLC from MVC3, add in new backgrounds and “rebalance” current characters, all for $40. They’re even adding in spectator mode, which should have been patched into MVC3 in the first place (though the netcode just couldn’t support it anyway, which seems like a bit of a two-faced decision since Capcom was adamant about adding it in.) Again, this could have been a $20 DLC and would have floated a lot more smoothly, in fact it was planned to be DLC at one point, but it’s only a disc release for double that amount. It’s almost as if Capcom admitted that Marvel vs Capcom 3 was released too soon, and instead of balancing things that need to be adjusted now (Wolverine’s speed and dive kick potency, X-Factor balance issues, the fact that Phoenix exists) they want you to buy tweaks on a whole other disc.

We can send a message to these companies by simply not buying every single milked out release being shoved down our throats. Not just seventeen of us, but as many as humanly possible. We need to show these developers of recycled ideas and the publishers that choose to release them, that we refuse the continuous opening of our wallets in support of their blatant milking practices and treat us, the consumers, with the respect and dignity that we deserve. If we don’t begin to put our foot down now, this will get so far out of hand that it could cripple the industry as a whole. While each game might provide entertainment in some form, the fact that the amount of legitimate new content and the lack if discursion is dwindling down to nil, is it even worth the price of admission?

While I blame the companies that produce recycled material and lazy upgrading, as well as the gamers that continually support them by a financial means, I have to blame myself for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 existing in the first place. Had I not send that questionnaire out, we probably would be at Street Fighter VII, with only one rehashed “upgrade” in-between each release. We wouldn’t have to be so up in arms over the fact that Capcom is releasing an ”upgrade” less than a year after the initial product was released. Perhaps if I had suggested DC Comics and the Crisis on Infinite Earths instead of Marvel and the Infinity Gauntlet, we would have had DC Superheroes, Justice League vs Street Fighter, DC Universe vs Street Fighter, DC vs Capcom, DC vs Capcom 2, DC vs Capcom 3 and Ultimate DC vs Capcom 3 instead. If I did suggest the DC Universe, would we have Lemon (Justin Wong) as a 6 time DC vs Capcom 2 Evo World Champion with his team of Deathstroke, Doomsday and Guy Gardner? Hindsight is 20/20….but regardless, I do apologize to the gaming community for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 existing.

What could have been?

Yet I blame you all for financially supporting its journey here.

On Monday afternoon, Capcom released a near 90 second trailer of the upcoming re-release of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike for the Xbox Live Arcade (and presumably  PS Store, though the logos were not readily available at the end of the video.) Here’s what we got from the video trailer (credited to SRK):

• The visuals have taken a high definition route, providing smooth character models and backgrounds
• As one of the selling points stated within the video, 3S Online is going to be Arcade Perfect….
• ….yet we noticed every character has the same sized stun bars
• GGPO enabled, giving online play as smooth of an experience as possible
• Youtube Sharing, which should allow for some intriguing and intense battles to never go unseen

According to an interview conducted last month with Capcom’s Christian Svensson, no characters were redrawn or even added, enforcing the notion that this is to be as arcade perfect as possible. While the streamlined stun bars still remain a mystery, animation, likenesses, backgrounds, super bars and so on, all retain the look of the arcade classic released in 1999. According to one screenshot, there seems to be an in-game form of achievements as well, rewarding players for a myriad of accomplishments, such as the number of parries performed, as well as the number of EX attacks thrown out. This has also become the highest budget downloadable game from Capcom, beating out the beautifully redrawn Super Street Fighter II: Turbo HD Remix released in 2008. Currently 3rd Strike Online is scheduled to be released sometime this summer, which adds to a huge number of fighting games already released since the new year (Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II, Arcana Heart 3, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition.) Stay tuned to Chocolate Lemon for more information as it becomes available, but for now, take a look at some of the stills provided (click to enlarge):

Remember when fighting games used to have storylines that players would vividly remember? A reason in which a collection of fighters from all over the world, and possibly from another world entirely, duke it out for some kind of right or stature? It seems as if throwing in extra modes and unnecessary fluff superseded any notion of cohestion or importance to the story presented by the fighter in question. It’s not all for naught however; most of the recently released fighting games throughout the last several years have managed tobuild a solid foundation in its gameplay, and give gamers more reason to power the game on long after a single player foray has ended. But where has the art of storytelling gone in the fighting game genre?

One would argue that the core element to a fighter (the actual gameplay) should be the factor in which developers should shine their attention upon the most. It’s a plausible argument, as most of the impact will revolve around the blows landed in each fight. No one wants to trade punches with an abhorrent fighting engine, or else the player will be less inclined to ever return to the battlefield for another round. But for any of these battle going on, there has to be a motive as to why one fighter is on the path that he/she/it is on.

One example of a “fighter without a cause” ended up being widely regarded as one of the premiere titles in the genre – Marvel vs Capcom 2. 56 fighters battling it out, with no semblance of a point or reason as to why they are going at it. Did this matter much? Not in the least, as gamers thoroughly enjoyed the three on three battles, alone or against another. While there were some serious balance issues with MVC2 (hard to fault Capcom too much, when they provided nearly five dozen fighters for players to choose from, with five being tournament viable), there was no denying that the battles were chock full of excitement.

Fan service or a legitimate plot involved?

Then there’s the issue of an over-saturation of sequels that somewhat drown out whatever progressive storyline was going on. Does anyone really remember the story of Mortal Kombat: Deception? Was Mortal Kombat Trilogy really a part of the canon or fanservice at its finest? Right about the time Mortal Kombat 3 was when the franchise started to slip in many regards, one being it’s story. It was still there, but there were no strides in making it memorable in any way, shape or form. Fast forward to the present day and you have a game like Tekken 6 ported from the arcade to the console, with no endings attached, no real effort in persuing any kind of methods of engaging players further into the Tekken lore. In regards to its story as a whole, the Tekken franchise has fallen into the same black hole of neglect that the Mortal Kombat franchise has, which is a crying shame.

This is your prize if you can remember the plots of each Street Fighter game!

It’s hard to point out about when most companies simply tossed in passable motives for each fighter being where they are. Street Fighter II had the 8 world warriors with their own reasonings for partaking in their battles. Probably within the bastion of pointless revisions, Capcom helped give an notion to other developers that a story driven fighter isn’t necessary if simpletons will flock to their local gaming outlet and snatch up each new revision of their title. You look at the franchise now and, although there’s plenty of additions to the gameplay and replay value, there’s not emphasis on why this “tournament” is taking place.

Over the last few years though, gamers have witnessed a bit more effort in making the story matter. The BlazBlue franchise presents an actual story mode, in which dialog is presented between rounds, which delves into why each character is on the path they are following. Some of the more obscure titles like Battle Fantasia, features a more fleshed out story mode as well, showing that the art of storytelling in the fighting genre isn’t completely dead. Speaking of death, one of the more absurd crossover battles in gaming history, had a strong focus on story as well which, ironically, stars a franchise that slowly spewed so many sequels out that it’s plot became forgotten – Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe.

With the recent release of the ninth installment of the Mortal Kombat franchise, it’s become apparent that a story driven experience has become one of the main focal points in the overall package. Gamers will spend upwards of eight hours fighting through what a spoiler-less description of the story would be, a focus upon the stories of the first three Mortal Kombat titles, but with twists. While the voice acting isn’t Hollywood caliber by any means, every second of the cutscenes and in game renders portrays the story with a vocal dialog. Not only that, but with the multi-chapter segments of the story, players will also have a hand at trying out a large majority of the roster, as each chapter stars a select fighter from the roster. With some unexpected twists and turns throughout, Netherrealm Studios crafted a story that, for all intended purposes, delivers possibly the most memorable plot and well written story to have ever appeared in a fighting game. It’s as if Netherrealm Studios is forcing fighting game developers to feed the needs of the genre faithful that play for more than just a tournament, or more than just a periodic battle against their roomates.

The question now remains – will Capcom, Namco Bandai and other fighting game developers who have been short changing the stories within their titles, step up their game to match the significance to the genre that Netherrealm Stuidos has now delivered? Will we possibly see a similar story mode for Street Fighter V, in which players will be treated to a captivating telling that weaves together why each and every fighter have come together to do battle? Or will we sadly be left with Street Fighter X Tekken giving us what Capcom vs SNK had given us a decade earlier – a flimsy reason for the crossover battle with zero focus on developing plot points, thinly veiled rivlaries and nothing but a catering to multiplayer fanatics? Remember, as much as fighting games thrive in the multiplayer and tournament scenes, they do contain a soloist platform that some do enjoy. After what Mortal Kombat brought to the party, it’s hard not to want some f those favors at future get togethers.

How do you feel about the stories in fighting games? Do you feel that they should return to a more detailed and attended focus? Would you rather forgo any attempts to forge a memorable storytelling platform in favor of the utmost precise fighting game engine? Let us know with a comment below.

Now I’ve been playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as my main fighting game, it is a game I’ve been pretty much focusing my entire fighting game prowess (the very little amount of them that I have) on this game specifically. Now as I was saying, my skills in this game are still incredibly free. However why should that stop me from at least entering a small tournament just to test myself in a more professional setting? Why not enroll myself into the 8-Bit Dojo and work alongside my other comrades of 8-bit? I’ll tell you, I am intimidated by the whole idea of playing in public.

A perfect example of how I think people will see me when I play in public.

Yes, I know it is a very punk reason for not making a public appearance with my lack thereof gaming skills. Though I think that is what’s holding me back from actually making some sort of public appearance. I have incredibly self-esteem and confidence when it comes to my skills as a fighting game player. A friend of mine, you probably know him as Phire says he is having problems with mental blcoks that are holding him back from being the best player that he can be, aybe that is what’s wrong with me also. Maybe I have some sort of mental block that is linked to my own insecurities as a fighting game player, maybe if I found some way around them I can get over this hurdle of performance anxiety.

1 out of every 10 men suffer from Combo Link Dysfunction

I think one bold move I should take is just bite the bullet and go for it, I’ll enter myself in a tournament and get blown up like any other person there. Because really, what could go wrong? Only thing that will happen is I will drop links, use a DP one too many times, then get blown up horribly on a live stream and fall into internet stardom as one of the worst players to ever grace a live stream and bring shame to Chocolate Lemon! Oh crap I just scared myself out of doing this. What should I do guys? Help me out here, is this all in my head? Do I need more practice? Or is there really some sort of mental block in my head that is preventing me from obtaining gaming stardom? Send me your ideas and suggestions dear readers, I might even mention you in my next blog post.

We can re-build it...faster...stronger....but we don't want to spend a lot of money.

Now before I close the cover on this entry, I have one more thing to bring to light and that is my stick. I have two arcade sticks in my possession. A Hori PS3 Fighting Stick, and a MadKatz PS3 Arcade Stick. Now both sticks have served me well, very well however I believe I can get far more out of them both if I did some work on them. So readers here is a challenge for you: send me your videos, pics, or emails telling me or showing me your custom stick and what you did with it to make it a better stick for you. You can post your ideas and your own sticks in the reply section for this article or shoot me an email at ForteWily@clgamer.com, I think this’ll help me decide what I need to do to my sticks or what stick I should get for myself to better my fighting game experience so I look forward to hearing from you. Till next time friends…Stay Salty.

Tell the people on SRK that this is not some wee-a-boo shit
-Mike “Mike Z” Zaimont

When you have a game developer make a statement about the game like that, you know that he knows what he is doing. Skullgirls, which sounds like a really good porno, is a downloadable 2d fighter projected to be available in 2011. Talking with Mike at the booth felt as if I was just talking to another fighting game player at the arcade which was an positive experience, before this turns into a love letter let’s take a look at this game.

Skullgirls puts players in control of fierce female warriors in an extraordinary Dark Deco world. From Autumn Games and Reverge Labs, Skullgirls features the unique art of Alex Ahad (Scott Pilgrim, Lava Punch) in collaboration with tournament player Mike “Mike Z” Zaimont (EVO series).

Set in the fictional Canopy Kingdom, Skullgirls pits players against ranks of deadly but beautiful opponents in an attempt to control the enigmatic Skull Heart, a mysterious artifact with the power to bestow wishes – but not without a substantial price. Should the soul be less than pure, both the victor’s wish and her being shall be corrupted into a living nightmare that haunts humanity. She will be known as the Skullgirl, a monstrous entity of immense power.

The game has a story like most fighting games but no one really follows them let me get into what really matters for most fighters, the game play. Since Mike Z worked on the engine it has all the features of most fighters. The input methods are the traditional fighter standard (fireball,dragon punch and 360 degree motions). There is of course dashing (air and ground), double jumping, throws, throw breaks,combos,etc. The game has a ratio system similar to the Capcom Vs SNK games, it only goes up to 2 so you may have 2 regular characters or one strong one. However the game also has delayed hyper combos and assists similar to the VS series. A really cool feature is that you can create your own custom assist, rather than pick 3 moves that limit your team building options you can either pick one of two moves that were preselected or you can do your own input based on what you want to do with your team. This adds variety to the team building process and you are free to create your own set ups and assisted combos.

What was also addressed in this game was many of the broken mechanics of fighters, such as being able to build super meter just whiffing (missing) normals constantly. This was a problem in many games as people people would turtle (play super defensively) by either super jumping away(Cyclops does it) or just back dashing and throwing out normals attacks until the bar fills up. This was remedied by allowing one bar to built by throwing out normals ONLY if you are going forward doing so, that bar can only be your first bar as well. So this means you cannot build meter turtling and it encourages aggressive play similar to Guilty Gear and it’s negative penalty.

The getting off the ground situation was addressed. In many fighting games scoring a knockdown meant that you could effectively limit how an opponent ‘woke up’ off the ground or continue a combo with what is called off the ground or otg. Most characters had a few options some had none, in the combo heavier games usually getting grounded meant you were probably going to eat a massive combo. In Skullgirls you have multiple tech roll options and also the window for getting picked up off the ground is smaller. So if you can keep the combo going that means you’ve earned it because your opponent wasn’t’ paying attention.

The combo systems relies on 6 buttons all of varying strength and speeds similar to the original Vs games from Capcom. The option is there to play a more deliberate poke game
relying on spacing or you can just rush down. There are infinite combos in this game however you get an infinite breaker. You can only use this if you are indeed in an infinite loop, this is shown by different color hit sparks than usual. So unlike most games (cough MVC3) you’re not forced to sit there and watch your characters get demolished by one super long combos.

In the playable build at Pax there were two characters ready the first is Filia and Samson.She played like a cross between Eddie/Zato-1 (from the Guilty Gear Series),a bit of Millia Rage (same game as Eddie) and Spiderman (from the MVC series). She is a traditional rush down character that can create some interesting mix ups,cross overs and some nice looking combos good damage combos. Her defense seemed low compared to the other character (who I’ll get to in a second) but I can see some serious potential there for some crazy stuff. Her design is sort of like Millia or any character that fights with their hair mainly.

The other character that was out is Cerebella and Vice Versa who is a grappler type character (this is why I felt Filia’s defense was low). Honestly I haven’t seen a grappler that was mobile like this before so I do not have any character comparisons to make. She has the traditional command grabs but they aren’t useless out side of punishes. You can set her command throw as an anti air option (with the custom assists) or create combos off of her running grab. She can also cancel that run grab as well. She doesn’t have an air dash but she definitely has mobility to get around.

Graphically this game looks great. The lighting in this game is insane. The characters are lit up depending on where the light source is, I’ve never seen that in a 2d game before. I personally enjoy the art style but I can see some critics and fans complaining about it a being a ecchi(perverted) dojinfighter due to the massive amount of boobies on screen. Talking with Mike he pointed out he had no say in the art direction of this game,just the engine and the game play mechanics. I personally don’t mind all the chicks because I mainly play women in fighting games anyway. The only issue with the demo I played was the hud was not finished but that’s minor if the game play is solid. I feel that once this game is polished it will be a pretty fighter with substance.

The voice actors were in English the whole entire time which sort of freaked me out but then I remembered that this is an American fighting game. Both of the voice actors sound cute but knowing my luck they are probably men . The music of the game I could not hear because the sheer amount of noise on the showroom floor. So I hope this game has a rocking soundtrack.

Overall I know I am playing this game when it comes out. I feel that it will be a welcome break alternative to the current stuff out. I have been recommending that people play this game when the demo gets released to give it a shot. All the issues that I usually have with fighters have been addressed here. I hope that Autumn games can get this fighter out when it is completed not to hit a deadline. If this game is not rushed and gets the time it needs it could definitely be on the fighting game circuit. Hell, I know I will run side tournaments in this during the events we run, I wonder if Team Sp00ky would be up for streaming this.

Chris “Phire” Scott (Chocolate)

What can I say that you don’t already know about the game at this point. I played it at E3 and Comic Con and it was fast paced and simple. Now that I have the console version. I don’t know if I can seriously play this game. It’s not a bad game, I just think some of the things in the game are ridiculous. But that’s the way it goes with the VS series. I think this game is very polarizing in the community; players either hate it or love it. It is very accessible meaning there will be a ton of mashy scrubs online that are doing crazy combos because they are so easy to do.

Let’s get down to business - this game looks really good. I like the models and the cast of characters. I don’t know why they included M.O.D.O.K. but it’s ok. The controls are straight forward and easy to pick up. Sometimes I do feel that some inputs do not come out because almost every move in the game is cancel-able. The voice acting is amazing as most of the characters have interactions with each other. They also brought back individual character themes! That was one of the best parts of versus games in my opinon, the music.

I don’t know if I can play this game seriously because it’s sooo crazy. I may stick to Super (the farewell tour is off btw, I like AE Cammy) and go back to my first love Guilty Gear. I do like Phoenix I’ve always wanted Jean Grey in one of these games.

Justin Wong (Lemon)

According to Seth Killian, he said that Marvel 3 is a big sandbox. And from my experiences it is true. Marvel 3 has endless possibilities. There’s no limit to what the character cannot pull off. The combos are beautiful yet very dangerous. Each character can basically perform a killer combo that could possibly kill you in one touch. Of course, tiers do exist but the face that every character in Marvel 3 seems viable due to the trailers and all, they all look very dangerous. Some of my favorite characters that I like in MVC3 from what I have seen is Spencer from Bionic Commando, Spider-Man, and Storm.

I love Spencer because I think the grappling hook function is really unique and his combos hurt a lot. I know that Spider-Man is a returning character but they gave the web slinger a lot more useful tools. His web swing is actually safe on block which never was meaning you can actually use more than just web ball. He can combo his maximum spider in the air after a web swing which is totally awesome. He has a new move which I call the spider slingshot. It is very similar to his air dash but he propels himself at you which is a new type of air dash and its an attack at the same time. This gives Spidey more momentum than ever. I am notorious for using Storm in MVC2, so I have to play my favorite character. I love the fact that she can actually combo into her hail storm and some of her moves are jump cancellable which makes her more fearsome in terms of rush down. I love the fact that her typhoons are actually useful and fast in this game, unlike her previous builds.

The one thing that I do not like about MVC3 is the x-factor system. I think it last too long, it gives way too much perks, and the comeback factor is way to easy and huge. X-factor Chun Li’s the most craziest, fastest, uncontrollable character I ever seen. I don’t like it at all. Its basically playing the game on the highest speed setting possible. And one last thing to worry people who love calling that assist. Be careful, they will die so fast. They must take 3x the damage than normal.

Jason Velez (Burrito?)

I’ve always enjoyed the crossover battles between Marvel and Capcom. Other than maybe Marvel vs Capcom, none have underwhelmed me whatsoever. I have my qualms with the fact that for high level play, Marvel vs Capcom 2′s roster only had about five viable selections. But for beginners to hardcore fighting game enthusiasts, each installment of this famed series of games has provided countless hours of tag team battles. Now with Marvel vs Capcom 3, there seems to be a but of a division amongst the player-base. Many of the hardcore tournament players are complaining that it’s too easy, too scrubby, too dumbed down, while the more casual fans are enjoying the somewhat lack of complication. With a somewhat polarized field of consumers, is either party correct with their views?

As someone who’s only real care for hardcore fighting game tournaments coming from Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike, I can understand both sides quite clearly. The button layout closely resembles Tatsunoko vs Capcom, a crossover battle exclusive to the Nintendo Wii, which was elementary enough for those coming into the genre, and still had enough flexibility to feed the needs of those that want to test their skills on the big stage. Weak, Medium, Strong and a Launcher buttons are your attacks, with two separate buttons acting as assists. Combos in general seem much easier to pull off, especially longer, juggle type ones. Then again, doing a 100% damage combo with Sentinel with a command throw, rocket punch, XF and other simplicity, but so can infinites from MVC2.

Probably the biggest impact in MVC3 comes from the X-Factor. Pressing all four attack buttons puts you in a state of enhanced power, health regeneration and speed boosts. You can cut short a long combo that ends with a super with an X-Factor, and basically have more time to pull off more attacks in a combo (if you’re fast enough). The potency of the X-Factor is boosted with each character defeated on your team. Using Sentinel as an example again, his regular damage output is already absurd. With an X-Factor at level 3 (two of your characters defeated) he can take out any character in the game with a simple {standing W, low M, S, super jump, M, H, S}. Certain character with inherent weaknesses, such as Phoenix (lowest health in the game), if her Dark Phoenix form is activated with X-Factor level 3, in the right hands she can be way too powerful. Moreover, there’s no way to disable X-Factor in multiplayer bouts.

The intent of X-Factor was to give hopeless odds an evened out playing field, when in fact, it really does turn things lopsided. Again, the more hardcore scene might feel appalled by this, however there are plenty of players that won’t really care. These are the same players that play MVC2 and use any character, and not just the same five characters that every tournament player has to use. Personally, I have mixed feelings with X-Factor. I appreciate the extended combo usages by popping a level one, though the potency of a level three on certain characters can definitely make things feel unbalanced. I completely agree with Justin on how it lasts way too long. If Capcom added an option to disable XF, I can see a lot more people that are on the fence about MVC3, hopping over into Capcom’s camp.

If you treat MVC3 casually though, even with the X-Factor madness, there’s a ton of quality from top to bottom. The soundtrack is a rather stellar set of remixed titles, along with a rather impressive set of voices and sound effects. The voices, while not Hollywood quality, all seem to fit each character, though Sentinel’s MVC2 sounded more menacing. The visuals match the somewhat 2.5D standard set by Capcom a couple of years ago with Street Fighter 4. The mixture of styles seem to mesh well together, with no character seeming out of place. Characters like Arthur from Ghosts ‘n Goblins has an overly simplistic look when compared to the likes of MODOK, but neither clash with each other when they are on screen. It’s definitely not a MUGEN production. Each background looks quite impressive, however the Resident Evil themed stage runs noticeably choppier than the others, as if it was created at 30 frames per second. Annoying, but still quality work all round.

The lack of modes isn’t a massive downer, though some online aspects are. Not being able to spectate is quite annoying, especially if there’s six players ahead of you in the queue. Sometimes it’s a battle just to find a game to connect to. When you do, you can’t even scope out their connection or stats; MVC3 just throws you into a Ranked battle without any knowledge of the player you are about to face. Granted, this sounds good in theory so you won’t cherry pick games, but considering the fact that playing others from a completely different continent is a lagfest (4 minutes to go from 99 to 54 against a player from Australia), if you don’t have a powerful keepaway character to spam attacks between lag spikes, you lose.

It’s a polarized release for sure, but to be fair, Capcom is out to make money. While it is apparent that there were attempts to satisfy both casuals and hardcore players, Marvel vs Capcom 3 ended up being a more generalized experience, with a few aspects that will definitely turn away many hardcore fans. As a mostly casual fighting game fan, the simplicity of the battle system, the diverse cast of characters and pulse pounding multiplayerbattles with friends has definitely satisfied my Versus needs. It’s definitely not a bad game at all, especially given the fact that the alternative right now is a pretty miserable fighter (Super Street Fighter 4). Is it button masher/newbie friendly? Unfortunately it is. Can it be broken? Occasionally it feels more broken than MVC2. Is it a good time, whether you’re casually or seriously playing? Quite honestly, it can be.

How have your experiences been? Too scrub friendly? Leisurely satisfying?  Leave a comment below and share your views with us!

• Mizuchi-Neo Geo Battle Colossium
• Shin King Lion- Neo Geo Battle Colossium
• Gill- Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
• Amakusa-Samurai Showdown
• Gorgos-Killer Instinct Gold
• Cyber Akuma- Marvel vs Street Fighter
• Geese Howard
• Karyu-Last Blade 2
• Baiken- Guilty Gear
• Justice- Guilty Gear
• Boss Holy Order Sol- Guilty Gear Accent Core
• Boss Dizzy- Guilty Gear X
• Shao Kahn- Mortal Kombat 2
• Igniz-King of Fighter 2k3
• M. Bison- Street Fighter 2
• Sagat- Street Fighter 2
• Kazuya- Tekken
• Seth-Super Street Fighter IV
• Yuriko- Bloody Roar
• Cervantes de Leon- Soul Blade
• Thanos- Marvel Super Heroes
• Doctor Doom- Marvel Super Heroes
• Lambda-BlazBlu Continum Shift
• Pyron-Darkstalkers
• Jedah-Darkstalkers
• Deathbringer-Battle Fantasia
• Serious Mr Karate- SVC: Chaos
• Magaki: King of Fighters 11
• Omega Rugal- King of Fighters ’95