Here we are approaching the start of the second decade of the millennium (a word I’m sure no one has heard in nine years since it was officially retired by the wordsmith pirates) and what was old is new again. Capcom, creators of childhood glee, are set to re-release a ‘classic’ fighting game for the download services of XBLA and PSN – Marvel vs Capcom 2. Apparently the first one isn’t worth revisiting. Now I put more hours into fighting games then just about anyone, but that was when I was 10 and the next generation was still murky on whether it would be CD based or more likely cartridge based. Now clearly I’m not the target audience for this game as the last fighting game I play seriously was Tekken Tag (which was awesome) and feel that every fighting game is essentially a rip off of the king. Street Fighter 2. Don’t deny it. Every time you start up a brand new fighting game you do the same thing, you run through the SF2 power moves that are ingrained in you like the Konami code.


So why bring this up? Well because this is the type of games we should expect for the next 18-20 months as the legacy of the recession takes hold. Since games take about that long to gestate the effects of this economy will be felt for that long after. So game companies will do what is needed to stay afloat. Meaning get used to “exciting” download games that you’ve already bought two to three times but now have achievement points and the ability to get schooled by strangers. Yay. I wish we’d see more games along the lines of Braid or N but alas, its probably cheaper to port another old Final Fantasy game to the DS or XBLA so they can found the next Final Fantasy movi- er game. Yeah game. Right you play them every once and a while.

So if MvC2 is your cup of tea congrats! Tea Time as Hatsworth would say. Hell he might be throwing you a damn tea party before the decade is out.


  • killajb

    Where are the pictures at? A screenshot or two would be awesome. Also, get yourself a WordPress.com API key so you can turn on Akistmet spam protection. Once you do that, you should open up the comments so you don’t require people to register like I just did.

    I’ll give you a Prima Guide, if you will, on doing this if you need it.

    Seriously though. Great start. There’s way more stuff on here than I was expecting. Have to actually read it later.

    I’m serious about the pictures. Need some eye candy to break up all the text.

  • http://www.rickyjacy.com rick

    I think that the real problem is the death of the arcade in the United States. I have fond memories of playing MvC (original, not the 27-characters-on-the-screen-at-once seizure-inducing sequel) and Tekken Tag at my arcade in the late 90′s (and X-Men vs SF before that and SF2CE and MK2 even before that). Playing SF4 in Tokyo last summer took me straight back there. Maybe it’s time I finally build a MAME cabinet and invite people over to play MvC and the Simpsons brawler :)

  • Paul

    Yeah, i’m with rick on this one, that arcade experience in Tokyo was sick! I miss TMNT in the arcade, it’s not the same at home at all.

    As for adding images to posts, i would suggest that as well.

  • Freddie

    I’ll agree most fighting games do follow the original build of SF2, BUT, to say they’re a thing of the 90′s is kind of a stretch just because the newer games follow suit to the original build of a predecessor.

    That’s like saying CALL OF DUTY is so 90′s because somewhere in the initial construction of the game they’re building off of UNREAL, which is really building off of DOOM which was originally WOLFENSTEIN.

    Also, I think taking old games and applying the tricks of new technology can sometime bring forth an amazing, IF NOT BETTER, product like NEW SUPER MARIO BROS (NSMB). Same old school feel we all loved back in the 80′s, but with great graphics, and some additional tricks, as well as changes in the level structures.

    I think more games should take original builds and improve, like SFIV, NSMB, and even MEGA MAN 9 (except MEGA MAN 9 really kept its 8-bit heritage close to its chest… if not up its @$$).

    Hell, I’m sure you could easily find a 1,000 kids (adults by age standards) screaming for the NSMB treatment to be applied to games like CASTLEVANIA: SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT, the original LEGEND OF ZELDA… or even, my personal favorite MASTER BLASTER.