Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is proof that Capcom is the undisputed CHAMPION of fighting games. Any one of you who spent time hanging around arcades in the ‘90s will have fond memories of Street Fighter 2, Capcom’s brilliant fighting game which introduced the world to such rich expressions as ‘hadoken’, ‘hundred-hand slap’, and the formerly unpronounceable ‘tatsu-maki-senpu-kyaku’. The game set high standard for future fighting games to live up to.
By the same token, you probably have fond memories of Capcom not being able to count past two.
Capcom never dropped the ball, continuing the hand-cramp-inducing tradition of fighting games with a ton of titles, and began a run of fan-boy-pleasing titles that set various Marvel comic characters against various Capcom characters (that wasn’t redundant at all). We’re really happy to let you know that Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 continues in this vein, and is a freaking blast.
We’re pretty sure that a lot of you know this already, but Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom isn’t a new game; it’s an update Marvel v Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, released back in February 2011.
Fate of Two Worlds was the first Marvel vs Capcom title since 2000’s Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and it was a solid, 2D fighter which was phenomenal for gamers back then. We know, because we thought that it was phenomenal back then.
And the same applies to this version – understandable, considering that it’s basically a polish job that addresses some of the quibbles raised by players of FoTW, and adds some additional content originally intended to be downloadable.
Twelve new characters have been added to Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, including the 36-character roster featured in the previous title. Capcom characters include Ryu and Chun Li from Street Fighter, Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield from Resident Evil, Viewtiful Joe, and Dante from Devil May Cry. Marvel Universe characters include Hulk, She-Hulk, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, and others, most of which aren’t insanely famous, like Nova.
Apparently, Capcom listened to their fans and took notes. The developers have made successful efforts to rebalance the fighting, and a few new levels and other elements have been introduced, including the ability to be a spectator of online mode matches, improved rematch features and leaderboard tweaks.
Like previous titles, the fighting in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 takes place in a tag-team fashion. You select three characters that are set against three of the opposition in a single round. When one character runs out of life another steps into battle until either all three are defeated, or all three of your opponents are. You can still switch between any of your characters that are still active, or have a character step in to perform an “assist” (a single signature move) with one press of a button. The developers seem to have made efforts to appeal to new players, as well as seasoned gamers.
There are two gaming settings – standard, in which special moves require some nimble-fingered button-pressing, and simple, where the moves can be assigned to a single key.
The visuals are fantastic – just as vibrant and colourful as ever, and the cel-shading is pretty damned good. Overall, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is a lot of fun to play, and maybe it’s not much of an upgrade if you already own Fate of Two Worlds, but we still highly recommended it.
Just in passing, we still miss playing X-Men: Children of the Atom. Capcom should totally do something with that series again.
