Marvel Vs Capcom 2: One of the Greatest Accidents to Ever Happen

One thing which is often looked fondly upon in the gaming industry is hard work and good programming, but as a game Marvel Vs Capcom 2 was sloppily made and was riddled with bugs and glitches, at one point Capcom even admitted the game was rushed and poorly made. Not only this but the game was incredibly broken full of infinite combos, and out of a cast of 56 characters only roughly 16 of them were viable at competitive level of play, as little as 8 of them being seen used most often. But what was incredible was that none of this stopped MvC2 from becoming one of the deepest, most popular and successful fighting games ever made. Unlike modern fighting games where they constantly receive updates to keep them fresh and interesting, MvC2's broken nature gave it enough depth and had such a high skill level that it gave players enough incentive and enjoyment to explore the game for an entire decade without any major revisions at all.

This is one of those instances where sloppy programming actually created something brilliant; perhaps it was never intended to be, but by sheer accident Capcom had created quite possibly one of the greatest games they've ever made. From a game as a whole which is vastly unbalanced, between those 8-16 characters lies a state of perfect competitive balance, a game within a game for a lack of better terms. This is one of those examples where the pursuit for perfect programming and balance isn't always what leads to greatness, it can happen by accident too. For me MvC2 is one of the greatest games of all time, one thing I can appreciate in competitive gaming is skill and this game has one of the highest skill levels of them all, and its natural depth and strategy has been something that has been a source of entertainment for me and other fighting game players alike for almost ten years. Am I alone here?

As a display of what makes this game so great here is an (old) in-depth strategy video created by some of the most knowledgeable MvC2 players in the world, showing off high level techniques that go beyond the levels achieved in competitive play, showing just how deep this game is despite now being outdated by its successor. Some of you might get it, some of you might not have a clue what is going on, so for those of you that don't enjoy the pretty lights and flashing colours.

 

I still play MVC2 on our local arcade............. And it still gets competition too.... MVC2 is one of those things that created order out of chaos..... After killing off 52 of the 56 characters..... XD

 

If a lack of balance makes a fighting game good, then JoJo's Bizarre Adventure must be a masterpiece

 

both great ass games !!!!!

 

I find it really interesting. The game is unbalanced because the top 10 or so characters (Sentinel, Storm, Magneto, Cable, Cyclops, Psylocke, Captain Commando, with more honorable mentions) and the teams they create completely dominate the rest of the cast at high level play. So technically over 40 of the characters in the roster are pretty much worthless competitively unless used in very specific teams, or unless played by very uniquely skilled players. But between those top 10 or so the game is perfectly balanced, if we just pretended that those extra 40+ characters didn't exist we'd have a perfectly balanced game. Each character and team presents some really over powering problems, yet each character and team also has solutions to these problems, and that's kind of what videos like these demonstrate. Despite being unfairly broken and unbalanced the game its self is fair, balanced and because of that competitively viable. However this doesn't happen very often, there's been some extremely broken and unbalanced games that haven't stood the test of time, and that's what makes this game exceptional to me. Not only did it stand the test of time, not only was it competitively viable, but it was also one of Capcom's most successful fighting games despite all of its flaws. In this case, MvC2 is by all means an accidental masterpiece!

 

I'm not a big fan of this game, and I think 3 is even a step below 2. It's pretty fun as simply a fighter, but it doesn't lack the personality that made the CPS2 games soo much fun. The music is annoying, the stage design is bland as cheap bread. Just knowing that I can play as Thanos vs Colossus or Mega Man makes it worth it. I will play MvC2 but only if I have someone else to play with me, but I will gladly pick up a controller and play X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes, and the rest of the games in that first series for hours.

 

You're definitely right in that respect. The CPS2 games were lush, the graphics were crisp, the colours popped, the sound was sharp, they were extremely beautiful games, and MvC2 was inferior in almost all of those areas. From a technical stand point the game was poor, and this is what makes its competitive success even more remarkable to me. In regards to the music people just make custom soundtracks, and even custom colour pallets for their own personal pleasure. But your point is valid, its predecessors were by far greater masterpieces from a technical stand point, the first time I imported XMvSF and saw this in full colour on my CRT was one of the most fulfilling times of gaming I've ever had.

 

A solid point there!

Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter:





Marvel vs. Capcom 2:

 

I Co-Host and help run MvC2 RanBat events at my local gaming venue here in SoCal. The area is currently home to some of the greatest most known (and unknown) MvC2 players in the world (JWong, Duc Do, Clockwork, Khaos, Spartan, DK Express). Players affectionally refer to the game as "Crack" as result of the games insane speed in which battles unfold, the amount of hype the game brings, and the addictiveness of staying on top and in competitive scene. The game fosters a very loyal and passionate scene, moreso than any other fighting game scene that I've ever witnessed or been part of.
While I agree about the games overpowered high tier characters, the games tag team format and high focus on assists puts a higher emphahsis on high rank team structure than anything else which is why there exists top rank teams like Team Combofiend, MSP, MSS, Thrax, Matrix, Scrub etc. Team synergy that takes into account what role your 3 characters have on a team and if that team can accomplish and exploit a particular strategy (be it high damage DHC's, focus on Double Snapping setups, massive chip damage and so on). Video below is a perfect example of this. Both Wolvies are consider rather low tier characters, but Joe here defeated this well known player and his high tier team with a well formed stradegy.
[video=youtube_share;DfPi5Tprizs]http://youtu.be/DfPi5Tprizs[/video]

 

Finals from last weeks RanBat.
[video=youtube_share;Wcw2Brs8gO8]http://youtu.be/Wcw2Brs8gO8[/video]

 

I much prefer the sound track of the first one though.
MvC2 sound track is goofy

 

It certainly shows Capcom can do awesome comic-book like coloring in the VS series...... I always remember Capcom's Marvel licensed fighting games to be the first one that gets it "right". Every other effort seems lackluster by comparison. To be frank though. MVC2's success is something like "an extra broken thing can be matched by another extra broken thing" . So the census became, if you don't have that broken thing, you're borked.....

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irsihyE33s0&amp;index=211&amp;list=PLiBANFSFk5qePq Sa0qSu1q4tvoKiLHLKT" target="_blank">

 

Something I discovered recently: the arcade (Naomi) version runs at 15khz (240p or something close to it), whereas the Dreamcast version only runs at either 480i or 480p. The DC version won't do 240p like the Naomi version.

 

There was a Dreamcast image floating around many moons ago called Marvel vs. Capcom 2 PLUS.

It's soundtrack destroyed the original. It compliments the game in this way nothing else seems to.

 

!? NAOMI version runs at 480i low res or 480p at hi res, just like DC version.

 

Theree countless versions out there you can download with custom soundtracks and even custom color edits on the characters. It's a very popular amoung the community to make your own custom MVC2 mixes for dreamcast.

 

Next you need someone to replace the absolutely awful stage backgrounds.

 

The Naomi version can run at 31k too, if you set the appropriate dip switch and have a compatible monitor. Tbh, 15k output on the Naomi looks horrible.

 

So...what was the deal with Morrigan having the same exactly sprites in every fighting game she had appeared to? Expecially to Capcom Vs SNK 2 she looked so out of place. We have waited until Vs series moving to 3D graphics to finally see her with new graphics.

 

You should know by now that if Capcom can cut corners on something or milk every last drop out of something, they will do it.