It isn't overly heroic and doesn't offer much of a fight
Written: Nov 06 '04 (Updated Dec 05 '06)
Product Rating:
Pros: Good fighting engine behind it
Cons: the port,controller
The Bottom Line: Capcom fighting junkies will get some enjoyment out of it, but the port is pretty horrible, so it really isn't worth much effort,or money, to get your hands on
flash-hammer's Full Review: Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter for PlaySta...
When Capcom's Marvel Comics lisenced fighting games took off on a level that actually rivalled the immense success of their flagship Streetfighter games, the natural step was to bring the two together, and X-Men Vs. Streetfighter was born. After that proved to be a good move, Capcom released a sequel which didn't limit it's Marvel Characters to just the X-Men, Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Streetfighter also proved to be a success, and was ported to Sega's Saturn in Japan and Sony's PlayStation worldwide.
MSHvSF is a fighting game that played similar to Streetfighter, but the only difference was that it used a 'Tag-Team' format. This meant the player picked 2 characters, and instead of fighting rounds until someone won two, the players simply fought until both their team members energy bars were empty, with the ability to swap fighter at any time, as well as perform double team moves and super moves.
However, the PlayStation struggled to handle Capcom 2D fighters at their most standard, so how could it cope with the Tag Team action? quite simply it couldn't.
The console couldn't handle the 4 fighters at once, and MSHvSF became a standard 1 on 1 fighter, but you could pick a second fighter to come in and perform assissts, so the double team moves and supers would still be there. The game also now used a Killer Instinct style energy system, where the fighters simply have 2 energy bars each, and must fight until both are depleted, with a brief pause and 'Round 2' when the first meter is empty.
The game still fights the same, 6 attack buttons, D-Pad rolls and charges for special moves, a super bar that builds up when you land hits and such, but there is no denying that lacking one of the core gameplay elements hurts the game.
The arcade mode sees you fight through the rest of the characters until you square off against the screen-sized Apocalypse, and if you topple him the dreaded Cyber-Akuma.
As well as the arcade mode, we have the obligatory 2-Player Versus, a basic training mode, a gallery that allows you to browse promo art and watch any character endings over and two unique modes. First up is Cross-Over mode, which tries to restore the tag team format to the game, the only catch is that the players need to use the exact same two fighters, and Hero Challenge, in which you select either the Marvel Heroes or the Streetfighters and try to battle your way through all the characters on the other team.
The gameplay is both the most frustrating and enjoyable aspect of MSHvSF. While the basic gameplay is still the same solid Capcom magic, removing the Tag-Option for arcade play really does sting the game, as do the usual faults that apply to Capcom fighters on the PlayStation, atrocious loading times et cetera. Cyber-Akuma is also one of Capcom's cheapest bosses to date, expect much frustration from fighting him.
The character selection is also a little on the poor side. While Streetfighter is well represented with Ryu,Ken,Akuma,M.Bison,Dan,Dhalsim,Chun Li,Sakura and Zangief, the Marvel Side is comprised of the obvious Spiderman,Captain America,Cyclops,Wolverine and the Hulk, the unexpected but welcome Omega Red, and waste of space Blackheart and Shuma Gorath. Why was Capcom so obsessed with this pair? wouldn't we all have rather seen Iron Man? or Thor? Ghost Rider? Hell, I would take the Sub Mariner before them. Not the the Streetfighters get of flawlessly. First of all, where is Guile? much as I hate Charlie, even he would have been welcome here, given that there really is no need for Ryu,Ken,Akuma andDan (they have at least changed Sakura so she isn't just a standard Shoto). Chun Li has also lost her most famous move, the Spinning Bird Kick. What were they thinking?
The story of the game is pretty crap really, Apocalypse is out to conquer the world, and somehow the Marvel Heroes and the Streetfighters have managed to team up to try and take him down. Each fighter does have a unique ending, and while none of them would be considered to be taken seriously, I almost added a star on the strength of Dhalsim's ending, where he invites Shuma Gorath home for a curry, alone.
The game controls in the usual Capcom fighter on PlayStation manner:
While there are no response issues to hinder the controls, the PlayStation controller is there to more than do that job. You have the usual problems brought by the horrible D-Pad and only 4 Face Buttons, so owning some sort of 6 Buttonned pad or Arcade stick really is a must for this game.
Graphically there aren't really any problems to report, the sprites are all well drawn and decently animated considering the hardware's bad reputation for 2D fighters, and some of the backgrounds are pretty awesome, such as where you fight Apocalypse/Cyber-Akuma, which features several Marvel Heroes captured in tubes in the background such as Ghost Rider and Storm.
Sound in the game is pretty cool, with this coming from the days when Capcom put cool and catchy music in their games and the voice acting was cheesy but in an extremely likeable way.
On the whole, MSHvSF is a pretty disappointing game, but not one that isn't without it's good points. As I mentioned, it does feature Capcom's Streetfighter engine, which has been proven time and time again that it is quality, so that's basically where the 3 stars it gets come from. It also garners a recommended, almost purely from the fact that I did get quite a bit of multiplayer satisfaction from it.
MSHvSF's PlayStation port is really a game that only Streetfighter or Marvel completeists will really want to own. There are much better Capcom fighters for the console, so this isn't really worth hunting down for the gaming aspect of it. However, if you do like fighters, especially 2D ones, and you see this going for a low price, possibly preowned, then you probably will still get a decent amount of multiplayer play and enjoyment out of it, providing you have alternate controllers.
This Playstation 1 game is BRAND NEW FACTORY SEALED ! It comes complete with the case, front and back art,manual, and game disc. It is in beautiful sh...More at eBay
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