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A quick news bit: Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League, and Batman Arkham Asylum, let slip that Two Face will indeed be in the Arkham Asylum sequel during a Q&A at C2E2 this past weekend. “There’s a very complicated cast,” Conroy laughed after realizing what he said. “A lot of villains are in it. I’ll just leave it at that!” Conroy also described the game as being “very dark,” and comparing it somewhat to Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

If you haven’t already heard, the dreams of millions have become a reality with the announcement of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is widely considered one of the best fighting games of all time, and this week, for those new to the series, we’re going to look at why. But before we get to that, we’re gonna take a closer look at the MvC3 trailer and see what secrets we can find.

The first image of the trailer is a blue silhouette of the Capcom chumps (I’m biased toward Marvel as I’m sure most of us comics fans are)

The character on the right who looks to be wearing a large coat and boots appears to be Dante from the Devil May Cry series, and next to him is obviously Chun Li of Street Fighter. The next to characters are a bit tougher to decipher. Next to Chun Li might be Sheva from Resident Evil 5, although that’s just a personal guess, and next might be Chris Redfield also from Resident Evil. But the character on the far left has me stumped.

The next image in the trailer is of some of Marvel’s elite.

Right off the bat we can recognize Captain America, Dr. Doom, Deadpool, and Wolverine, but the last character who looks to have spikey shoulder pads is still a mystery.

Next we see some of the MvC regulars like Iron Man, Ryu, Hulk, and Morrigan from Darkstalkers, and a confirmation on Chris Redfield from Resident Evil 5.

Hopefully we’ll get more details on the roster very soon!

There isn’t one particular component that makes Marvel vs. Capcom 2 so great. Everything from characters, setting designs, and presentation played big parts, but over all the key part to any great game is the gameplay. MvC2 offered the 3-on-3 tag-team matches that completely up’ed the amount of strategy one can apply to a fighting game.

Since the boom of fighters in the early 90s, the industry had come a long way from simple punch/kick/block/special. The MvC series style of fighting is all about chaining combos together for maximum damage.

Chaining combos also fills a meter at the bottom of the screen for special finishing moves that you can pull off individually or collectively with your other two teammates. And if explosive, fast paced action doesn’t do it on its own, the 56 unique and different playable characters, and great 3D setting behind classic 2D sprites is a delicious icing on the cake.

The game was already perfect just in the arcade cabinet with a fist full of quarters and a big ass soda, but with last year’s re-release of MvC2 on the Playsation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, we get even better graphics, and online play. Of course, the six button formula had to be revamped to fit the modern day controller (a problem addressed way back for the Dreamcast version), but the transition is seamless, and the updated version of the classic is by far the best of the game’s many re-releases.

The only thing missing from the previous MvC games is some kind of concrete narrative. Though with a game so good, a story behind it seems not completely necessary, but it’s something I’m sure most fans would appreciate. Maybe Capcom can fit something in between all the giant amounts of ass kicking that will be taking place.

So what new features or characters do you want to see in Marvel vs. Capcom 3? A lot of Marvel characters have been elevated in the last ten years. Guys like Daredevil, Luke Cage, and X-23, all of which I’d love to see in the game.

Checkout The Comics Console next week as we get pumped for Iron Man 2 the game and play through the first Iron Man!

Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net