Before Marvel vs. Capcom 3 came out, its excellent predecessor Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was released for the PSN and XBLA. It was a picture perfect arcade conversion and it also added online play so you could challenge other players from all around the world. Oddly enough, the first game in the popular Marvel vs. Capcom series was never rereleased until now. Not only has it been re-released, but it also includes a copy of Marvel Super Heroes as well.
Marvel vs. Capcom Origins includes two popular ‘90s fighting games for the price of one, but are they still fun to play. Has age caught up with these two fighting games? Find out as we take a look at what’s HOT and NOT in our review of Marvel vs. Capcom Origins.
Hot
Two Great Games For The Price Of One
At a price of 1200 Microsoft Points, you get two great games in their entirety for one price. I checked the price of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 that was released back in 2009 and that game still costs the same price. Although both Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel Super Heroes play and look pretty similar, they’re still two different sets of game and some of them include different characters for you to experience. In either case, if you are a fan of fast-paced 2D fighting games, there’s no doubt you will be having lots of fun playing through both of these excellent games.
Graphics Still Look Awesome
If there’s something great about 2D graphics, it’s that it doesn’t age as badly as 3D graphics do. After Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD recently, I decided to go back and play Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and 4 on the PSOne and PS2 respectively. As much as I love both games, I must say visually both games haven’t aged very well. The character models lack any detail on them when compared with games of today.
Marvel vs. Capcom Origins doesn’t suffer to badly as the bright colored 2D sprites and artwork still hold up even to this day. Sure it does not look as fancy as Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but it doesn’t have to be since this is not a HD re-release anyway. Although you do have the option of smoothing out the textures if you want to make the game look a little more modern.
The other great thing about Marvel vs. Capcom Origins is that you have the option to view the game in many different ways. You can choose to have the graphics remain the same as they were back in the ‘90s with jagged edges and even scanlines. If you’re feeling really nostalgic, you can even play the game viewing as an arcade cabinet. This even goes further as there’s even an “over-the-shoulder” view of said arcade cabinet as well. This same feature was previously used with the re-release of Street Fighter III: Third Strike. It’s a gimmick that may be only a select few might enjoy…
Gameplay Left Unchanged
Re-releasing anything that fans adore can sometimes be a tricky business. Sometimes game developers will change a few things to the gameplay that may please some people, but will annoy others. A perfect example of this is the recent release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD which pretty much changed the whole physics engine altogether and made the game feel entirely different. Thankfully this is not the case for Marvel vs. Capcom Origins as it retains its fast paced and I don’t even think the characters have been balanced either. Spider-Man’s attacks are still quick and Iron Man’s laser blasts still do a whole lot of damage. Unlike in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 where I felt both Spider-Man and Iron Man were toned down to accommodate the other characters in the game.
