Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 - Really?

Back in the day Capcom released Street Fighter IV. My understanding is that this was a last ditch effort for Street Fighter, the game was expected to fail. Street Fighter III had been a monstrous flop years before. Because of this Capcom closed out the disc. This meant that no DLC could be added later on. The game ended up being a huge success. Because of this more fighters were developed and Super Street Fighter IV game was released.

Now remember that I had said that Street Fighter IV could not be added too via DLC so this actually made sense. Of course, that all depends on if the story I read was true. You can never fully tell with the internet. The Super version was only $39.99, a $20 saving versus the initial release. Yes it could be seen as a blow to purchasers of the original. It was more content for less, but at least there was sound reasoning.

Street Fighter IV helped revitalize the lumbering fighting genre. With this new age of fighters would come a game that players had been asking for for over 10 years. Marvel vs Capcom 3. I was a fan of the second game, having purchased it for my Dreamcast (yes I own a Dreamcast). The fast pace of the game and the large variety in fighters just made the game a ton of fun. Now Marvel vs Capcom 2 had such a large cast because Capcom was easily able to reuse sprites from previous fighting games. This is where the madhouse of characters came from. The new game would not be able to reuse sprites so the cast would have to be diminished. This was expected.

Marvel vs Capcom 3 launched with only 36 (38 if you count the DLC) fighters in it. It wasn't the dream cast that I had been hoping for. Some characters felt very out of place or that a more top-tier character should've had a slot. The game was still frantic fun and that is, in the end, what matters. Now the when the game launched there was already two DLC characters announced. Shuma-Gorath and Jill Valentine. Now this set the stage for more downloadable characters in the future. I was excited about this. I wanted to grow my cast list with new and awesome characters.

Sadly all we seemed to be getting for Marvel vs Capcom 3 had been these Shadow Battles. You battled against characters that had a play style similar to Capcom employees that worked on the game. Yes, that does not sound like a ton of fun to anyone. There were some costume packs but no mention of any DLC beyond that.

It was then that rumors started to swirl of a Super version for Marvel vs Capcom 3. I was hoping that with the release of the Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition that Capcom wouldn't pull this stunt. I didn't mind paying $19.99 for a DLC pack if is was something similar to the Arcade Edition, but for Marvel vs Capcom 3 instead.

Sadly that is not the case. Instead we are getting Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. It will include 12 new characters and will retail for $39.99. Looks like Capcom is double dipping. I'm not excited about this and as I learn what characters are being release with it I am even less excited.

First we have Strider and Ghost Rider. I can happily admit to being excited about these two characters. Very nice additions. Next up is Firebrand and Hawkeye. Hawkeye is probably in so they can push the character in preparation for the Avenger movie. But Firebrand? I barely remembered Arthur from Ghosts 'n Goblins. I can only assume that Firebrand was the big bad guy of that game.

It looks like the rest of the cast has been leaked. I am really not impressed with the choices. I will try to make this quick.

Virgil is a completely unecessary character. We already have Dante and Trish from Devil May Cry. We don't need to bog it down with another character.Especially since Capcom is rebooting the entire series anyways.

Frank West. Not the first character I would go for. Looks like he was quickly recycled from Capcom vs Tatsunoko. That is probably how he found his way into the game.
 

Doctor Strange. I love Doctor Strange. I have no complaint about his addition.

Iron Fist? Really? Iron Fist of all characters? I would have loved to have had Ms. Marvel instead. Or maybe Psylocke or Rogue. Their were better options than this. I would have preferred Luke Cage to Iron Fist.

We do NOT need Nemesis in this game. We already have enough Resident Evil characters. This is a completely wasted slot.

Who the hell is this guy? I may not be the best comic book geek on the planet but can we at least go with a familiar character? His name appears to be Nova... is it just Nova? Yep, just plain old Nova.

This one I also blame on Capcom vs Tatsunoko. Originally Phoenix Wright had been planned for the game. He was eventually nixed but there has been a fairly vocal base of fans crying for him ever since. Well here he is. I don't mind him too much. He's just not a major selling point for me. At least he is from an original franchise.

And finally... what the hell is this thing? Rocket Raccoon? Or is it Raccoon Rocket? I don't care. I just want it gone. Talk about a massively wasted spot. Where the heck is Mega Man?!






And that appears to be them. No Venom, no Squirrel Girl. No one from Rival Schools or Onimusha. Very few characters that are actually cool and actually have you looking forward to playing them. I guess I will wait until this version is cheap used. Maybe then I will pick it up. Unless Capcom releases DLC characters for it that are actually worthwhile.