Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (Xbox, 2003)

Let me just lay it out there right now: I love this game. I loved it in the arcades, I loved it on the Dreamcast and I still love it here, three times around.

MvC2 is exactly what it sounds like: characters from the Marvel world and the Capcom world duke it out in over-the-top 2D graphics. With over 50 different characters to choose from (including Cable (from the X-Men universe), Jill Valentine (from Resident Evil), and Tron Bonne (from Mega Man Legends), among others), part of the fun is just coming up with new and different three person teams.

Which brings me to the fighting. Players choose teams of three, adjusting settings (such as what type of support attacks your non-active partners do, etc) and then they head out to fight. While the characters are 2D, the backgrounds are in full 3D...which is a nice touch, but since they do nothing to affect gameplay, you'll quickly forget about them (especially the one with the giant clown face - ugh). The controls are loose and responsive, allowing even beginners to piece together combos and special moves with relative ease. Anyone who has played any Capcom fighting game before will feel at home with these tired and true controls.

What really lets this game shine is how much fun it is to just sit down and play this game. Three character teams allow for a lot of trial and error when it comes to creating your own "perfect" team. Fighting is fierce and fast, constantly keeping you on your toes while also making this game a quick and easy pick-up.

But what it all boils down to is two player action. Nothing beats finding a great, working team of characters that shutdown a friend's favorite team or unleashing your entire team's super moves on a defenseless player, turning the tide of a close battle. You can still have plenty of fun with this game alone, unlocking all the secrets, but once that is over, what keeps this product such a high level product is multi-player.

As I said when I opened this review, I love this game. The Dreamcast version (and to a lesser extent the PS2 version) is slightly superior than this one, as the graphics are cleaner and less pixelated. But that hardly makes this game worth any less than the $60+ it consistantly grabs on eBay for a complete copy. If you love 2D, over-the-top fighting, any of Capcom's other Vs. titles or are looking for a new multiplayer title, give this game a try! It will not disappoint!

Seriously, what is compelling you people to pay $50+ for this game? This is one of the poorest rated 2D fighting games of all time. IGN, a respected video game news company gave the game a 3.9 out of 10. Go to http://xbox.ign.com/articles/3​91/391924p1.html if you don't believe me. Gamespot, which is similar to IGN, gave it a 6.3 out of 10 http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/a​ction/marvelvscapcom2/index.ht​ml?q=marvel%20vs%20capcom

The point is that it is completely ridiculous to pay $50+ for a game that really is NOT a stellar game. This is a sub par game that should not be selling for this much. It baffles me why people on eBay, and retailers are selling this game for $50+.

If you want an excellent 2D fighter, go buy, or bid on, Capcom VS SNK 2 which received an 8.6 out of 10 on IGN and an 8.7 out of 10 on Gamespot...again if you don't believe look it up for yourself. It is an superb game which I own.

Guilty Gear X2 #Reload is actually probably the best 2D fighter out there, I don't own it, but based on several reviews and footage of the game, it is as good if not better than Capcom vs SNK 2. it received an 8.9 out of 10 on IGN.

Lastly, if you do decide on Capcom VS SNK 2 make sure you DO NOT get SNK vs Capcom. They are two totally different games. Capcom vs SNK 2 is better because it was developed by Capcom, whereas SNK vs Capcom was developed by SNK.

This game I would recommend to any fan of fighting games. There are a whopping total of 56 different characters, most of which you have to unlock by beating either the arcade mode or score attack by earning points which you can spend at the secret factor. The characters movesets change depending on which character you use. For example, Cyclops use a lot of his moves with laser blasts, and Dhalism uses his long ranged punhces and kicks along with his fire balls. Every character also has three differsnt special moves which are done with certain button combinations. many of the characters specials are very powerful, but at a cost they require one bar as a cost. the bar is at 1 at the beginning of the fight and you can increase the bar by attacking your opponent with any move except your specials. the fights can get really intense since you are allowed to pick up to 3 characters with your choice of an assist of your choice. the assists may sound complicated but they are awesome. For example if I call Sentinel for an assist with his balanced assist type he will shoot 3 projectile arms, which can really help. The only thing that I dislike about this game is that there is not storyline to follow, but overall this game is worth every cent you would pay. I love all of the different characters plus all of the different assist types and specials. Control wise, this game can be very difficult to master, but the best way to master it is to practice, practice, practice.

Anyone who has played the side scrolling "versus" fighting games knows the Street Fighter franchise. Street Fighter actually started the genre way back in the day. Fast forward twenty years, and what you have is the best of all the Street Fighter sequels with the full complement of Marvel Superheroes to choose from as well.
Gameplay is FANTASTIC. Unlike the precurser on the PS1, you can seamlessly switch between one of your three chosen teammates for true tag team action. The graphics are every bit as good as the arcade precursors with more characters to choose from, and all the combos and juggles that you have grown to love or hate from the series.
Yes, the music is lame . . . but I usually crank up the stereo system when playing anyway. You want a story line? Play an RPG. If you want a pure versus brawl that has hours of endless play, combos, and characters to master, they don't get any better than this.
The only game better may be Marvel vs Capcom 3 . . . just played it yesterday, and might have to finally upgrade to a PS3!

Unfortunately kevin82485 does not know what he is talking about because he simply does not own the game, and its basing his opinion on other people's opinion that reviewed it and did not like it as much. And what are reviews other than people’s opinions of things? So that means you don't know what you are missing until you try it yourself.

I actually own this game since it came out and love it. An excellent 2D fighting game pitting some of the known, and some obscure Marvel and Capcom characters (56 total) on a 3 vs 3 character match. With so many characters the combination of characters is grand. Awesome, and sometimes comical special moves, and a combo system that is so insane, it can't really be compared to many games out there. The only thing that holds this game back, is that there is no serious single player story to motivate the player, other than just fighting to get the best score (a la arcade), and the inability to play online, which is something that was not that popular when this game first came out. Regardless of this, this is a great game that will have you playing many times, especially if you have, or know any people you can get together and play with. The game is so expensive, and hard to find, because of licensing issues, and such that prevented this game from having more copies made for sale. The fact that this game is played on many tournaments still today, and people still want it, tells you this is a good game.

Capcom vs SNK 2, yes great game, but this game is the one that allowed for that game to be made. Guilty Gear, is a great game, but recommending it because you read reviews and saw a video footage of it, hardly counts as credible recommendation, it only shows that you are an impulsive buyer that will get anything that other people tell you to get. So if someone is willing to pay $90 for something they want, then let them, that is called freedom of choice.