MvC:I had a ton of hype behind it at first. Really all they needed to do was just make another MvC game at that point, and they were doin that. And booooyyy were people excited. Myself included. But we all know how it turned out. A very black-sheep MvC game that turned a lot of people off either through it's roster, it's presentation, or just a general lack of "soul" that it's previous entries had in spades.
Let me say one thing that I think that is really overlooked in the general base and why I think MvC:I is such an incredible shame.
MvC:I is a fucking AWESOME fighting system
While I previously made a thread *coughdrunkbutstillmyrealfeelingscough* that went over WONDERFULLY on how I think there is a case for SFV being one of the best fighting games of all time, I think I had the most raw fun with MvC:I's fighting system than any other fighting game this generation. It's active tag system is just fucking bonkers. It makes the game's options feel....well....infinite. And while I'm not sure if I would take it over UMvC3's in the long run, it created something brand new that still captured the spirit of MvC in a different type of way. It gave us a whole new way to do (arguably even more) fucked up shit and attempt to break the game like you're supposed to do.
However, basically all of this is now dust, as MvC:I has been dead to all but the absolutely most dedicated since just months after it's release. Capcom/Marvel abandoned it so bad that the even the fucking character select screen is uneven after the DLC.
Why did this happen? Timing seems to be the main cause, and man is that unfortunate.
At the time this is where Marvel was at when it came to games...
-They had just announced that they were coming back to console gaming, after years prior saying they were pretty much done with it and concentrating just on mobile
-MvC:I if I remember correctly was their very first announced foray back into this. So this is before the success of Spider-Man PS4 and such, making them still very cautious
-This was during a time that Marvel was still extremely restrictive of how their IPs could be utilized in games. Characters that Marvel did not have the film rights to, such as the X-Men and Fantastic Four, they would not allow developers to use in their games. This was a huge blow to MvC:I in particular, as MvC without characters like Wolverine, Magneto, and Doom just doesn't feel right. Wolvie and Magneto in particular are basically mascots of the series in different ways.
-This restrictiveness also continued to extend to the characters that WERE included in the game. They all were created in a kind of odd, attempting-to-be-semi-realistic style that were meant to evoke their movie counterparts. Their themes also were designed in this same vein. Going from things like this...
To very typical, heroic sounding movie shit for nearly every character like this...
(Yes I know some people aren't big fans of UMvC3 soundtrack, but no matter how filled with techno/dub shit it was, it was undoubtedly more memorable than MvC:I's)
All of this lead to obviously what ended up being pretty much the single biggest issue with the game, it's presentation, or lack of it. Ironically, by Marvel being more strict on how Capcom portray their characters correctly, they ended up sucking the soul out of the character roster in the process. The explosive and exciting nature that all the previous MvC games were known for was either completely gone, or buried so deep under the surface that it could only be found be the most dedicated players, and it was only evoked in it's fighting system, still not the presentation itself.
Now, let's imagine if MvC:I was coming out this year instead...
-Marvel has now gotten more comfortable in the console gaming market again, especially after they success of Spider-Man. They seem to understand giving the reigns to companies like Sony/Insomniac who have already proved themselves handily in the console games market and letting them just fund and develop the shit out of it can lead to great results.
-Most important thing is, even before the Fox merger this was starting to finally happen, but now that the Fox merger is confirmed Marvel is allowing all games (fucking finally) to include the extremely important groups of characters from comics they previously did not hold the movie rights to. Hell Wolverine is front and center on the UA3 art.
Beautiful! They're in general more relaxed with characters they don't own the rights to now too. For instance, Spider-Gwen is also on the cover as well.
These points alone would have been MASSIVE for MvC:I. If the game were released now, it would certainly include staples such as Wolvie, Magneto, and Doom I'm sure. I'm sure that, the at this point more experienced, Marvel game studios would have allowed Capcom more flexibility in how they presented the game as well. Leading to a more familiar MvC through and through most likely that while still may have not have been perfect in some ways, almost assuredly would have been much more successful than what we got in 2017.
It's just.....such a shame. I start playing MvC:I again recently after the Endgame hype, and by god is it a fucking rad game from a gameplay perspective. It's one of the worst cases of "what could have been" that I may have ever seen in the video game industry. I'm sure Capcom is to blame to a certain extent as well, as I'm sure this was a project they were probably pushing to get super hard, and because of that probably overestimated how much they could keep up with Marvel's needs at the time. They probably just played pretty much completely by their rules, and just didn't know how to fully once they were in it. Which I'm sure is what helped lead to the weird-ass character models and shit. So much had changed about Marvel reach and influence from the release to UMvC3 to MvC:I, and everything about the timing and creation of MvC:I just seemed to come together in the the worst way. If it would have just came a little later.... just....fuck.....such a shame....
Let me say one thing that I think that is really overlooked in the general base and why I think MvC:I is such an incredible shame.
MvC:I is a fucking AWESOME fighting system
While I previously made a thread *coughdrunkbutstillmyrealfeelingscough* that went over WONDERFULLY on how I think there is a case for SFV being one of the best fighting games of all time, I think I had the most raw fun with MvC:I's fighting system than any other fighting game this generation. It's active tag system is just fucking bonkers. It makes the game's options feel....well....infinite. And while I'm not sure if I would take it over UMvC3's in the long run, it created something brand new that still captured the spirit of MvC in a different type of way. It gave us a whole new way to do (arguably even more) fucked up shit and attempt to break the game like you're supposed to do.
However, basically all of this is now dust, as MvC:I has been dead to all but the absolutely most dedicated since just months after it's release. Capcom/Marvel abandoned it so bad that the even the fucking character select screen is uneven after the DLC.
Why did this happen? Timing seems to be the main cause, and man is that unfortunate.
At the time this is where Marvel was at when it came to games...
-They had just announced that they were coming back to console gaming, after years prior saying they were pretty much done with it and concentrating just on mobile
-MvC:I if I remember correctly was their very first announced foray back into this. So this is before the success of Spider-Man PS4 and such, making them still very cautious
-This was during a time that Marvel was still extremely restrictive of how their IPs could be utilized in games. Characters that Marvel did not have the film rights to, such as the X-Men and Fantastic Four, they would not allow developers to use in their games. This was a huge blow to MvC:I in particular, as MvC without characters like Wolverine, Magneto, and Doom just doesn't feel right. Wolvie and Magneto in particular are basically mascots of the series in different ways.
-This restrictiveness also continued to extend to the characters that WERE included in the game. They all were created in a kind of odd, attempting-to-be-semi-realistic style that were meant to evoke their movie counterparts. Their themes also were designed in this same vein. Going from things like this...
To very typical, heroic sounding movie shit for nearly every character like this...
(Yes I know some people aren't big fans of UMvC3 soundtrack, but no matter how filled with techno/dub shit it was, it was undoubtedly more memorable than MvC:I's)
All of this lead to obviously what ended up being pretty much the single biggest issue with the game, it's presentation, or lack of it. Ironically, by Marvel being more strict on how Capcom portray their characters correctly, they ended up sucking the soul out of the character roster in the process. The explosive and exciting nature that all the previous MvC games were known for was either completely gone, or buried so deep under the surface that it could only be found be the most dedicated players, and it was only evoked in it's fighting system, still not the presentation itself.
Now, let's imagine if MvC:I was coming out this year instead...
-Marvel has now gotten more comfortable in the console gaming market again, especially after they success of Spider-Man. They seem to understand giving the reigns to companies like Sony/Insomniac who have already proved themselves handily in the console games market and letting them just fund and develop the shit out of it can lead to great results.
-Most important thing is, even before the Fox merger this was starting to finally happen, but now that the Fox merger is confirmed Marvel is allowing all games (fucking finally) to include the extremely important groups of characters from comics they previously did not hold the movie rights to. Hell Wolverine is front and center on the UA3 art.
Beautiful! They're in general more relaxed with characters they don't own the rights to now too. For instance, Spider-Gwen is also on the cover as well.
These points alone would have been MASSIVE for MvC:I. If the game were released now, it would certainly include staples such as Wolvie, Magneto, and Doom I'm sure. I'm sure that, the at this point more experienced, Marvel game studios would have allowed Capcom more flexibility in how they presented the game as well. Leading to a more familiar MvC through and through most likely that while still may have not have been perfect in some ways, almost assuredly would have been much more successful than what we got in 2017.
It's just.....such a shame. I start playing MvC:I again recently after the Endgame hype, and by god is it a fucking rad game from a gameplay perspective. It's one of the worst cases of "what could have been" that I may have ever seen in the video game industry. I'm sure Capcom is to blame to a certain extent as well, as I'm sure this was a project they were probably pushing to get super hard, and because of that probably overestimated how much they could keep up with Marvel's needs at the time. They probably just played pretty much completely by their rules, and just didn't know how to fully once they were in it. Which I'm sure is what helped lead to the weird-ass character models and shit. So much had changed about Marvel reach and influence from the release to UMvC3 to MvC:I, and everything about the timing and creation of MvC:I just seemed to come together in the the worst way. If it would have just came a little later.... just....fuck.....such a shame....
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