From the Manufacturer
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There have been several disagreements between the Marvel
Superheroes and the Street Fighters. There are roomers but no one
is sure what has ignited the feud. One thing is certain though it
will not be settled by using diplomacy! The fiercest tag team
fighting action taken straight from the fired-up arcade version
is now available for your PSX. There will be no compromise no
mercy and no remorse. This is no holds-barred 2D fighting like
only Capcom can bring.
Review
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I've been a big fan of the Street Fighter series since its
outset. And to be quite honest, playing Marvel Super Heroes vs.
Street Fighter only reminds me of how great the series used to
be. Sure, the game is mildly entertaining, but without the true
tag team gameplay that the arcade version of the game had, it
comes off as just another Street Fighter game with Marvel
characters.
The character roster totals out at 17, with nine from the Street
Fighter universe and eight from Marvel. There are five modes of
play including battle, versus, training, hero battle, and
crossover. Battle and versus are your typical one- and two-player
fighting game modes. Hero Battle is an endurance mode that
separates the groups to see which has the stronger stable of
fighters. Nothing special here. Crossover mode, however, is at
least somewhat interesting. You see, in the original version of
MSH vs. SF you could pick two fighters whom you could switch
between at any time during the fight. This tag team style of
fighting was first featured in the arcade version of X-Men vs.
Street Fighter but couldn't make it into the PlayStation port due
to the technical limitations of the PlayStation. Sadly, the tag
team aspect of MSH vs. SF was also excluded for the same reason.
Sure, you can still pick two characters, but you can only play as
one of them. The second character only comes into play when you
execute a team combo or team counter. Crossover mode tries to
bring the game's main selling point home. This mode allows you to
pick two characters, then the computer uses the same characters
you picked. This limits the a of information the PlayStation
has to handle to two characters instead of four. If you are
victorious in this battle, the computer swaps one of the
characters each of you have for another. This is done so that you
aren't playing with and against the same two characters each
fight. It gives you the tag team experience of the arcade, but
having to deal with the rotating character thing and having to
fight mirror images of yourself is extremely weak.
Visually, MSH vs. SF looks good. But when you compare it with its
arcade counterpart, it simply fails. The colors aren't nearly as
vibrant, and the game suffers from quite a bit of slowdown. It
still comes across better than the PlayStation version of X-Men
vs. Street Fighter, though, because not nearly as much animation
was cut out. This is a major plus, since frames of animation not
only affect the game's appearance but timing and gameplay as
well.
On the gameplay side, Street Fighter fans will definitely feel
the typical Street Fighter gameplay. But in the end, it's all a
question of how starved you are for another Street Fighter game.
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter is all about the tag team
mode, and with the overall exclusion of this mode, Marvel Super
Heroes vs. Street Fighter is just another Street Fighter game.
--Ryan Mac Donald
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