secret game club presents...
marvel vs capcom 2: new age of heroes
[also released as マーヴル VS. カプコン 2 ニュー エイジ オブ ヒーローズ]
words by lulu loveless
june 2025
Marvel Vs. Capcom is the ultimate hodgepodge video game. Let’s put thing’s in perspective, this game features 52 different characters to play as (of extremely varying levels of gameplay quality) of which only 9 of which are completely original sprites made for this game, the rest are all completely taken from separate games, of those 9 characters 3 of which are completely original characters have never appeared in a video game ever before or every again. Despite being a crossover game, nothing about the theming, music or stages have anything to do with either Marvel or Capcom, there are no real win quotes or interactions between characters, only a vague nonsensical story that also has nothing to do with either party. The game is extremely unbalanced, with top tiers dominating it’s competitive play, while some of the low tiers are just laughable. If the Capcom Vs. SNK games or this games sequel, Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3, are delicately written love letters, then MVC2 is like being handed the twinkie wiener sandwich from UHF; playing it is the strange sensation of realizing that actually tastes really good.
Nothing about MVC2 should work, and yet it does, this is largely because it comes from an era of games that doesn’t exist anymore. When we talk about balance in fighting games, especially older ones, it’s easy to forget that, despite these games continuing to be played years after their release in a competitive format, these were designed as arcade games first and foremost, to fill up the space and create a attraction for allowances to be dumped, all this to say, they weren’t made as esports adults, they were made for the fruity pebbles chugging children and teens with too many quarters, looking for their next high. Understanding that is how we understand the design philosophy of a game like MVC2, a game that simultaneously does not care and yet craves your attention, it didn’t really need 52 characters and yet simultaneously it really did need to, I mean, if you’re already recycling, why not dump out the entire toy box? Who cares? This sort of flippant asset use and blatant rushing is almost a breather in a world where everything is insanely polished and Street Fighter characters take a year to come out because the graphics are too nice, you will never see a AAA fighting game that looks or feels like MVC2 ever again.
MVC2 is the equivalent of doing your entire essay 5 minutes before class and somehow, inexplicably still getting an A-. This one goes out to the grade A slackers of the world. Keep on Rollin’ baby.
our score:
