It is a very exciting time to be a fan of Marvel vs. Capcom right now. After years of silence, tricky licensing issues, and a seemingly shaky relationship between Marvel and Capcom that painted a hopeless picture for the franchise, “Mahvel” is back with the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics.
The masses were convinced for a long time that Marvel vs. Capcom wouldn’t be coming back in an official capacity, but against all odds the companies have come together once again to not only collaborate, but to revive seven classic titles that have been absent from modern platforms for ages. This, on top of several other factors, clues, and words directly from the developers (both recent and from the past), are pointing to the chances of a new Marvel vs. Capcom game (or Marvel vs. Capcom 4, as many refer to it) actually happening being higher than ever right now.
The Marvel vs. Capcom and the Versus series as a whole are beloved among fans and competitors in the fighting game community.
Even without an active modern game on the market today, players everywhere have kept these titles alive through numerous means, including finding better ways to play past games online against one another, adding to games like Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite via PC mods, and continuing to create content that not only delves into the specifics of these games, but also the landscape around them and what the likelihood of a new one being made might be.
As far as main entries in the series go, the last time we saw a new, full Marvel vs. Capcom game was back in September 2017 with the release of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.
Unfortunately, many fans didn’t consider this particular entry to be a “true” Mahvel game for a variety of reasons, including its poor visual design, lack of major staples on the roster due to licensing conflicts for X-Men and Fantastic Four characters, and its 2v2 combat format that stemmed away from the traditional 3v3 with assists formula that people know and love.
This means that the last real solid entry in the franchise that people took very seriously competitively (and still actively play) is Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 from back in 2011. Needless to say, we’re probably overdue for a legitimate new title in the franchise by this point.
Fortunately, things are finally looking up on that front, and you don’t have to look far to see the signs. For starters and as previously mentioned, the release of the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom collection — which contains rereleases for X-Men Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, and The Punisher — is a pretty clear indicator that both Marvel and Capcom are at the very least willing to work together again and see the value that the franchise holds.
That alone has gotten fans thinking a new game in the series might be in the works, but there’s more to it than that. Additionally, the developers behind Street Fighter 6 have also recently shared some more insight into Capcom’s latest crossovers with Marvel and SNK and not only expressed their heavy desire to make new collaborative games with these companies, but explained that seeing brand new entries for Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK will be determined by fan interest in current and upcoming products such as the Marvel vs. Capcom collection.
“The development team at Capcom has big dreams,” Street Fighter 6 Producer Shuhei Matsumoto told Dexerto in a recent interview when discussing the potential for new crossover games. “Maybe there is an opportunity for a new Marvel vs Capcom game. Maybe there is an opportunity for a new Capcom-based SNK game.
“I don’t know. But, if that were to happen, that would take some time and effort in order [to] create and release those kinds of games, but the short-term with what we can do now is at least reintroduce these past legacy games to a new audience, to people who may not have the opportunity to play it, because it might not be out on modern or current platforms.
“What we can at least do now is to show that, hey, these series exist. We love these games.
We hope that you do too, and maybe in the future, if people get to familiarize themselves with these series, then there may be future opportunities to make bigger games,” Matsumoto concluded.
While Matsumoto’s words are already encouraging in and of themselves — especially since we all know that the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is going to be successful and that it has already topped sales charts before even having an official release date — the developer’s comments sound similar to those of former Marvel vs. Capcom and Versus series game developer Ryota Niitsuma during another pivotal time in Capcom’s legacy.
Back in January 2010, Niitsuma told Kotaku that Capcom might announce another Versus series game if the sales for then current Versus title Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars sold well enough in the US. He also expressed heavy interest in making more Versus series games with other companies.
“I would love to do more versus series, more types of games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2,” Niitsuma said in the 2010 interview. “There are all of these possibilities working with other companies, seeing what we could do with them. There are so many game companies I’d love to work with.”
“If sales are really good (for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars) then you can see an announcement within this year,” Niitsuma said at the end of the interview.
Funny enough, just a few months later in April 2010 Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds would be officially announced. It would go on to release on February 15, 2011, and its Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 update would follow that November.
Capcom did later note that they already had plans for MvC3’s reveal early in the development process and even before they had everything in place to bring Tatsunoko vs. Capcom to the west, but one might even see that as further proof that something is already in development right now.
Ironically, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom didn’t do quite as well as Capcom would have hoped in the sales department, and still we saw the announcement of another Versus series title in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. In 2012, former Senior Vice-President of Capcom USA Christian Svensson didn’t provide actual sales numbers for TvC, but he did paint a clearer picture of how it performed on the sales front.
“Investor Relations has never released official numbers,” Svensson began in his 2012 post on the old Capcom Unity forum. “Let’s just say the performance was not near to any of the Street Fighter 4s or Marvel vs. Capcoms and leave it at that. I wished it would have caught a little more fire than it did (and the game being as good as it was, really deserved it) but I’m not dissatisfied with the North American performance in the end.”
With a new compilation featuring seven classic titles on the way, Capcom’s developers expressing big interest in making new crossover games, Marvel being fully on board with Capcom to make the compilation, and recent developer comments sounding similar to what we saw back in the day before a big game announcement, it’s feeling like the chances of a brand new Marvel vs. Capcom game are better than they’ve been potentially ever in history.
That said, we’ll just have to wait and see how things unfold, but for the first time in a very long time it is okay for MvC fans to have some hope.
Michael Johnson is a tech enthusiast with a passion for all things digital. His articles cover the latest technological innovations, from artificial intelligence to consumer gadgets, providing readers with a glimpse into the future of technology.
