Top 15 Street Fighter Characters

Pick your poison (though I legimately love the music in a weird way). Well, the character selection screen is amazing, so pick that if you want the best one.

Character Selection Screen- Street Fighter IV

Exile- Indestructible

Indestructible (Japanese)- Street Fighter IV

Hey, guys. After 7 months of no original content by me, I'm finally back to writing blogs and what better way to start it than cover one of my favorite video game series, Street Fighter? Now, I have played my share of games and I have grown fond of the many faces in the series. Now I'm here to make a Top 15 on my favorite characters.

What are the rules? Well, the attributes do matter, but memorability, fun, and personality will play a huge role and I won't choose characters I don't like playing as but are top tier. Also, no Street Fighter EX. It's not because I don't like it, but mostly because I didn't play too much EX, giving me an unfair judgment and not enough of an impression of a cast of newcomer that I'm not too fond of. Also, my reasoning is strictly off of the Street Fighter games, so no reasoning that comes from crossovers like Marvel vs. Capcom. However, I will mention the game series if it was a part of my experience with that character (though it will not count towards my rankings). Now, let's get onto the list. Enjoy.

Note: I am aware of most of the themes being the Street Fighter IV version. It's not my fault that the Street Fighter IV versions are so amazing.

Note 2: After a few months, I changed my opinion. M. Bison is better than Guile.

 

Guile's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Starting off #15 on this list is everybody’s favorite patriotic American flag tattoo wearing fighter, Guile. Initially, I was having trouble determining who would barely cling onto the #15 spot, with M. Bison as the completion, but Guile barely won with a few small factors. Now the real reason I didn’t rank Guile too high on this list is because I’m not really into charge characters, but man Guile can be really fun.

What makes Guile so unique for me is his Sonic Boom and kick that were really great to pull off in Street Fighter II. Somewhere along the transition, old Guile lost his large appeal in Street Fighter IV, but still remained one of my favorites throughout. That and he was the leading role in the brilliant Street Fighter film (I’m dead serious when I say it’s one of my favorite movies).

What made Guile beat M. Bison couldn’t be the brilliant film, because Raul Julia was absolutely perfect, nor the animated series had me linking the “Yes” and “This is Delicious” videos. What made Guile beat Bison is the fact that I’m *cough* half *cough* American and Guile is the perfect representation of our freedom. Only a true patriot would have an American Flag tattoo and have his stage in an airfield. Let’s not forget his awesome Street Fighter II and IV themes, with the latter being my favorite (everybody disagreeing in 3…. 2…. 1….). Good on you, Guile, and Bison, I’m sorry. I love your character and all, but I guess this will not be a “delicious” victory.

Seriously , Bison, I'm sorry, but I never really play as you too much, despite loving your evil and sadistic personality. I promise I'll be the first man to invest all of my money into Bison Dollars after your eventual takeover.

Yang's Theme- Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

When I first played Third Strike, I never was into the twins, Yun and Yang. Their fighting styles were unique, but nothing I considered special. However, after playing as them some more in recent times, they slowly started to become a favorite. Now why Yang over Yun? I think Yang’s costume looks cooler. Shallow man I am.

Now what makes the twins so great is their rush tactics that I am getting fairly accustomed to, with swiping punches, heavy fist pounds, and swift dive kicks. It’s surprising how easy I could make a combo with Yang at a beginner’s level and how fun it is to execute said combos. His swiftness and well rounded arsenal of attacks have definitely made him a recent favorite of mine.

I guess Yang was one of those characters I never really gave a chance but ended up loving in the end. I also feel that if I play the game as him some more, I’ll definitely consider him higher on this list in the future. With extremely fun gameplay and a style that’s easy to pick up but tough to master, Yang gets the #14 spot. Oh yeah, and he looks cooler than Yun. Shallow man I am indeed.

Sakura's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Sakura is pretty much the stereotypical Japanese schoolgirl in every Japanese art and media. But the difference is that she’s freaking awesome and a wonderful character to play as. Now to many, Sakura Kasugano may just appear as a typical fan boy of Ryu, but she really doesn’t come off as annoying one bit (AMY, TAKE FREAKING NOTES). Instead, her cheerful personality and fighting spirit set her apart from the mold of a typical fan girl and transitions her into a personality you can’t help but enjoy.
Her play style isn’t bad either. She plays a bit like Ryu with similar Hadoukens and Tatsus, but with a small twist. Like Chun Li, her projectile cannot fly across the screen, but it can be charged into a larger burst. And her Shoryuken-like attack chains into a multi hit dash, while her Tatsu allows her to kick the opponent into the air for more damage and setting up for an Ultra if you’re playing Street Fighter IV.

Overall, Sakura is a very rare occurrence where a Japanese school girl fan girl ends up being really liked by me and not wanting to punch kittens repeatedly while I curse Japan for creating such a concept, and Darkseid reminding me that he has seen worse in the depths of the internet and that I should man up about it and Jawshy most likely coming in and making a suggestive comment, which makes me raise my eyebrow but not so much, because I expect that out of Jawshy. So yeah. With a fun scheme and a great personality that’s hard not to like, Sakura holds a solid spot at #13.

Abel's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Now, I really didn’t care about the newcomers for Street Fighter IV. While Gouken and El Fuerte were cool, they weren’t my favorites. C. Viper is like a rejected SNK character and Juri has made me hate her online, due to beginners spamming the heck out of her. Despite me enjoying Seth, Abel was the best newcomer out of the game, feeling pretty similar to Alex from Third Strike and mainly serving as a grappler.
As I said, Abel is a grappler. His main method of attack is to dash and hit his opponent up to three times, with the third blow being a throw. He also can grab his opponent and give them a good whirl in the air before slamming them into the floor. Along with his quick rolling, his Ultras and super have him going berserk and dashing into his opponent then giving them a repeating beating or throwing them into the air and slamming them into the wall.

When Abel fights, he gives a good beating and runs right into the fight, which is very contradictory of his French heritage.* I also did like his story as a man with no past and possible connection to Charlie, because of his recognition of Guile’s Sonic Boom. Abel is probably the most used newcomer to Street Fighter Fighter IV and for good reasons, which is why he’s at #12.

Authors note: I don’t hate French people and that was a joke. Don’t hurt me. ;-;

Cammy's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Ah, Cammy. One of the characters that I was instinctively good with, but rarely play as because it makes me look like a perv if I do (it’d be nice if she wore pants). This character first struck me not through her fighting, but through her stage in Super Street Fighter II. When I first fought her on the castle stage, I was initially swept away by her amazing theme and the beautiful castle setting. Her theme and stage are one of the first things that I associate Super Street Fighter II with and for good reasons.

Now Cammy is a very interesting character to play as. She lunges herself as a spinning arrow into her opponent (no arrow to the knee jokes, promise) and pretty much acts as a human projectile, with some devastating results due to her speed and agility. As I said, I kind of shy away from using her mostly because of her less than modest attire, but when Jesse is getting more than enough wins and we don’t feel like settling the score with MvC 2, I use Cammy. For some reason, her moveset comes very naturally to me and I usually have a blast playing as her.

I also find her story to be pretty cool, with the shock being that she was a hypnotized clone of M. Bison (Shadaloo must have horrible cloning devices, because she looks nothing like him) revealed to be his hypnotized lover at the end of Street Fighter II. It’s a pretty neat concept and her fun gameplay backs up her story to make her a fantastic fighter. Good enough to get the #11 spot. Now how about you invest in some pants and I might consider a higher position.

Dudley's Theme- Street Fighter III: Third Strike

Street Fighter III had a unique change of pace for the characters. Many of the Street Fighter II and Alpha faces were dropped in favor of new characters with similar movesets to the Street Fighter II crew. An replacement of Balrog to come out of Street Fighter III was Dudley, the classy British boxer who claims that his opponents have no dignity.

Dudley became a favorite of mine and kind of reminds me of a classy version of Balrog, especially with that epic mustache and hair. I also love the quickness of his fighting and I personally had an easier time to get used to him than Balrog with his quick uppercuts and devastating jabs. And let’s not forget about his rose throwing taunt and telling people that they’re gutter trash with his classy British accent. He’s everything you would want out of a classy boxer. And for those of you who don't like Dudley, you have no dignity.
I will admit that I wasn’t too much of a Dudley player in the past, but ever since I gave him a proper chance, I loved everything about him and was overjoyed to see him in Super Street Fighter IV. Albeit preferring him in Third Strike, he was a really fun character in IV and he’s one of the most memorable things from Street Fighter III, which is saying a lot.

Dan's Theme- Street Fighter Alpha 2

 Okay, I know exactly what you’re thinking. “WHAT?! Dan is in the top ten? How is he so special? He sucks!” No, he doesn’t. I absolutely love Dan and his personality is just hilarious and over the top, one that makes me laugh with his overall goofiness.

If you didn’t know this already, go pick up an SNK fighter (preferably King of Fighters ‘98). Look at Ryo. Notice anything familiar? A projectile fireball attack, gi with the sleeves torn off, and his American friend Robert Garcia? Yeah, he’s pretty much SNK’s Ryu ripoff. Now to playfully get back at SNK, Capcom parodied Ryo, but giving him a pink gi, an overconfident yet weak personality, and making hinm one of the worst characters in Street Fighter Alpha 2 with most of his arsenal being moot compared to Ryu. In fact his ending in Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter parodies another SNK character’s ending by having his sister say the final boss is their father (not canon).

Now what makes Dan so amazing is his personality. He’s an overconfident man trying to avenge his father’s death caused by Sagat. He developed his own fighting style with much weaker moves and he cries when he wins. Let’s not forget his Ultra where he does flashy punches and kicks, then an uppercut, finishing with a thumbs up and a teeth shining smile. Dan is one of the reasons I love Street Fighter so much and his overall goofy personality and fun in his fighting makes him worthy in the first place. And having fun is what video games is about.

And if that’s not a strong enough argument, I nearly perfected my friend in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 with a team of 3 Dans, then did it again with a team of Dan, Roll, and Jill (she kind of did most of the work though). If that’s not amazing, I don’t know what is.

Fei Long's Theme- Street Fighter IV

 Fei Long is a combination of two awesome things, Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken (which I don’t shut up about) and Bruce Lee. I remember him being one of the first enemies that I faced against in Street Fighter II and he was pretty awesome, with a rather annoying stage to fight in (the whole animal aspect in Street Fighter II was annoying).

Most of his attacks are centered around quarter circle movements and you can chain his punches together rather well. He also has a pretty awesome flaming kick that can result in some great damage, as well as being rather swift on his feet. But they really turned the awesomeness up to 11 when they gave him his Ultra in Street Fighter IV. He starts his Ultra off by giving off a manly yell, followed by pretty much reenacting the 100 Crack Fist and jumping in the air and sweeping through the opponent with a kick, a la Kenshiro. The only difference is that Fei Long doesn’t say that the opponent is already dead, with the opponent blowing up in blood. Shame….

Other than that, I find him to be a really fun and effective character to use in Street Fighter, particularly IV. His fighting style is unique and reminds me of my favorite anime character of all time along with one of my favorite martial artists, what’s not to love? Fei Long is a tribute done right and translated into an awesome character.

 

Dojo Redemption (Makoto's Theme)- Street Fighter III: Third Strike

Makoto is a hard character to get into. Instead of swift combos, perfect timing and powerful blows are what makes up her arsenal, which can be extremely deadly if you are facing someone who actually knows how to use her effectively.

First introduced in Street Fighter III, Makoto was one of the last characters I really played as in the game, considering the requirement of some experience in Third Strike before jumping in. I also played her in Street Fighter IV, but didn’t enjoy her as much until the buff in Arcade Edition, which made her awesome again. A tough as nails personality and skilled fighting is what makes her a favorite of mine.

I personally love her delayed punches and sweep kicks that can easily catch opponents off guard and her powering up that makes her get sun burned, along with her Ultras that make her give repeated hard punches to the stomach. With an awesome moveset that is best played when you are doing, Makoto clings the #8 spot with no problems.

Akuma's Rival Battle- Street Fighter IV

Every hero needs a counterpart that invites him to the dark side, and Akuma fits that role perfectly, going as far as sacrificing all of his humanity and soul into the Satsui no Hado. Now Akuma isn’t evil like many speculate, mostly because of his “morals”. He only fights those he finds worthy and does not kill innocent people, but rather those who challenge him to a battle to death. Those who were unlucky face his hard hitting blows and techniques like the Raging Demon, a move so powerful that everything goes black and the announcer is too scared to say KO (ok, maybe I made up the last part). And let’s not forget his fatal fight with Gouken, that had him supposedly killing the master of Ryu and painting his symbol with the blood of Gouken's corps, increasing Ryu’s disdain for him.

Akuma plays similarly to Ryu and Ken, with the same projectiles and tatsus. However, he has the ability to shoot projectile in the air, slide across the screen at quick rate, release a more damaging Hadouken by doing the input backwards, and unleashing a move called the Raging Demon, which takes a ridiculous amount of health and ends with Akuma posing over his knocked out opponent. His hits also have the impact of Ryu with the speed of Ken. The only drawback of Akuma is that with his strong offense comes weal stamina, allowing him to get a KO easier than most of the other fighters.

That aside, Akuma is a lot of fun to play as, and his story is pretty neat with how far only living to fight can take you. He’s an admirable character and I especially had fun with him in Third Strike, where I actually learned how to use him. With a deadly arsenal of attacks, Akuma is a powerhouse not to be reckoned with.

Ken's Theme- Street Fighter II: The World Warrior

I’ll admit, I was always a Ryu player and never played as Ken nor Akuma in my initial time with Street Fighter. However, once I started playing the greatness known as Third Strike (I sure do like a lot of characters in Third Strike), I began to appreciate him a lot. Ken Masters started off as a bratty child sent to Gouken for training alongside Ryu. Because of Ryu’s lack of interaction with others in his time at the dojo, Ken and him became more than best friends, but rather brothers.

Ken has also played a huge role in Ryu’s story, having been there in Ryu’s worst times and even offering his red headband as a sign of their friendship (hence Ryu’s red headband in Street Fighter II and later). He also trained Sean from Street Fighter III as a mentor, while continuing to participate in the World Warrior tournaments.

Gameplay wise, Ken is great. He essentially acts as a faster Ryu, but with weaker strikes in Street Fighter II. As time went on, Ken got his own exclusive moves, including his Shoryuken being much better than Ryu’s, with multiple flaming hits. His best form was in Third Strike, where he was easily among the best and I have a blast playing as him in that game and IV.

I always loved Ken’s confident and cheerful attitude that contrasted Ryu’s serious and stern personality. He always comes off as a fun guy, while being a strong supporting character. I also love his stage in the docks and his memorable theme in Street Fighter II. Overall, Ken is just a fun character to play as and made himself more than a mere Ryu imitator.

Chun Li's Theme- Street Fighter EX

Chun Li is a landmark character in the Street Fighter franchise. Being considered the first lady of fighters, she also is an extremely well made characters, breaking my initial trend of only playing as shotos (characters that play similar to Ryu with quarter circle projectiles and tatsus in case you don’t know that term) with her lightning kicks, wall jumping, and unique gameplay.

I enjoyed her quite a bit in the Street Fighter games, starting off with II, but I never grew to appreciate her style until Marvel vs. Capcom in the arcades. She just seemed like an overly complicated character (I still have trouble being good with her in IV), but if you put time into her, she’s quite a force to be reckoned with.
Her arsenal is a Kikosho (a variant of a fireball shot from one hand), her repeating kicks in one position, and Spinning Bird Kick, which has her flinging herself in an upside down hurricane kick with her two legs sticking out (that really looks painful). However, my love for her came in Third Strike, where she became absolutely ridiculous. That and I actually managed to be effective with her and rack up some nice combos.
Her story is rather simple, with M. Bison murdering her father (to him it was just a Tuesday (cookie to whoever gets the reference)). Wanting to avenge her father’s death, she uses her police woman skills to give beatings in the World Warrior tournament. While successful in avenging her father's death, she ends up making powerful alalies and friends like Guile (he hates Bison too) and Ryu.

Overall, Chun Li was a character that grew on me over time (thanks to MvC), and reached her top at Third Strike. I also really like her outfit compared to a lot of the fighters, though people may argue that it’s stereotypical. Though they kinda botched her portrait looks in this generation of Capcom fighters, they nailed it with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, making her look very similar to her old school look. Overall, Chun Li is a phenomenal character and one that I always have fun playing as.

Twilight (Ibuki's Theme)- Street Fighter III: Third Strike

#3 and #2 are actually a tie and you‘re probably saying that I can‘t do that. As Craig used to say in the Top Tens, “It‘s our list and we can do what we want.” And I asked for help on determining who should get #3 and #2 and Shiro_Shishi said Ibuki because she’s a hot ninja (perv, lol) and Stickman said Ibuki as well, before calling me a perv. But I was too lazy to edit the cards, so whatever. #3 and #2 are a complete tie and I cannot choose which one I love more.

So, remember how I said it’s rare for me to like a Japanese school girl in games because they usually are annoying? (KARIN AND LILI, TAKE FREAKING NOTES (YES, I FREAKING HATE KARIN, AND LET’S NOT FORGET R. MIKA. SCREW THEM)). She’s pretty much a High School (technically College in Third Strike’s ending) student and a ninja, which is the most awesome thing ever. She has an overall cheery personality, maybe perhaps a bit too girly in Street Fighter IV, especially with her crappy English voice actor (her Japanese voice is great).

Let’s not forget her awesome moveset. She has a variety of grabbing moves, which she can use to emit a beam of light, with her Ultra making her opponent fly across the screen. She also has a variety of sweep kicks and strikes that can make for some awesome combos, along with her rushing that allows her to even go through opponents. How about her kunai knives? Awesome. And one of my favorite moves, the necksnap, which is extremely effective in taking down the opponent from distances and stopping opponents from spamming.

Her second Ultra is pretty amazing, with her giving the opponent a beating before flinging them into the air with a flurry of kunai knives and slamming their head into the ground. She’s seriously an amazing character and I love everything about her, gameplay and character wise. Everything about Ibuki is great to me and playing as her is always a joy and blast.

Also, Nick, if you’re reading this, I hope to meet you at a future SGC event, because I want to fight your Ibuki in Third Strike or IV.

Rose's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Rose, one of my mains in the Alpha games and one of my 3 mains in Street Fighter IV. What’s just as awesome as being a ninja High Schooler? Having psychic powers, a magical Sham-Wow that you can put your power into, while having awesome purple hair, and being able to clone psychic versions of yourself! The only thing that sucks is her English voice making her sound like an old woman (her Japanese voice is awesome (I hate Street Fighter IV’s English voices)).

Rose just cannot get a break. She’s a psychic who pretty much has the intent of stopping Bison while seeing potential in Ryu, wanting to protect him from harm. But Bison is like, “LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I’LL JUST LET YOU KILL ME AND USE YOUR BODY AS A HOST,” and Rose is like, “NO! STOP STEALING MY BODY! ;-;” and Bison is like, “TOO BAD, I’LL JUST CRITICALLY INJURE YOU! YESSSSSSSSSS! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!” In English, Rose and Bison accidentally shared the same soul after Rose seemingly channeled all of his energy out and it got into her body, giving Bison control to her body. Though she has no memory of this ordeal, Rose has a vendetta against Bison’s wrongs and does whatever she can to stop his evil

Also, Rose seriously has an awesome and creative wardrobe, with her overcoat and scarf she can channel her energy into. And for some reason, Capcom can make crazy looking hair work (see Phoenix Wright) with her awesome purple hair. And no Stickman, I am not a perv.

Her gameplay is sort of similar to Ryu, in which she fire projectiles from her scarf and can perform a charging maneuver when you use the kick button with a quarter circle. She can also use her psychic moves to grab and throw enemies across and briefly levitate to grab a jumping enemy for a throw to the ground. Her Ultra, the Illusion Spark (sounds like she yells fusion spark in her Japanese voice), has her grabbing her opponent with her scarf and channeling her energy into a form of shock that can have quite a reach. She could also clone herself into psychic clones in the Alpha games, which made doing large combos a lot easier.
Some may not be huge fans of Rose, as her style may seem a bit weird when compared to Ryu, but I seriously love playing as her. I find her personality to be great and her moves can be very fun to pull off. Overall, Rose is a great character with an awesome moveset. Great enough that she is one of my mains in the series and at the #2 spot (or is it #3?)

Ryu's Theme- Street Fighter II: The World Warrior

This should not come as a shock to anybody who knows me. In fact, most of my avys and sigs are with Ryu and every time someone plays Street Fighter against me, there’s a huge chance that Ryu will be used countless times. But why you may ask? Well, it really is a long story, but I’ll try to summarize it.

Although I hated Street Fighter II when I first played it (foolish child I was), I bought Super on Virtual Console. I ended up loving it and one character stood in my mind, and that was Ryu. Normally, I am favorable when it comes to the ‘white knight’ characters, those who fight for good and usually the main character of the game. But it’s not just that. I honestly love the whole story and concept behind Ryu and his character.

While Ryu may just seem bland and boring to some, I love his whole character, being a strong and passionate fighter only wanting to fight the good fight. The dichotomy that lies in Ryu’s beliefs can either have him not using his full potential and falling weak or using all of his powers to destroy himself and his humanity, similar to Akuma falling to the Satsui no Hado. Although seen as very dry and cold, he is passionate about his fighting and his friends that he has made along the way, taking in every fight as an experience that he wants to use to better himself.

Ryu is also the most balanced when it comes to learning and attributes. His hits give off quite an impact, while he has good speed and vitality to back him up. He is also the easiest character to learn, with most of his moves being simple quarter circle imputs, having coined the phrase “shoto”. His moves consist of a fireball (the Hadouken), uppercut (Shoryuken), and tatsu (hurricane kick). In most games he can charge up his Hadouken for a Shinkuu Hadouken (or Metsu in IV) or the Metsu Shoryuken, which literally has him hitting the character so hard, the screen turns white. He gets even more overpowered when in his “evil” form, which has him being buffed like Akuma, with devastating blows, though he tries to prevent his evil side from taking over for the sake of his humanity and friends.

Ryu to me is the fitting archetypal hero that represents the entire Street Fighter series as a whole. Not only did he inspire a long list of heroes that were similar to him, but a lot of fighting games adopted his shoto techniques and controls. In fact, I’ll go as far as saying that without Ryu and Ken’s first adventure, fighting games would never be what they are today. Ryu has played a huge role into videogames and is easily near the top of my favorite video game characters.

When thinking about Street Fighter, I think about Ryu. It makes me remember the epic moments, like him and Ken fighting in a field in the gusts in the Alpha series or his many encounters with Akuma, or the image of him unleashing his Shinkuu Hadouken. I also remember the amazing stage on top of a building in the twilight, in my favorite music track in Street Fighter (or one of my favorite video game tracks).
A Capcom fighter without Ryu just cannot work. I can say that along with Mega Man, Ryu is the face of Capcom, being the lead in one of the most important games in the entire genre and kick starting the competitive fighting trend. Just this piece alone makes him the perfect #1 choice.

It doesn’t matter what Capcom fighter I’m playing; Ryu will always be my main in every video game that features him. His whole scheme is extremely easy for me to get into and I always have the most fun playing as him. Ryu will always be the face of Street Fighter for me and one of my favorite faces in videogames.

Thanks for reading.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Review

 

Theme of Phoenix Wright (Turnabout Mode)- Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Theme of Nova- Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Hey guys, and welcome to yet another one of my reviews, this time detailing one of my most anticipated titles in years. Before delving into it, I want to give you guys a history between Marvel vs. Capcom and me. Back when I was a kid, my dad gave me a few quarters to play a few games at those long forgotten places called arcades. I discovered Marvel vs. Capcom, and although I didn’t have the faintest clue about Capcom, I saw that you can play as Spider-Man and Venom, which in my stupid child mind made it the greatest game ever. Years later I saw Marvel vs. Capcom 2 at an arcade, and saw that Spider-Man and Venom were in it as well, and in my stupid middle schooler mind, it was one of the greatest games ever.

Over the years, I delved into the series more, playing the earlier titles and loving them all. Now in my stupid young adult mind, any game with Spider-Man will get me giddy, but it wasn’t that factor alone that made me love the games so much. It was that they were fun. Just plain fun, something that I love out of games. You didn’t need to learn intense combos or make strategies. You just chose your team and had a blast. Once I got my PS3 on November of 2009, I got Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and still love it to this day. Come April of last year and I scan the words Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and I couldn't believe what I read. A series that I thought was done was coming back and the trailer looked amazing. Over the months I tried to only know what characters were in it and didn’t look through much information because I wanted the same fresh experience I had with the other games. This was pretty much my experience with the series and my expectations were soaring with the game, and now I have played it to reach my final consensus in this review. Enjoy.

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Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Platforms: PlayStation 3 (under review), Xbox 360
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom, Eighting
Release Date: February 15, 2011
Genre: Fighting

I never thought I would be saying this, but Marvel vs. Capcom is back. After years since the outstanding Marvel vs. Capcom 2, there have been no signs of a sequel, and many thought the series was dead. Now Capcom has resurrected the series for the new generation of consoles, boasting the same insane gameplay with a bit of balance and enhancements to the formula this time around. Is Marvel vs. Capcom 3 a ride you want to take once more, or should we dust off our copies of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and forget about this game?

The first thing that you will notice about that game is the overall presentation of the game. It seems that it took a sleek and overall futuristic look, rather than Marvel vs. Capcom 2’s jazzy and upbeat feel. The menus are nicely organized and easy to navigate through, with an offline mode and online mode submenu, along with a menu to see your statistics and your play style, with the option of comparing yours along with your friends. Along with that is a gallery, where you can look through songs, art, and models based on the game. The only thing I wish was that instead of a question mark for character endings you didn’t unlock, there can be some indicator of the missing character’s extras, because it can get annoying to go through a manual to look for characters you haven’t beat the game on Arcade Mode with. Aside from that, the menus and presentation are rather nice and the menu is easy enough to navigate through, despite the slight inconvenience.

The story in the game is simple, with it being that Doctor Doom and Albert Wesker have both combined forces with various Marvel villains to conquer both worlds. Unfortunately, Galactus is awoken and is bent on destroying the Earth. Determined to stop Galactus from succeeding, both worlds combine efforts to bring an end to this fate. Overall the story in the game is weak, albeit slightly improved from Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The thing that bothers me the most is how great the graphics and story trailers leading into the game were, but the end result were comic book cutout endings with the same music tracks playing through. It was just an overall lazy effort by Capcom and all of the promised cameos were uninspired, like Ryu fighting Iron Fist and Hulk beating up Nemesis. It would have been much better if Capcom went with the in game cut scenes, or at the very least have animated ones like in Street Fighter IV. Overall, this was a weak effort and a missed opportunity for Capcom to bring in a neat, or at the very least, entertaining story.

I love me some guns!

Moving on to the graphics, they are nothing short of spectacular. While the series was always in 2D, the 3D brought into this makes the action so much lively and just as explosive as the previous games. The work from the MT Frameworks engine used in Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet 2 is obvious, making it a pretty and smooth game. All of the models look fantastic in the game, with jaw dropping visuals, both in the action and on the background. The game also runs at a very fast pace, just like the previous games in the series.

Stages are what steal the show in the visuals. Capcom took notes in what the fans wanted, and made a collection of stages based on the many properties, adding in a sleuth of detail. Stages range from a Ghosts N’ Goblins themed stage, having you traveling through a moat with the many enemies on the background, to The Daily Bugle with a giant Spider-Man balloon and many billboards of various characters, to a mixture of the Tricell and Umbrella facilities from the Resident Evil series, with Tyrant in the background and creatures breaking out if you cause enough damage. Overall, this game has some of the best looking visuals that Capcom has made, with fantastic stages. The only shame is the extremely low stage count, which is a disapppointment, considering how great the others looked.

You can’t have a fighting game without a diverse cast, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has a great cast of characters. The series has some fantastic newcomers, such as Dante, Wesker, Deadpool, Mike Haggar, and Arthur from the Capcom side, and Super Skrull, Taskmaster, Phoenix, Dormammu, and X-23 (who is surprisingly one of my favorite characters in the game) from Marvel. What’s worth noting is how there are barely any useless characters in the game and how fun they are to play as. Many duos like X-23/Wolverine and Hulk/She-Hulk were originally thought to play similar, but in terms played completely different with their own diverse movesets. Many characters like Amaterasu were also cleverly given movesets to accommodate a fighting game, such as making the Celestial brush attacks implemented in the fighting.

The exchanges between the character pre and post-match are great and often hilarious

The best thing out of the cast is the wonderful exchanges and lines all of the characters have, which are very well done. These exchanges range from Spencer and Iron Man smack talking about each other’s robotic parts, to Deadpool mocking Magneto’s infamous “Welcome to die!” line from the X-Men arcade game. Speaking of Deadpool, he is absolutely fantastic and steals the show with his witty and humorous dialog. He constantly pokes fun at the other fighters (like asking the Street Fighter characters to autograph their spleens for him), including the players themselves, and goes as far as asking Capcom to be in the next Street Fighter. It’s just a blast hearing his constant talking and wit.

Capcom also took notes of the characters’ histories and threw in a few lines comic book fans can easily understand. These range from Deadpools’ replication of Ryu’s shoryuken, to Phoenix whispering “Scott” when she is knocked out, to Iron Man yelling “Avengers, assemble!” if you choose him along with Thor and Captain America. It’s these little touches that mean a ton to the fans, and the attention to detail is tremendous, with many of the character exchanges adding so much uniqueness to the fighting.

The only fault is that the Capcom side could have used a better cast, bringing in some more relatively unknown characters into the mix, or instead of so many Street Fighter II characters, brought in some Alpha or III characters like Ibuki or Rose. It also strikes me odd to see well known faces like Frank West, Gene from God Hand, and Phoenix Wright out of the picture, as they are very well established characters from Capcom.

A lot of favorites have been added along with some fantastic newcomers

Another thing I’d like to point out is that many of the characters have sported different looks from their popular models, with some turning out rather fine. For instance, Wolverine is sporting his Astonishing X-Men uniform than his popular 1990’s outfit, while Iron Man uses his Extremis suit. Many alternate outfits reference other eras in the characters’ histories, such as Spider-Man’s symbiotic suit and one of Viewtiful’s Joe’s outfits being a reference to Captain Blue.

The Capcom side of change felt rather unnecessary. Many characters such as Chris and Rad Spencer have on their outfits from the less popular games like the Bionic Commando reboot and *shiver* Resident Evil 5. Other than Wife Arm and Chris, the other character who I have gripes with is Jill. I mean, seriously. What’s your problem, Capcom? After months of hoping that she would be announced, you bring her in, but in the form that nobody likes? Way to go, you made my favorite character in the series my least favorite character in this game. Some of the choices like Wife Arm or horrendous Jill makes it seem as though Capcom was intentionally trying to troll the fans, in which they succeeded.

The gameplay has the same approach as the previous game in the series. You choose 3 characters, with 3 assist types, ranging from projectile to close hits. Assists can be done by pressing either R1 or L1, depending on who you want to summon, and holding either button switches to the specified character. One assist type that I have noticed being gone is the heal type, which is fine, considering how the game is more forgiving in restoring lost health through chaining Hypers and exchanging characters, all which allow you to restore lost health, indicated by the red portion of your health bar. Assists also play the same way, and have the same opportunity to lose twice as much as health if hit during performing an assist, although it is apparent that assist characters have a smaller amount of time to be able to be hit by the opponent, as they are invulnerable once they start their taunt after their attack.

You may be initially annoyed with an overhaul of controls, but they are absolutely fantastic

The controls received an overhaul and features a mixture between Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The square, triangle, and circle buttons are unspecified light, medium, and heavy attacks, while the x button is a launcher. Launchers, as the name suggests, launch your opponent in the air to start air combos. The air is also where most of the action takes place, where you learn to do air combos and exchange characters to extend the combos. In order to exchange a character during a combo, you must launch them in the air and proceed to start a combo. Once you have a combo flowing, you press the launch button, indicated by a red flash your character has. You can exchange up to 2 times, yet also have the opportunity to chain Hypers together.

Although there is the option of exchanging, the opponent can do an aerial counter by pressing the same direction and launch button as the combo breaker. This causes the person to lose their combo and gives the opponent time to regain ground from a safe distance.

Hypers are also done the same way as they were in the previous games, with pressing 2 attack buttons while making a stick movement simultaneously, with regular Hypers taking a bar away from the Hyper Meter, while a Level 3 takes 3 bars away. The Hyper Meter can be replenished by damaging or taking damage from the opponent, as well as blocking, and unlike the previous games, your meter does not increase from attacking without connection. The maximum amount of Levels a Hyper Meter can have is 5, with actions like Snap Backs and Cross Over Counters taking a bar each. Also returning is the dash button, which is used by pressing R2 instead of forward twice. This is a much needed return, as the console versions of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 didn’t contain it, making some combos a lot harder than they needed to be. Also, doing a Team Combo is much easier. With the press of L2, you can have your characters team up and perform their Hypers, which sets up for a high amount of damage.

Quite possibly the greatest move ever created for a fighting game

New to the gameplay are Level 3 Hypers, taking the cinematic approach from Street Fighter IV. It also seems that Capcom paid attention to the fact that the Ultras in the game were extremely overpowered, in which they made sure to not make the Level 3 Hypers too destructive. The cinematic approach taken is brief but all look great, with shots of the character giving a severe beating, such as Iron Man dragging his opponent through the floor, then throwing them in the air before shooting a large unibeam from his chest. Many of the moves are devastating and sometimes humorous, like She-Hulk throwing a car at the opponent while commenting on her disdain for Sunday drivers, or Deadpool literally hitting the opponent with his health and Hyper bar, before taking a giant baseball swing with the latter. Moves like these are absolutely hysterical and never get old. Overall, the Level 3 Hypers are a welcome addition and bring in even more insanity to the already insane gameplay.

If all of this sounds like too much, you can always use the new Simple Mode, which maps special moves and Hypers at the press of a button. I personally found this to be very unnecessary, as it adds nothing to the game and makes the gameplay itself much less rewarding, while adding nothing to the experience of what makes a fighting game fun.  Although the Simple Mode is pointless, the control system in this game is a very fun one, and has a good mixture of prediction and strategy blended in together.

The final thing worth noting about the new additions to the gameplay is the X-Factor, which once per match, boosts your stats for a limited period of time by pressing the four face buttons at the same time. The less characters you have, the longer you have it and the stronger you are. The X-Factor omits chip damage and allows you to regain your lost health from the red portion of your health. Overall, I found this to be very unnecessary to the game and it literally adds nothing other than a chance for the opponent to win. There will be plenty of times when you are on the verge of winning, but one X-Factor will destroy you. It’s just so meaningless and I would have preferred a better system or a way to disable it.

Always chaotic; never dull

The fighting overall is pretty deep, but mostly relies on crazy and fast paced action, which is exactly what the fans want. It delivers a ton of explosive action, while being extremely fun. This game will definitely be played for high periods of time just for the insane fun alone, and with the new system you always want to test out new characters and teams to see how they flow together. This is definitely one of the most enjoyable games I have played in a while.

Fate of Two Worlds- Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Theme of Arthur- Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Theme of Wolverine- Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Theme of Spider-Man- Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Theme of Ryu- Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Theme of Amaterasu- Marvel vs. Capcom 3

I Wanna Take You For A Ride Remix- Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Aside from the gameplay and characters, the sound is another leading triumph in the game. To put it this way, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has one of the best soundtracks in a fighting game, bringing in many old favorites remixed, while also throwing in some fantastic new tunes that match the style and personalities of characters. Many themes such as the Ghost N’ Goblins theme have been revamped with a guitar cover, and many well known theme’s in the series, such as Captain America’s have gotten modernized versions of their themes, all of which sound fantastic. My personal favorite is Spider-Man’s, and many others such as Captain America, Amaterasu, Ryu, Deadpool (which is absolute nonsense, fitting the character perfectly), and a ton of others. The only theme that I was not a fan of was X-23’s which was just awful. Other than that, the soundtrack, even going as far as the music playing on the Continue screen is nothing short of fantastic, bringing in a mix of revamped and new, making it huge fan service, while appealing to newcomers.

Along with the fantastic music comes the fantastic voice acting, with many of the characters sounding right on par with how they ought to be. The English voice actors in particular did a fantastic job on newcomers like Mike Haggar, Arthur, Super Skrull, and many others. Other characters like Iron Man and Doctor Doom have a robotic tone in their voice, which is appropriate for their characters, while the Street Fighter characters sound like they did in Street Fighter IV (which I switched to Japanese). All of the characters sound fantastic, and it shows how much of an amazing job Capcom did on their characters.

The game may not have a ton of content, but the quality is tremendous

The replayability will mostly come from repeated playthroughs of the single player mode and the online mode. The single player is only an Arcade Mode, Training Mode, VS Mode, and a Mission Mode. Arcade Mode will have you facing 6 rounds of opponents, then ending with Galactus, which is pretty standard stuff. The offline multiplayer options is something I wish had more depth to, as Street Fighter IV has bots that played as they did in Arcade Mode, and it would have been nice if it carried over to this game.

The Mission Mode is basically a tutorial on combo making, starting off with simple combos to do, while eventually moving on to harder stuff like linking attacks and canceling them to extend and add more damage to your combo. While a standard tutorial for newcomers would have also been nice, this is a good addition for those yearning to pull off some well orchestrated combos.

Online flows rather well has the same matchmaking system as Street Fighter IV, which was based on skill. Your skill is determined through your License Card, which states your strong and weak points, and also gives you a rank, which is based on your wins. There are ranked and unranked matches, with the former increasing your experience and ups your ranks, while the latter is for casual matches. So far, the online has not been bad at all, and the slow downs really come down to whether you have a bad connection or not. While the online play is good, one large downer is the fact that you can’t save replays or there even being a Spectator Mode, like in Street Fighter IV. This is a huge loss, as sitting in the lobby with a group of friends is very boring and unexciting, as you can only see the fighters’ health drop. Hopefully there is a DLC patch in the future that serves this lacking area.

Mission Mode teaches the beginners some basic and advanced combos

Another fault found in this game is that Capcom never really worked on delivering a story or a mode to accommodate it, rather just throwing in the characters with lackluster endings in an Arcade Mode. There are character bios and unlockable art pieces, but some of the history is a bit sketchy and nor really researched. For example, they put Deadpool’s real name as unknown, whereas the comics have specifically stated his name is Wade Wilson, while Wolverine was stated as unintelligent in the game, whereas in the comics, Wolverine’s increased lifespan was taken advantage of by him to learn of many cultures and languages, making him a rather intelligent figure. While the inaccuracies are forgivable, the Story Mode felt like a missed opportunity. This is 2011, and many fighters before this have had Story Modes and have done a great job on it, and this laziness is no excuse. Hopefully with newer competition, Capcom can finally work on delivering an actual story with more modes rather than the standard modes we have been seeing for years.

DLC can also play a huge role in replayability, with the opportunity to add new characters, stages, modes, and many other elements to add some lasting value. This is great news, but my biggest concern is that Capcom will try to overprice their future DLC, taking advantage of the fans. This is evident by releasing DLC characters for $5 each, which is absurd, with the absurdity being the fan favorite STARS uniform of Chris being with other remarkable iterations of characters for another $5. This is just taking advantage of fans, and is a very unfair, smart, yet dishonest approach to people supporting the game, and knowing Capcom, a Super Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which makes the original invalid, can very much so be possible.

Although flawed, it's everything I wanted from an MvC sequel. In other words, it's perfect

While many may be turned off by these negativities, do not look into these issues too hard to detract you from the fantastic experience that this game has to offer. Albeit there being a lack of content outside of the fighting, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is one of the most fun fighting games in years, and one of the best times you will have with the fighting genre. The amount of effort put into the fighting and characters surrounding it is tremendous and the joy of playing the series’ basis of explosive action and ridiculous outcomes is intact. Fans of the series will fall in love with the game and have fun like no other. In the end, it might not be the fighter with the most outside content to offer, but it’s the fighter that with the most heart and fun. In my opinion, this is a love letter and thank you from Capcom to the fans who held the series dearly, bringing in fantastic graphics, music, dialog, and characters, all wrapped up in amazingly fun gameplay. Thank you Capcom for bringing back a series I loved and thought was long dead, and thank you for allowing me to have the most fun I’ve had with a game for years.

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Pros:

+Fast paced and ridiculous action that the series is known for
+The new button layout is easy to pick up and a ton of fun
+Ridiculously fun
+The online play flows smoothly
+Amazing graphics catching the comic book feel
+Mission Mode gives you some help in getting used to the game and combos
+The exchanges between characters are great and add personality to the mix
+A great cast of characters, with the Marvel side being excellent
+Most of the characters are useful and distinctive, making very little slots felt wasted
+Tons of references to the respective comic books and series
+Some newcomers like Dormammu and X-23 are surprisingly excellent
+Deadpool
+Level 3 Hypers are well done, yet not overpowered
+An amazing soundtrack bringing in many classics and adding some good ones
+The fighting will keep you coming back for more

Cons:

-The Capcom side is good, but could have been better
-The story is weak, with no effort in even telling it
-The number of stages is pathetic
-X-Factor is pointless and adds nothing to the fighting. It would have been nice to have an option to turn it off
-Some characters have the wrong incarnations, like Wife-Arm instead of Rad
-A Vs. for 1 Player and some more extras would have been nice
-No Spectator Mode makes lobbies a bit boring
-The DLC is ridiculously overpriced
-I miss MvC 2 Jill ;-;
-Seriously. How can I troll Alex, now?
-WHY IS RE 5 JILL IN THIS!? SHE SUCKS! STARS JILL IS 1000 TIMES BETTER! CAPCOM, I AM GOING TO MARCH IN YOUR OFFICES AND {censored] AND AFTER THAT [censored] AND WHEN I’M DONE, I’LL TAKE YOUR CUT OFF ARM AND [censored] UNTIL [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] In short, I was not pleased by this decision

Final Words: I love this game, there’s no doubt. My worries I initially had were swept away when I was blown away by the amazing fighting and fun gameplay. Although I wish there was a story mode and some extra content, the fighting is so addictive and fun that it doesn’t ruin the experience at all. While some may be turned off by the lack of extra content, the game is perfect for me. Being a fan since X-Men vs. Street Fighter, I was wary that the game might not reach my expectations, but I was blown away. Just the fact that I’m playing a game in a series I thought was long dead is a dream come true, and bringing in my favorite characters along with fantastic additions like Deadpool, Dante, and Mike Haggar makes this even more fantastic. I don’t care what anybody thinks of my verdict, but this is the most fun I’ve had with a videogame in years, and this not only has a firm chance of being my game of the year, but it’s the best fighter I’ve played this generation, with only Street Fighter IV coming close to surpassing it. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a firm reminder to me that at times the quantity may be low, but the quality is tremendous. Honestly, every person has a certain game that is perfect in their eyes and represents their enjoyment with this medium and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is it for me, being just as good if not better than its predecessor. Whether or not you agree with my opinion is fine, but Capcom has created a game that I can gladly call one of my favorites and reminded me why I like playing games in the first place.

Buy it or Drop It?- Buy It!

Let's Talk Mega Man

Hey guys, this is Ehsan to bring you another blog in this g1 tourny thingy, this time covering video game characters. And I am thrilled that I will be covering one of my favorite video game characters and one of the most prominent faces to this day, Mega Man. He truly is a fantastic character and I cannot wait to give you my thoughts on him. Just like the previous times, we are going to be going though my brief history on him (perhaps a little too brief, because I'm a busy boy) and my experiences with the series. Now note, I will not be covering any of the X, Legends, Zeroes, etc in my experiences, because quite frankly, I never played them. I only played 1-6, 8, 9, and a tad bit of 10 and quite frankly, I would go insane if I were to give elaborate histories on 20+ games. Those are possibly for a future blog (HINT HINT HINT HINT). So anyways, brace yourself for a mega blog. lolololololololol Get it? Because I'm talking about Mega Man....



.....



You see the joke is....



....




Mega....



*crickets chirping*

Crap, maybe I should hold off on the puns until the end. So let's start


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My experience:

It all started in middle school. Now remember that I was one of those kids who never got to own any system before the SNES and during that time, I didn't have a Wii to own any old game (I didn't get that until 2 or so years later). I remember seeing a game on the shelf called Mega Man: Powered Up, which was a remake of Mega Man with 3D graphics, voice acting and cutscenes. When I got the game, I got through it in about 2 or so hours, but loved every minute of it. It was a breath of fresh air and a really fun game. I played through the game as the different Robot Masters, Proto Man, Roll, before creating my own stages. I made some pretty neat fire based ones, revolving around quick timing and reaction in order to prevent the spewing fire and spikes you got flung into. I also made a stage simply called "Life", which had you falling into a pool of pits.

It was all goof fun. but it was nothing to what I often call one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time. When I finally got Mega Man , I was wowed with an amazing intro, so subtle and amazing, but suddenly bursting into action. I was blown away and was proceeded to a game that blew me away even further. I loved the Robot Masters even more, each with cooler powers (except Bubble Man) and the soundtrack was absolute gaming bliss. I particularly loved Dr. Wiley's amazing theme, which is my absolute favorite Mega Man theme. Flawed but perfect is what I like to describe Mega Man 2 as. It did have a few flaws here and there, but it was still an amazing game and one of the best that I have played, with high levels of fun and memorability.

Oh hai, doggy. You're my favorite.

Mega Man 3 was played next and it wasn't bad. A wonderful intro, fun gameplay, and great Robot Masters. I was particularly blown away by the fact that the game allowed to replay the other Robot Masters' stages, which to me was absolutely amazing at that time. It was all great fun and did I mention how amazing the intro music was? 

Another thing a person can say about the merits of Mega Man 2 is how polished the game was, which automatically made it better in their eyes. To me, the unpolished of Mega Man 2 are what made it such a great and enduring game, with little outside sources being made. It was just Mega Man with no sliding and only his Robot Master and extra weapons, rather than sliding Mega Man with Rush. Although I don't consider it as good as Mega Man 2, 3 was still a fantastic game.

Now 4 through 6 were good games and there were some awesome music to be found in the games (the intro of Mega Man 4 was amazing), but it all felt too "been there, done that" and you can tell that they were running out of Robot Master ideas and the logic taking them out. Okay, show of hands, what would the weakness of Pharaoh Man be? See? It was just too random for its own good and often times I would just either guess or look up the order, as logic was not on my side.

Another thing that just bothered me with the last NES games was that there was little to no change in the formulas of the games, and everything just felt like it was done before. Now the transition between 2 and 3 was smooth, with sliding and Rush added, and the transition between 1 and 2 was even larger as many of the designs have been lifted and it was just a much grander game than the first iteration. 4 only added a charged shot and reduced Rush's help, while 5 and 6 didn't add anything game changing, other than Beat in 5, but still, wasn't part of the game until you collected everything. 6 fixed a lot of issues that 5 had, but was still not anywhere as good as Mega Man 2 or 3 to me.

Not a bad game at all.

Still, I digress, 6 was a great finish to the NES games and I had a great sense of enjoyment for the fun action and the overall tight nature. It wasn't the best Mega Man, but it was still a good and solid Mega Man, which I had great memories of playing.

Now I never played 7 and barely played a tad of 8. I don't remember much, but I know that the games don't look like anything special and were best skipped. To me, most of the charm of Mega Man came from the colorful 8 bit music and the 2D graphics. Stepping out into the 3D realms with the Classic series just felt wrong, and best left with the Legends games.

Now 9's back to basics approach was what I admit to be an amazing return. Never was I so amazed with a game, with some of the best music in the series I have heard (Galaxy Man, Splash Woman, etc.). It was a fantastic back to basics approach, ignoring the many enhancements, but simply focusing on what Mega Man was best at, gunning and platforming. It was a brief experience that I had that made it my second favorite Mega Man game.

Yes.

What made Mega Man 9 so amazing was because it was a celebration of what was so great in the series, with extremely fun gameplay and creative Robot Masters (it's about time! (D)). In short, Mega Man 9 was perfect for any Mega Man fan, and a much needed welcome back to the 8 Bit Blue Bomber.

Now I never got to play much of Mega Man 10, but it seemed like it was a good game. I did play a little bit of Baseball Man's (that's what he's called, right?) stage. It was pretty fun, but I played it on the challenging normal, because honestly, most of the fun from Mega Man comes from the challenge of trying to stay alive. Overall, it looked like Mega Man 10 was a success for Capcom, but not as much of a deal as 9.

So that was my brief history with the series. Although I only played through the 8 bit games, they were all great and fun games and some of the most fun I've had with the NES. Now let's move on to my retrospective, where I give the history on the Classic series.

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My Retrospective:

We all know and love Mega Man right? Whether you're a fan of the main, X, or Legends series, we can all owe it to the Blue Bomber's first adventure, although one of Capcom's lead series was one that might have ended before it even flourished, with tough times ahead. But persistence and heart from Keiji Inafune and his team made the character to prevail as a gaming icon.

At that time, Capcom was only known for their arcade games, with most of the console market being arcade ports. Capcom then decided to hire an artist by the name of Keiji Inafune to develop a game by the name of Rockman (known as Mega Man outside of Japan), Inafune stated that the goal of Mega Man was perfection, often with the team working overtime, with only 6 people in development. Inafune himself illustrated and designed nearly every character and enemy in the game and also designed the infamous box art, logo, and instruction manual. He even rendered most of the designs into the graphical sprite form. Inafune also stated that his main source of inspiration for Mega Man was from the Astro Boy manga and named after a genre of music he's into, rock and roll (hence the latter being the name of Mega Man's sister, Roll). Dr. Light was inspired by Santa Claus and Dr. Wiley was based on Albert Einstein, representing the stereotypical mad scientist.

The story of Mega Man is simple. Dr. Thomas Light and Dr. Albert Wiley are scientists working with each other to make robots for the betterment of mankind. One day, Dr. Wiley decides to rebel after jealousy and decides to release the Robot Masters, now bloodthirsty for destruction. Dr. Light’s “son”, decides to become a fighting robot to take down the Robot Masters and take on the title of Mega Man. 

Oh hai, orange thing, you're my favorite!

The design of the game was deemed as revolutionary, with all of the stages being able to be chosen at any order you please, with a boss at the end. The way that the bosses work is through a rock, paper, scissors fashion, with one particular weapon being able to take down the boss, for example, Fire Man's weakness is Ice Man's Ice Slasher, due to fire being put out by water.

Mega Man may have not been a marketing success, but it was critical success, with many people praising the game's fun nature and solid platforming. The main criticism was he game's extremely high difficulty (U MAD GARAA trololololol. #juicy #lol #HiGaraa #HiShiro).

After Mega Man, the guys at Capcom didn't feel very confident about the series and was on the verge of axing it, but Inafune digressed. Under the deal that they would still get to work on other projects, Mega Man 2 was allowed to be started under production in the free time of the developers. 

Keiji Inafune rightfully earned the title as the father of Mega Man

Inafune himself was given a promotion in the development. Instead of solely working on the art of the game, he was given the opportunity to work in as a developer, also gaining a new person on the team as a worker. The game also used a lot of new elements that were omitted from the first game due to time limits. Mega Man 2 took around 4 months to complete and was ready for release, hopefully to bring some hope for the dying series.

The story of Mega Man 2 is that after suffering defeat in the first game, Dr. Wiley decides to build a new fortress to have his revenge on Mega Man and take over the world. Mega Man once again goes on a conquest to stop Dr. Wiley’s evil ways…. and that’s about it. But hey, Mega Man isn’t exactly remembered as a pinnacle of storytelling, right?

The reception for Mega Man 2 was astounding and many critics were blown away by the grand scale of the game. Many critics agreed that the game was a monumental improvement from the first game and the lowered difficulty made it a lot more accessible to newcomers. Mega Man 2 is often heralded as one of the best NES games and the possible height of the blue bomber.

After the success of Mega Man 2, a sequel was almost guaranteed. However, according to Inafune, the was his least favorite as he felt that the replacing of the his mentor and programmer in the production made Mega Man lose his touch, as did Capcom’s persistence to release the game as soon as possible. When Mega Man 3 was developed, a lot of trouble arose as Inafune felt that the new supervisor has no idea about who Mega Man truly is and that the game was extremely unpolished and could have been a much better game, had Capcom allowed the team to polish the game. The main planner of the game also left, which made Inafune handle the planning, programming, and art, with him stating that it became especially stressful and he had no enjoyment and excitement in his work like he did with the two other games. 

Despite being Inafune's least favorite game to make, it was still phenomenal

Despite Inafune’s troubles, Mega Man 3 announced a number of improvements over the previous games. The first was the sliding ability, which allowed Mega Man to slide through the ground for a short period of time and the second was the addition of Mega Man’s canine robot, Rush. Rush was essentially Mega Man’s secondary powers from Mega Man 2, which allows Mega Man to go to hard to reach areas and alleviate the difficulty of some of the areas.

In addition to Rush came Mega Man’s brother, Proto Man. Inafune said that the creation of Proto Man was based on trying to make him an ambiguous character, with the player not knowing whether he is an ally or an enemy. He also added a scarf for the cool factor and was named Blues in Japan, possibly linking to Inafune’s love of music and a reference to Rock and Roll. However, Capcom changed Blues’ name to Proto Man, to Inafune’s dismay. 

The story of Mega Man 3 is that Dr. Wiley has reformed his ways and build a new peace keeping robot named Gamma. However, the Robot Masters go berserk and steal Gamma’s 8 power crystals. Mega Man is then called into action, where he discovers that Dr. Wiley is the true culprit behind everything. So Mega Man continues his fight to Dr. Wiley’s castle, where he nearly dies in the exploding fortress, but is saved from the mysterious robot figure he thought was his enemy, but was actually Proto Man, his brother.

Mega Man 3 was met with positive reviews, with many of them being pleased with the new additions added to the gameplay making it a very fun game. Some however expressed displeasure to the high difficulty, with one claiming the game to be harder than open heart surgery. 

Good game, though the formula was starting to overstay its welcome

Mega Man 4 was on the horizon after 3 in 1991, and Inafune felt a lot better with the game’s design over 3, mostly because of little turbulence with the creative ideas and Capcom. New to the game was Dr. Cossack, who supposedly replaced Dr. Wiley, but in the end was revealed to be working on the robot masters as a way to have his kidnapped daughter free from Dr. Wiley. New to the game was the new charging attack added to the Mega Man buster, which the development team was cautious about, due to it affecting the overall nature of the game. Also added to the game was a new character called Flip Top Eddie, who gave you random items throughout the level.

The story of Mega Man 4 is a slight departure from the traditional Dr. Wiley causing chaos and Mega Man having to set things right. The basic story is that after the supposed death of Dr. Wiley, a Russian scientist by the name of Dr. Cossack takes over the helm and has unleashed more Robot Masters unto the world. In the end, however, Dr. Wiley was revealed to coerce Dr. Cossack into making the robots, kidnapping his daughter, but Wiley is thwarted once again by Mega Man.

The development team also held a contest to design some of the robot masters in the game, with over 70,000 submissions made. After seeing a Skull Man entry, the team was so impressed that they scrapped an entire level and dedicated it to him. The 8 winners received a golden colored cartridge of the game, which are extremely rare in this market. Mega Man 4 was met with positive reception and sold well, but was noted to having little improvements from Mega Man 3.

After Mega Man 4, Inafune was once again called to work on Mega Man 5, this time with a new project leader. He gathered many of his old colleagues to make the game feel reasonably difficult, based on their own experiences, considering how Inafune didn’t want a game that would be impossible to players. Capcom once again had a new contest going on to create the 8 Robot Masters, with 130,000 submissions coming in.

Because the team couldn’t find any new grounds to work on, they decided to enhance the already established elements of the previous Mega Man games. Some smaller additions added to the game were a wider range of firing for the charged shot and Beat, a bird assistant received when you collect all of the lettered circuit boards in the stage, spelling MEGAMANV. 

This is starting to get a tad old, don't you think?

The story is that Dr. Wiley has once again attempted to take over the world and Proto Man is leading the Robot Masters to a path of destruction. Although very confused, Mega Man tries to stop Proto Man, he discovers that it’s not really Proto Man, but a robot that took on the form of him, with the real one showing up. Although destroying the impostor and defeating Dr. Wiley, Dr. Wiley manages to retreat, but with the world saved from his fiendish ways.

The reception of Mega Man 5 was fairly positive, but many critics complained that there was little to no changes made to the game and that everything felt a lot less balanced than the previous games. It was also argued that much of the logic in taking out the Robot Masters made absolutely no sense and relied on guessing their weaknesses than using logic.

Although NES Mega Man was getting old, Capcom felt that the Blue Bomber deserved a last hurrah before retiring his NES career. The answer was Mega Man 6, released in 1993. Designed alongside the first spinoff, Mega Man X, Inafune felt that the game was a very rare opportunity for a series to reach 6 titles, stating that he felt that by that time, making the sequels was based on making the games similar to the previous ones, and adding little changes for the fans.

Unlike the previous contests, Capcom opened their contest of designing the Robot Masters to the United States, with Knight Man and Spring Man winning, with the other 6 coming from Japanese entries. The theme of the design was “The world is our stage”, with what Inafune thought brought a lot of cultural diversity in the game. 

6 was a pretty great Mega Man game, with a lot of great stages

The game’s plot is that the first annual “Robot Masters Tournament” (that totally doesn’t sound like anything will go wrong at all) is being held and Mega Man is called to watch over it. A mysterious figure by the Name of Mr. X announces that the robots have been reprogrammed to take over the world (how am I not surprised). Mr. X reveals himself to be Dr. Wiley after defeat (surprise), and then flees to a new fortress. After being pummeled once more, Dr. Wiley is once again sent to prison.

The game’s reception was fairly positive, with the critics once again complaining about the little to no changes from the series’ signature formula. A lot of websites also argued that the game was a bit too weird for its own good, with many of the designs, storyline, and villain being a weird diversion from what the series is known for.

So with the NES era, a new console has emerged, the SNES. Mega Man’s younger brother X seemed to woo the fans with a fantastic new formula, so will Classic Mega Man bring back fans with a fantastic new premise? Pfffffffffffftt- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- oh yeah, I’m supposed to be serious. *ahem* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- no.

The story of Mega Man 7 is a tad bit more elaborate, with Mega Man and Roll witnessing the destruction of the city by 4 stowed away Robot Masters from Dr. Wiley. In his travels, he meets Bass and Treble (more musical references!) and joins in his efforts to stop Dr. Wiley. After defeating the Robot Masters, Mega Man fought some more Robot Masters and finally Dr. Wiley. Dr. Wiley then reveals that Bass is his creation, who betrays Mega Man by stealing valuable items belonging to Dr. Light. In rage, Mega Man decides to not give Dr. Wiley any more mercy and proceeds to kill him, only to be stopped by Bass, who frees his master from death.

Because of the X series becoming intensely popular, the development team was under time constraints when developing Mega Man 7, taking less than 4 months of development time. Inafune recounted that developing the game was a fun experience and compared it to being in summer came. However, he felt that the game was a tad bit rushed and wished that the game could have done better with another month of development. Unpolished it was, as Mega Man 7 received average reviews for not changing any of the formula and being vastly inferior to Mega Man X. Some did feel it was a good game, but a little too late to be considered relevant to the series anymore, considering how most of the fans moved on to his younger brother, X.

After the not so well reception of Mega Man 7, Capcom felt that it’s time to move on to the Sony PlayStation for greener pastures. Mega Man 8 was created with the same basis and looks of the previous games, but now with anime like FMV sequences made to the game. Like the previous games, Mega Man 8 received over 110,000 ideas from the Japanese audience for Robot Masters and 3 of the Robot Masters were given base skeletons, in which fans could add details. This led to the creation of Sword Man, Clown Man, and Search Man. Inafune also got a new artist to help work on the game, whom he considered to be a student to him. 

Not the Blue Bomber's best moment. Some could say they bombed the game. lololololo- I'll stop

The plot of Mega Man 8 is that two robots clash in space, with one of them landing on earth. After finding and reviving him, the robot escapes and Dr. Wiley unleashes his new Robot Masters. After defeating them, he discovers new energy cores in the robots and the escapes robot introduces himself as Duo, revealing that he is trying to destroy the new energy cores, because it contains Evil Energy. After defeating the rest of the Robot Masters, Mega Man faces Dr. Wiley’s henchmen, including Bass, before defeating Dr. Wiley. In the process, Mega Man also destroys all of the Evil Energy, but gets infected. However, Duo comes and cures him, finishing Mega Man’s journey.

Mega Man 8 was released in 1996 and met with mixed to average reviews, with the main criticism being that the game changed absolutely nothing in the formula, and failed to use the PlayStation’s powers to use, as nothing looks or feels different from the previous game, save for the FMV cutscenes. 

In 2008, Classic Mega Man finally got a return to the spotlight with Mega Man 9, often heralded as one of Mega Man’s best adventures yet. Keiji Inafune expressed that he was interested in an old school Mega Man games since 2004, and with online distribution, a return to Mega Man’s roots was now made possible. Originally, Capcom asked the development team of 20 people to make the game 3D, so it wouldn’t only appeal to old school Mega Man fans. Although they considered making the option of switching between 2D and 3D graphics, the team eventually decided to stay with the traditional NES graphics. The team’s goal was to make the “new Mega Man 3”, as 2 was often called the best Mega Man.

The story of Mega Man 9 is that Dr. Light is being blamed for the destruction in the city and Mega Man goes to investigate, with suspicions laying on Dr. Wiley. After defeating the Robot Masters and defeating Dr. Wiley, Dr. Wiley begs more mercy only to fool Mega Man into thinking Dr. Light was sick with a fake Dr. Light set up, which allowed Dr. Wiley to escape once more.

The reception of Mega Man 9 was phenomenal, with many of the critics agreeing that Mega Man’s return to his roots was an incredibly smart move, with the gameplay being extremely tight and fun, with many comparing the polish and high levels of quality with that of Mega Man 2. Inafune was extremely pleased with Mega Man 9, saying that the game has far exceeded his expectations. 

Definitely one of Mega Man's best adventures

We now reach the last game of the Classic series, Mega Man 10, which was made because of the overwhelmingly positive reception of Mega Man 9. According to Inafune, Mega Man 10 was made with the idea of exceeding the expectations of those who enjoyed Mega Man and bringing back the older Mega Man player who have given up the series. Many of the elements that were present in Mega Man 9 were carried over to 10, and Treble and Proto Man (who was DLC for Mega Man 9) made their returns as playable characters. Also added was an easy mode, a first to any of the Classic Mega Mans, which were usually challenging in nature.

The story of Mega Man 9 was about a disease called Roboenza (lol) being spread and Roll catching it. Dr. Wiley has a cure, but it was kidnapped by the infected robots that have gone berserk. Mega Man, Bass, and Proto Man all went forth on a conquest to find the cure for the robots. In the end, it was revealed that Dr. Wiley was behind the outbreak and was using the cure as a means to have infected robots work as a bribe to him. After fighting in outer space, Dr. Wiley himself becomes dangerously sick, but gets help in a hospital. As a sign of gratitude, Dr. Wiley leaves enough antidotes behind to restore all of the infected robots.

Mega Man 10 received positive reception for its tight gameplay (like Mega Man 9) and challenge mode, but was criticized for its short length. The game may have not been as huge as Mega Man 9, but Capcom felt satisfied with the overall finish of the product and the sales and reception.

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Conclusion:

Mega Man has always been a phenomenal series to me. Albeit it not having all high points, I have dearly loved the games I have played on the NES. Maybe it's the fantastic gameplay, or the charm in the looks and actions of the Robot Masters and Mega Man, or maybe it's the music that woos me with its brilliance, but every time I put in a Mega Man game, I always feel this sense of enjoyment. It also helps that the challenge in great in the games, always making your accomplishments feel well deserved. And I actually beat Dr. Wiley, unlike Garaa, who is mega failing the first game (U MAD GARAA!? trolololololololololol #trolling #juicy #lol #HiGaraa #HiShiro).

Anyways, Mega Man has always been a highlight of the NES for me and one of my favorite series of all time. To me, nothing can match the bliss of fixing my errors that led to my death, before finally beating the Robot Master, with hopes that my assumption of their weakness is correct. It's just fun that distinguishes itself from every other series and I wouldn't want it any other way. And to answer the question everyone always wonders when someone talks about Mega Man, Mega Man 2 is my favorite Mega Man.

Thanks for reading.