Crossover Madness to Return

Not being one to let an opportunity to cash in on nostalgia, Capcom is re-releasing Marvel vs Capcom 2, that bastion of subtle, strategic gameplay, as a download for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Ever since the Dreamcast died and the game went out of print for the PS2 the game has been a hot commodity among melee game lovers, myself included. I had the game for the Dreamcast and I have nothing but great memories of mindless fun unlocking the varied characters available.

The hot commodity comment comes from my many attempts to buy a copy on eBay. The game doesnt go for less than $60 either at auction or buy it now. Now that Capcom is coming out with a downloadable version (for $15) they can get their share of those who want the game but either dont want to spend as much for a past generation game or dont want to bother going down to the local arcade to get their ass beaten in by a mallrat in love with Iron Mans cannon.

I dont have any problems with this, capitalism being what it is. The market price will probably drop, I saw this happen with Boba Fett Unleashed figures that were at one point unobtainable because of its scarcity and price but which went down in cost significantly after a new version was released. Its gonna happen, too bad.

The main point of this entry though is that, like they did with Street Fighter HD, they're gonna improve the graphics system. As you can see here, itll go from high pixelation to smooth cartoon like quality. This is great news I suppose, with the advent and high availability of HD televisions, but the new graphics seemed evened out by the smudge tool on the Gimp to me. I know this is some hyperbole on my part, and we all know how much I love pixels so I'm clearly biased.

The good news is that the improvement is not mandatory. That is, you can play it in any mode you wish to. If I decide to actually buy the game its obvious what mode I'll use. Thats quite a big if, however. I love the game but theres a few doubts on my part: for starters all the characters will be available from the beginning which means that there is no story mode, there is only the option to get into dogfights either online, with friends or against the computer. This is awfully fun, to be sure, but it also gets old fast.

On the plus side the offer is a $60 game for $15, it comes with online play (for those who pay for that privilege), improved graphics and tons of sentimental value. Its a party game that anybody can pick up and everybody knows how to play. Until someone makes an alternative thats better than Mortal Kombat vs DC, or until someone brings Tatsunoko vs Capcom to the States on the Xbos this is a good deal for those who love the crossover games. Thats pretty much anybody, so if the hype is big enough, and if I finally get a stable Xbox system I might have to sell another Twilight book to come up with the funds to buy this.