Marvel vs. Capcom 2 has been trapped in a particularly cruel licensing prison for a long time. But while classic titles like OutRun 2 have faced similar fates due to expired license rights, Marvel vs. Capcom has remained in a different sort of purgatory. See, I don't know if you'd noticed, but a lot has changed with Marvel over the last two decades. It's gone from a near-bankrupt comic book company, happy that some video game developer paid it attention (and money) to make a fighting game with its characters, to one of – if not the – biggest entertainment brands on the planet, owned by Disney, no less.
The power dynamic in the relationship between Marvel and Capcom has changed massively, in a way that negatively affected the release of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and soured things between the two companies. Also, you'd imagine the cost to get these Marvel characters licensed would be exponentially higher now – almost certainly too high to justify the cost of putting together a re-release of a quarter of a century old (ouch!) fighting game.
However, it seems we live in the one in 14,000,605 universes where the good guys win, because Marvel and Capcom have managed to get all of the Marvel-licensed Capcom games bundled together. They've all been re-released in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, a super-comprehensive package – yes, even classic scrolling beat 'em up The Punisher is in there – ready for a whole new generation to discover what makes them so special. These fighting games are more than just another fantastic part of video game history being archived. They're part of a rich tapestry that makes up the fighting game community's history – to prove it, just take a look at the impact of Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
Reversal
From the Chinatown Fair Family Fun Center in New York to the biggest stage at Evo, hosted on the Las Vegas Strip, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 has held a long-standing reputation of being the most hype-inducing fighting game to play and watch. To the uninitiated, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is chaos – nothing but flashing lights and sounds – but to those in the know, to those who have dipped their toes into its dangerous waters, it's a series of endless attempts at players trying to mix one another up or turn a single stray hit into a highly damaging combo. It's always high risk, high reward in a game that requires the player to have not only some seriously skilled execution but a deep knowledge of many, many situations. It's a game that is equally as testing of your mental fortitude as it is your reactions, and is just as exciting to spectate as it is to play.
Which means it has a long and storied competitive history. From Battle At The Bay 4 in 2000, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was the first non-Street Fighter game to be held at the event that would go on to become Evo. The following year, the final Battle At The Bay before it became Evolution Fighting Championship, a young Justin Wong – then just 15 – took first place, his first of many first-place finishes in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Of the nine years the game was run at Evo, Wong won six of those years, cementing his place as one of the best-ever players of the game. With Evo now running a classic game tournament, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is looking like a pretty solid bet for a return at next year's event.
Yet like a lot of older fighting games, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 simply wasn't intended to be played at such an absurdly high standard. Players like the aforementioned Justin Wong, Sanford Kelly, Yipes, Clockw0rk and many others that I've no doubt failed to mention led the charge, but a whole community of like-minded players slowly but surely tore the game apart to find out which characters are objectively the best. They also unearthed a whole host of bugs and exploits that, although they don't break the game (except for one, the Ruby Heart glitch, which can and will get you banned from the arcade) can give players a significant advantage over an opponent who isn't aware of them. These days, they'd be patched out or the roster would be rebalanced – an attempt at making for a much more fair game – but that's not the Marvel way. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is very much set in stone at this point. It is what it is. Adapt or die.
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 also existed in this strange period of early internet content creation. Once the Xbox 360/PS3 version dropped in 2009, the technology was there to stream tournaments and provide commentary, as well as allow players to create combo videos and character guides. But for every professional stream with overlays, commentators and player cams, just as much of the game's history looks like it's been filmed on a potato – and yet, these moments are often just as iconic. Yipes' legendary commentary was such a huge part of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 that Capcom itself sort-of acknowledged it in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, showing that even the developer is aware of how big a role the community has played in the series.
One can only hope that this collection provides another lease of life for Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The game never really died – there's hundreds of people playing it on Fightcade as I write this article and there was a fairly healthy group of player playing the 360 version before Microsoft killed of Xbox Live support for that console this year - but a new, official, rollback netcode and training mode-equipped package from Capcom is the sort of thing that could tempt new players to give it a go and maybe stick around. So whether it's watching Maximillian, the biggest FGC content creator bar none, talking with a genuine passion about his love for this game, browsing the archive of the SRK forums or just learning how to do a mother f-ing infinite with Iron Man from a 13-year-old 480p video, this isn't just about the return of an important piece of video game history. It's about real, human history. Welcome back, Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Hopefully, this time you get to stick around forever.
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