[Rumor] Capcom Rumors

I'll start with the newest rumor based on an ad for the arcade Super Street Fighter 4 release of potentially new characters.

On the one hand new characters and balance tweaks are always welcomed but this comes with a couple concerns. Super Street Fighter 4 was to be the end of the SF4 line, and while it seems to take at least 3 games minimum for Capcom to get a game engine sorted it's also part of what attritionned off so many fans after SF2 that they just managed to win back with SF2 in 3-D with flashy combos. As much as I lament the death of arcades, oh lament I do, the reality is consoles have taken over and the acceptance/popularity of fighters still hinges almost entirely on their tournament scene. So that leaves us with two options, a new console version (or DLC which seems unlikely given the engine-wide tweaks Capcom implements with each revision even if they are unnoticeable to the average gamer, but possible all the same) to keep everyone practicing and playing on for the next EVO or a new arcade version that never really acheives a relevant status because only a handful of players will ever actually see one in real life and is for all intents and purposes never used in a tournament environment.

Long story short as much as the idea of new characters and the return of some more Third Strike favorites like Elena or Hugo interest me, I kind of want Capcom to keep what fanbase they've managed to regrow with SF4 and Super SF4 and not repeat the sins of the past/sins of current Guilty Gear XX/#ReloadAC+(??) Keep it simple for now, and focus on MvC3 for comic con, which leads to the next two bits.

New characters for MvC3, none of which are any shock to the people who looked at the shilouettes from the last batch. Chun-Li which was a given from day one. Doom who looks potentially worthwhile as a point character this time around. Then Trish and Super Skrull which are nicely unknown quantities but look interesting. Wonder if they'll toss Nero or Virgil in to create a full DMC team. Also looks like Viewtiful Joe is all but confirmed with the new shilouette picture (and honestly the fact that he already exists in TvC made it pretty damn likely he'd be included, if Morrigan is any indication taht model has another decade of work ahead of it). Hoping I'm seeing Strider in there and not just mistaking him for an odd Deadpool pose, but pants look poofy like Strider and not like Deadpool's calves.

Final bit which should hopefully get some concrete information is Ono's big Comic Con announcement. I was holding out hope for a new Darkstalkers but based on the banter at Evo it seems most people are looking towards a Capcom/Namco collaboration a la the SNK a decade or so ago. At least 2 games with Capcom characters potentially wandering into a Tekken styled game engine and Namco characters finding their way into a SF4 styled engine.
This has essentially all just served to remind me that I need to spend some time with the English patched NxC PS2 game, but could be interesting, though I don't know how well the characters will actually cross over. Name-wise there's enough recognizeable characters to build a compelling roster, but mechanic-wise it just seems like a giant pile of awkward. At least SNK and Capcom characters were predicated on many of the same archetypes of brawlers, zoning, projectiles, anti-air etc, so there was really only some control and movelist tweaks to be made. Moving more the more "realistic" Tekken characters into a 2-d arena seems like it'll be a challenge unless they either get really overhauled, or the Capcom crew gets significant nerfs, or they just skip the Tekken crew and pull a more eclectic mix of Namco characters who can be given over the top stuff. Likewise I suppose Namco could pull from things like Final Fight and focus on "down to earth" Capcom characters like maybe Makoto or something.

Still this is of course all still rumor, maybe a new Darkstalkers really is in the mix. All I know is that regardless of what happens I'm super stoked that fighting games are actually making some news again. After like a decade of MvC2, Alpha 3, CvS2, Super Turbo and Thrid Strike, the fact that the genre (Capcom) is actually making mainstream progress again (and SF4 isn't just a fluke and HDR isn't just a gift to the fanboys) is super exciting for me.

So yeah, rumors there, discuss away...

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Apparently the SSF4 thing has already been debunked, since that same flyer also apparently mentions 35 characters, which is how many are already in SSF4. Remember that the Japanese arcade units were never updated with the home characters in SF4 (Sakura, Cammy, etc) or the SSF4 characters until now, so for them it's a considerably bigger deal, and that's apparently where the confusion is coming from.

None of the MvC 3 new characters were really unexpected, although I'm still pleasantly surprised to find Trish in there; she didn't seem like a major enough character to warrant entry, especially with Dante already in there.

As an aside I've played some Namco X Capcom, it is not particuarly good, and from what I've heard from Japanese players it never really gets much better. Apparently it's not horrible, but from what I've played it was ridiculously easy but battles just took forever, and apparently that never really improves throughout. Apparently the main draw is super obscure characters and cameos, and even the Japanese-language players I knew who went through it didn't even know half of them. If you've got access to it go for it, but I was pretty hyped for that game prior to it's release and it was a big disappointment for me

There's nowhere I can't reach.

A couple more MvC3 characters came to light today, Thor, not much of a surprise there given the upcoming movie, and Amaterasu a selection that honestly does surprise me. Character art was on Marvel.com before work this morning but appears to have been pulled by now. Also considering it appears Dormammu is the villain based on trailers (and maybe Pyron? not sure if they'll bring in a Capcom side villain or if that was just flames from Dormammu in the trailer, but if a new Darkstalkers does end up coming probably wouldn't be surprising to include him) so I kind of expect to see Dr. Strange somewhere in the mix, unless he's just a non-playable narrative character that has helped orchestrate the cross-over to fight Dormammu or something.

Also I'd be inclined to agree with you Daravon, given that this is the first appearance of many of these characters in the arcade, but then again I've read other rumors stating that Rolento and Alex will be revealed this weekend. I don't know that I buy into it myself given between Abel, Hakkan and Geif, not sure Alex really has a role to fill gameplay-wise. However, given that he is ostensibly the main character of SF3, probably not bad narratively to tie him in. Still it strikes me as wishful thinking built on top of already shaky rumors. Still had you told me 3 years ago (losing track of time) that we'd really be discussing things like SF4 iteration and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 there's no way I'd have ever believed it. Hell I'm not sure I fully believed in SF4 even after screen shots came out.

Shame to hear that NxC is rather dull gameplay-wise, I think I remember hearing that myself, but also I think I recall hearing that it's a neat fanservicey ride for at least a bit. No harm in tossing it into the PS2, just need to set aside some time to do so, and be able to pull whichever Beatmania disc is currently in there out, which always seems rather difficult to manage.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by SailorDaravon

she didn't seem like a major enough character to warrant entry,

Capcom has a history of including obscure or small-role characters in MvsC. Shuma Gorath had what, two comics book appearances in total?

I'm still bummed by the lack of Strider, though.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well sadly no new Darkstalkers yet, I was actually getting kind of hopeful for it. Looks like Street Fighter x Tekken is a reality though, and on the Namco side Tekken x Street Fighter. Still not entirely sold on it and not sure where Capcom is getting all these resources to reflood the fighting game market. There was a short demo at comic con, so it'll be interesting to see when good footage of that gets posted somewhere to see how well the Tekken characters mesh into the SF IV engine.

Also announced a special On-line optimized edition of Third Strike, so that's cool. And it looks like there will indeed be some new arcade characters for Super Street Fighter IV Arcade. With the way people pitched a fit with just Super being a new game for consoles I hope Capcom isn't going to squander any good will they've build with the quality of the game by needing a third console iteration.

I love more fighting games, but I worry that it's going to be too much too soon between two Tekken/SF cross over games, another wrinkle added to the SF IV line-up, MvC3 and an on-line Third Strike (though really that just makes the game available on current gen hardware which is worthwhile regardless of the rest of the stuff). At least the next year certainly won't be dull in the realm of fighting games. Nice to have some more non-FPS related news to read.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Pretty sure MvC3 is going to be the best game ever.

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What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?