Marvel vs Capcom 2: Still worth it. at 7:49 PM

I remember my first job. It was that of a general assistant in a dirty, stinky old shop called "La Finca"(that would be "the farm). It was a terrible job where I met people I'd rather forget, and felt I was underpaid. In fact, I only worked there for a week before giving up. A week of work, and I had 60 dollars to show for it.

Why do I tell you this? Because I did it for one game. Quite possibly the greatest 2D fighter ever. The game is, of course, Marvel vs Capcom 2. As this game came to consoles, I knew that something special was at hand. I would spend the rest of the year hyper comboing my way through it's arcade mode.

This game was born of two dying breeds. Back in the late 90's, 3D was displacing 2d as the main option for games. Also, the fighting game genre that had had a boom after the release of Street Fighter 2, but was now loosing importance as the story element became more important, and arcades declined.

After Marvel's success with Marvel superheroes, they decided to try their luck at making a tag team title crossover featuring the X-men and Street Fighter. When I first read about it, I didn't give a rats ass. Why? Well, I spied Rogue at a picture, and that's all I needed to know. I loved Rogue, back when she was a flying brick.

Above: Rogue's fighting game

After one pointless sequel without any real new characters, Marvel got serious and released Marvel Vs Capcom. It was great, and a real effort, unlike the previous game. But the public never expected what would happen next.

Gonna take you for a ride! (trumpets)

Marvel vs Capcom 2 would seem like a cheap game to do to the untrained eye. Like they decided to just put in all the characters from previous games, a few new ones, and call it a day. But the beauty of it was thet even though most of the characters where returning from previous games, the fact that you could pick 3 of them on a team, and 3 assists for each meant that you where in for infinite combinations. Sure, there are characters then can easilly overpower if teamed up, and characters that couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. But a true player can still kick ass without . But finding a team that fits YOUR playing style is half the fun. Just don't feel frustrated when an advanced player uses an infinite technique or relies on the keepaway game. All the better to feel vindicated when you beat them.

In Soviet Union, Mexican Cactus and disgusting female mutant lesbian fight YOU!

This is the only game I still visit arcades for. And the only 2d fighter that can consistently be found. And now it's coming to XBLA. I will be the first game I buy online, and I will also have to buy an ethernet port or router because the stupid power outages messed up our modem, severely limiting our capacity for playing online. Also, I may have to buy a surge protector to avoid my games being cut short by lame ass power outages. I may be looking at 100 dollars all in all. But I think this game is still worth it.