This is one outlet's own report from IGN — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
Marvel Comics and video games have had a long, storied, and oftentimes turbulent relationship. Spanning a variety of genres, Marvel games have taken us to many different places, from the thrilling open worlds of Insomniac’s Spider-Man series to the terrible beige-tinged shooting galleries of Punisher No Mercy. But there’s one genre in which Marvel Comics has seen undeniable success: fighting games.
Marvel has been in the business of kicking ass in 2D arenas for over three decades, and in that time we’ve seen many twists, turns, smash hits, and fumbles. So buckle up, true believers, as we take you for a ride through the evolution of Marvel fighting games.
X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994)
The early ‘90s were not a great time for Marvel. Despite successful X-Men and Spider-Man comic runs (and their beloved accompanying Saturday-morning cartoons), a series of costly business blunders and an industry bubble burst left Marvel filing for bankruptcy. It famously turned to flogging everything that wasn’t nailed down to keep the Arc Reactor powered up.
In contrast, fighting game aficionado Capcom was flying high. Street Fighter 2 was munching quarters left and right, and arcades were flooded with copycats.
After a successful collaboration on a Punisher beat-em-up that earned critical acclaim thanks to its satisfying, meaty combat, Marvel and Capcom – in an effort to capitalise on the success of the Street Fighter formula – decided to work together on the very first fighting game starring Marvel characters, X-Men: Children of the Atom .
Despite being built on the bones of Street Fighter 2 Turbo, this was no simple re-skin. Gone were the World Warriors, and in was a roster of Earth’s mightiest mutants. The simple fireballs and firebreath attacks of Capcom’s prize fighter no longer felt adequate, so new special moves were introduced, dominating the screen with strobes and particle effects that were more befitting of the superheroic cast.
But it wasn’t just extra spectacle that was needed. Children of the Atom also introduced a unique take on combos and movement. It was significantly speedier compared to Capcom’s previous fighters, altering the rhythm of the action by a considerable degree. Along with added super jumps and air combos, these X-gene influenced adjustments helped Children of the Atom quickly carve out its own identity in the fighting game space.
Even the most cynical fighting game fans responded well to this formula shake-up, positioning Children of the Atom as the hottest new fighting game when it arrived in 1994. It was just as technical and complex as Street Fighter, but far more approachable for newcomers. The design proved so successful that PlayStation, Sega Saturn and MS-DOS systems all saw ports of the arcade hit. This popularity allowed Capcom to follow up with Marvel Super Heroes, which built on the principles of Children of the Atom and further refined them, expanding the roster to include more Marvel characters beyond the X-Men.
Avengers in Galactic Storm (1995)
While the Osaka-based Capcom was experiencing huge success with its new comic book fighting formula, a few hundred miles away in Tokyo, developer Data-East was putting together its challenger. A year later it stepped up to the plate with Avengers in Galactic Storm , an obscure fighting game that is now largely forgotten, lost in the sea of fighting-game hopefuls that filled Arcades in the mid-to-late ‘90s.
Despite its lack of success, Avengers in Galactic Storm was the first game to introduce a mechanic that would go on to form the backbone of an entire sub-genre of fighters: the Assistant Character. When selecting your character, you’d be presented with a second unique roster of characters – this would be your “assist”.
Today, we see assistant characters as a foundational mechanic for any “tag-fighter”, but back in 1995 the idea was completely revolutionary, despite being pretty basic compared to the tag-team mechanics of today. Back then, your assistant character had one move tied to your super meter; upon activation, they’d spring onto the screen and perform this signature attack. It was a simple addition, but as an idea, it grew and blossomed into a fundamental mechanic we frequently see today.
A roster full of nobodies and garish graphics meant that Avengers in Galactic Storm quickly disappeared from the fighting game scene. Although its death was swift, it left a significant impression on what was to come…
X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996)
After only two years of partnership, Marvel and Capcom took another bold swing with X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, once again evolving the format with a new feature that would impact the fighting genre for years to come. X-Men Vs. Street Fighter expanded the battle from 1v1 to 2v2 while pairing two titans of pop culture. (We’ve mentioned the title twice now, so you probably already know the two franchises involved.)
The Street Fighter cast, although themselves somewhat supernaturally powered, were fairly grounded compared to their mutant rivals. To remedy this imbalance, Capcom gave the World Warriors a significant upgrade. Super fireballs were turned into Dragon Ball Z-style beams, rising uppercuts became erupting pillars of flame, and every strike seemed to cause the hit counter to skyrocket.
The addition of a second character wasn’t a revolution for the genre; King of Fighters had made 3v3 the core of its identity since 1994. But where KoF operated in a team battle style, where you used a character until they were eliminated, X-Men Vs Street Fighter was the first to present your characters as a unified team. Switching at any time was actively encouraged, as your tagged-out character could restore their health while your second hero fought on. It was the first time in the genre that health was recoverable, and it gave you a vital reason to keep switching. Your teammate could even be tagged in directly when performing a duo-hyper combo, summoning them in to per...
Here'sMarvelMarvel ComicsSpanningInsomniac’s SpiderManPunisher No MercyMenChildrenAtomDespiteSpider
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.
