Time Capsule - Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes (PSX)

This port shouldn't have existed at all.

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TOTAL SCORE: 5.7/10
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Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes ranks up there as one of my most favorite arcade games of all time. I remember making quite a number of trips to the arcades every week just so I could play this game (didn’t have any console then). The superb animations, the frantic action and the ingenious tag-team battle mechanism kept me coming back even though I had already beaten the game several times over. How great it would be to be able to play this game from your living room couch, right? Wrong. While the Dreamcast version was a perfect arcade-to-console port, the PSX version is anything but – it shouldn’t even have existed.

This game brings the best of both worlds together: Marvel is represented by some of their most well-known characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America, War Machine, to name a few, while Mega Man, Captain Commando and some of the Street Fighters characters take to the stage for Capcom. The ability to pit Spider-Man against Mega Man has me all hyped up, but imagine my utter disappointment when I discovered that there are only 15 main characters to choose from. The rest of the Marvel and Capcom characters make up the special heroes cast, a list of fighters you can select from to assist you in your match via the performance of quick attacks. However, only one such ‘helper’ can be selected in any given match and each of these characters’ screen-time is considerably limited as they aren’t really involved in the fight because they only appear for a second to initiate the assistance attack before moseying along yet again. It seems that the line-up isn’t really that ultimate as I’d expect afterall.

The PlayStation should be in no way responsible for the disappointing line-up as the matter of concern is indigenous to the original arcade game. What is of concern, however, is the absence of the tag-team battle mechanism here. The tag-team battle mechanism is that one mind-blowing thing about Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes and taking it away just entirely destroys the crux of the game. While I understand that the lack of the tag-team battle mechanism can be attributed to the PlayStation’s limited RAM, the aforementioned is quite simply unforgivable. Why? Because this game is not this game without the tag-team battle mechanism. In other words, this port shouldn’t have existed at all because the PlayStation doesn’t do justice to the original.

Capcom offers us some consolation in the form of characters who are constantly self-healing, albeit gradually, as they fight – similar to the concept of self-healing tag-team partners who are being rested while their compatriots battle. But it doesn’t help that Capcom attempts to trick us into believing that there is actually a tag-team battle mechanism in this PSX port by offering us the option of choosing a partner in the character selection screen. How atrocious! If it’s 1 vs. 1, make sure it’s indicated clearly that it’s 1 vs. 1. Can’t Capcom obey that simple rule?

On the graphical front, this PSX port does not differ too much from the original arcade game, but the audio feels more compressed. What this translates into is audio that is of poorer quality. But by the time you notice the audio, this PSX port is already beyond hope. That says it all.

Final Comments
If you want to play Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes, either make a trip down to the arcades (though this game might have been removed from the list of games offered at some arcades long ago) or immerse yourself in the Dreamcast port. Those are the only 2 respectable ways to satisfy your nostalgia. This PSX port? Don’t bother. It has ‘Ignore Me’ written all over it.