Marvel Super Heroes

Manufacturer: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Year: 1995
Rom Size: 23 megs(1 parent, 6 clones)
No. of players: 2(simultaneously)
Hardware: Capcom Play System II(CPS II)
Sound: Q-Sound
Resolution: 384x224
Played: USA 951024(mshu) on MAME Plus 0.125u3
MAWS: Information, trivia and cheats!

Not really quite sure what's going on here, but from what I've read of this "Infinity Gauntlet" story it appears that a Titan named Thanos has used the gauntlet to kill off half of the life in the entire universe...in order to woo Death(!?). Being more than just a bit upset over this, a remaining group of super heroes band together in an attempt to take Thanos out and restore the universe to its former state. To make matters worse, some of the super heroes are out to get the gauntlet for themselves, so on top of trying to beat Thanos they'll also be facing each other. That's about the best I can do here folks, sorry...I was always more of a Ghost Rider guy. If they ever do a game based on the story "Rise of the Midnight Sons" I'll make it up to you...promise.

What's it all about?

It's a one on one, combo-crazy fighter. You've got your choice of thirteen characters(ten regular, two bosses and one hidden) to fight your way through with. Using Capcom's crazy(and refined) combo engine from the previous Marvel fighter, X-Men: Children of the Atom, you will be able to tear in to your adversaries with an insane assortment ground and air combos. To add to it, each character has one or more "Infinity moves" that unleash hellish damage to whoever gets caught by them. As if that's not enough, everyone also possesses an Infinity Gem that can be redeemed for stuff like a higher defense rating, faster movement, more attack power, etc. The more gems you have, the more of these features you can use during the match...and they are as easy to obtain as simply hitting your opponent with a special move, but watch out, because the same applies to your character. After tearing your way through the "normal" competition you'll move on to Dr Doom and finally Thanos himself.

Graphics - Rock solid Capcom-over-animated goodness! The sheer amount of color used in the game is just simply astounding, it really makes the sprites pop off the screen at you. The characters, though I'd argue are overly animated for a fighting game, are really something to see; from Shuma's tentacles to Psylocke's...well, everything, it's just a gorgeous, gorgeous game. To add to the animation overload, each time a character takes a hit they become a jagged vision of themselves giving everyone an almost "liquid" feel. Backgrounds, though not nearly as impressive as the characters themselves, are still filled with wild amounts of detail, color and a lot interesting scenery. All in all, it's a very pretty game. About the only thing negative I can say about it would be noting some of the nasty breakup on the background graphics in Blackheart and Thanos' stages...it's really a minor issue, but you do notice it.

Sound - The Q-Sound support definitely shines through with its panning of the fight's sound effects, making their way to the corresponding speaker. The music, sadly, doesn't even get close to overpowering the sound effects(I'm more of a "music all the way up to ten, sound effects down to around seven or eight" kind of guy) but you still get an ear full of the awesome-ness that is Hulk, Spider-Man and Captain America's themes. Sound effects are crisp, with the sharp sting of activating an Infinity Gem all the way to Hulk's grunts as he tosses a chunk of the scenery at you. Voice acting is a lot of fun and adds to the energy the audio is already teaming with.

Control - Damn smooth, with a few hiccups. I don't know what it is about the way Capcom handled the super moves for this, or MSH vs SF, but I find that I am *constantly* missing super moves. It's weird, I never miss them when playing other Capcom fighters(MvsC, X-Men vs SF, Darkstalkers, etc), so I'm not sure what the deal is. Still, that's about my only issue with the control...

AI - Definitely puts up a challenge. Though the default level is pretty easy, jacking it up to the maximum(or close to it) should keep you challenged for a while. Also, though it has its share of cheap tactics, the AI doesn't resort to the Capcom standard of just making enemies take off more energy at the higher levels.

Replay value - Infinity! It's a great fighter, and the fact that you can get in to the dip switch settings to mess with the difficulty keeps the single player game alive for a long time. Add to it that you can play a buddy when they stop by, or the ultra-hip, cooler-than-words online play via Kaillera and you've got a game that will last forever...and then some.

Emulation Issues - About the only thing I noticed is that when you hold down the buttons to speed past that character "vs" screens, and the "between matches" segments, it seems to haul more ass than I remember(it's like a blur). This is possibly just an issue with my memory, or perhaps my laptop's CPU, who knows. It's no big deal really, and may actually be welcomed by those with short patience for cinemas, ending quotes, etc.

Tips for better gaming experiences:
Even if you have no intention of making good use of it, even if you're about to die, anytime you jack an Infinity Gem from Thanos, USE IT. His supers are based off the gems he has, if you take one away from him and use it, he no longer has the super associated with the gem.

Hit "Start" during the match to switch between your gems, to get to the one you'd like to use immediately.

Change Character Color : At the Character Select screen move to the desired character then hold Up (if on top row) or Down (if on bottom row). After 3 seconds press any punch or kick button to select the character with their alternate color.

There are three secret characters in the game; it is said that at the character selection screen if you input the following codes you can use them(I have *never* gotten it to work, ever...and yes, I tried them on all versions of the game):
* Anita : Press MP, LP, Left, LK, MK
* Dr. Doom : Press MK, LP, Down, LK, MP
* Thanos : Press LK, HK, MP(x2), Up

Bringing the Arcade Home:
If you're like me, you want to try to make these arcade games as console-like as possible. Here's a few tips to help MSH get there:
1. Once the rom has booted, hit the Service key. By default this is F2, but check your MAME options if you have issues.
2. In the Service Menu, select "7. Configuration".
3. In the Config menu, select "1. System" and change the Coin to Free Play and Continue to On.
4. Back in the Config menu, you can also choose "2. Game" to change the options for Difficulty, Timer Speed, Max Rounds, etc.
5. Once finished, be sure to manually exit out of all of the menus so that your changes will be saved.

My rating: 99(out of 100) - It's almost damn-near perfect, it really is. It's fun, it's gorgeous, the soundtrack is excellent and the multiplayer is an absolute blast. One of my all time favorite fighters. I wish I could have given it a perfect 100, but the control issue just wears me out to no end...

Maximum Kitty says: FRISKY BARRAGE!! I love this game!

That's what you get for staring at her chest!

Shuma is getting a mouthful from the Captain...

Spidey is revving up Maximum Spider...

Claws vs Web!

MAME vs Console: The Winner is...
Though the Saturn version puts up a great fight, issues like the music being seriously subdued(even more so than the arcade/MAME version) and almost "tiny" sounding, the slowdown and slower speed of the game in general and finally the broken adjustable difficulty(no matter what you set it to, the game never seems to get any harder) just really drag it down a few notches below the arcade original. On the plus side, it does allow for you to set up buttons that have all three punches or kicks on them, making those super moves really easy to pull off. All in all, the Saturn version was still excellent, especially if you add in the 4 meg ram cart for the added animation, and in fact I used to own it...

As for the PSX version...don't even get me started...

	Gameplay Videos: QSound Logo, Hall of Super Heroes Ranking, Attract Mode, Title Screen - 0:52, 26.2 megs Immediate Streaming - YouTube
Description: The Attract Mode, complete from the eerie Q-Sound tune all the way to the overly excited announcer screaming out "MARVEL SUPER HEROES!".
Wolverine vs Thanos - 5:54, 132 megs Immediate Streaming - YouTube
Description: The final fight between myself(Wolverine) and Thanos, and the ending; I have it set to the best three out of five(I usually have most fighters set to this). Not exactly my best work...for some reason, when I record myself, I just don't do as well as I normally would. Anyway, you'll see a few things that I talked about above: Using the Infinity Gems as soon as I jack one from Thanos and constantly missing supers(I'll do shit like the Tornado Claw or Berserker Barrage instead)...I don't know what the deal is because, again, I almost never miss them in the other Capcom fighters(barring MSH vs SF, of course).
Note: You'll need the most recent Divx codec to watch these videos. Also, slowdown and jumps in the playback may not necessarily be the fault of the game so much as the method I am using to record them. If you are having problems watching the videos in your browser, just right-click and download them to your hard drive...