New Marvel VS Capcom 3 Build Premieres at Evo

Share on Facebook posted 07-09-10 by Angelo D'Argenio

Today, the Evo championships are going down in Vegas at Ceasar’s Palace, and while the awesome tournament action is one thing to look forward to, the other thing to look forward to is new preview builds of upcoming fighting games … oh and the president. Yeah, president Obama was at Ceasar’s Palace today, which actually caused the Evo championships to start a little late, but that is not what this article is about. This article is about the new preview build for Marvel VS Capcom 3, which introduced some massive changes into the game.

Perhaps the biggest change which has been causing the most waves in the fan communities is the removal of universal air-dash and universal double jump. Only specific characters can air-dash and double jump now, and in this build those characters were Iron Man, Morrigan, and Dante. This effectively makes air combos much shorter and less effective, and severely limits your combo potential. People immediately began selecting teams filled with double jump/air-dash characters just to extend their combo opportunities. This change looks like it might be one that could severely alter game balance, however, we do know that the game is trying shift away from repetitive dial-a-combo air combo strings in order to build diversity between characters. This simply doesn’t appear to be the most effective way to do it.

In the E3 build of Marvel VS Capcom 3, players used the Tatsunoko VS Capcom system of tagging. By that I mean, you pressed a partner button to call in an assist, then held back and pressed a partner button to tag. However, many players did not like this because you couldn’t call an assist while blocking, which made characters very susceptible to pressure. In this build, the tag command has changed. You now tap a partner button to call in an assist, and you hold a partner button to tag. Many fans are calling for a return to the two button tag command, but Capcom seems very set on keeping the command to one button and one button only.

As I said before, the game seems very skewed towards characters that are able to air-dash, but other characters have received indirect buffs from this change as well. Deadpool’s keep-away game in particular has seen quite the buff from this change. With the lack of a universal air-dash, the only safe way to approach him is a super jump, and the Deadpool player can simply use his teleport to gain distance once again.

Dante is another character that has received notable buffs, and he was already was one of the best characters in the E3 build. His quarter circle forward move now not only produces ice spikes, but rather has different effects depending on the button you use with it. QCF A, produces a slow moving homing orb projectile while QCF C lays a trap that shoots lots of homing missiles which do a great amount of chip damage. QCF B still produces the same ice spike attack from the E3 build.

Overall, this build looks to be less balanced than the previous build at E3, but it does introduce some good concepts. Capcom did effectively reduce reliance on air combos, but at the cost of a serious game balance hit. They did make the game a little more defensive, but at the expense of a slightly awkward tagging system. They did diversify the characters, at the expense of making certain characters far overpowered. However, all things said it looks like they are on the right track. They have the concept down, and now they have to just keep tweaking game balance until they find the sweet spot they want.

Tune in to the Evo live-cast at http://evo2k.com/live/ and catch a Marvel VS Capcom 3 exhibition at 8:00 PM pacific time on Sunday.

9 responses to New Marvel VS Capcom 3 Build Premieres at Evo

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Hecatom

i never understood why the mvc players feel that having an airdash generalize the gameplay of the chars, just seeing the srk forums, you can watch that what they really want is mvc2 but with 3d graphics, not a new game

d3v

Two of the main complaints of MvC2 players against the E3 build (outside of the back+assist to tag) was universal airdash and how offensive the game was, so it looks like they’re trying their hardest to address those.

d3v

@Hecatom
I believe it’s due to the fear that it’ll end up playing like TvC instead which is a game that it seems that most mvc players didn’t enjoy.

Yipe

i want universal air dashes back in

The lack of universal airdash and double jump is an odd change. I liked that everyone had basic mobility.

But give us back universal airdash.

Angelo D'Argenio

Actually, you know what I hate more than lack of universal Air-Dash and Double Jump? Lack of Mega Crash.

Call me stupid, but I thought Bursting added a whole lot to TVC. It felt like you could do something other than watch when you got hit by long ass combos. I’ll actually take the lack of Air-Dash and Double Jump if they put Mega Crash back in.