X-Men vs. Street Fighter

Infobox VG
title= X-Men vs. Street Fighter


caption= "X-Men vs. Street Fighter" sales flyer.
developer= Capcom
publisher= Capcom
distributor=
publisher=
designer=
series=
engine=
version=
released= Arcade
flagicon|Japan September 9, 1996
flagicon|Europe September 10, 1996
flagicon|USA October 4, 1996
Sega Saturn flagicon|Japan October 31, 1997cite web | url=http://uk.gamespot.com/saturn/action/xmenvsstreetfighter/review.html | title=X-Men vs. Street Fighter | publisher=ZDNet | author=Jeff Gerstmann | accessdate=2006-12-13]
PlayStation
flagicon|Japan February 26, 1998
flagicon|USA 1998
flagicon|Europe 1998
genre= Crossover/Fighting
modes= Up to 2 players simultaneously
ratings=
platforms= Arcade, Sega Saturn, PlayStation
media=
requirements=
input= 8-way joystick, 6 Buttons
cabinet= Upright
arcade system= CPS-2
cpu=Motorola 68000 16 MHz
Zilog Z80 8 MHz
sound=QSound
display= Raster, 384 x 224 pixels (Horizontal),
4096 colors
width=

"X-Men vs. Street Fighter" is an arcade game released by Capcom in 1996 and is the first game in the "Marvel vs. Capcom" series of fighting games. It features characters from the "X-Men" franchise and characters from the "Street Fighter" game series.

It was the first game to blend a tag team style of combat with the well-known "Street Fighter" gameplay, as well as incorporating elements from Capcom's previous fighting games in the Marvel Comics franchise, "" and "Marvel Super Heroes". It was also ported to the Sega Saturn in 1997 and PlayStation in 1998. However, the tag team system was omitted from the PlayStation version due to memory limitations.

Gameplay

"X-Men vs. Street Fighter" uses a system similar to the style developed in "Marvel Super Heroes", and adds the tag team gameplay feature. Instead of the usual best-two-out-of-three round format, the game's matches consist of two-on-two battles between tag teams. The player controls one character at a time, while the other awaits off-screen. The starting character can tag the waiting one in at any time by hitting the Hard Punch and Hard Kick buttons, which activates the "Variable Attack"; the tag partner will jump in with an attack and taunt briefly. During their taunt, they are vulnerable to counter attack. The dormant character will able to recover a portion of their vitality, while the current character is fighting. If one character loses all of their vitality, then the tag partner will automatically come to play. A match is over when both members of a team are defeated.

There are other ways to bring the character's partner in; the "Variable Counter", which replaces the Infinity Counter of "Marvel Super Heroes", breaks the player's guard to bring the teammate in with a counter attack at the cost of a level of super meter. Also, the "Variable Combination" is a two-character Hyper Combo (the super moves featured in the game) which costs two levels, and will switch the player's current character as long as neither character gets hit during their Hyper Combos.

The "X-Men" characters come largely unchanged from "X-Men: Children of the Atom" and "Marvel Super Heroes", with the exception of Rogue, Gambit and Sabretooth, who are new to the series. The "Street Fighter" characters uses their "Street Fighter Alpha 2" forms and their moves were given upgrades to match the larger-than-life atmosphere of the Marvel games (for example, Ryu's Hadouken is much larger than it is in other games). This game marks the first appearance of "Shadaloo" depiction of Cammy, who would reappear in the console versions of "Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold", as well as in "Street Fighter Alpha 3".

Characters

Apocalypse is the final boss of the game, and thus lacks a tag partner. After defeating him, the character that defeated Apocalypse is forced to fight his or her teammate. (The game will not accept new challengers at this time). Once the CPU-controlled teammate is defeated, the game will show the player-controlled character's ending.

Versions

Version 1 (960909 in Japan, 960910 outside of Japan)

*Ryu and Akuma are able to recover from their hop kick in midair.
*Ryu's Hurricane Super will push the opposing player down, allowing the player to recover.

Version 2 (961004)

"The most common version found in arcades"

*Ryu and Akuma can not recover from their hop kick.
*Ryu's Hurricane Super pushes the opposing player up rather than down.
*Sabretooth's Jumping Infinite is now a bit more difficult to time.
*Dhalsim is no longer able to do a "Yoga Drill" the instant he leaves the floor. He actually has to jump a small distance before the "Drill" will come out.

Version 3 (961023)

"Capcom released this version in an attempt to remove all the Infinites they knew of."

*Storm cannot use her "Lightning Attack" multiple times without landing between attacks.
*Cyclops' aerial Fierce and Juggernaut's aerial Fierce and Roundhouse pushes the player straight down.
*Wolverine's "Drill Claw" does not throw the opposing player across the screen.
*Storm's "Lightning Attack" no longer causes enemies to fall on their backs, so she cannot hit enemies with all three hits one at a time (separately), thus eliminating her "Lightning Attack" Infinite.
*Storm's Jumping Fierce, when used as an Air Combo Finisher, knocks her opponents in more of a downward arc rather than an outward arc, making her repeating Fierce-Roundhouse Air Combo not possible anymore (though an equally effective alternate combo exists).
*Magneto can no longer throw the enemy upwards with his kick throws, preventing him from Air Throwing the enemy upwards and then "Hyper Graving" them on their way down.
*Chun-Li's recovery period from her "Senretsu Kyaku" is no longer invincible (she can be hit during her delay, whereas before, everything would go right through her).
*Dhalsim's Drills all now have a half second delay before they come out after the button is pushed. This delay was enough to eliminate his Drill Infinite Combo.
*Dhalsim's Teleport Recovery is no longer vulnerable at the end, preventing all of the Dhalsim-only Combos from occurring.

Home versions

"X-Men vs. Street Fighter" was ported to the Sega Saturn in 1997 and the Sony PlayStation in 1998.

For the Saturn version, the game required a 4 MB RAM cart (which was packed with the game). This version is a 100% perfect arcade translation and retains all of the arcade's animation.cite web | url=http://uk.psx.ign.com/articles/150/150039p1.html | publisher=IGN | title=X-Men vs. Street Fighter: It's half the game it used to be | author=IGN Staff | accessdate=2006-12-12] Although only a Japanese version was released due to Sega's decision to discontinue support for the Saturn in North America and Europe, the Japanese version was one of the first import Saturn games sold by Electronics Boutique and other mainstream video game stores in North America.

For the PlayStation version, because of the PS1's poor sprite capabilities, as well as low system RAM, this version had to make sacrifices for the game to work on the PS1. Notable absences include several frames of animation being cut, slow gameplay, and the game's key feature, "true" tag-team gameplay, was removed (though a limited version of this appears via a code).

Reception

The PlayStation port of the game did not receive particularly favorable reviews, earning a "passable" 6.0 at IGN and a "bad" 3.6 at GameSpot.cite web | url=http://uk.gamespot.com/ps/action/xmenvsstreetfighter/review.html | title=X-Men vs. Street Fighter review | publisher=ZDNET | work=GameSpot | accessdate=2006-12-12]

The Saturn version received better reviews, getting a 7.4 "good" review at GameSpot.

References

External links

*KLOV game|id=10497
*StrategyWiki
* [http://marvel.com/videogames/X-Men_Games X-Men video games] at Marvel.com
*moby game|id=/x-men-vs-street-fighter|name="X-Men vs. Street Fighter"
* [http://www.segasaturn.co.uk/games/jap/x/xmenvssf/index.htm "X-Men vs. Street Fighter" at SegaSaturn.co.uk] - Information, box scan, screenshots and review of the Sega Saturn version.