If Street Fighter is a game of chess, with carefully chosen strategies played out in a precise and careful manner, then Marvel Vs Capcom 3 is like backgammon. Backgammon starring massive robots with eyes made of rockets that can shoot lasers into your brain, bombarding you with lightning-fast attacks while dressed in skin-tight clothing that would put a glamour model to shame. Roughly speaking.
The Marvel Vs Capcom games, like all of the versus games over the years, have always been more about crazy over-the-top action, super-stylish and comedic characters and screen-filling moves. It’s what sets them apart from other fighting games and gives them such broad appeal. It’s also one of the few occasions a Marvel fan can pit different super heroes against each other, and it’s certainly the only chance you have to pit Capcom characters against Marvel characters (even though everyone knows Capcom characters are the best). Just seeing it in action is probably enough for you to know whether or not you want to play it but, for some, it looks overwhelming and you haven’t really played a fighting game for years.
Here are my top 10 tips for newcomers to the Marvel Vs Capcom series:
- Take the time to mess around with all the different characters. Some of the characters that have never been in a fighting game before have some really interesting moves, and even characters that you think you know inside out – like Ryu – have something new to play around with. Experiment so that you know you have the right team.
- Don’t be afraid to use Simple Mode. It may make inputs easier, but winning a game of Marvel Vs Capcom 3 isn’t about who can do the most complicated moves, it’s about strategy and tactics.
- It’s ok to block sometimes. Honestly. If you never block, you’ll never beat somebody who does block. Not losing health is as important as dealing damage. And since you’re blocking…
- Use Advancing Guard! It’s easy to forget it’s there as an option when you start out. Just press the attack buttons when you’re already blocking and you’ll push your opponent away. Advancing Guard is a great way to make some space when your opponent is attacking relentlessly.
- Don’t mash! It’s easier said than done, but if you don’t stop mashing, you’ll never learn how to play fighting games. It’s like that eureka moment when you suddenly realise that you have to brake early in Gran Turismo to get round a corner; that temporary sacrifice of instant gratification opens up an entire genre of gaming to you. And there’s never been a better time to get into fighting games. Instead, learn the basic Light Mid Heavy chain. Almost all the characters can use it to link into pretty much anything. It’s easy to do, and is a good replacement for the mashing that you’ve just given up.
- Learn the timing for launching. The trick is to jump IMMEDIATELY after hitting the S button. And don’t forget to combo in the air.
- Don’t be intimidated by Mission Mode. They’re meant to span the entire range of skills a good MvC3 player will have after extended play. If you only make it to the third or fourth mission, don’t be disheartened. You’ll be surprised how soon you’ll be coming back to smash previously insurmountable walls.
- Don’t rage quit! It will increase a hidden rating you have that increases your chances of meeting other people that rage quit. Which, I guess, is fine if you don’t mind playing with dishonourable people.
- Have fun! It’s easy to get involved in discussions on which character is the best, and to feel that your character choice is one of the weaker ones. Remember, ‘tiering’, as it’s called, is determined by tournament players, and you might not even be able to take advantage of the things they’re doing with a certain character to make them top tier. Make your choices based on characters that you like, both from how they play and how they look. In the end you’ll enjoy your game more and who knows, maybe one day you’ll become the player people associate with that character. Many players make a name for themselves by playing with ‘weaker’ characters.
- And finally, always make sure your team synchronise their outfits. Red Hulk with red She Hulk and Viewtiful Joe makes a great team. So does Captain America, Chun Li and blue Iron Man. If you’re not colour co-ordinated, you’re nothing.
Marvel Vs Capcom 3 is available on PS3 tomorrow so grab it and follow these tips to make an early impact on the online arena. Tell us: which three-fighter team-up will you be using?
34 CommentsAdd Yours
1
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 3:30 pm by BLEACH-Fan
Cannot wait to use Deadpool
2
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 3:37 pm by Leo Tan
Deadpool is ace. His OTG is quite easy to do and fast, and leads into a hyper combo situation almost all of the time. I can’t recommend him enough.
3
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 3:42 pm by ninja_tom
Hi,
I received my copy in the post yesterday and have been playing it a lot since then, to follow someone after you launch them (s), do you have to super jump? I am having some real trouble trying to do Team Aerial Combos and am getting beaten online by people that can already do them
Are there any good missions to practice this type of move?
Thanks!
4
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 3:46 pm by Leo Tan
Hi ninja_tom,
Rather than a mission, head into Training mode. I recommend you choose Ryu as the person you learn the timing with. His moveset and timings are always a representation of the fundamentals of the system.
To follow someone after you launch them with S, just tap up. It’s called a super jump cancel by Shoryuken.com, but actually it’s just up on the stick/pad, not down>up as with a normal super jump.
Once you’re in the air, do a basic L,M,H combo and then hit S again while holding the stick/pad in a direction and you’ll tag in the next character in your team.
You can even repeat that whole process once more!
5
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 3:49 pm by Choerilos
Dante/Wesker/Amaterasu reporting for duty. Chose my team based on me liking their games. Seems like a pretty powerful team if I get a bit better at playing this.
6
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 3:56 pm by Leo Tan
@Choerilos
I chose my team based on their outfits being all red
Dante’s moveset could fill an hour’s worth of combo videos alone, he seems to have brilliant flexibility. He’s pretty technical, though. So is Wesker.
When playing Amaterasu remember that you can hold the button when executing her counters to make them last as long as you like. She’s great on assist as well. And she’s small. And she’s from maybe the greatest game of all time
7
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:03 pm by gypsiee
I am really quite torn on if I should buy this or not… I briefly played MvsC2 and found it very very hectic.
Love Street Fighter etc etc though! Decisions decisions.
8
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:07 pm by Leo Tan
@gypsiee
I guess I’m not the person to ask since it’s my job to tell you to buy it, but actually I didn’t get on with MvC2 either. In fact, I didn’t really get on with crazy versus fighting games until Tatsunoko Vs Capcom.
I’d say that Marvel Vs Capcom 3 is still pretty hectic, but also easier to play than MvC2. If you can get your head round the pace of the game then you’ll get a lot out of it, especially if you’re already playing fighting games without just mashing.
Mashing’s good too, though. Just go into Simple Mode and hit buttons and amazing stuff will happen
You just can’t take any credit for it.
9
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:08 pm by ninja_tom
Thanks Leo, I just tried that and it works great!
10
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:11 pm by Leo Tan
I’m here all week!*
*Another hour, actually.
11
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:11 pm by adge_uk
Mine’s just dropped through the door, unfortunately I’ve lots of real world stuff to do before I can put it into my console!!
12
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:14 pm by Choerilos
Small question before you go then, what is your opinion on the whole arcade stick vs controller debate? Any preference?
13
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:15 pm by Leo Tan
@adge_UK
There’s an install to be dealt with first, which isn’t long but can feel like forever when you want to HULK SMASH! So get that going while you do the hoovering.
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:29 pm by James Gallagher
Leo, while I’d never challenge you on a Capcom-developed beat ‘em up, your blog negotiation skills leave a lot to be desired – you know you can hit the reply button under each comment to respond to individual people!
14
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:16 pm by adge_uk
Can I get Hulk to do the hoovering?
15
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:18 pm by gypsiee
Hmmm well I think my main ‘issue’ if you can call it that is the 3v3 part! I guess I am stuck back in my high school days on Street Fighter 2 and need to get with the times eh.
I shall take a punt I think
16
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:20 pm by ninja_tom
@Choerilos, I would use an arcade stick as it rocks (at least on every other fighting game I played)
The hard part with a stick is to retrain your muscle memory from the direction pad the buttons are IMMEDIATELY better on the arcade stick and the stick adaptation comes with time..
17
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:20 pm by Leo Tan
@Choerilos
My personal preference is stick, because I grew up with sticks and I like the way they feel. Also I’m not great at using triggers for tapping. Squeezing for shooting and driving is fine though. But it’s down to personal preference. There are loads of players on pads in Europe winning tournaments. The Rose player (I forget his name, sorry) is a pad player, and Alioune in France has shown that even incredibly complex motions on a pad are feasible if that’s what you’re used to.
Just choose what you’re comfortable with and don’t let anyone tell you what’s best. At the end of the day the only limitation on your skill is yourself.
18
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:21 pm by ninja_tom
@gypsiee I think it would have been cool if the 3v3 was three unique players co-op when you were online
19
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:23 pm by Choerilos
Thank you both for the replies. I will try both ways, should be fun to try if nothing else. See you all online
20
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:25 pm by Leo Tan
@adge_uk
Hulk isn’t great at precision movements like hoovering. I’d choose another assist.
@gypsiee
Hooray! The 3v3 thing is second nature quite quickly. And if you’re like me, you’ll have so many characters that you want to play that you’ll be wishing for more than three characters quite quickly.
@ninja_tom and @Choerilos
I would agree that it takes time to relearn muscle memory. Some people adjust in an hour, some in 10 hours. As long as you have patience you’ll be fine. The most difficult thing to learn is syncing the button presses with right direction on the stick, because button pressing stays the same speed but your hand on the stick will likely move at a different speed to your thumb on a pad. As with most things worth having, perseverance is the key.
21
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:30 pm by ninja_tom
I am really glad capcom didnt put the shortcuts back into this game as sfiv really messed up my timings on SFA and ST for sure
So Leo, do you have any tips for Galactacus as he is a bit of a pain, I beat him quite easily with Sentinel but that is because Sentinel does some major damage against slow moving targets, wondered if you had discovered any spam attacks to get rid of this last boss though in general?
btw I have the team aerial combo down now, I reckon that if you dont learn this you will have some serious problems online
22
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:39 pm by Leo Tan
@ninja_tom
Galactus is basically about dealing damage in any form. Characters with high damage outputs without launching are great, and characters with high health are great at absorbing punishment.
If he clasps you in his hands, you can struggle out. Go crazy on the controls! If he starts charging what I’m presuming is his level 3, you can knock him out of it through sheer aggression.
Don’t forget to use X-Factor. It becomes more powerful the less characters you have left, so don’t use any Hyper meter until you have the max 5. When you’re down to your last character activate X Factor and start using Hyper combos on him. That’s an easy way to max out your damage output.
I’ve beaten him on Normal using only Hulk and cycling through L,M,dp H+H (I can’t remember what his dragon punch move is called) and using his QCB Hyper, and not even had to bring out the other characters. Just keep attacking! With your best combos that don’t involve launching.
That said, Chun Li and Viewtiful Joe can do crazy air combos that build meter fast, so that’s maybe not a bad idea either.
And finally, when online don’t forget you can break aerial combos using the S button and pressing the same direction as your opponent.
23
Posted on 17 February, 2011 at 4:45 pm by ninja_tom
@leo thanks for the tips, I will now try to put them to good use!
24
Posted on 18 February, 2011 at 3:28 am by Robert-Ninja
Never liked 2D fighting games. Tekken Tag 2 is where my interest is right now but I absolutely love WATCHING people play Street Fighter and MvC games. Seeing Dante coming back and kicking everyone’s butt (ass he would) is one of the best things I’ve seen in my young life.
25
Posted on 18 February, 2011 at 7:28 am by shotgun_69
Only a couple of hours to go then my new fighting game addiction can start.
26
Posted on 18 February, 2011 at 10:46 am by taurus82
Slightly off-topic, but which gameplay method will King (from Tekken) have in Street Fighter X Tekken?
27
Posted on 18 February, 2011 at 2:14 pm by ClaireOTE10
Interesting thanks
28
Posted on 24 February, 2011 at 11:48 pm by hadi2012
I like it ^_^
29
Posted on 25 February, 2011 at 5:44 pm by bull3t_sup3rn0va
dante,wesker,deadpool, lets rock!!!
30
Posted on 27 February, 2011 at 5:06 am by oreosticks
a question how much space does it take up on my ps3 i dont have it yet but i might buy it if it doesnt take up to much cause i only got 15 gb left
31
Posted on 27 February, 2011 at 9:58 am by silverpark
hi leo i personally love to use magneto, zero and phoenix… i wanted to know if you think that capcom would made some characters updates?? i mean new characters??…i would love to see cammy, m bison, ken, cyclops and more!!!
32
Posted on 28 February, 2011 at 7:01 pm by hadi2012
woow i like it ^_^
33
Posted on 1 March, 2011 at 5:21 pm by Ennohex
Not all characters will benefit as much when following a launch IMMEDIATELY. Trish is a perfect example of this. Waiting a couple of milliseconds will reward the player with the ability to get both her angled kicks (air medium x2) to connect with ease. An early jump will cause the kicks to “overshoot”
I really wish that Virgil from DMC3 will make it into the game.
And what of Jean from GodHand, the other Clover studio game? He would be an amazing addition.
Marvel? Juggernaut and Venom for sure.
Time will tell
34
Posted on 2 March, 2011 at 5:05 pm by sparkman-96
I use Dante,Zero and Ironman cause i think they are perfect in using theirs super attacks.
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