Story time. This was the first Marvel fighting game I experienced in my life. I think it was 2000 or 2001 when I was introduced to this game. At that time I was in awe, I loved fighting as different characters and helped me recognize to the main heroes of that time which most are relevant to this day. What I didn’t know was that this wasn’t the best game it had to offer and other ports were superior. Now older and able to play the different ports I can see what they meant. This review is on the console version though, Marvel Super Heroes for the PlayStation (Disc and Emulation) . The second Marvel mainline game before the rise of the Marvel vs Capcom series 

Story: 8

The story is based around the infinity gauntlet and the gems. Loosely based on the comics, heroes and villains alike are trying to grab all the gems and gauntlet while foiling Thanos from his plans to succeed. His plans are to use the gems and take over the universe and it’s up for the heroes or villains to fight their way against each other to have a chance face thanos and his tremendous power. 

The story itself is pretty good, each character have their own reasons and deeds to beat thanos and either use the powers of the gauntlet for their actions or save the world from the destructive force of the Thanos and his abilities when honing the gauntlet. 

The story is a good 8 out of 10. 

Depth : 8

Starting differently than usual, reasons why later. The game is chaotic in a good way. A One versus One fighting game, you fight against an opponent, lowering their health bar until their health is depleted or time is up. When time is up, whoever has more health at the end is the winner. Pretty straightforward but what makes this game have a bit of content is the characters and gimmicks. Choosing one of ten fighters, few returning characters from X-men Children of the atom (Wolverine, Psylocke, and previous bosses Juggernaut and Magneto) they are welcomed by six new characters from the heroes and villains. Heroes being Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and “The Incredible” Hulk. Villains first appearance is Shuma Gorath and Blackheart. Each character has their own play style and it’s easy to pick up. Going with the faithful six button control, you can easily pull of some combos and special moves easily since they’re quite similar to the Street Fighter II scheme. What makes this game more appealing though is the use of infinity stones. They are your make or break for the game with one of five (six in multiplayer) gems to use in the fight. Each possess a unique ability that can help you when in a pinch. Power, Soul, Space, Soul and Reality are obtained through some stages of the game and you collect them for use on the next opponent during arcade play. The Mind soul, although available in the arcade mode, is unobtainable in a sense since the final boss has control of the gem and is pretty difficult to obtain it from him (more on later). As stated earlier each character has a story of its own and beating the game with each character gives an ending specific to the one you chose so there’s quite a replayability for the game. 

Other than that, the game only consists of two game modes sadly, Original arcade and Multiplayer. With this the depth of the game is a good 8 out of 10. Lacks content but gameplay is rich with combinations of gems and characters 

Sound: 8

(I had to resort to emulation with this part of the review since my disc is badly scratched up with missing music and stuttering). The soundtrack introduced to staples of marvel themes. The great Captain America energetic rock music to show its patriotism to Psylocke mellow techno music, to even Blackheart’s ominous music. The soundtrack has a great variety for each character in the stage, and one of my favorites, I can not stress this enough, is Spider-Man. One of the best songs I’ve heard in the marvel vs Capcom series and it’s a banger. The sound effects is rather muffled with characters sounding like they’re being blocked by a cloth or something on the speakers, rather compressed to say. 

Other than the I would say the sound quality is a good 8 out of 10 with the compressed voices and sound effects. 

Addictive: 8

The game is chaotic as states earlier. It’s fun, it’s fast paced, you choose your favorite superhero or villain to play as, what more would you want? The appeal of using Marvel Characters helps a lot with this game and it’s faithful to the designs and such. Mechanics are good to the point where it’s not frustrating. To me I played hours on end playing the game without fatigue since it was my first exposure to the Marvel vs Capcom series and Marvel comics in general. It’s like those “first time I seen Spider-Man but I knew who he was” type of way. Either way 

This is a good 8 out of 10

Difficulty : 8

(It’s on normal difficulty). The game’s difficulty is there. Some characters are more difficult to play than others, the infinity gems are the make or break of the matches whether you or your opponent use them to gain an advantage. It’s not as difficult as X-men children of the atom though maybe because I’m playing the console version. One thing though, for more less experienced players you will have trouble fighting the last two opponents of the game. One of them being the final boss, Thanos, both would’ve been quarter munchers with its cheap hits and excessive blocking. Doesn’t help the fact when fighting Thanos you’ll lose all the gems you collected and go to him for a more difficult challenge. 

It’s a deserving 8 out of 10. Not too difficult for more experienced players but opponents using the gems and final boss can definitely be challenging at times 

Graphics: 7

There’s a reason why I chose this last. Where should I start…. The intro of the game seemed horrible with the resolution, like they used a vhs tape to record the arcade attraction mode. They don’t even show previews of fighting like they do on arcade which is a bummer. The slow down is atrocious, dipping the frame rate to like 15 or 20 frames? I’m not sure but some moves and attacks can cause major slowdown which can hinder its gameplay. It’s missing frames which I noticed when playing Hulk and Juggernaut, probably due to Capcom trying to make the game fit with the PlayStation’s RAM. Loading times is a bit too much for me after each fight and drags a bit too long. Graphics are faithful to the arcade port, but so many issues with the game I’ve heard the Saturn port was the better version. 

This is a 7 out of 10


Overall the game itself is not a bad port in itself, for the causal gamer it’s pretty good. The more hardcore fans or arcade goers will notice these differences and would probably be put off by it. To me this was my first Marvel game. I was introduced into the series by this game and it would be about a decade before I would get reintroduced to the series again by Marvel vs Capcom through emulation and Marvel vs Capcom 2 and 3 through Xbox. Seriously, this helped made the series go farther and made Capcom push envelope with X-men vs Street Fighter and eventually the MvC series. This holds a special place in my heart even with its inferior gameplay and mechanics, it holds faithful to the source. 

My rating : 9 out of 10

Review rating : 6.9 out of 10