Marvel Super Heroes (arcade game)

Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAR : Marvel Super Heroes (arcade game)

Marvel Super Heroes is a fighting game developed by Capcom. Originally released in the arcade in 1995 on the CPS-2 arcade system, it was later ported to the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. It features many superheroes and supervillains from the Marvel Comics line, including Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, and the Hulk.

The game is loosely based on the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, with the heroes and villains battling each other for the Infinity Gems. The final boss was Thanos, who steals whatever Gems the player had collected (at that point, all but the sixth gem, Mind) and uses them against the player, but with each gem having a strange, new effect when used by Thanos.

The game played similar to a previous fighting game, , but with a more simplified use of the super meter, and the addition of the Infinity Gems. Each Gem could be activated in battle, giving the user a different power for a few seconds. In addition, each character had a Gem that they had a special affinity for, and would get additional abilities whenever they activated it.

Contents

1 Characters

1.1 Heroes
1.2 Villains
1.3 Bosses
1.4 Hidden Fighter

2 Gems
3 Trivia
4 Infinite Combos
5 External links

Characters

Heroes

Captain America
The Incredible Hulk (Based on the "Professor" persona)
Iron Man
Psylocke
Spider-Man
Wolverine

Villains

Bosses

Hidden Fighter

Anita (see Donovan Baine for information on her)

Gems

Power: Gives the character increased attack strength. Special users are Spider-Man (creates a duplicate on the opposite side of the opponent), Captain America (alters his special attacks into attacks that would be super-attacks in later games in the series), Wolverine (causes trails to follow him and multiply his hits), and Psylocke (similar to Wolverine's, but with a delay).
Time: Speeds up the character's movements. Special users are Hulk (allows him to rapid-fire his strongest attacks) and Shuma-Gorath (normal attacks turn opponents into stone).
Space: Gives the character increased defense. Special users are Juggernaut (makes him immune to all attacks) and Magneto (gives him his magnetic shield, making him immune to all attacks).
Reality: Causes elemental attacks such as flames, icicles, and lightning bolts to accompany the character's regular attacks. Special user is Blackheart (turns invisible, in addition to the gem's normal effects).
Soul: Causes the character to regenerate health. Special user is Iron Man (adds extra electric damage to his normal attacks)
Mind: Causes the character to regenerate their super attack gauge. Only usable in two-player games and by CPU Thanos in the final battle.

Note that the Gems have different effects when Thanos uses them as super-attacks: Power creates a miniature sun, Time slows his opponent to half-speed, Space opens up a rift in space and drops asteroid fragments on the opponent, Reality creates two stone walls that crush the opponent between them, Soul shoots an energy pulse that absorbs the opponent's energy into his own life bar, and Mind causes the opponent's controls to be reversed for a short period of time. (In reality, Thanos doesn't have to have the gem to use the corresponding super-attack, but his attacks are still named for them, and the CPU won't use the attack without the corresponding gem, though a player-controlled Thanos can).

Trivia

Anita (the young girl who accompanies the Darkstalkers character Donovan) appears as a hidden character in the Japanese version of the game. She appears to be unfinished, however, since she has no name under the lifebar, her name isn't announced at the end of rounds (though it is printed on the screen), she has Thanos' portrait, win screen, and win quotes, and she's called Thanos on the vs. screen. Furthermore, she has no ending. Instead, if you beat the game with her, the credits will be shown twice.
On the arcade version of the game, Dr. Doom or Thanos can be chosen via a code at the selection screen. However, if the game is completed with Thanos, Magneto's ending text will be displayed. Artwork unique to this ending suggests that a true ending for him was planned, but not completed. Thanos has a correct ending in the console ports.

Infinite Combos

Screenshot from Marvel Super Heroes.

Enterprising players have found a few characters in Marvel Super Heroes who are able to perform infinite combos (i.e. combos that can be sustained until a foes lifebar is depleted) that are mostly unblockable or unavoidable when hit. For instance, the character of Wolverine is able to attack a regular-sized foe with a 5-6 hit combo before launching them into the air for an aerial combo, continue with a 3-4 hit combo and ending with a strong punch/kick that brings aerial foes down to the ground. The instance before hitting the ground, Wolverine is able to hit grounded foes and launch again to continue the barrage. Thus starts the infinite combo system. Spider-Man also has an infinite combo move utilizing the Spider Web. The infinite combo routine is also present in the sequel, X-Men vs. Street Fighter and has continued to plague future installments like Marvel vs Capcom 2. The unbreakable chain of combos have severely affected the gameplay styles in local arcades as players proficient in it can pummel other players unfairly.

External links

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.