Marvel Super Heroes
    

     
STORY:  The story behind Marvel Super Heroes is inspired by the famous comic saga known as the Infinity Gauntlet, published in 1991. The infinity gauntlet is wielded by Thanos and allows him to use all the Infinity gems simultaneously.

 

   
REVIEW:  Back in December 1994, Capcom wowed Marvel and Street Fighter fans alike with X-Men: Children of the Atom, making a statement with large, colorful character sprites, ultra smooth animation, and fast-paced, exciting gameplay. To further prove what the amazing artists over at Capcom could do with the Marvel license, the team brought together an even more iconic cast of Marvel characters in 1995's Marvel Super Heroes, featuring the comic-book icons such as: Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk, and Captain America. A few returning X-Men returned as well... because why not?
 

 
In more ways than one, Capcom's second attempt at a Marvel-themed 2D fighter raised the bar yet again in the arcade and console 2D fighting game climate of 1995-1997. Marvel Super Heroes really was a breakthrough 2D fighting game in terms of visuals and gameplay, paving the way for what would later become Capcom's Marvel VS Series. Everything about the game shines and begs you to play it.
   

  
Even from a casual 2D fighting game fan's perspective (or even from the perspective of a non video game player), Marvel Super Heroes is an impressive visual feat. What comic book nerd wouldn't want to see The Hulk finally duke it out with Juggernaut, or watch a beautifully-animated dream match of Spider-Man VS Captain America? No doubt, Capcom's beautiful 2D spritework was very much ahead its time, and actually still look awesome to this day! Marvel Super Heroes presented some of the largest and beefiest 2D character sprites to date, and even the big guys like Hulk and Blackheart show off ultra-smooth animations - something that not all 2D fighting games of the era could pull off quite so well.
 

Not only does Marvel Super Heroes look incredibly stylish and smooth... the gameplay was innovative for the time and especially fun! The Infinity Gem system offers a deeper level of gameplay than most 2D fighters of the time period (we'll talk more about that later). Marvel Super Heroes also refined the air-combo system from X-Men: COTA, making air-combos even more intuitive and fun to perform. While the combo system was open-ended and fun for casual / advanced players, the system also contained some ridiculous (and very cheap) infinite combos that expert players could pull off with ease (and take a round in literally seconds).


In addition to the crazy and highly entertaining combos, Marvel Super Heroes presented some of the flashiest special moves and most dramatic super moves to ever appear in a 2D fighting game to date. Hearing the Marvel icons scream out their super moves as they perform them definitely enhanced the effect as well! PROTON CANNON!!! ...GAMMA CRUSH!!! ...MAXIMUM SPIDER!!! (All of these are now legendary, timeless super moves than any fighting game player worth their salt knows and loves. Don't forget many of them originated in this game.) On the subject of voice acting, MSH could have gone in a very wrong direction with the wrong talent, but needless to say, Capcom got the right people for the job... and every character sounds amazing.

 

 

On top of the solid and fun gameplay engine, the ability to pick up and use "Infinity Gems" to enhance your character's abilities mid-fight is also an innovative and fun gameplay element. The types of Gems that players can use during gameplay include: Time Gem (allowing faster movement speed), Space Gem (enabling super armor), Soul Gem (life recovery), Power Gem (powered-up attacks), Reality Gem (additional attack effects), and the Mind Gem (allows character to recover 2 energy levels very quickly). Characters can pick up numerous Gems at once, stacking them. However, if a character is hit by a powerful attack, they will drop one of there Gems which could be picked up by the opponent. Furthermore, certain Gems give specific characters unique enhancements (ex. Reality Gem gives Blackheart temporarily invisibility)! Part of the fun is experimenting with what each character can do with each Gem. Brilliant!


As a fighting game... Marvel Super Heroes was a noticeable improvement over X-Men: Children of the Atom, and even brought back some of the earlier cast (which returning players certainly appreciated). Overall, Marvel Supers Heroes is a fighting game anyone can pick up and play, but contains plenty of depth for the hardcore players as well. In high level play, the-ultra cheap infinite combos and tricks that players can use to dominate arguably "break" the game... but you can't really fault a 1995 fighting game for balance issues. (Plus, if you meet a fellow player who knows some infinites, it's still a fun gameplay experience on its own).

Page Updated: November 5th, 2021 Developer(s): Capcom Publisher(s): Capcom Designer(s): Takeshi Tezuka, Tetsuya Iijima, Atsushi Tomita, Kiyoshi Nishikawa, Kei Hiratou, Satoru Kimura Artwork By: Akiman   Character Art Arthur Adams   Poster / Promo Art Platform(s): Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PSN, XBL Release Date(s): Oct. 24th, 1995                Arcade Nov. 1995                            Arcade Aug. 8th, 1997                  Saturn Sept. 25th, 1997              PS1 Sept. 29th, 1997              PS1 / Saturn Sept. 25th, 2012            PSN - in MVC: Origins Sept. 26th, 2012            XBLA - in MVC: Origins Characters:  Hulk, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Magneto, Juggernaut, Iron Man, Psylocke, Captain America, Shuma-Gorath, Blackheart, Dr. Doom, Thanos, Anita ( version) Featured Video: Related Games: X-Men: Children of the Atom, X-Men VS Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter, Marvel VS Capcom, Marvel VS Capcom: Origins, Marvel VS Capcom 2, Marvel VS Capcom 3, Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3, Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite, King of Fighters '95, Darkstalkers 2, Fatal Fury 3, Street Fighter Alpha, Mortal Kombat 3, Golden Axe: The Duel, Killer Instinct 2    Gameplay Engine  8.5 / 10 Story / Theme  9.5 / 10 Overall Graphics  9.0 / 10 Animation  10 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  9.0 / 10 Innovation  9.5 / 10 Art Direction  10 / 10 Customization  6.5 / 10 Options / Extras  7.5 / 10 Intro / Presentation  9.5 / 10 Replayability / Fun  8.0 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  9.0 / 10 Characters  8.5 / 10 BOTTOM LINE  8.9 / 10  Review based on Arcade version        Final Words: An artistic and visual triumph... 1995's Marvel Super Heroes was another big statement from Capcom, perhaps changing the face of fighting games forever. Capcom proved they have a lot more up their sleeves than just new Street Fighter and Darkstalkers titles. Not many other 2D fighters of the era even came close to the animation quality, groundbreaking aesthetic, or gameplay prowess of Marvel Super Heroes. Fans of X-Men: Children of the Atom might've felt a bit disappointed in MSH, since many characters from the prequel were sadly M.I.A. Clearly, Capcom wanted to focus mainly on the "big names" of Marvel this time around. Even with the slightly smaller character roster, MSH felt more comprehensive than Capcom's first Marvel fighting game, and was more fun to play, in my book. Thanks to the solid visuals and gameplay, Capcom had themselves yet another hit at the arcades and on home consoles. MSH itself didn't have quite the longevity of some other 90's fighters, as it was quickly succeeded by 1996's X-Men VS Street Fighter and 1997's MSH VS Street Fighter. (Damn, that sure was an awesome time to be an arcade-goer). *sigh* Moment of nostalgia.... ^__^ Worth mentioning... the clever fighting styles Capcom created for Marvel's heroes and villains remained unchanged when they reappeared in Capcom's various VS Series sequels (even in MVC3, 17 years after this game!!!). This made it easy for returning players to jump right into the sequels and start having fun. Also worth noting, the catchy BGM themes that debuted in MSH carried over to many of the sequels, receiving a variety of killer remixes along the way. With each and every musical remix was a huge fan service to all the players who enjoyed Capcom's original MSH back in the mid 90's. ~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen    Click Here for Posters / Box Art / Movelists! Click Here for more animated stages!