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.
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Capcom killed it in 1995... A masterpiece!
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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?
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T'was an amazing selection
screen.
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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.
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Huge & colorful
character sprites. All beautifully animated.
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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.
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You wanna talk dream match-ups?
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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.
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Ohh... and hugely
epic super moves, too.
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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).
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Page Updated: |
November 5th, 2021
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Developer(s): |
Capcom |
Publisher(s): |
Capcom |
Designer(s): |
Takeshi
Tezuka, Tetsuya Iijima, Atsushi Tomita, Kiyoshi
Nishikawa, Kei Hiratou, Satoru Kimura
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Artwork By: |
Akiman Character Art
Arthur Adams Poster / Promo Art
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Platform(s): |
Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PSN, XBL
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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) |
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Featured Video:
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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 |
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Gameplay
Engine
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8.5 / 10
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Story
/ Theme
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9.5 / 10
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Overall
Graphics
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9.0 / 10
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Animation
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10 / 10
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Music
/ Sound Effects
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9.0 / 10
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Innovation
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9.5 / 10
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Art Direction
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10 / 10
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Customization
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6.5 / 10
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Options / Extras
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7.5 / 10
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Intro / Presentation
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9.5 / 10
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Replayability / Fun
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8.0 / 10
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"Ouch" Factor
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9.0 / 10
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Characters
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8.5 / 10
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BOTTOM LINE
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8.9
/
10
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Review based on Arcade
version
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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
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