Marvel Explains Why It Brought Back Marvel vs. Capcom

Marvel Games producer Laura Hathaway recently explained why the classic Capcom and Marvel crossover series was brought back with Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. The Marvel vs. Capcom franchise was revived in a big way earlier this June when a Nintendo Direct announced a collection of classic fighting games, similar to Capcom’s other arcade collection re-releases. This was a big victory for the fighting game community, as prominent figures like Maximillian Dood and Michael B. Jordan have been campaigning for the series, specifically Marvel vs. Capcom 2, to be re-released on modern platforms.

The Marvel vs. Capcom collection contains seven arcade classics, which include titles like X-Men: Children of the Atom, to even the first collaborative project that Capcom and Marvel worked on for arcades, the 1994 The Punisher beat-em-up game. Several fans have been celebrating the announcement of this collection, both from a nostalgic and preservation standpoint. One of the producers at Marvel Games explained how this collection came to be, citing both nostalgia and wanting to surprise fans.

In a recent episode of The Official Marvel Podcast, Laura Hathaway, the Product Development Manager at Marvel Games, spoke about how these classic titles are important to fans. Recalling the rich history of the Marvel vs. Capcom series in the 1990s, she notes that the division is always looking for ways to “really surprise and delight” the fans, and reviving Marvel vs. Capcom was one such way. “We’re always looking for ways to really surprise and hopefully delight our fans. The idea of bringing [Marvel vs. Capcom] back was always really, really exciting to us, so we’re glad to finally be able to announce it,” says Hathaway.

Hathaway also discusses the nostalgia factor behind bringing back Marvel vs. Capcom and the importance of balancing nostalgia with modern conveniences. Alongside bringing the games to modern systems, she notes how the collection has all the old instruction documents, character design sheets, and music, which should be fun for players to look through the series’ history. Other features like rollback netcode and lobbies are also ways these classics have been modernized for audiences.

A few years ago, the status of Marvel vs. Capcom was quite dire, as Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite‘s troubled development had seemingly killed any chances of the series continuing. While it’s too early to tell if this could lead to a potential Marvel vs. Capcom 4, fans are excited about the series being back in the spotlight thanks to this collection.