Month: September 2017

While Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite will brings with it a number of never before seen systems, it’s trying to temper these with a number of classic mechanics from the older games that were missing from its immediate predecessor.  One such returning mechanic however is causing some debate among players — full screen proximity guarding.

For those not familiar with it, proximity guard is a mechanic that causes characters to block if they’re within a certain distance of an attack. In the older games in the Marvel vs. series, such as Marvel vs. Capcom 2, this set distance happened to cover the whole screen. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 however did not have the same proximity guard distance.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite seems brings full screen proximity guarding back. Chrome Alchemist pointed the mechanic out in a recent tweet. Suffice to say, he wasn’t happy with it, saying that it would “hurt the game.”

Capcom, PLEASE remove full screen Proximity Guard from #MvCi this is NOT a good mechanic and will hurt your game! pic.twitter.com/4A3OL6EaFc

— Chromey McDry (@ChromeAlchemist) September 1, 2017

However, veterans of past Marvel games were quick to point out the fact that the mechanic was in prior games in the series, and that people shouldn’t make assumptions about its inclusion in Infinite. The first of which was Splyce’s Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez, followed by Prosodi J. who included a demonstration of it in action in Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

Marvel 2 has proximity guard also let the game play out it's not even released yet https://t.co/1AYJsV4ejE

— FChamp Ryan Ramirez (@fchampryan) September 2, 2017

yep pic.twitter.com/qfiHNwB4RI

— #NujabesTaughtMe (@ProsodiJ) September 2, 2017

In addition to this, Michael “Yipes” Mendoza further pointed out how the mechanic actually added depth to movement in MvC2, with it putting a premium on learning to use dashing and advanced movement to avoid it.

It actually adds depth to movement the way proximity blocking is in mvc2.If you can out move those issues,it says a lot about ur control.

— YipesIsIFC (@IFCYipeS) September 2, 2017

Now Yipes does have a point, the mechanic does add another layer to movement and spacing (and its removal is one of the myriad of reasons fundamentals feel different in the MvC3 games). That said, not everyone is happy with it, or the reasoning of these players, especially with how awkward the mechanic looks. Debate over it is happening over in the Twitter replies to these tweets, as well on the r/MvCI subreddit, and out own forums.

Do you think the return of full screen proximity guard is a good thing or a bad thing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on September 19.

Sources: Chrome Alchemist; Splyce|Filipino Champ; Prosodi J.; IFC Yipes; r/MvC3; Shoryuken forums