When Capcom released its first Marvel-based fighting game, X-Men: Children of the Atom, back in 1994, it had one feature that quickly differentiated it from other fighting games of the day: its super jump height. Children of the Atom’s stages had a playing field that was over twice as high as it was wide, and allowed characters to explore this space with super jumps and air combos. This verticality became a series staple for later Marvel fighting games from Capcom.
More than just differentiating the games in what would become the Marvel Versus series from other fighters, the series’ verticality brought a giant shift in how the game was balanced, compared to traditional 2D fighters.
Airspace Control
To understand why the Marvel series’ super jump height brought about such a massive shift in balance, we first need to look at one of the most important concepts behind 2D fighting games. At their core, 2D fighting games are primarily about space control. Each move controls a certain amount of space, and the properties assigned to that move, hit boxes, hurt boxes, vulnerabilities, and even frame data determine how good that move is at controlling that space.
One of the most important spaces to control in fighting games is the air, as jumping is a common way to bypass moves that control horizontal space. In most games prior to X-Men: Children of the Atom, this was a risky move since jump-ins could easily be punished by anti-airs–moves that control vertical space. There are two factors in these games that help make anti-airs strong. First, they start from the ground; a character does not have to jump to perform them. Second, the vertical space of the game is itself quite low–meaning that these anti-airs don’t have to control as much space.
With the super jump height of the Marvel series’ however, traditional anti-airs are weakened. The higher vertical height makes it easier for characters to get around them. Additionally, players also must give up a lot of horizontal space on the ground when pulling them off. Combine this with the additional options in both movement and attacking that super jumps give, and being higher up can be much more advantageous in these games.
For a practical example of how the Marvel series’ vertical space affects balance, look no further than its effect on the “shoto” moveset. The shoto moveset of Ryu (and Ken) has been called by some “the perfect moveset,” with a projectile to control horizontal space, a rising uppercut to control vertical space, and third move (the tatsumaki kick) that moves them forward. In the Marvel Versus games however, this moveset isn’t quite as perfect: Ryu cannot implement his traditional zoning game because super jumping makes it so much easier to get around both his horizontal and vertical space control tools. What was “the perfect moveset” in Street Fighter II is no longer such in the Marvel games, and Ryu tends to struggle in these games as a result.
Breaking Traditional Space Control Roles
The verticality of the Marvel series required a significant rethink of how space control was implemented in the series. The solution that Capcom came up with was to break the traditional space control roles, to help fill out the void left by these weakened anti-airs.
This breaking of traditional roles can be seen in how the series reworks the tools for controlling horizontal space, projectiles and long range pokes, and uses them to control vertical space as well. Perhaps, the most straightforward example of this is how certain anti-airs, such as Cyclop’s “Gene Splice” and Charlie’s “Flash Kick,” gained projectile elements. Other characters gained a myriad of vertical and diagonal projectiles as they were brought into the series.
Beams on the other hand aren’t true projectiles (they’re not separate from the character), but function as long pokes, like Dhalsim’s limbs in Street Fighter, but without vulnerable hurtboxes. These include beams that go purely vertical such as Storm’s “Typhoon,” Dormammu’s “Purification,” and of course Captain Commando’s “Captain Corridor.”
Aside from allowing these tools to control space from the ground, the series also allows them to control space from the air–going downward, instead of upwards. This is arguably even better, as it allows a character to keep their opponent grounded while maintaining the high ground. Even more devious is when we have a projectile that does both, such as Dr. Doom’s “Hidden Missiles,” allowing for the advantages of both, making for a very useful move (this alone may be the main enabler for Morrigan’s “Astral Vision” trap).
Of course, with projectiles and pokes being given greater roles, other special moves, as well as movement itself, needed to be made stronger. Part of this was done by giving characters more aerial movement, such as multi-directional air dashes. However, that isn’t the only solution (nor the most interesting): some characters instead received aerial moves that moved quickly through the field while dealing damage.
Meanwhile, some characters who may not have had a lot of aerial options were given really good ground options instead. These characters, such as Vergil, Wolverine, and Strider, were designed so that they could lock an opponent down and prevent them from taking to the air. In fact, most pixie-style rushdown characters fall into this style, using a combination of fast movement, and the occasional teleport for some characters to bulldog their opponents.
Now, while traditional anti-airs have had their role lessened, they still have their place. These moves become more focused into being reversals, or combo filler. Yes, some effort was made to try to make them more effective in the early games, either by increasing their range, or just flat out giving them projectiles. However later versions seemed more in tune with making them excel in their limited roles such as making Wolverine’s “Tornado Claw” cancel-able to super.
Taking these together, we can see that a good combination of vertical space control beams or projectiles, combined with good movement or fast moving specials, would be the Marvel series’ equivalent of a “perfect moveset.” Indeed, this has become the foundation of some of the best teams in the later, assist-heavy incarnations of the series such as Justin Wong’s Storm/Sentinel/Cyclops in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, or Chris G’s Morrigan/Dr. Doom/ Vergil in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Moving Forward
Now a good number of you must already be ready to type comments about how the Marvel games aren’t the only ones with a tall stages and super jumps, and you’d be right. The series may be the ur-example of this, but other games have followed suit and given their own takes on verticality in 2D fighters. This makes the concepts first explored in the Marvel games’ all the more important for both developers and players to understand.
For the developers looking to create similar fighting games with any degree of verticality, understanding the concepts first put out in the Marvel series–and then adapted by other games–can help them with their own games. Understanding how the vertical space affects balance ultimately leads to better-balanced games.
Meanwhile, for players like us, understanding these concepts can help us make better choices in-game: both in our choice of which characters to use, and the moves and tactics that we employ with these characters–leading us to be better players.