Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Interview On Character Choices And Rebalancing

Shortly after the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 announcement, we met up with Ryota Niitsuma, Producer, to discuss the updated game. Our discussion started with DLC since it was a hot topic in the comments. Then we moved on to character choices and balancing before talking about simulation games.

Will owners of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 be able to upgrade their game to Ultimate through downloadable content?

Ryota Niitsuma, Producer: Right now, we’re only thinking about releasing a disc version.

Was there a data issue like Super Street Fighter IV?

Given the development schedule, there wasn’t enough time to work out all of the details to release it as downloadable content, as well. Also, for the reason you mentioned, there is so much data in the game it was easier to go this route.

Last time we talked about Marvel vs. Capcom 3, rights for Strider were the reason he didn’t make it in the game. How did you work out those issues?

We were able to get over the hurdle about the rights with Strider. I think one of the things that helped with that is there are a lot of fans out there that really wanted to see Strider in this game. He’s been a popular character since he appeared in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and a lot of people were disappointed that he wasn’t in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Because of that, we knew if we ever went beyond 3 we would try to put Strider in the game. Because that’s one of the characters that fans, more than any other, requested for. I think that really helped us clear the rights issues with Strider.

How is Strider different from his appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom 2?

His basic attacks are all pretty powerful. When it comes to his gameplay and moves, not much has changed from Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The biggest change with Strider would be his hyper combos, that is where we made the most changes to. With his level three hyper combo, we decided to give him two different level three attacks. I think he’s the only character in the game who has two different types of level three hyper combos.

Firebrand is an interesting and surprising choice. Did you add him because the Gargoyle’s Quest titles are coming to the 3DS virtual console?¹

Adding Firebrand in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 didn’t have anything to do with any other plans with the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series. The decision to put him in was independent of that.

We were looking for an interesting character on the Capcom side, we were thinking of using a character that could fight in the air. Since we decided on that, we thought if there is anything we could do to get some sort of monster or creature-like character. That lead us in the direction of Firebrand.

He’s a fun character. He’s not as well known as the other characters in the game, but I think if you play as him, he’s a real technical character. There’s a lot of depth to Firebrand and the more you play as him the more fun you will have.

He may not fly, but the Felyne [from Monster Hunter] is an interesting character.

One of the reasons is it wasn’t just about the appearance in determining which creature character to choose. We wanted their movements and the way the behaved to be creature-like. If it came down to a choice between Felyne and Firebrand, Firebrand is more creature-like all around.

What can you tell us about Phoenix Wright?

Unfortunately, the character roster for this game is out in the open. Everyone knows the names and faces of the characters that are going to be in the game and Phoenix Wright is one of them.

Right now, we’re not saying much about him yet. We still have a lot of surprises in store in regards to all of the other characters in terms of gameplay footage and what they can do. We’ll be making that information available as we progress leading up to the release of the game. Yes, those characters are out there, but we’re not speaking much to them. At this point, we want to discuss the four characters that have been announced.

I noticed there was a Mega Man Legends stage, but Mega Man himself isn’t in the roster. Why isn’t a version of him in the game?

I’m sorry, there is no Mega Man in Ultimate. We had a lot of requests from fans for Mega Man or at least one of them to be in the game. Out of all of the requests we got for Capcom characters, he just didn’t enter the top part of the ranking. Unfortunately, he didn’t make the cut.

There aren’t as many X-Men this time around, but Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has a lot of Avengers. How were the Marvel characters selected?

When it came to the new Marvel characters for this game, we pretty much went with all of Marvel’s suggestions. We pretty much followed the list of characters they wanted for the game character for character. Maybe Marvel had some intentions for choosing that list and they wanted to focus on Avengers characters. On our side, when we were putting characters in the game, we didn’t think they were choosing Avengers over X-Men.

What kind of rebalancing did you do for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3?

There have been a lot of changes based on user feedback. We wanted to try to respond to certain requests to balance out issues and we’ve made an effort on that end. I wouldn’t say there has been a huge overhaul, but there has been some tweaking to the basic components of the game.

One example is the team air combo, we revised that a bit. You can do it at different times and the way you can incorporate it into your fighting style is a little different from the last game. You can knock a person way up into the top screen, middle level or knock them down. There are also certain moves where you can inflict nearly a meters worth of damage with one hit. In terms of that, we’ve done a lot of balancing all around.

Did you adjust the X-Factor system?

The biggest difference between Ultimate and the previous version is you can do the X-Factor in the air now. There aren’t any other big changes to it, I would say.

If you activate the X-Factor when you have one or two characters left, we tweaked the balance on it in terms of the strength and speed it gives your character.

Will Marvel vs. Capcom 3 have a story mode this time? I remember Frank Tieri from Marvel saying he was working on making a storyline for the game.

In terms of what Mr. Tieri was talking about, we focused our effort on the character endings, win quotes, and things like that. There is no official story mode that carries the game through. But, we added a few elements to expand on what’s there, but it isn’t a complete story mode that goes from beginning to end.

Since Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is built on MT Framework have you thought about bringing the game to other platforms?

I can’t really say we’re considering that right now. We’ll see how everything goes leading up to the release of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and also how sales do there. It’s not impossible, but we have not explored that option yet.

You worked on a number of Vs. series games, but if you weren’t designing those, what kind of game would you make?

Hmm… I think I’ve mentioned one time or another when I asked what kinds of games I like. I am charge of the Vs. series fighting games, but I do enjoy puzzle and simulation games. If I had a chance, I’d like to make a game like that.

And what Capcom character would you like to use for a simulation game?

I’m not sure what character would be a good fit. If I were to make a simulation game, I would make a protagonist that would suit that kind of game and maybe I could incorporate other Capcom characters as the supporting cast.