Nintendo vs. Capcom is a topic I’ve covered on here before.
The idea of two of the best-known studios in classic and modern gaming coming
together for one big fighting game project is a dream game for many and if it
is ever announced, it is sure to garner lots of attention.
After watching a review video relating to a different
fighting game, I recently came to an idea as to how a roster like this might be
built. The video will be linked below, but it basically states that the
characters added fall into four different categories. They are:
1 - the icons/biggest characters for each studio’s biggest
series
2 - characters involved in previous fighting games and were
either popular or top-tier picks
3 - characters representing series that are currently
relevant and successful or have a new high-profile project currently under
development
4 - wild card characters that are either developer
favorites, fan favorites, or have potential for a creative or wacky move-set
idea or presentation
(I can't insert the video, so here's the link.)
Using those categories, we can piece together a viable
hypothetical roster for Nintendo vs. Capcom. To keep things fair, a series can
only have a maximum of 4 characters, but spin-off series, like Donkey Kong
Country or Mega Man X, can count as their own separate series.
Part 1: The Icons
This will probably be the shortest section. For this, we will pull one character each from each studio’s biggest franchises. For Nintendo, the big three are Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokemon, and for Capcom, the big three are Mega Man, Street Fighter, and Resident Evil.
The picks are:
Mario (Super Mario)
Link (The Legend of Zelda)
Charizard (Pokemon)
Mega Man (Mega Man)
Ryu (Street Fighter)
Leon Kennedy (Resident Evil)
The first two for each company were probably a given, but the
last ones may need some explaining. Pikachu may be the mascot of the Pokemon
franchise, but for a fighting game where most of the combatants are in a size
range comparable to average humans, Pikachu may be a bit too small for main
consideration in an outing like this, so his spot was given to a larger Pokemon
that was just as popular, if not more so, Charizard. As for Leon Kennedy,
Resident Evil 4, which Leon is the main character in, is widely regarded as one
of the best games of all-time by different sources and it started out as an
exclusive for the Nintendo GameCube. So, the main character of a very
successful game with a strong connection to Nintendo; a strong case for
inclusion here.
Part 2: The Fighters
To figure out these characters, we’re looking at Eventhubs, a website for fighting game news and competitive guides for fighting games old and new. Eventhubs features up-to-date tier lists for different games as well as popularity lists showing pick rates for a roster’s characters.
For this section, we’ll choose 4 Nintendo fighting games and
4 Capcom fighting games, then use Eventhubs’ lists to choose the number one
most popular character and the number one highest tier character to add to our
roster. Though if a game has third party guest characters, those will be
ignored. If a game isn’t featured for one or both lists, an alternate method of
selection will be chosen and explained below.
Our 4 Nintendo games are Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super
Smash Bros. 4, Pokken Tournament DX, and ARMS, as all are currently supported
or popular fighting games. The case is the same for our 4 Capcom games, Marvel
vs. Capcom Infinite, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Street Fighter V, and
Darkstalkers 3. By taking just two characters per game, that will give us 8
total for each side.
The picks here are:
For Super Smash Bros. Melee: Marth (Fire Emblem) & Fox
McCloud (Star Fox)
For Super Smash Bros. 4: Captain Falcon (F-Zero) & Diddy
Kong (Donkey Kong Country)
For Pokken Tournament DX: Lucario & Mewtwo
For ARMS: Twintelle & Min Min
For Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite: Jedah Dohma (Darkstalkers)
& Dante (Devil May Cry)
For Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Zero (Mega Man X) &
Nathan Spencer (Bionic Commando)
For Street Fighter V: Karin Kanzuki & Cammy White
For Darkstalkers 3: Morrigan Aensland & Lord Raptor
For most of these characters, it was easy. They were either
at the top of the popularity or tiers lists or close to the top. Eventhubs
didn’t have popularity lists for Darkstalkers 3 or Pokken Tournament DX, but
Morrigan was chosen as the “popular” character since she seems to be a favored
addition for Capcom crossover games anyway and Lucario was chosen as he was in
the top 3 for the tier list and has been a consistently popular Pokemon (see
his inclusion in the Smash Bros. series if you need further proof).
Since ARMS isn’t featured at all on Eventhubs, a character
poll on the site Nintendo Life (http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/05/poll_who_is_your_favourite_arms_fighter)
showed that Twintelle was the most popular character and a community tier list
found on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/ARMS/comments/8hikdz/results_of_arms_tier_list_poll_may_2018/)
showed that Min Min, who placed second on the popularity list, is also a
high-ranking powerful character.
Part 3: The Stars
In what is likely to be another short section, there will be one character pulled from each of the series listed here, each being a significant character from those series. A list of recent and future releases (https://www.giantbomb.com/capcom/3010-367/published/) shows the series that Capcom is currently paying attention to include Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Mega Man, Mega Man X, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, Dead Rising, and Ace Attorney. Meanwhile, the series currently listed on Nintendo’s own website as having best-selling games for the Nintendo Switch and 3DS include Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Splatoon, Donkey Kong Country, Pokemon, and Fire Emblem with some notable future releases including a new Metroid game and DLC for the current Xenoblade Chronicles game.
The Nintendo picks are:
Bowser (Super Mario)
Ganondorf (The Legend of Zelda)
Agent 3 (Splatoon)
Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong Country)
Decidueye (Pokemon)
Robin (Fire Emblem)
Samus Aran (Metroid)
Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Bowser and Ganondorf made it in as the main villains of
their respective series, Samus and Donkey Kong made it in as the main heroes of
their respective series, Rex is the main character of the most recent Xenoblade
game, Agent 3 is now a recurring character in the Splatoon series (with a boss
battle in Splatoon 2 now giving her/him a confirmed set of weapons and skills
to work with), Robin represents the modern Fire Emblem games with Marth
representing the classic era, and Decidueye is a popular Pokemon with the
current Gen 7 games.
The Capcom picks are:
Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Albert Wesker (Resident Evil)
Dr. Wily (Mega Man)
Sigma (Mega Man X)
Akuma (Street Fighter)
Monster Hunter (Monster Hunter)
Frank West (Dead Rising)
Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney)
The first five made it in as the main antagonists of their
respective series, Frank and Phoenix make it in as recurring protagonists of
their series, and a Monster Hunter makes it in to represent the different kinds
of hunters that players can use in the games (like the Monster Hunter in Marvel
vs. Capcom Infinite).
Part 4: The Wild Cards
For this section, we will be adding two of each of the
previously mentioned kinds of wild card characters, with each side getting two developer favorites,
two fan favorites, and two characters with experimental move-sets. For extra
appeal, the experimental characters will be from more obscure series that
neither company has utilized in a while, because part of the draw of these
rosters is seeing what characters will be revived for these games.
Nintendo Dev Favs: Wolf O’Donnel (Star Fox) & Kirby
(Kirby)
For Nintendo, the developers focused on were Mario creator
Shigeru Miyamoto and Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai. Miyamoto has said
on different occasions that he wishes the Star Fox series was more popular and
Sakurai’s main series to work on apart from Smash Bros. has been the Kirby
series. Taking one character from each game gives us Fox’s main rival from Star
Fox, Wolf O’Donnel, and Kirby from the Kirby series. As I stated in a previous
article, to remedy any concerns about Kirby being too small, equipping him with
one of the mechs from the game Kirby: Planet Robobot would put him more with
the other characters size-wise.
Capcom Dev Favs: Mike Haggar (Final Fight) & Batsu
Ichimonji (Rival Schools)
The developers focused on for Capcom were Street Fighter
producer Yoshinori Ono and Capcom fighting game director Hideaki Itsuno. The
bulk of Ono’s experience in gaming is with Street Fighter and while the series
itself has already hit its maximum here with 4 characters, Mike Haggar from
Final Fight would serve as a good nod to Ono, as Final Fight has heavily
crossed over with Street Fighter as of recent games. For Itsuno, the fighting
series Rival Schools was one of the earlier series he worked on and he has
hinted at different times at an interest in reviving the series, so the series’
main character Batsu Ichimonji would make sense as a roster addition here.
Nintendo Fan Favs: Zelda (The Legend of Zelda) & Luigi
(Super Mario)
Capcom Fan Favs: Jill Valentine (Resident Evil) & Arthur
(Ghosts N Goblins)
The case is the same here for both Nintendo and Capcom.
Numerous fan polls have consistently listed these characters as being very
popular, even reaching the top 10 on many of the lists relating to their studios.
Nintendo Experimental Characters: Isaac (Golden Sun) &
Andy (Advance Wars)
Best known for their time on Nintendo handhelds, the main
characters from Golden Sun and Advance Wars are still popular among fans who
fondly remember their games. Isaac can not only use a sword, but also Psynergy
abilities to not only attack the opponent but also potentially manipulate the
battlefield. Andy, being a more militaristic character can call in potential
aid from infantry, tanks, or other vehicles seen in the Advance Wars games.
Capcom Experimental Characters: Rei (Breath of Fire) &
Zack & Wiki (Zack & Wiki)
There were a few characters who could represent the Breath
of Fire series, with Breath of Fire 3 being one of its more popular entries, but
since there already is a “Ryu” in the game and Nina seems like a bit less of a
fighter than some other characters, Rei seemed like the next logical choice,
with a good mechanic for him being to call in some of his allies for different
moves and combos, including Ryu and Nina. As for Zack & Wiki, the stars of
a high-ranking but low-selling game on the Wii, Zack could be the main fighter,
with Wiki assisting him in some moves, and they both could use items and puzzle
elements from their game as attacks or battlefield manipulation.
FINAL RESULTS
So, now, we have our final roster. Both sides have 25
characters, giving us an even roster of 50. If that seems like a big number, it’s
the same size as the final version of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and smaller
than the roster of the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Also, keep in mind,
that for a game as highly anticipated as Nintendo vs. Capcom might be, the
developers would probably want to give gamers more bang for their buck.
Emphasis on the bang.
Nintendo Side: Mario, Bowser, Luigi, Link, Ganondorf, Zelda,
Charizard, Lucario, Mewtwo, Decidueye, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Marth, Robin, Fox,
Wolf, Twintelle, Min Min, Samus, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Agent 3, Rex, Isaac,
Andy
Capcom Side: Mega Man, Dr. Wily, Ryu, Karin, Cammy, Akuma,
Leon, Wesker, Jill, Morrigan, Jedah, Lord Raptor, Dante, Vergil, Zero, Sigma,
Spencer, Monster Hunter, Frank West, Phoenix Wright, Haggar, Batsu, Arthur,
Rei, Zack & Wiki
=
A custom-made roster like this is sure to leave out a lot of
people’s favorite characters. (Heck, if I were to just pick my own favorite characters
to put in here instead of setting up rules and guidelines, this roster would
look very different.) So, what are your thoughts on this article? What
characters would you choose for Nintendo vs. Capcom? Would you set up
guidelines for inclusion or just pick your favorites? Make your voice heard in
the comments below. Thanks for coming!
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