“This is the greatest fighting game ever!” That is the exact statement that Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds writer Frank Tieri made about the highly anticipated Capcom fighting game due in stores Spring 2011.  Those are some pretty bold words considering the amount of memorable and brilliant fighting games that have come out before MvC3:FTW. From games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Killer Instinct, and who knows how many more excellent fighting games from who knows how many series have come out that can lay claim to that title as well.

To make a claim like that, he has got to have the greatest of confidence in the game, and really all people involved should be confident in their product otherwise why the fuck do it. But Tieri has to be pretty confident about the product they are about to put out to make a statement like that. Saying something like that and if the game ends up sucking, man, you had better enjoy the taste of foot because yours will be so far up it, it won’t be funny.

Still, one can look at the trailers and characters involved and really see that he may have a legitimate claim to that statement. Given the roster that was all ready known before Comic Con (Wolverine, Iron, Hulk, Captain America, and Deadpool for Marvel and Ryu, Morrigan, Chris Redfield, Felicia, and Dante for Capcom), the addition of the three new characters from each side (Doctor Doom and Super-Skrull on the floor and Thor during the panel for Marvel and Chun-Li and Trish on the floor and Amaterasu during the panel for Capcom) does satisfy that need from fans to see both new and exciting characters to play with. And based on what I can tell the graphics, the use of the MT Framework engine makes the game look damn beautiful to play. Throw in the familiarity of not just the previous VS gameplay mechanics, but also the fact that the game looks very similar to the hugely popular Street Fighter IV game, and you have a good start to get players salivating to get their hands on this game.

But a high level on anticipation does not make a good game. Ask any publisher out there; they have all had hugely anticipated games only to have them bust and take a huge loss on them. The game has to meet the sometimes impossibly high expectations of fans to really even make a mark nowadays much less become considered among the best in your genre. You have got to deliver in more ways than what you might imagine to come close to what fans expect. There is the music, how the game plays online, achievements/trophies, how it plays with both a fighting stick and the standard controller, and many, many more factors.

Then, only after meeting those expectations, you then have the arduous task of comparing the game to those that have come before and have had greatly significant impacts in the fighting genre. I am talking about games like Street Fighter II (which helped put the fighting genre prominently on the map), Mortal Kombat (which took the maturity of the genre to levels that made it popular with the older set), Tekken and Vitua Fighter (which helped show that fighting games can work on a three dimensional field successfully), Killer Instinct (which popularized those insane multiple hit combos), and many more out there that have made more contributions than I can list here.

The makers and fans on MvC:FTW are going to have to scrutinize and then compare what they have and really put it under a microscope to see if what they put out and play would even stand a chance against those that I listed up there. From a fans point of view, I really do hope that the game is successful. I was a big fan of the work that Capcom had done on the previous works they had collaborated with Marvel on. Ever since X-Men: Children of the Atom I have been a huge fan of what they did. And then to follow that up with a string of one successful title after another, they themselves set a high bar as they damn near perfected that 3 member team combat style that they will again be utilizing with this game.

So now, and I know that I shouldn’t but it is in my nature to do so, I am going to hold Frank Tieri to that statement. That game had better deliver on so many levels. Not just because of what he said though. No, that simply isn’t it. You see, I also happen to be one of those hardcore Marvel Vs Capcom fans who have been clamoring for the third game to be made ever since Capcom went and expanded their Vs series to other properties. I have been waiting for them to come back around and work with Marvel for so long that I just about gave up on the prospect of another Marvel and Capcom collaboration ever happening. But the fates have seen fit to grant me this wish. So I am going to wait, with high expectations, and this game had better deliver. I am the person who won’t make a promise or statement if I can’t keep my word on it, and I expect it from others as well.Besides, with the abbreviated letters FTW at the end of your title, you had better deliver one hell of a great game.