Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

It's no secret that I don't like Marvel (under Disney) now. I believe Disney RUINED Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite from reaching whatever true potential it had. I was excited for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite only to find out that it's got a lackluster roster and no arcade endings. Sure, there was the Story Mode which doesn't have to be spectacular. However, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite ended with a bad roster presumably due to the feud with Fox. I bought Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection so I could play the classic 1990s games. Yes, the good old days and I want to replay a close-authentic arcade experience. I could finally play Marvel vs. Capcom crossover games with the full crossover.  I played Marvel Super Heroes all over again. The default difficulty made me experience arcade frustration all over again. The PSX version was slightly easier although Doctor Doom maintained his, "I'm so good at keepaway! Doo dah! Doo dah!" Doctor Doom was a real bastard due ...

I remember playing Marvel Super Heroes and Psylocke was my main character. Psylocke was my top pick either due to the Smurfette Principle or was it because she had cool moves? I didn't care too much about X-Men: Children of the Atom due to its monstrous difficulty. However, Marvel Super Heroes was far more appealing to me. It had better graphics and more reasonable difficulty. I find Doctor Doom and Thanos reasonably difficult compared to how Juggernaut and Magneto were in X-Men: COTA . It turns out Psylocke wasn't popular with the animators but only in the comics. Psylocke was probably an odd choice because she wasn't a regular in Saban's X-Men: The Animated Series . Marvel Super Heroes also featured other villains that were too oddball like Shuma Gorath, Blackheart, and the final boss Thanos. Thanos wasn't featured in any more animated variants aside from the Silver Surfer cartoon. Meanwhile, Magneto, Juggernaut, and Doctor Doom (a boss) are the easily recognizabl...

  I bought Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection -- the game that brought the 1990s (and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Super Heroes ) in one disc. After all, it's already the eighth-ninth-generation console. That means there's more power than the fifth-generation consoles that forced the creation of the EX Edition of X-Men vs. Street Fighter up to Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes . I played both games to try and get the trophies. I could conclude that Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was pure hype compared to Marvel vs. Capcom .  Marvel vs. Capcom 2 came out in the early 2000s. It's easy to get hyped because almost all the characters from the Marvel vs. Capcom series are there. Norimaro wasn't added which wasn't a big loss either. Finally, I could play Psylocke again (who was my main in Marvel Super Heroes ). I see all the characters from the crossover series as well. 3 vs. 3 was definitely something new. It was exciting to see what teams one could form. In my case, I ...

Apparently, there would be no stage fatalities in Mortal Kombat 1 -- presumably due to devotion towards the Kameo Fighters and the Animalities. I would like to do a rundown on the Stage Fatalities throughout the years. How did it evolve, get removed (or replaced) and it returned again but got overshadowed by other stuff. Now, let's begin with the Stage Fatalities. The first Mortal Kombat game introduced it but it wasn't counted as a fatality yet. That's unless one did Liu Kang's Cartwheel over at The Pit! One could uppercut the opponent at The Pit and the opponent would fall into the razor sharp spikes. It was a simplistic stage. However, things got a little more complicated as the Stage Fatalities evolved. Mortal Kombat II introduced three Stage Fatalities and a rumor. There was the rumored Living Forest Stage Fatality -- something that was realized in Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks and Mortal Kombat (2011) . There was the rumor of the meathook fatality at the Dead Pool -...

Johnny Cage may not be my top favorite character. However, he's still among my favorite characters nonetheless. Sure, I'm a Liu Kang fanboy but I felt giving Johnny Cage (and Cassie Cage) their time to shine prevented overexposure for Liu Kang. Johnny's development from the cocky movie star he was (and the OG timeline didn't develop him too much) to an older, more mature version of himself was indeed fun to watch. Mortal Kombat (2011) is the franchise's reincarnation after Mortal Kombat: Armageddon . I still hate the fact that Shao Kahn defeated Blaze rather than being the victor of the third unexpected outcome. Everything goes back to square one with the concept of multiple timelines . In short, Kronika's meddling with time has caused people to suffer through countless reincarnations! Johnny Cage's green energy wasn't explained until Mortal Kombat (2011) . It turns out he was a descendant of powerful warriors. He was unaware of his origins until it was ...

Mortal Kombat (2011) is that one game that's hard to get go. Sure, I enjoyed Mortal Kombat X the most from the reboot trilogy. Mortal Kombat 11 probably didn't do much while I still enjoy using Shao Kahn and pretending to be the evil guy. However, Mortal Kombat 11 may have been too focused on fanservice such as Shao Kahn's playability or Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa reprising his role yet again. Right now, I'm perfectly fine if Cary wouldn't voice Shang Tsung (again) due to his age and real life issues. I'm already thinking of stuff like, "Sooner or later the PS3's gonna break." Yeah, I would get too busy to play Mortal Kombat (2011) later in life. However, I feel the game shouldn't suffer the well-deserved fate of Mortal Kombat Trilogy . Mortal Kombat Trilogy doesn't deserve a re-release for being a badly broken game IMHO! Two years ago, Ed Boon actually revealed the problem with Mortal Kombat (2011) . Remastering the game is no easy feat . I hope...

Right now, I still have no plans for a PS5. I'm disappointed with the direction that Mortal Kombat took with Fire God Liu Kang's new messy era. I'm also disappointed with how Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite had so many bad reviews, missing X-Men characters, and how Disney has messed up Marvel. Marvel vs. Capcom: Fighting Collection is an interesting nostalgia trip -- way back before Disney (and Warner Bros.) bought as many franchises. Many can remember when Warner Bros. bought Midway out of bankruptcy and hence Mortal Kombat fell to their territory. Back then, Marvel was still cool and it takes me back to memory lane. The memory lane when Haim Saban actually handled something he knew better than Toei. Saban adapted the X-Men franchise and created a cartoon series out of it. I couldn't handle Power Rangers  but Saban's handling of Marvel has been far better! The fighting collection can remind me why the arcade was a quarter eater. Playing the games on default can have th...