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 recognizable ones. Magneto and Doctor Doom were toned down but still cheesy!
I picked Psylocke a lot when I had the game on our now-defunct PSX. Psylocke was quicker and easier to use without being cheesy like Iron Man. Sure, Wolverine was my second but Psylocke was actually easier to use. Psylocke might be considered great for beginners here compared to X-Men: COTA. It was fun experimenting on her Psi-Blast directions or the different ways to use the Psi-Blade. It was also fun to try out Psylocke's teleport though it can be THAT TRICKY. Psylocke's Super Moves can be beautifully deadly. The Psi-Maelstom was tricky but did THE MOST DAMAGE. The Psi-Thrust was cool but toned down. The Kochou Gakure was pretty much a close-range juggle.
However, things really went downhill (a bit) for me with X-Men vs. Street Fighter. Why was Psylocke not included in the roster? Since Psylocke wasn't popular with the animators then DO. CHECK. THE. ROSTER. OF. X-MEN. CHARACTERS. Magneto, Juggernaut, Sabertooth, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, and Cyclops are THAT EASILY RECOGNIZABLE. Those people are easily made regulars in Saban's X-Men: COTA. I wonder why Psylocke wasn't popular with the animators. She suffered from the same treatment that Iceman and Colossus had. For some reason, Saban's X-Men: COTA had this weakness. Iceman was just a guest character. Colossus was just a guest character. Psylocke was just a guest character. Angel was just a guest character. Dazzler was just a guest character. If only the crew behind X-Men: TAS could explain their choice of characters! TBH I think Colossus and Dazzler should've been regular characters like they were in Pryde of the X-Men. I still like the idea of turning Juggernaut from a mystically enhanced human into a Human Mutant -- something that could've added conflict to Professor X's storyline even more than the comics!
Psylocke was among those Apocalypse captured. Psylocke was made non-playable not just in X-Men vs. Street Fighter but even in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. It was something that Omega Red wasn't in X-Men vs. Street Fighter but was in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Granted, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter was a quick arcade follow-up. That means the staff involved barely had time. I believe they could've kept a gap of more than a year to think things through. Instead, everything was rushed. I believe Psylocke should've been in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter instead of Cyclops. However, it seems Cyclops was added instead because he was established as Ryu's partner during the crossover. Strangely, Cyclops got demoted as a Special Partner in Marvel vs. Capcom while Ryu was in the main roster. Psylocke was reduced to just a Special Partner too. Okay, what's up with that? I felt that the Special Partner mechanic was a weakness in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. I felt the mechanic should've been used to add more characters -- INCLUDING PSYLOCKE!
Psylocke got playable again in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. However, the game was that bloated due to the 3 vs. 3 matches. I would've probably just settled for a Wolverine/Psylocke team since the two were good sidekicks. Yeah, I shipped Wolverine x Psylocke even if it seems Wolverine x Storm is the preferred shipping. By that time, I was probably in the minority. By then, Psylocke didn't make it into Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Worse, Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite ruined that chance because of some disputes that disallowed X-Men characters from ever showing up.
These days, I don't care anymore about popularity. Instead, I'm going to simply say that I can have an unpopular stand. Popularity is not always a good measure of quality. Something can be popular but it may not have good quality. Popularity can also create several comfort zones that prevent franchises from ever going forward. I don't care if Psylocke may not be that popular. She remains to be one of my favorite characters.
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