My Once Wild Wish: Mainline Street Fighter To Cross The MVC Hyper FIghting Zone

As I finished Street Fighter II V, I thought of revisiting games that "made the 1990s". Among them was the Marvel vs. Capcom series -- the umbrella term that retroactively added X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes as part of it, even if the first "official entry" was X-Men vs. Street Fighter, followed by Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. Basically, Capcom decided to call the series "Marvel vs. Capcom". Sure, I skipped Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinity (Disney RUINED it), but I bought the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection because I wanted to "relive" the good ol' days before Capcom got horribly mismanaged.

I remembered playing X-Men vs. Street Fighter, which was released in 1996, and it was quickly followed by Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. The Street Fighter characters went hyper with their Super Moves. Yes, Super Combos were effectively replaced with Hyper Combos. Hyper Combos were easier to input (QCF+2P, Z-Motion Forward+2P) instead of the standard inputs (QCFx2 + 1P/2P/3P to achieve a certain level). The Hyper Combos were visually more spectacular, even if they weren't "all-powerful". For example, Ryu's Shinkuu Hadouken remained a Level 1 super that could easily reach the opponent but didn't have the Level 3 damage from the Street Fighter Alpha series or how devastatingly crazy the Super Moves were in Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Honestly, I preferred playing the Marvel vs. Capcom series version of Street Fighter characters. I enjoyed the crazy spectacle, like Ryu's Shinkuu Hadouken, even if it can't get stronger with the Level 2-Level 3 version. I also enjoyed how it was MUCH EASIER to actually do the Hyper Combos with just a motion, and I get the Psycho Crusher (as a Hyper Move) from General M. Bison (who becomes more of an offensive character, and his Psycho Shot is much easier to execute) or Charlie's Sonic Blade, which was much easier -- both executed by just QCF+2P! Bison's Knee Press Nightmare is executed by QCP+2P. They have better reach but can be overridden by certain projectiles if not timed carefully.

Basically, the timeline of Street Fighter and the Marvel vs. Capcom series was pretty much released in the same year, but I'll stick to the 1990s:

• In 1994, the game X-Men: Children of the Atom (October) came out after Super Street Fighter II: Turbo (October). Akuma was a secret opponent in X-Men: Children of the Atom, which was F*CKING ANNOYING.
• In 1995, Street Fighter Alpha came out in June, and Marvel Super Heroes came out in October.
•  In 1996, we had Street Fighter Alpha 2, which came out in March 1996, followed by X-Men vs. Street Fighter followed in September 1996.
• In 1997, Street Fighter III came out in February, and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter came out in November.
• In 1998, Street Fighter Alpha 3 came out in July 1998, strangely AFTER Marvel vs. Capcom came out in February 1998. 

The gameplay of Marvel vs. Capcom was based on "controlled chaos". For example, Bison a character who didn't fly in Street Fighter in gameplay FLEW in every Marvel vs. Capcom entry he's in. Projectiles were given wider sprites even if they didn't significantly do more damage. As said, several Super Moves were already created to "fit into" Marvel like Chun Li's Kikosho formed a barrier, Dhalsim's Yoga Inferno had better reach, Charlie's Sonic Break threw a barrage of Sonic Booms, and Akuma's Messatsu Gou Hadou sent a barrage of fireballs. However, some characters get "balanced" such as Sakura can't fire Hadoukens vertically but only diagonally or that Ken's Hadouken often gets shortened to emphasize his better Shoryuken. It was those fun "rebalancing" several characters one way or another. 

The implementation of mechanics like high jumps, dashing (forward and backward), air combos, and more added to the fun. I honestly started wishing that Ryu's crouching fierce had me launc the opponent into the air for air combo that ends with a Shinkuu Hadouken ON AIR. Yes, those moments when several moves that couldn't be done in air could be done in air. I didn't want a standard street fighter. I wanted a really more controlled yet chaotic one. 

When I think about it, Street Fighter remained with the ground approach while making its characters play somewhat differently from the VS. Series. It made me think that there were limitations with the fifth-generation consoles. However, that never stopped me from wishing that Street Fighter would cross into the Hyper Combo zone. Instead, during 2000-2001, when Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was the new hype, Capcom decided to retain the traditional level with the Capcom vs. SNK games.

Sadly, at least for me, Street Fighter remains in the grounded footsies zone. Maybe, that's why I haven't played the latest Street Fighter games either. Hehe.