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Learning MvC2 Part 1: Engine Basics (10.15.03)
Jay "Viscant" Snyder
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 has probably the fastest pace of any 2-D fighting game ever made. Its engine is also one of the loosest and least restricting. Combine these two factors and it can overwhelm someone who doesn't really understand the game; almost anything can happen and it can come from almost anywhere. It's impossible to learn everything at once, so when trying to learn the engine, you have to simplify.
In chess, one of the central features of the game is the concept of space control. Usually the player who controls the center squares is in better position to win. The opposition is confined to less space and your stronger position can lead to more concentrated attacks. MvC2 shares some of this emphasis on space control.
Early in the lifespan of the game, an easy way to judge characters as good or not was to measure the amount of stuff they could spew out onto the screen at the same time. This was an early form of space control. Not very elegant, but it's as good a place to start as any. Look at a character like Blackheart. Any time he's in the air, he controls all the space in a wide arc in front of him and most of the space at a 45 degree angle below him. That's because his fierce and roundhouse attacks are projectiles and that's where they go.
But this isn't controlling space, so much as it's affecting space. So what's the difference? The difference is that the demons he spits out can be negated with other projectiles or beams. So really he doesn't have absolute control over the space. In most cases, this is good enough. How does a character like Zangief challenge Blackheart for any of that space? Realistically, he just can't. Blackheart dominates this match just by possessing that space. Zangief can't win without getting in close and there's never a chance to get close. Easy win. In this case, that IS control.
But TRUE control of space is when your hold on the space you're trying to use can't be negated at all. A good example of this is Cable's AHVB. In a handful of frames, he puts out a giant beam that there's no way to override. That space completely belongs to Cable. That's a good example of horizontal control. Think of the Captain Commando-B assist for vertical control. Once the corridor is out, it's not going to be overriden. Cable/Commando is a good team to learn more about space control with. You don't need to worry so much about angles, you can simply chop the screen off.
Obviously, you're not going to be constantly firing AHVBs or mashing on the Commando button. One of the great challenges of MvC2 is to use the POTENTIAL hold on space to restrict traffic. For someone learning the game, this is more of a challenge when you're trying to break contain instead of setting it up. When you're the one containing and controlling the space, you can translate the potential with ease. You're in control, so you just hit the button or do the motion when you want it. On the other side, it's more difficult to understand what the other side controls and doesn't control. Say you have Sentinel and you're facing Storm/Cable/Commando. You do low fierce against Commando. This seems safe ... Commando can't really contest that by himself. But because Cable's on the team, once he has 2 meters, he has the potential to bring in Cable instantly on the alpha counter and cancel into the super. With experience, you'll learn what you can and cannot do in situations like that. I think that's one of the easiest ways to improve your game on whatever level you play on. By learning to utilize your whole team to control space, you can quickly shut down the options the other side has and make the seemingly overwhelming number of things the other side can do a lot more manageable.
The combo engine is fairly intuitive, although if you're used to some more recent SNK/Playmore titles such as SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos or King of Fighters 2002, the progressive damage scaling might be new to you.
Every character has 143 points of life. Both Sentinel and Akuma have 143. The biggest difference in damage happens at the beginning of the combo. After about 45 hits of the Iron Man infinite, both Sentinel and Akuma are only taking 1 point of damage for hit #46, even though Sentinel has the best defense and Akuma has the worst.
A basic rule of thumb is, pile on all the strong damaging hits you can do at the beginning of the combo, then finish off with a flurry of weak hits where even when the hits are only doing 1 point per hit, the sheer number will provide the damage. Team construction can be built with the damage scaling in mind. Storm is very frequently 2nd on teams because the hail storm is a fast, guaranteed extra 20-25 hits (and therefore points of damage) to add to the end of your combo.
An example is found in a standard Magneto combo. Jump in roundhouse, low fierce, roundhouse, dash down-towards, short, forward. Then land, super jump short, forward, dash down-towards short, forward and repeat the last sequence. The beginning of the combo has all heavy hits that are doing the big damage, then the combo ends with a large number of smaller hits.
For those Guilty Gear players out there, breaking the combo intentionally then setting them up for more hits will still give you the full damage. This gives the player a choice in combos. Take the Magneto combo for example. All the hits of the infinite are only doing 1 damage point per hit. He could get the same benefit for 8-10 hits in the infinite (2-3 repetitions) by dashing under and doing low fierce to relaunch, then get back to the original scenario. Of course, the infinite is guaranteed damage if you can maintain it, whereas the reset attempt might be blocked. It's a risk-reward scenario with risks on both sides. You might make a mistake with the infinite. But you might get your reset attempt blocked. It's up to the player to decide which option is best for themselves. For example, resetting Sentinel is a dangerous matter. He takes less damage from the initial heavy hits, meaning that you get less benefit from resetting him. You should always take into account the pros and cons of damage scaling when deciding how to choose the combo that's best in that situation. Many experienced players have combos that they only do in certain scenarios, maybe as specific as a reset they only do on ONE character, or extended combos that may only work on Sentinel.
In the next section, we'll look at how different people play the game and what characters might complement your playstyle.
Discussion Thread >>
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