I had a little bit of an epiphany regarding this game.
First, I want to get it out of the way that my two favorite things ever are X-Men and Street Fighter. Gambit and Guile will always be my mains in whatever game they’re in. Nothing will change this. No substitutes. X-Men and Street Fighter had more of an influence on my life than anything else I can point to.
I still remember the first time 11-year-old me walked into an arcade and saw X-Men vs Street Fighter there for the first time. It blew my mind. My two favorite things ever combined into one awesome game. And hey, there was Gambit! I distinctly remember the dream-like feeling of being there. I drew pictures of X-Men and Street Fighter characters fighting for years before that. I formed life-long friendships because of that game.
Fast forward 15 years, and here we are with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. A lot of us are disappointed that our favorites haven’t made it in, and there’s nothing that’s gonna change that. I like Hawkeye a lot, but he will absolutely never substitute Gambit. But even considering that, the more important and incredible thing is that 15 years later, a series like Marvel vs Capcom is still going. This is a series that, by all logic, should not exist. It’s absolutely amazing to me that we live in a world where this series was able to exist and still be relevant and enduring to this day, even with a 10 year gap between games.
So I guess what I’m saying is, I may be salty about my favorite character not making it in, but the more important thing is that Marvel vs Capcom has endured. Characters like Venom and Gambit may not be in this one, but they’ve obviously left a huge impression in people’s minds, so it’s only a matter of time before they’re back in the spotlight. Gambit’s already seeing a bit of a resurgence in the comics, and these things tend to snowball.
Characters like Nova and Rocket Raccoon may be nobodies to me, and characters like Gambit and Venom may be 90s relics to others, but the important thing to me right now is to help Marvel vs. Capcom to continue to endure. We lost it once, and I don’t want to see that happen again to something that, regardless of anybody’s character preference, is pretty special.
So, with that being said, I’m all outta salt and back on the hype train.