I arrived at the Mezzanine in SF about 4pm with a few hours to kill before the doors opened. There were already about 100 people in line ahead of me. I propped open my camping chair and proceeded to watch Starship Troopers on my psp and drink a couple cans of Barq's Rootbeer
. The windows of the building were covered in comic panels featuring various heroes we love to follow.
The venue eventually got quite full of people with dj/hip hop artists performing all night. The guests included DJ Qbert (WHO KILLED IT), David Banner, Hieroglyphics, and special guest Wu Tang
I got in and immediately found a line to jump on the game. Marvel vs Capcom 3 was set up on island stations with six tvs per island, and approximately twenty total in the venue. Each station has two tournament edition arcade sticks. To jump straight to the point, the game is fantastic! I played a TON of matches throughout the 4 hour event, and kept finding something new I liked about the game.
I waited in line for my first chance to play the game with a friend that was an old player of street fighter II but very out of practice. I told him to even the odds I would only use gag characters that I have absolutely no experience with. He laughed at the suggestion but smiled and said that sounds great. To give you guys some arcade history, when playing fighting games a lot of the time the winner will stay on the machine until they are defeated. However, at this event everyone seemed to be focused on having fun and switching out. When we stepped up to the machine one guy had a different mindset. I explained that my friend wanted to play against me and he stepped aside. I thought nothing of it, and gently crushed my buddy. The same guy stepped in front of the stick again and I confronted him. I said " Hey man, I'm happy to play a match against you, but I want to give the two guys behind us a chance because they have been patiently waiting". They looked at me and said "Dont worry about it", with a small smile on their faces. I turn around and pick my team. In a sweet short summary, I handed this guy his ass on a platter. Haggar manhandled him, Amaterasu is a BEAST in the game and probably my biggest surprise character, and best of all I finished him off with Arthur's fireball ultra move!
(different player in the picture below)
Now lets get to the 3DS and Street Fighter. I know a lot of you are very excited for the launch of this system, but I was a little underwhelmed. The 3D mechanic is extremely picky in your viewing angle. If you off only slightly the picture will go off focus. The game itself includes all the features from the console version, but will not take the place of a real arcade stick in your home. The touch/simple mode works very well but this feature changes the game entirely. I would advise this mode only for the lowest beginner level of play. Charge moves such as Guile's Sonic Boom or Flash Kick can be spammed with almost no delay or charge time. This is fun for a portable version of a game I love, but not worth buying a new system for at all. The unit is standard size and the analog knob feels fine. The 3D fader will change the depth of the images on the top screen. I need to tell you all that this was almost ignored entirely by everyone at the event. I saw eight 3ds units on display, and after the first 30 minutes nobody cared while the marvel lines remained strong. I think the build is fine but I'm waiting for strong first party titles and I suggest you do the same.
I was one of the first 200 people in line, so I received some free swag. I got a bag with the marvel preorder shirt, a deadpool trade comic book, and Capcom shot glasses featuring Street Fighter, Mega Man, Final Fight, and Ghosts N Goblins.
Here are a couple extra pictures:
Marvel vs Capcom 3 Arcade machine
Picture with Seth Killian of Capcom, pro scene veteran and producer
And best of all:
I met Ryota Niitsuma, the legendary producer behind the game!
To sum up guys, buy the game because it is damn good. I will be picking it up on release day and spending some serious time with Amaterasu.
