Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Japanese: (Japanese: マーヴル VS. カプコン クラッシュ オブ スーパー ヒーローズ Hepburn: Māvuru bāsasu Kapukon: Kurasshu obu Sūpā Hīrōzu), known as just Marvel vs. Capcom for short, is a crossoverfighting game developed and published by Capcom. It is the third installment in the Marvel vs. Capcom series, which features characters from Capcom's video game franchises and comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The game debuted in Japanese and North American arcades in 1998.
Players select a team of characters from the Marvel and Capcom universes to engage in combat and attempt to knock out their opponents. In contrast to the series previous entry, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, the game features characters from numerous Capcom video game franchises, rather than strictly Street Fighter characters. While the gameplay is largely identical to its predecessor, Clash of Super Heroes features two distinct changes: the removal of the traditional character assist system and the introduction of the "Variable Cross" attack.
The game utilizes similar tag team-based game mechanics to its predecessor, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Before starting each match, the player selects a team of two fighters to compete in one-on-one combat. The player is free to swap between their characters at any point during battle. While one character fights, their teammate resting off-screen slowly regenerates their life gauge.[4] The first team to exhaust their opponent's vitality wins the match; however, if the timer runs out before either team is knocked out, the player with the most remaining health is declared the winner.
Clash of Super Heroes features two significant gameplay changes from Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. The game removes the "Variable Assist" feature used in the previous installment, which allows the player to summon their offscreen teammate to perform a special attack, in favor of the "Guest Character/Special Partner" system. While similar in function, guest characters are randomly allocated to each player at the beginning of a match. They are also limited to a few uses per round.
Clash of Super Heroes introduces a new technique called the "Variable Cross", also known as a "Duo Team Attack". When executing a Variable Cross, the player can attack their opponent with both characters simultaneously for a limited time. In addition, the player is given unlimited use of the "Hyper Combo Gauge", a colored meter towards the bottom of the screen which allows the player to perform several special techniques, allowing them to pull off multiple Hyper Combos, moves which deliver heavy damage to the opponent, in quick succession.
