Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds - Xbox 360

We sat down with Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds in Tokyo to drive some of the new characters around for the first time, and I need to tell you right off the bat: I need to play more fighting games. I used to pwn on Mortal Kombat in the arcades back in the day, but it's been forever and a day since I've been skilled at one. Darkstalkers was my favorite game (where's an update already, Capcom?) which might tell you how long it's been since I've put some serious time in.

As a result, I'm way behind the curve on Marvel vs. Capcom. Which is thankfully why they added in the "Simple" mode for reborn noobs like myself. It allows you to master your character's skills without memorizing 1400 different stick and button combinations. The game is also jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and if you're a fan of Marvel, Capcom, or both, you're going to want to pick this up, even if you suck at current-gen fighting games like I do.

After driving around characters like Dormammu and Viewtiful Joe for the first time, we sat down with Capcom's gentleman esquire Seth Killian to get the inside skinny on the game. 

G4: So, tell us about Tron Bonne and X-23.

KILLIAN: So, Tron plays very similarly to Marvel vs. Capcom 2, new looks, some new moves of course. Some surprises. But, her core techniques are still there. She's got a brutal level three grab that we may be able to show off on stage later this weekend. X-23 is a female clone of Wolverine, a lot of claws of course, and the footy claws as well. She's basically what you call a rushdown character, so ... in your face, going high, going low, with some interesting ways to extend her action in the air as well. Very fast, she's one of the fastest characters in the game. Basically what you'd expect from staying true to the character from the comics.

G4: So what are you showing here for the first time?

KILLIAN: We've got Simple Mode here for the first time, as well as a new background with Asgard for the first time, and four characters that are playable by the public for the first time with Thor and Dormammu on the Marvel side, and Viewtiful Joe and Amaterasu from the Capcom side. You know, a couple of gods ... Dormammu's pretty much a god, and Viewtiful Joe ... is not. 

G4: Dormammu has this great sort of casual stride when he walks around the screen.

KILLIAN: Yeah, he's all, "Whatever. I've been through battles for the universe or everyone's souls before. Suffer! This is a cakewalk for me."

G4: You seem to be announcing new characters all the time (in fact, Capcom would go on to announce Spider-Man and Wesker a couple of days after this interview), but have you said exactly how many will be in the game?

KILLIAN: No, we haven't given any totals yet, partially because we feel like if there's a chance to squeeze another one in there or something like that, we don't want to be on the hook. No one is going to complain about too many... we're getting there right now, but we also don't want to say whether or not there are any more surprises yet to come or hidden characters. 

G4: So tell me about Simple Mode.

KILLIAN: Yes, simple mode is very cool. Across these three buttons, you have light, medium and hard attacks, and in simple mode the light button will cycle through your all of your normal attacks so you can go light-medium-hard, just by tapping it. The next button will do a special move all by itself, and to get all of the variations on that move, you just hit a direction. So for instance if you want to throw a fireball, hit the button. Want to do a shoryuken, down and hit the button. And this next button does your supers, just like that ... one-button supers. Your launch and assists are the same, and it's pretty much a different way for people who have never played before to master some of the moves. It's a new layer of total accessiblity for brand-new players.

KILLIAN: You do have some liabilities, as you won't have access to everything the characters can do in normal mode, because we don't want the simple mode to became the preferred method for hardcore players. We don't want simple mode to be too powerful. So there are some limitation, but you're able to do a lot of fun stuff right out of the gates. Usually what happens is that two people come in, and one person is a big fighting fan who dragged the other one here, and the other player is like "Wow, I don't even know what I'm doing." So you put them in simple mode, and he's able to have some fun and get the hang of it right away.

If you're keeping score, here's a list of some of the Special Moves and Hyper Combos for the new characters:

Viewtiful Joe

Special Moves

• Voomerang
• Shocking Pink
• Red Hot Kick
• Groovy Uppercut

Hyper Combos

• Desperado
• Viewtiful God Hand

Amaterasu

Special Moves

• Power Slash
• Head Charge
• Weapon Change
• Solar Flare

Hyper Combos

• Okami Shuffle
• Vale of Mist

Thor

Special Moves

• Mighty Spark
• Mighty Smash
• Mighty Strike
• Mighty Hurricane

Hyper Combos

• Mighty Tornado
• Mighty Thunder

Dormammu

Special Moves

• Dark Hole
• Purification
• Dark Spell
• Liberation

Hyper Combos

• Chaotic Flame
• Stalk Flare