Video Game / Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

It Came "Across the Border."

Sometime in 2008, Capcom decided to make a return to the gameplay of the Marvel vs. Capcom series, except that they had no idea which company they should crossover with, until anime studio Tatsunoko Production phoned them in and asked them to make a Licensed Game based on their characters. Naturally, Capcom agreed... and merged the request with their own plans, thus resulting in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generations of Heroes, developed by 8ing (otherwise known for the Bloody Roar and Naruto: Clash of Ninja series).

Initially starring Ken the Eagle, Jun the Swan, Casshern, Tekkaman, Yatterman-1 and his stripperiffic nemesis Doronjo, Hurricane Polymar, Karas and Gold Lightan on the Tatsunoko side; (plus Hakushon Daimaou and Ippatsuman for the Wii version) and Ryu, Chun-Li, Alex, Batsu, Morrigan, Soki, MegaMan Volnutt, Roll (with a completely different moveset from her Marvel self) and the PTX-40A Vital Suit from Lost Planet representing Capcom (plus Saki, from Quiz Nanairo Dreams (better known as an Assist Character in Marvel vs. Capcom), and Viewtiful Joe in the Wii version, and the Big Bad of Ōkami as the game's boss in both the Arcade and Wii versions, for bonus fanservice), the game marks a return to the series' roots of frenetic two-on-two tag-team action—but with 3D graphics (though the game still plays on a 2D plane) and the combos ramped up big time. New mechanics introduced include the Mega Crash, which is akin to Guilty Gear's Burst (although the term itself originated from Capcom's Pocket Fighter; the mechanics and cost are essentially the same) and Baroque, which allows you to sacrifice your red life to cancel your current attack and gain a proportional, temporary power boost. The story is even more non-existent and laid out to you by the anime intro sequence (provided by Tatsunoko, of course): the characters all live in a TV show and only exist to (surprise, surprise) beat the stinking crap out of each other.

On January 26, 2010, an Updated Re-release to the game, entitled Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, was released in North America, with an international release on January 29th. Among the changes are the addition of online play, character balance tweaks, the removal of Hakushon Daimaoh (because his European licensors were quite stingy regarding him), still-frame endings done by UDON Comics rather than the animated ones from Tatsunoko (due to licensing issues; those outside of Japan were not happy about that) and the addition of five new characters: Tekkaman Blade, Joe the Condor and Yatterman-2 on the Tatsunoko side, and Frank West and Zero on the Capcom side. The plot has also been updated. Why the heroes have to fight in order to defeat the Big Bad is still unknown unless you should ask the creators of this game first to find out).

The home port is exclusive to the Wii, because the arcade machine used Wii-based hardware.

Also, GamesRadar compiled their stories and the Tatsunoko characters' anime intros.

These two games have a character sheet.

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Tropes associated with these games:

• Airborne Aircraft Carrier:
  • The Gesselschaft makes an appearance in two stages.
  • To some extent, the Orbital Ring Systems Cargo Bay is an off-ground carrier... because it's in outer space.
• Ambidextrous Sprite: Averted for much of the cast, but forced to be played straight with others akin to Street Fighter IV. The game plays like a 2D fighting game while still using 3D polygons, and thus most characters who are visually asymmetrical will have their core appearance visually reflect changing from left to right. Some characters with weapons will wield it the opposite manner respective of which side of the screen they're standing at (such as Zero drawing the Z-Saber over his right shoulder as opposed to his left; the latter is where he canonically holsters it), though visual elements such as emblems and/or hairstyles on a character's person avert this by remaining the same on either position of the screen.
  • In Cross Generations of Heroes, the versus screen does in fact plays it straight. Characters in Player 2's side is a flipped art, which normally is fine, but then you get characters like Doronjo that has visible asymmetric designs like her D being obviously mirrored. This gets fixed in Ultimate All Stars where even though the art is flipped, certain parts like said letter are edited to remain properly.
• Anime Theme Song:
  • In Cross Generations of Heroes, the Tatsunoko characters have their shows' theme song as leitmotif, except for Karas, whose OVA/film has no such thing to speak of so he instead gets the song that blares during the first scene of it.
  • Roll's theme, "Kaze yo Tsutaete" ("Wind, Carry My Words"), is the only character theme in the game to have vocals. It also received an English cover in Ultimate All-Stars as "Where the Wind Blows".
  • There's also "Across the Border", which has two different arrangements for Cross Generations of Heroes and Ultimate All-Stars. Cross Generation's version is closer to an actual anime theme, while All-Stars' has English vocals with different instrumentals including jazz and rap elements.
• Background Music Override: In Cross Generation of Heroes, the Black Oni theme plays instead of the current character theme when Soki transforms into his Onimusha form.
• Badass Normal:
  • Most of the Tatsunoko heroes, for whom Clothes Make the Superman, consider the Street Fighters (and Batsu) this. Polimar and Ippatsuman actually take inspiration from them in their endings.
  • Frank West, whose only powers are reporting and zombie killing. Ryu himself seems to think of Frank as this.
• Beam-O-War: Can occur with many projectile weapons and supers if they are fired at the same time.
• Behemoth Battle: Can be invoked if both players choose to play as either Gold Lightan or PTX-40 A.
• Boss Battle: In addition to the Final Boss, the game will always pit you against either Gold Lightan or the PTX-40A halfway through the singleplayer arcade mode.
• The Cameo:
  • A large amount of old-school Capcom characters appear in the game's endings. Hakushon Daimaou's ending has him being warped into the world of the World War II shmup 1942!
  • Devilotte, Dave, and Xavier show up to challenge Doronjo in her ending.
  • Hauzer battles Karas and Saki in their endings.
  • Fiona, Hewie and Debilitas in Joe the Condor's ending.
  • Roll activates Huitzil and Vector in her ending. This is a long Development Gag, as Huitzil's first design was that of a robot housekeeper. In that same ending, we also see Dr. Light and Mega Man.
  • The pilot of PTX-40A is invited to the Super Robot Tournament by Santana in his ending. The cameos of the robots include G-Kaiser, Blodia and Guldin, and Baby Head/Hoover. In UAS, they added Zero and Vile in the mix, too! And Frank is in the bleachers taking photos.
  • Hayato (who previously was a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 2) saves Tekkaman Blade from Ghost Bilstein in his ending in UAS.
  • Soki and his gang pick the wrong interdimensional portal in UAS and end up helping Arthur storm Astaroth's castle, which includes a brief cameo of a Red Arremer getting sliced to nothing by Soki in his Onimusha form for the animated version.
  • If you play the Ultimate All-Shooters mini-game, some of the stages (referred as Blocks) have Akrids sporting black color/gi with a Ten symbol on their backs and move in a manner similar to the Ashura Warp...
  • In Yatterman-2's ending, Doronjo and her two henchmen get reinforcements in the form their expies from the other Time Bokan series. It doesn't help.
  • Fellow characters from the first Dead Rising game, Brad and Jessica, chat with Frank in his ending. The ending also seems to imply that in the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom universe, this game's story happens before the original Dead Rising game.
  • Batsu's ending has a cameo by his father, Raizo Imawano.
• Combination Attack: Crossover Combination (aka Variable Combination in the Japanese version). Batsu has one for his Level 3, with a different set of attacks depending on who his partner is. If his partner's down, he gets a power boost.
• Combos: The game encourages smaller combos due to its damage scaling (which triggers pretty quickly). Expect to hear "YES!" (the game's call-out to three-or-four-hit combos) a lot.
• Combo Breaker: The Mega Crash interrupts a combo at the cost of two super bars and some health. Curiously, it can also be a combo extender, as the lost health can fuel a Baroque immediately after.
• Comeback Mechanic: Baroque combos inflict more damage the more recoverable health the character has when activated.
• Creative Closing Credits: Ultimate All-Stars has a mini-game where players can control the Doronbo gang as they bike through the credits. Getting all the gold letters unlocks the Ultimate All Shooters mini-game. If Roll is present in the player's team, she can be used instead — she'll fly on her broom instead of being confined to the ground, making the game easier. Her theme also plays over the regular credits theme.
• Developer's Foresight: Both games are full of many small details in the endings, pre-fight chats and win quotes.
  • Picking the silver palette for Gold Lightan changes his name accordingly through the announcer and the text; attacks and voice clips which use "Gold" are appropriately changed to "Silver".
  • Performing Gold Lightan's "Gold Crash" super has different reactions depending on the opponent. Fighting another robot (PTX-40A, Zero, Roll, Rock, Casshern or another Lightan) will have Gold Lightan pull out their energy source before blowing it up. Performing the move on an organic life-form will have Lightan pull out their soul instead.
  • Some animations are changed when players battle the giant characters. For example, Alex's Hyper Bomb has him grab the giants by the foot instead of performing two consecutive suplexes like what he would normally do against regular-sized foes, and he leaps onto their heads when performing his Stun Gun Headbutt. Frank also gains a brand-new Level 3 super when facing the giants.
  • Roll has a super where she is healed by a small projectile. If a robotic character like the ones mentioned above makes contact with it first, they can steal it and be healed in her place. Other characters will instead be slightly damaged.
  • Batsu's United by Fate Level 3 changes depending on who his selected partner is. If Batsu is fighting by himself, the super will always be his Double Guts Bullet, but buffed 1.5 times.
  • Performing Joe the Condor's Tornado Fighter normally has Ken show up to perform the move with him. If Ken is his partner, he'll be in the palette chosen by the player. If Jun is with Joe instead, she'll take Ken's place.
  • Certain supers in the game are capable of participating in a Beam-O-War mechanic with each other. Examples include Ryu's Shinkuu Hadouken, Frank's Real Mega Buster, Tekkaman and Tekkaman Blade's Voltekkas (as well as the former's Tek Lancer and the latter's Omnidirectional Super Voltekka Level 3, if the initial hit misses) and Volnutt's Machine Gun Sweep.
  • Certain characters will have unique interactions with each other whether as team-mates or foes, such as the Gatchamen and Ryu and Chun-Li. This applies to other pairings, such as Tekkaman Blade fighting the original Tekkaman or Frank fighting girls (he has a different intro pose all together when fighting Doronjo or Morrigan) and the giants.
  • As with Street Fighter III, Alex can force his opponents to turn back by hitting them with a Heavy Flash Chop. Following up with a Power Bomb will have Alex perform a German Suplex, and performing his Hyper Bomb Level 3 replaces it with his Rolling German Suplexes.
• Dialogue Tree: If certain characters fight or are picked as the same team, the victory quotes and intro quotes will be different.

• Enemy Mine: In a Yatterman/Doronjo team-up, this gets lampshaded in dialogue before and after the round.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: The player type online uses Fire (offensive), Ice (defensive), and Lightning (speedy) symbols to describe the opponent's play-style.

• Free-Floor Fighting: The Uncharted Region of China has a breakaway floor, and Galactor's base has a path that can be adjusted. Both of these are affected by attacks that damage the ground (either by a fighter slamming their enemy into the ground or directly pounding on it themselves).
• Funny Background Event:
  • In the background of the Orbital Ring Systems Cargo Bay, over the course of the battle, human soldiers are battling a huge Radam "spidercrab." Sometimes they actually win, at which point they start dancing.
  • The zombies taking over the Willamette Parkview Mall.
  • In both Les Vagas and Washinkyo, Amehon, cars run fast, there are tanks... Of course, the combatants are fighting in the middle of the street.
  • In the Yatterman Workshop, Omotchama flies everywhere, and after some time, Yatterwan or Yatterpelican exit the stage.
  • The Servbots try to keep calm and keep everything well in the Gesellschaft when it's raining. They can be spotted running everywhere when it's not raining.
  • Aensland Castle features large mirrors hanging in the background that show distorted reflections of the fighters.
• Gratuitous English:
  • The Cross Generations of Heroes announcer. A native speaker (Jeff Manning, perhaps better known as the announcer for the original Super Smash Bros.) is used for UAS, avoiding this altogether.
  • In terms of characters, we have Alex and Viewtiful Joe. For UAS, this is subverted with Frank West, who is the only character to have an English VA.
• Hotter and Sexier: Surprisingly, this a rare example of the American version compared to the Japanese original. Morrigan’s ending in the Japanese version features her playing the game with 4 Japanese business men, which can be interpreted as a subtle allusion to them “having their turns playing with her.” ^note Ergo, having sex with her because she’s a succubus In the American version, however, her ending features her wanting to have some “reality-bending fun” and it then cuts to a rather suggestive shot with her and a young boy, with the dialogue making it look like they’re having sex.◊ But then it turns out they were just playing a game at an arcade.◊ Still, seeing implied Straight Shotacon in an American game at all is quite shocking.
• Idiosyncratic Combo Levels: Features the "word" Tatsunical (akin to Marvelous in the Marvel vs. Capcom series), but also marks the debut of Viewtiful, as this is the first Capcom vs. game to include Viewtiful Joe.
• Immune to Flinching:
  • Giant characters Gold Lightan and PTX-40A are extremely slow and unwieldy compared to the rest of the cast, but in exchange they are nearly impossible to flinch, and can stomp through even the strongest special moves from other characters easily. In exchange for their power, they are for obvious reasons banned from using techniques which require a partner to perform.
  • Soki becomes this during his Level 3.
• Invulnerable Knuckles: Played straight normally, but subverted in these winquotes.
  Alex (when winning against Gold Lightan): "Gonna need to ice my hands after punching you so many times. You made of steel or somethin'?"
  Kaijin no Soki (when winning against Gold Lightan): I... WIIIIIIIN! Owww! My hands still quaver with pain!
• Leitmotif: The original version of the game had this for each character. The Tatsunoko fighters usually have instumental remixes of the opening of their animes as their own themes (save for Doronjo, who has her own theme; Jun, who has Gatchman's end credits theme; and Karas, who has an original theme based off his OVA) while the Capcom cast either has their own recycled theme (the Street Fighters, Morrigan, Soki and Roll), the main theme of their own games (Saki, Viewtuful Joe, PTX-40A) or another tune from their games (Batsu, MegaMan Volnutt). Similar to the older Marvel vs. Capcom games, the themes would change when a character comes in for their fallen partner, is tagged out or (new to this game) a fighter hits their Level 3.
• Madlibs Dialogue: Many winquotes are like this, with your character referring to his partner by name.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Gold Lightan and PTX-40A are very massive fighters (who are about 3 times the average height of other characters) and so they fight alone, as opposed to fighting in duets. Fittingly enough, they serve as sub-bosses depending on the point character of the player's team^note Either the penultimate stage in the orginal, or the fourth in the rerelease: Lightan for Capcom characters and PTX for Tatsunoko.
• Mini-Game: Cross Generations of Heroes has unlockable mini-games, one for each character. The gameplay varies between each. In the Updated Re-release, the games are replaced with Ultimate All-Shooters, a top-down shooter based off PTX-40A's old mini-game where players take on the roles of Ken, Ryu, Tekkaman Blade and PTX-40A.
• Mirrored Confrontation Shot: The Ultimate All-Stars cover art has the Tatsunoko and Capcom characters facing each other as they prepare to engage in combat. Contrast with Cross Generation of Heroes, which has the heroes (and Doronjo) from both companies standing side by side.
• Monstrous Scenery: The Orbital Rings System Cargo Bay level features a giant Radam "spidercrab" fighting against soldiers. Sometimes, the soldiers will drive off the monster and start celebrating. Sometimes, the monster will win, drive off the soldiers, and fill the area with a poison gas. Neither outcome affects the fighters.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Science Ninja Team are ninjas who use technology to fight alien invaders with mechas! This is mocked by Tekkaman Blade:
  (after winning against Ken the Eagle) "So you guys are ninjas who use science? I don't get it. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?"
• Non-Dubbed Grunts: All the members of the cast have Japanese VAs, with the exception of Frank, a Call-Back to Dead Rising not getting a Japanese dub, and PTX-40A, who does not speak. Ditto Yami.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Tekkaman Blade about Joe:
  Tekkaman Blade: Your experiences mirror my own, but that doesn't make us friends.
• Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Batsu's level-3 Hyper Combo is a Combination Attack with his tag team partner. If his partner has been KO'd, their spirit will still appear to help Batsu launch a Kamehame Hadoken. This version of the Hyper Combo is more powerful than when the tag partner is alive.
• One-Steve Limit: Viewtiful Joe and Joe the Condor. Ironically, this game, while being the first Capcom crossover to feature Ken the Eagle, is the first one not to have Ken Masters.

• Power Creep, Power Seep: How the (mostly) Badass Normal characters from the Street Fighter-verse can last more than five seconds against powerhouses like Casshern, how Frank West can throw Gold Lightan or the PTX-40A, spin them above his head and hit them with a bat, how normal humans can take on someone like Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman's 'SPACE LANCE!, and how Alex can grab Gold Lightan or the PTX-40A's legs to slam them around like ragdolls.
  Gold Lightan: You threw me! You really threw me! Are you human?!
  PTX-40A Pilot: Never thought I'd meet a person that could throw Ivan here. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry...
• Practical Taunt: Polimar can charge up his attack power by taunting. This is represented by three Polimar emblems on the bottom of the screen; one lights up each time he taunts.
• Public Domain Soundtrack: A remixed version of Offenbach's "Can-Can" plays during the credits roll of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (except when you win as Roll, as her theme plays instead).
• Rage Quit: Notoriously, there is a bug in the game's programming where, if someone rage quits a match online, it counts for a loss for the person who didn't quit.
• Recycled Soundtrack: Soki's normal and Onimusha themes were taken straight out of his home game. The same applies to Viewtiful Joe and Yami.
• Reunion Show: Or rather, reunion game for the Tatsunoko VAs. Nearly all of the actors on the Tatsunoko side are the original cast.
• Sidelined Protagonist Crossover: The game features Yami of Ōkami as the Final Boss, yet Amaterasu isn't represented in the game. (Would take her another two years before she became playable in a crossover fighter.) Also, Soki getting in over Samonuske Akechi.
• Super Move Portrait Attack: The game has a special case where the portraits are really zoomed-in images of the models that actually move in accordance to the hyper move being done. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 continued this practice.
• Tag Team: Each battle is between teams of two characters each, which can be tagged at any moment with the push of a button.

• Updated Re-release: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, the Western release, added five new characters and expanded the Shooters minigame.
• Video Game 3D Leap: This game is the first 3D fighting game of the whole Capcom vs. series.

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