Wha Happun? (Matt McMuscles)

I'm still peeved this is the last game Red Earth/Warzard cast are playable

Edited by Ookamikun on Jul 31st 2021 at 7:12:34 PM

Minimum effort for minimum payoff. I know this game was some people's introductions to fighting games, and to that I feel sorry for'em.

All Stars would have been the better bet, even if it did wind up being mediocre.

I just saw the "Wha Happun?" video on Marvel's Avengers and sweet baby Jesus, I underestimated how messy this game got.

The radio silence, the genius idea of using live services for whatever reason (something to do with money?), and consciously making the game even more grind-heavy, it's a wonder we haven't seen an angry mob form because of all that.

Moreover, if they just narrowed it to being a single-player experience and ditched the live service BS, then maybe it would've been not as bad, if formulaic? Man, what I'd give for live services to be banned.

Sadly, that won't happen until it becomes less financially viable. Which won't happen because there's always those few people who will always pay money on a live service game for whatever reason.

Marvel's Avengers still isn't profitable but you can tell where they're making their money right now: once they first started selling character skins that where 1:1 versions of the ones from the movies (Minus the actor likeness of course) they started pumping them out a lot faster. People are buying those at least.

I wouldn't know because I don't actually play with other people...

Granted the skins were never that stellar to begin due to the game’s general art-style not being that good.

Like there’s this Cap skin that says Classic but it doesn’t resemble the classic comic suit in any way.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Marvel's Avengers has what I like to call the "Why doesn't this Marvel game look as good as MVC 3" problem.

Which is where I look at a Marvel game and ask why doesn't it look as good as Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

It's an affliction that hobbles most Marvel video games released since, despite the fact that it's ten years old now.

Edited by ShirowShirow on Jul 31st 2021 at 2:39:37 PM

So let me get this straight on Capcom Fighting Evolution.

Capcom hit the Polygon Ceiling trying to do an internal crossover title and cancelled it for understandable reasons (like focus tests failing and the decline of arcades)... but after they cancelled it, were mad that they weren't profiting off the original concept pitch after sinking so much money into it?

...what.

I don't even know how that logic comes about. At least it indirectly gave us Street Fighter IV in a way? But... still.

I mean.

There's a reason so many of these Wha Happuns have been about Capcom games.

Big companies are not well oiled machines.

Mostly Capcom execs. And then there's Inafune too.

I blame MCU. Ironically the only other game that went against MCU was MUA 3 and it managed to stand on its own design-wise.

Edited by Ookamikun on Aug 1st 2021 at 10:51:53 PM

So it seems that the games that weren’t trying to be the MCU are better remembered than the games that try to be the MCU.

Maybe Marvel should take notes and stop trying to have everything be like the movies.

But muh Brand Recognition™!

It's a flawless concept that has worked every time!

Inb 4 Wha Happum video on Guardians of the Galaxy.

It’s a weird form of status quo is God because the excessive regurgitation means nothing new ever happen, it’s always just the same stuff.

Contrast to how DC generally does something different each time with their stuff. The 2004 Batman series featured massive redesigns for classics villains like the infamous dreadlock rasta Joker, Batman Brave and Bold featured a focus on Silver Age content including obscure characters who’d never get a show or movie in a million years, and Beware the Batman explicitly focused on more obscure villains with no Joker and Katana as Batman’s sidekick.

There’s more creativity over at DC in that regard.

It’s interesting that DC tends to do better with shows and games than Marvel, but Marvel does better with movies.

But DC does better in the other aspects because they allow for more creativity. With Injustice being an exception.

Edited by powerpuffbats on Aug 1st 2021 at 1:51:33 PM

The most noticeable synergy’s DC done is racelifting Deadshot into a black guy for the upcoming Suicide Squad game.

Which in itself is a weird retcon since the game apparently takes place in the Arkham-verse where Deadshot was already established as a white guy. Plus it’s an odd attempt at synergy in general considering the game most likely started development a while after the movies release and should know it’s not exactly a well-regarded movie.

And Injustice 2 has Harley resemble her movie counterpart. And Joker returned because of his popularity even though he had no business returning.

This isn't new for Marvel mind you. Back in the 00's every X-Men must match the movies.

Ah, so they’ve been having that issue basically since they started licensing their characters for movies.

I wouldn’t know since I didn’t watch the X-Men films until Origins.

Yeah, Movie Superheroes Wear Black was a massive trope back then.

Edited by Ookamikun on Aug 3rd 2021 at 1:12:17 AM

I believe the costumes of the Ultimate X-Men were directly modeled or heavily inspired after the movies black leather look.

I've noted it in other parts of TV Tropes but it's only fair to spread it here now that it's been brought up:

Marvel has always been about brand synergy. Always. Always. From immediately redesigning Blade to look like Wesley Snipes to throwing the X-Men in black leather to that entire story-arc that only existed to give Spider-Man organic web-shooters. It's only being noticed now because the MCU has been the cultural zeitgeist for the last decade which has created a clear assembly line in the multimedia machine from the MCU to the comics to everything else. And it's only a matter of time until the FF and X-Men get MCU adaptations and every corner gets sucked in the loop.

Dread it, run from it, destiny still arrives.

Legacy of Kain. There's a name I haven't heard for a while

Legacy of Kain, Vampyr, DARK, Lords of Shadow....

Why have vampire games never focused on a hot vampire chick!?

This is my number one complaint about gaming as a whole.

...Blood Rayne is right there, dude. She even has some good sidescrolling beat em ups from Way Forward.