Game:

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (2008)

Duration: 16:12

379 views

2

More "whoa"s all around, because this one is a blast from even further in the past... but not one that I would ever hope to abandon. It's just... I seem to have been deserted by all my pre-existing associates who ever played this with me... and the game is really most exciting when the difference in skill levels isn't too particularly pronounced.

There, now I've gone and insulted ANOTHER player's abilities by making unwarranted comparisons. No wonder I have nobody I know to play this thing with me!

In a slight twist, BSQUARED is a more common identity (with some variations) for a YouTube user going by the name "strategist9" here.

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Anyway, I've had it said to me that playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3 messes with your ability to play Tatsunoko vs. Capcom... and this is definitely a true statement! ...although I'd easily say that a lot of preconceptions I'd acquired from playing TvC rather set back my learning curve on UMvC3, so I guess they're kinda "even" now?

Not to claim I was even particularly "good" even at my ...uh... "peak" (if we're overly generous) condition, but I'm definitely not quick when it comes to hitting my stride.

The game is much more deliberate and "slower" than Marvel has evolved to be, due in no small part to how much "safer" everything feels... which actually makes it feel much harder to actually use a random Hyper to catch someone off-guard. Oh, and characters just plain live longer most of the time compared to Marvel's three-to-a-team characters, but that would only make sense.

I've since forgotten how to lead into most moves and I spend a lot of time trying to make sure that I even CAN perform a bunch of different specials from memory... on which front, I'd actually say I did better than I'd have expected. Weird.

So anyway, slower game... slower start... hopefully you folks at home find it as interesting as I apparently did, because I feel that these matches in particular set the tone for all the rest of the whole session.

Oh, and of course the later matches are much better (not as much better as I'd have liked, but this is literally the only time I've played this in over a year, what do you expect?)... but first things first.

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Match #1 -- Daigo Temple (Cherry Blossoms)
Doronjo and Ryu (BSQUARED)
vs.
Joe the Condor and Ken the Eagle (MS.MUTOU)

I see the randomizer still has a weird sense of humor... that it will maintain across all multiplayer games I've been taking up lately, so I guess it's nothing if not consistent in that regard...

Anyway, you can see it begins. The attempts to figure out even the most basic of special moves and even basic timing for lots of things... I can't even do a simple Bird Run anymore (and I know it's abnormal, so it's not like I don't know what I'm TRYING to do) or switch out properly (the execution on that is drastically different in act and feel, as I mentioned when I was playing UMvC3)... so... it's pretty crazy.

(Crazy one-sided? ...naaaaaawwwhhh!)

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Match #2 -- Uncharted Region of China
Roll and Yatterman-1 (BSQUARED)
vs.
Viewtiful Joe and Yatterman-2 (MS.MUTOU)

Viewtiful Joe feels... much less varied all of the sudden, but then again it's not like I really did all that many Groovy Uppercuts and such... so maybe it's really not that bad. His Desperado is basically unusable now, though. (Way to go, taking your sweet time, Sylvia and Six Machine!)

Speaking generally of uppercuts (not really)... aerial combos. I'm back to the realization of how much of a boon to someone like me a distinct and semi-dedicated launcher button is. You know, given my whole chronic aversion to getting "all-in" on an attack spree, meaning I won't be holding down and forward while attacking, so I'll end up sweeping rather than launching a lot of the time.

It's mildly amusing given how generally futile my defenses are, but I won't let go of them anyway.

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Match #3 -- Daigo Temple (Moonlight)
Kaijin no Soki and Polimar (BSQUARED)
vs.
Jun the Swan and Karas (MS.MUTOU)

Oh, good. If I wasn't already experiencing durability issues, Karas will totally take the cake, because for a guy who can't feel pain, Yosuke Otoha does NOT take a hit very well. Then again, a Karas never was supposed to be taking hits... they're supposed to be chopping rogue demons to bits and turning into inexplicable airplanes for special effect sprees and stuff!

At least his swordsmanship is pretty ridiculously offensive, so all I have to do is... not get hit... which is... ... ...yeah... goody.

I had an unusual amount of difficulty remembering a lot of Jun's moves, though. It was bound to happen to somebody sooner or later.

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Match #4 -- Wasteland
Yatterman-1 and Karas (MS.MUTOU)
vs.
Polimar and Jun the Swan (BSQUARED)

Karas is taunting me, I swear. So is Polimar, but I get the feeling BSQUARED is none too happy with him either.

At least I seem to have some recollection of Gan's cheap Hyper Combo initiation, although it's apparently less immediately cooperative than I recalled.

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