Oh, Marvel vs Capcom, I can’t play you to save my life but I love you as a concept. And while I’m aware some people had issues with the third installment in this crazy crossover series, it still looked like a pretty solid and enjoyable game to me. Though I can’t personally critique it’s gameplay, however, I can at least compliment its music, like this piece.

The character select screen in fighting games can sometimes be the place a player finds themselves spending the most time in. It’s that part before the big match where you have to decide who you’re actually going to play as; a decision that will be a big deciding factor as to who comes out victorious. So, the music has to be something that, at the very least, doesn’t distract the player. I don’t have much experience with fighting games but this character select theme easily stands out.

While the version that played in the original release of MvC 3 was okay, being a sort of techno remix of the main theme, the version that plays in the updated re-release is far superior. It’s just so much more intense and grand; it makes your decision seem much more monumental than it really is. The best word to describe it would probably be “heroic.” It’s like your team is being hyped up as the most unstoppable trio of bad-asses the universe has ever known. It’s great for energising the player before their confrontation with their opponent.

I think what I love the most about it is that it combines elements from both Capcom and Marvel; it has the grandiose and “epic” feel of a Marvel movie and the more head-banging, rock stylings of a Capcom game. It’s like an actual attempt to merge these two franchises together, as opposed to just having it be one thing over the other.

I’m sure that the character select theme from Marvel vs Capcom 2 is probably more popular (and I certainly get why), but I never felt like it fit the series motif, if you get what I mean. This, however, does and shows how these two very different universes mesh together as well as they do.