At this point, it’s been over 24 years since Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was released, but the game still feels relevant today. This is especially thanks to the recent release of Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics.
Over this past weekend, Twitch Rivals Marvel vs Capcom 2 played out in which the invited players competed for a prize pool of $15,000. This gives us an interesting opportunity to analyze the character usage stats to see how the meta for this game has developed in the past two decades since its release.
Those familiar with Marvel vs. Capcom 2’s meta probably already know this, but X-Men characters tend to be very strong in this game. Needless to say, Storm, Sentinel, and Magneto ended up being the most popular picks among those invited to attend this Twitch Rivals event.
Storm ended up being the most picked fighter of all with 19 players using her as part of their main lineup while one more used her in a backup team. Sentinel was used by 14 competitors as a main character with two others using it as a secondary. Finally, Magneto functioned as a main 10 times, but was also used as a secondary more than any other character as three players used him for that purpose.
Of course, Marvel characters tend to be superior to Capcom combatants in this game on average, but two Capcom reps did see usage at Twitch Rivals. Captain Commando was used eight times (with two secondary usages) while Strider was only used by one player.
Out of the 56 characters playable in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, only 11 saw usage among the 24 invited competitors. Needless to say, older fighting games were developed with less of a focus on game balance compared to modern fighters, though that’s also part of the charm of games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
Check out the character usage stats below:
• Storm — 19 (1)
• Sentinel — 14 (2)
• Magneto — 10 (3)
• Captain Commando — 8 (2)
• Psylocke — 6
• Iron Man — 6
• Cable — 4 (2)
• War Machine — 1
• Strider — 1
• Dr. Doom — 1
• Cyclops — 1