Marvel vs Capcom Infinite has had a rough history and a huge impact against the MvC franchise. Here's a quick summary:

In 2009, Disney bought the rights to Marvel and chose not to renew the Marvel license with Capcom to coincide with their decision to self-publish their own games. As a result, Capcom was forced to delist Marvel vs. Capcom from all digital storefronts a few years later. We never saw the likes of Marvel vs. Capcom for awhile, and there was a time where we thought we would never get another followup after MvC3. However, in 2016, Disney chose to discontinue self-publishing their own games and opened the floor to third-party publishers again. Excitement hit when fans were greeted with a rerelease of UMVC3 and an announcement trailer for Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite.

But a lot of that excitement quickly turned to disgust after the trailer. The presentation looked fairly ugly, with tons of style mismatch and a dull, boring look. It was later revealed that the budget for this game was ridiculously small, just a little over half of the amount to make DLC content for Street Fighter V. Since the X-Men were acquired by Fox, there was also little choice but to leave them out of the roster as well, leaving us with an awkward and (what feels like) an unfinished game.

Fans were more and more harsh with this game as its horrible visuals was presented more and more to the public. The PR disaster spawned from this game led to cease future development of any further Marvel vs. Capcom projects until a surprise announcement of the Marvel vs. Capcom Collection earlier this year. For over 7 years, it was thought that the friendly ties between Capcom and Marvel had been completely severed and we would never see another Marvel vs Capcom again.

While the gameplay itself is really fun and a callback to Marvel vs Capcom 1 and Marvel Super Heroes, the unfortunate truth is that presentation makes up a very large chunk of enjoyment in a fighting game for most people, especially a game like Marvel vs. Capcom. It's hard to find enjoyment in your punches if they don't feel rewarding. It's even worse when characters from the Marvel cinematic universe are mixed in with cartoony characters like Mega Man X, completely ruining aesthetic and immersion and thus can make it very unenjoyable. Even if you find yourself enjoying the gameplay, you'll find there's very few things going for it outside of just online play, and the overall game can feel very barebones.


That's where the modding community steps in.

A few months ago, famous hypeman youtuber Maxmilian Dood announces he has joined with a team of modders to completely overhaul the look and feel of MvCI. The mod would feature a rework in character models, UI, sound, and some gameplay balance changes. This mod also includes new gamemodes such as having another player as your tagteam partner ala 2XKO. The presentation style is a throwback to classic Marvel vs. Capcom 1 with tons of references to other games such as MvC2 and UMvC3.

Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite and Beyond launched with the FGC flocking to this game. It has so far been a big success, breathing life into this game as the concurrent player count has risen from the single digits to a very healthy triple (500 players as of now).


Good point. However, here's an argument that a ton of people in the FGC share (and that I share as well):

A positive score shares that the consumer is interested in whatever the game is selling. By giving the game a spike in positive reviews, we share to Capcom and Marvel that the game is perfectly fun and playable if it had an overhaul in presentation, especially if there's a possibility for the series to make a return (which could be very likely). MvCIB is exactly what we want a MvC game to look and play, and giving this game a surge in life would give Capcom a chance to look at how they present the series differently if they were given another chance to make another entry.

The positive score in this review reflects on not just the solid gameplay, but to join in the rally that THIS is what we want MvC to be. Capcom's current track record shows that they listen to sales, especially with the fun disaster that was the Street Fighter V launch.


Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite is a 2v2 tag-team fighting game with a central focus on combos and jumping to a tag-team partner. Special to this game are the ability to use Time Stones, an item we haven't seen in the MvC series since Marvel Super Heroes. These stones give your characters the ability to manipulate the field with new abilities and super attacks. For instance, the Time Stone's Infinity Surge (its one-button attack) can create a dash which can phase through attacks, and it's Infinity Storm (its super attack) allows you to quick-combo into other moves. Each player can choose one stone out of 6 at the start of a round, giving games more of a chaotic feel to them.

You are no longer able to use an assist move. Instead, you have a dedicated Tag button which you can use to bring another character rushing in. The character will continue the combo from where it left off, which can cause for some devastating damage. The drawback is that your previous character is vulnerable for a short period while you've tagged them out, so the opponent would be able to hit both characters at once if they have the chance. DHCs are gone: you cannot combo a super with another character's super. However, you can choose to Tag during a super move, then combo into one afterward.

Besides the Tag and Ininity Stone buttons, the game is essentially a 4-button combo-centric fighter. It still utilizes the Magic series from the previous games making combos much more customizable and easier to pull off than something like Street Fighter. However, while there are tons of options for long combos, the game does not have a major Touch of Death issue like MvC3 as moves scale down faster with the 2v2 system. You can be trapped in a very long combo and still have a chance to come back, and even be just fine with doing damage with basic combos. It's a fun combo-heavy system that hearkens back to old-school MvC while adding new mechanics to keep things fresh. Not super in-depth, but very unique.

If you're looking to just play MvCI by itself, there is not a lot to look forward to. Online in the original game is basically dead, and there are not very many single player options to look forward to besides Arcade and Mission. However, there is the infamous Story Mode, what used to be the main selling point of this game. It is ridiculous and pretty terrible, but actually pretty hilarious in a so-bad-it's-good sort of way. I would highly recommend grabbing friends and having a watch party with the cutscenes, it's a riot.

With the mod, the game receives an overhaul. Characters no longer look like their ugly realistic MCU counterparts: the artstyle is revamped and overhauled to have the colorful comicbook-style as it used to. Music, voices, and brand new modes have been created to breathe new life into this game. The mod is 100% free as long as you purchase the base game. You can view all the details from the website.[mvcib.com]


Overall, the game is pretty damn fun, but leaves something to be desired in its presentation. However, that all changes with the Infinite & Beyond mod. It is ridiculously fun online and leaves me spamming for more runbacks. This mod is the Other M of Marvel vs Capcom. If we're on the heels of another MvC game, this mod can hopefully send Capcom and Marvel message that we want more games that are not whatever MvCI started out as.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite = awkward, boring and ugly

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond = improved, fun and stylish

The review is for the base game so, I Don't Recommend

I have been a proponent of MvC:I for a long time. I've always felt that one day, the game would be re-evaluated. The gameplay is just too good, and it's a Marvel game with great netcode. Thanks to the MvC: Infinite and Beyond mod, it is finally getting the second chance it deserves. It is entirely worth getting only if you are willing to take the time to install the mod. Here's the link. It's simple to install. https://www.mvcib.com/

Most people think of MvC3 or possibly MvC2 when they think of Marvel vs. Capcom, but these Capcom-created Marvel fighting games haven't always been 3v3 fighters. Some were 2v2, some were 1v1. That made this game feel like a nostalgic throwback to me. The mechanics were solid. The netcode was great. So why did people bounce off of it?

Most people hated it because of a bad first impression, bad press, and bad presentation. The first trailer had one of the worst models of Chun Li I've ever seen. It was truly horrific and became etched in people's brains. There was also the notable lack of the X-Men. A marvel game without Magneto or Storm? Pitchforks were being raised and torches were lit when Peter "Combofiend" Rosas called characters 'functions' while dodging questions about the X-Men.

I feel sorry for him. He was caught in a pissing contest between Fox and Disney and didn't know how to respond. Laying the blame on execs wouldn't have helped sell the game, but pretending the problem wasn't there was the wrong call too. Hindsight is 20/20, I get that, but perhaps acknowledging the loss and saying something like, "You know, games like Street Fighter 3 are missing franchise mainstays as well, but it gave us beloved characters like Makoto and Yun. We hope that you'll have fun with and come to enjoy these new characters in the same way even if your favorites are missing, and who knows what could happen in the future?" That kind of response wouldn't have pleased everyone, but I don't think it's as off-putting. Calling characters "functions" feels so dismissive and condescending.  Yet the characters that are in the game are unbelievably fun to play. I feel like if that had been the focus, maybe the response to the game would have been better.

It wouldn't have been great because the overall presentation is still bad. The UI and Menus were bland. That may not seem like a big deal, after all, it's the game itself that matters. The thing is, you want hype and excitement even in menu selection because its the first impression a person will have of the game. You want the player to be excited to get in the game, but not feel bad about hanging out in the character select menu.

Then there are the in game graphics. To be honest, I feel like the hatred for the game's graphics are overblown. Certainly, I have seen much worse. There's some stuff that looks good and some stuff that doesn't. Stages like Valkanda and Heart of Chaos look unabashedly amazing. Stages like  Underground Prison, and Crossroads look bland. Characters like Monster Hunter, Nova, Gamora, Ultron, Jedah, and Venom all look fantastic. Characters like Ryu, Chris, ChunLi, Spencer, Dante, and Morrigan look hideous. It's the definition of a mixed bag. Overall, it feels like they ran out of time. Much of what doesn't work feels like a rough draft. Some stuff feels as though it was pulled from MvC3 or even Tatsunoko Vs Capcom, and then not brought in line with the overall aesthetic of the game.

Oh, and I can't forget about the music. Most of the music was bland and forgettable. I can remember "take you for a ride." I can remember the menu music from MvC3. For the life of me.. I can't remember a single song from MvC:I

I often wonder how many of these issues come down to unrealistic release dates and executive meddling. I'm willing to bet most of it, because what's here is salvageable, and the community has proven it.

In the year 2024 we received a mod called "Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite & Beyond."  While there are some balance changes, the core gameplay remains largely untouched. It remains peak. But now all of the presentation around that has been revamped.

Most everything has been improved. There's a lot more energy to the presentation. Menus, Music, Character selection, Stages, UI, and character visuals have all been updated. There are even new models in some cases. While I do have some quibbles with some of the aesthetic choices here and there. Many of those quibbles don't matter much during actual gameplay. The result is something that looks great and feels unified under a single vision. That vision is exactly what MvC:I needed.

I said in the beginning that I always felt this game would be reevaluated. Thanks to this mod, it's not just being reevaluated it's being elevated. I would say, that in the decades that I have been playing Marvel fighting games, this has quickly risen to the top as one of my favorites. It can definitely hang with MvC2 and MvC3 now. I cannot compliment the team who worked on the mod enough.

The original designers got it 70% of the way there, and the Beyond team carried it the rest of the way on their back much like Samwise carrying Frodo at the end of Return of the King. 

If you play fighting games, you owe it to yourself to get this and get the mod.