It was late 2016 when the teaser dropped. Mega Man X and Iron Man sharing the screen. For a second, the fighting game community (FGC) collectively lost its mind. We’d been playing Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for half a decade, and the idea of a fresh start felt like a dream. But then the game actually came out.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is basically the "black sheep" of the family. It’s the game that should’ve been a grand slam but somehow tripped over its own feet at the finish line. Honestly, it’s a tragedy. On one hand, you have some of the most creative, flexible gameplay ever seen in a tag-team fighter. On the other, you have a roster that felt like a corporate mandated checklist and visuals that... well, let's just say "Chun-Li’s face" became a meme for all the wrong reasons.
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If you’re wondering why people still argue about this game in 2026, or why it vanished from the EVO stage so quickly, you’ve gotta look at the mess behind the scenes.
The "Functions" Fiasco and the Roster That Wasn't
The biggest gut punch for long-time fans was the missing X-Men. No Wolverine. No Magneto. No Storm. These weren't just characters; they were the DNA of the series. X-Men vs. Street Fighter is literally where this whole crossover began back in the 90s.
So why were they gone?
Basically, Marvel (under Disney at the time) was in a cold war with 20th Century Fox over film rights. The corporate mandate was simple: if we don't own the movie rights, we don't promote them. This led to a roster heavily skewed toward the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Instead of the colorful, chaotic variety of past games, we got a "Greatest Hits of the Avengers" lineup.
The PR disaster peaked when Capcom’s then-community manager, Peter "Combofiend" Rosas, tried to explain the absence of fan favorites by calling them "functions." He essentially said fans didn't love Magneto because he was Magneto, but because he had an 8-way dash. He suggested you could just play Ultron or Captain Marvel instead.
Pro tip: Never tell a fighting game fan their favorite character is just a set of hitboxes.
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The Capcom side didn't fare much better. It felt like a massive exercise in asset recycling. Aside from a few cool additions like Jedah from Darkstalkers and Mega Man X, most of the Capcom roster was ripped straight from Marvel vs. Capcom 3. It felt cheap. It felt rushed. Because, honestly, it was.
Why the Gameplay Is Actually Brilliant
Here’s the weird part: if you actually sit down and play Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, it’s a blast. Seriously.
The move from 3v3 to 2v2 was controversial, but it allowed for the Active Switch system. In previous games, you’d call an assist, and they’d pop in, do a move, and leave. In Infinite, you can swap characters at almost any moment. You can start a combo with Ryu, swap to Dante mid-air, continue the beatdown, and swap back. It’s freeform, creative, and insanely fast.
The Infinity Stones
The comeback mechanic this time around was the Infinity Stones. Each stone fundamentally changed how your team played:
- Power Stone: Gives you a massive wall-bounce attack. Great for big damage.
- Time Stone: Allows for rapid-fire dashes that go through projectiles. It makes slow characters feel like ninjas.
- Space Stone: Pulls the opponent toward you. The "Infinity Storm" version literally traps the enemy in a box, which is as terrifying as it sounds.
- Soul Stone: The MVP of the group. Its surge steals life, but its "Storm" revives your fallen teammate. Imagine killing a boss-level character only for them to come back to life and fight alongside their partner simultaneously.
- Reality Stone: Fires a homing projectile. It was everywhere in the early meta because it was so annoying to deal with.
- Mind Stone: Command grabs the opponent to fill your meter instantly.
This system meant that even if the roster was smaller, the ways you could combine characters and stones felt... well, infinite. You could take two "mid-tier" characters, give them the right stone, and suddenly you’re a menace on the ladder.
The Visual Identity Crisis
We have to talk about the graphics. It’s unavoidable.
Capcom moved away from the gorgeous, comic-book-inspired cel-shading of MvC3 and tried for a "cinematic" look. They wanted it to look like the MCU movies. But they didn't have the budget of an MCU movie. The result was a weird "uncanny valley" effect where characters looked like plastic action figures melting under a desk lamp.
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Captain America looked like he’d been hitting the gym way too hard in all the wrong places. Dante looked tired—not "cool demon hunter" tired, but "I haven't slept in three weeks" tired.
This visual polish (or lack thereof) mattered. When Dragon Ball FighterZ was revealed around the same time, it looked exactly like the anime. The contrast was devastating. People eat with their eyes first, and Infinite looked like leftovers.
The EVO Snub and the End of the Road
By the time 2018 rolled around, the writing was on the wall. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was notoriously left out of the main lineup for EVO 2018. For a series that had been the "main event" of the fighting game world for nearly two decades, this was a death knell.
Capcom shifted their focus back to Street Fighter V, and Marvel seemed content to let the game fade away as they moved toward other projects like Marvel's Avengers. Support for the game dried up. No more DLC. No more balance patches. Just a quiet exit into the digital bargain bin.
What we can learn from the MvC:I era:
- Aesthetics are a feature, not a bonus. You can have the best netcode in the world, but if the game looks "crunchy," casual players won't touch it.
- Respect the legacy. You can't remove the heart of a franchise (the X-Men) and expect the fans to just "function" through it.
- Gameplay is king, but marketing is the kingdom. The "functions" comment killed the game's momentum before it even launched.
How to Enjoy Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Today
Despite everything I just said, I still think you should play it. If you can find it on sale (and it’s almost always on sale for under $10), it’s worth it for the gameplay alone.
If you’re going to dive in, here’s the best way to do it:
- Skip the Story Mode: It’s a slog. It’s a weird fan-fiction plot about Ultron and Sigma merging into "Ultron Sigma." The cutscenes are stiff, and the writing is... okay, it's pretty bad.
- Head to Training Mode: This is where the game shines. Pick two characters you like—say, Spider-Man and Jedah—and just mess around with the Active Switch. You'll realize within ten minutes why the hardcore fans are so frustrated that this engine was wasted on this specific game.
- Play with Friends: The online community is small and mostly populated by "sharks" who will 100-to-0 you in one combo. It’s much more fun as a local couch-co-op game where you can laugh at the weird faces and enjoy the chaotic combat.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is a reminder that even great mechanics can't save a game from corporate mismanagement. It’s a brilliant fighting system trapped inside a mediocre product. But in a world where Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics has finally brought back the old hits, Infinite stands as a fascinating, flawed piece of history that every fighting game fan should experience at least once.
Check your digital storefront of choice for the "Deluxe Edition"—it includes the DLC characters like Venom and Winter Soldier, who are actually some of the best-designed fighters in the whole game. Once you've got the roster filled out, grab a Soul Stone, and go see what that "Active Switch" hype was all about.