Fighting Game Guide

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (MvC2) is a 2D 3-on-3 tag team fighter that will take you for a ride. MvC2 boasts the fastest movement, most damaging combos, and most overpowered assists in the series. There's no comeback mechanic to save you from losing. MvC2 is chaotic and broken and that's why it's still loved to this day.

Helpful Resources

Notation

Attack Notation

Medium attacks are performed by pressing a light attack twice.

Directional Notation

High attacks are overhead attacks that must be stand blocked. Mid attacks are attacks that can be blocked with both stand block and crouch block.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 uses Legacy frame data notation. If an attack has 7 frames of startup, it hits on the 8th frame.

Variable Counter in MvC2 is performed back, down-back, down, PA/PB in blockstun. It's an unusual input. It costs 1 Level of Hyper Meter.

High jump in MvC2 lets you steer its trajectory much more than other games and your character automatically turns around if they go over their opponent. It's very useful for moving around the screen.

Certain characters can air dash in all eight directions. A triangle jump is a (high) jump then a down-forward air dash. The triangle jump is scary as it's fast, is difficult to anti-air, and is a jumping mixup.

In MvC2 you are allowed one air action per regular (non-high jump) jump and that includes air blocking. That means if you air block an attack then fully recover from blockstun, you will not be able to air block again in that same jump. You cannot air block twice in the same jump as that's considered two air actions. You will get hit by unblockable attacks in the air and there's nothing you can do about it. This is called guard break. Fortunately, big combos typically do not start in the air as Touch of Death combos usually start from the ground.

Unlike UMvC3 you can block during dashing without stopping momentum. Dashing is very fast, covers a lot of distance, and is very safe.

After a knockdown, press forward, down-forward, down and any attack button or back, down-back, down and any attack button to quick recover roll. What an awkward motion.

Assists are very strong in MvC2 as they are fully invincible until they are active. One way to stop assists is by hitting the active character before the assist comes out. This causes the assist to land then leave the screen.

Another way to beat assists is by moving in and blocking them to get them out of the way as soon as possible instead of giving your opponent time to set something up.

Counter calling is when you call your own assist as an answer to your opponent calling their assist. If your opponent is going to have a helper, you can have one too so you're not at a disadvantage.

Because assists are fully invincible during startup, defensive assists are very powerful. Most teams have an assist that help the active character get out of pressure. Anti-air assists are some of the most common assists on teams.

Characters are selected entirely because of their assist. Teams in MvC2 are front-loaded. The first character is probably the best character on the team. The second character is a good character but also a good assist. The third character is often a weak character but an amazing assist. For this reason, comebacks are difficult as the last character on the team is less of an anchor and more of an assist.

Snapback is performed down, down-forward, forward PA/PB. Snapback has 0 frames of startup and hits on the frame after the screen freeze. A dirty trick players use is to snapback in the middle of a blockstring and if their opponent isn't blocking, their character is getting snapbacked.

There is a glitch in MvC2 that happens when an assist is on screen but the active character is not. The assist stays on the screen by themselves and is completely vulnerable. The assist is almost always guaranteed to die in this situation. This situation commonly happens when the active character gets snapbacked when the assist is on the screen. This is a happy glitch because otherwise assists would be overpowered.

Characters

Sentinel is a tank with a lot of health and big damage. He is slow on the ground but when he flies he is unfairly fast. His normal attacks have tremendous range and inflict chip damage. If you're using his range and assists properly you can make it very difficult for your opponent to approach you.

Storm is the most famous battery in team fighters. She can stay in the air for a long time and whiff attacks to build meter for her team. She is very mobile and hard to pin down. Her Hyper Combo is one of the best in the game as it's safe on block, does a lot of chip damage, and is very easy to DHC into or out of.

Cable's air Hyper Viper Beam might be the best attack in the game. It covers the entire screen and can easily combo into another air Hyper Viper Beam. Your opponent has to think twice before they call assists because Cable can easily kill them.

Magneto has great damage, rushdown, movement, and mixups. When people think of triangle jumping they think of Magneto. He has easy guard breaks and infinite combos. He is one of the scariest point characters in team fighters.

Cyclops is a good anti-air assist and a decent character as well. His zoning is good and he can get combos off his anti-air. He can also be a battery as he builds meter whiffing jump HK.

Iron Man has the best infinite combo in this game. You wanna learn how to do it? His triangle jump is pretty good. He can zone with bombs and his cannon is a great tool to use in DHC.

Doctor Doom is a great assist for zoning or keepaway teams. His rock assists inflict a lot of chip damage. His jump HP is a good zoning tool to use along with his jumping Photons.

Psylocke is the best anti-air assist in the game. She is an okay character but her assist is so good it's singlehandedly why she is on teams.

Captain Commando's B assist might be the best in the game. It's a fantastic anti-air in itself as it covers a lot of vertical space, does good damage, and is a knockdown that pushes your opponent far away.

Tron Bonne is an air dash character. There is a glitch on her Y assist that causes it to inflict 15 damage on every hit. That means that if all the hits connect she can take off a fifth of the opponent's life bar just from an assist.

Strider is a scary character but to get him to be scary requires a lot of setup. You must pair Strider with Doctor Doom. Strider's orb Hyper Combo does a lot of damage and chip damage and keeps the opponent in lockdown until they die. The team must revolve around keeping Strider alive as he takes a lot of damage.

Blackheart was one of the more popular characters during the early days of MvC2. He's a great assist and has an infinite combo. He's mostly a keepaway character as you will be doing a lot of HK and Demons in the air.

Spiral is all about littering the field with her swords and causing chip damage. Bring the swords out, shoot them, high jump, bring more swords out, shoot some more. Her style is perfect for a game with a lot chip damage and powerful assists.