Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (also refered to unofficially as Marvel vs. Capcom 4) is a crossover fighting game being developed by Capcom. It is the sixth entry in the Marvel vs. Capcom series of crossover fighting games featuring characters from Capcom and characters from the comic book company Marvel Comics. The game was first announced at the PlayStation Experience 2016 and was released in September 19th, 2017 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Gameplay
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is designed to be more accessible than previous Marvel vs. Capcom games, resulting in several changes to the series' fundamental mechanics. The game features a two-on-two battle system (similar to Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and earlier installments in the franchise) instead of the three-on-three system used since Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The game implement the Infinity Stones system (which is based on the Infinity Gems gameplay mechanic from Marvel Super Heroes) which temporarily bestow players with unique abilities and stat boosts depending on the type of stone selected. Each player selects one Infinity Stone before the match begins, which bestows one ability that can be activated at any time, known as the "Infinity Surge". A second, stronger ability called the "Infinity Storm" can be activated after a player fills their Infinity meter, giving them a significant boost for a limited time, similar to the X-Factor system from Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The boost is determined by the chosen Infinity Stone.

The series' traditional character assists have been replaced with a "free-form" tag-based combo system (akin to Marvel vs. Capcom 3 ' s "Team Aerial Combo" system and Street Fighter X Tekken ' s "Switch Cancel" system) called "Active Switch", which allows players to form continuous combos between their two characters. Players can freely tag out their team members at any point, even while mid-air or during long attack animations. This allows players to form continuous combos between their two characters by essentially creating their own assists through the tag system. Alternatively, players can sacrifice meter from their Hyper Combo Gauge to perform the newly introduced "Counter Switch" mechanic, which tags in their partner character while the opponent is attacking them, providing the opportunity to counterattack and free the character trapped in the enemy's combo. Players can switch their two selected characters before the match begin.

Infinite moves away from the button layout previously used in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and instead employs a control scheme more similar to Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which includes four attack buttons, consisting of two pairs of light and heavy punches and kicks, and two additional buttons used for swapping characters and activating Infinity Stone powers. To improve accessibility, the game includes an "auto-combo" system which allows players to repeatedly press the light punch button to automatically perform both ground and air combos. In addition, certain Hyper Combos can now be activated by simply pressing the two heavy attack buttons, as opposed to the specific joystick and button combinations required in previous titles.

Infinite also include a two-hour cinematic story mode; single-player modes, such as training, mission, and arcade mode; a collection mode, where extras unlocked through the story and arcade modes are stored; and online multiplayer with ranked and casual matches, global leaderboards, and online lobbies with spectating. The game also features six addtional DLC characters and six Premium Costumes for certain fighters.

Story
Death is visited by Jedah Dohma, who proposes an alliance to achieve equilibrium between life and death on both their worlds. Needing the six Infinity Stones to do so, Death deceives Thanos into aiding her, granting him the Space Stone. Thanos in turn proposes an alliance with Ultron, sending him to retrieve the Reality Stone from Abel City (which neither Thanos or Death can reach due to a barrier). In Abel City Sigma intercepts Ultron, and the two forge an alliance. They betray the others and use the Space and Reality Stones to merge the two dimensions, refering the event as the "Convergence", and fuse themselves into a single being named "Ultron Sigma". To wipe out biological life, they begin unleashing an evolved form of the Sigma Virus that turns organic creatures to synthetic beings under their control. An alliance of heroes from both worlds is formed, and they rescue Thanos from imprisonment. They secure him in a containment field at Avengers Tower, but Thor Odinson becomes infected and escapes. To gain their trust, Thanos reveals the locations of the remaining four Infinity Stones, and teams of heroes are dispatched to find them.

In Valkanda, Ryu is found by a female Monster Hunter and brought to the nation's king, Black Panther. Ryu explains to Panther that he is part of a phenomenal research team that he and a scienctist got separated from when their plane crashed into Valkanda. The scienctist, who is Hulk, suddenly arrvives and, unable to control his anger, gets into a fight against Ryu. After the fight, Captain America and Chun-Li arrives by plane, Panther refuses to surrender the Time Stone as Captain America warned him that the Stome won't be able to hide Valkanda from Ultron Sigma long enough. Ultron Sigma's drones arrive and spread the virus, infecting a Dah'ren Mohran. Ryu and Hulk defeat the creature, and Panther agrees to give them the Stone.

Dante, Arthur and Doctor Strange travel to the Dark Kingdom, where Ghost Rider and Morrigan Aensland are pursuing a soul-stealing thief. Morrigan leads them to Jedah, who is using the Soul Stone to feed souls to a Symbiote creature, hoping to use it against Ultron Sigma. The heroes battle Dormammu and Firebrand, but Jedah escapes with the Stone.

Around the same time where Dante, Arthur and Doctor Strange are dispatched to Dark Kingdom, Chris Redfield and Spider-Man infiltrate an A.I.M.brella facility. They run into Frank West, who is performing his own investigation, and discover M.O.D.O.K. turning people into Symbiote infused B.O.W.s. at Jedah's demand. The heroes free Mike Haggar from containment and defeat M.O.D.O.K.'s enforcer, Nemesis. They take the Mind Stone, but are unable to shut down the portal to the Dark Kingdom, just as Jedah and his Symbiote appears from the portal and chases them.

On Knowmoon, Captain Marvel, Rocket Raccoon, Gamora, Nova, Strider Hiryu and X defeat Grandmaster Meio and rescue Zero from mind control. Upon taking the Power Stone, the station ejects its core, which falls towards New Metro City carrying a massive Sigma Virus payload.

While Doctor Light, Iron Man, Spencer and Hawkeye build a weapon to harness the Infinity Stones, Ultron Sigma attacks the Avengers Tower. In the carnage, Thanos is released and attacks Ultron Sigma, cracking the Reality Stone and forcing him to retreat. As Chris’s team is pursued by the Symbiote, the heroes return to repel it. They use their Stones to destroy the Symbiote and the falling core, but are infected in the process. Additionally, the Time Stone shows Iron Man the revealing vision of the plan that lead to the Convergence, including Thanos' part in it. With hours left until they are turned, the heroes head for Xgard. While one group distracts Ultron Sigma, the rest infiltrate Sigma’s laboratory to finish their weapon, the Infinity Buster. Iron Man tells Thanos about the flashback he saw earlier but quickly realizes that he was the only one who saw it. Thanos refuses to believe Death was just using him but when he eveuntally learns of Death and Jedah’s partnership, he becomes enraged and betrays the heroes, creating a mechanized gauntlet that absorbs Ryu’s Satsui no Hado before departing, freeing Ryu from the cursed Hado. Yet, Thanos still keep his bargain on helping the heroes with finish the Infinity Buster to destroy Ultron Sigma, having no longer any interest in the Infinity Stones anymore.

Dante returns to the Dark Kingdom and reclaims the Soul Stone from Jedah. He arrives in Xgard and pretends to surrender the Stone, but because they have no souls, Ultron Sigma is overwhelmed by the Stone and transformed into "Ultron Omega". The Soul Stone purges the Sigma Virus within Thor, returning him to normal. The others appear and install the Infinity Buster into X, who uses it to destroy Ultron Omega.

In the aftermath, the virus is neutralized, but because the Reality Stone was cracked, the universes cannot be separated again and the said stone requires a long time to be fixed. The heroes agree to protect the new world and split the Infinity Stones between them to keep them safe. In a post-credits scene, Jedah tells Death that he has another plan, but Thanos arrives seeking vengeance against them. Believing the Satsui no Hadō is capable of killing Death, he prepares to attack them with a Hadouken.

Development
Following the release of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for the PlayStation Vita in 2012, Marvel's parent company, The Walt Disney Company, which acquired Marvel in 2009, chose not to renew their licensing deal with Capcom, instead opting to move its viable properties towards their self-published game titles, such as the Disney Infinity series; this resulted in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes being removed from the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in 2013. However, in May 2016, Disney announced its decision to stop self-publishing their own video games and switch over to a licensing-only model, allowing third-party game developers, including Capcom, to renegotiate licenses with Marvel once again. Norio Hirose, a programmer at Capcom who had previously worked on X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, as well as other Capcom fighting games (such as Project Justice and Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000) serves as Infinite ' s director. Other developer team members from previous Vs. series also worked on developing this game.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was officially unveiled during Sony's third PlayStation Experience event in early December 2016. The first gameplay footage debuted on the same day following the conclusion of the Capcom Cup 2016.

Regarding the game's title, the inclusion of the Infinity Stones and the theme of "infinite [gameplay] possibilities" influenced their decision to name the game Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite instead of Marvel vs. Capcom 4. To further differentiate Infinite, the developers opted to use the Unreal Engine 4 to develop more cinematic and modern visuals, as opposed to the stylized art direction used in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.

Gameplay system
According to Marvel Comics and Capcom representatives, the decision to change the three-on-three battle system from the series' previous iteration was considered for a long time before ultimately settling on two-on-two fights for the sake of accessibility. Capcom's Director of Production, Michael Evans, sought to give casual Marvel vs. Capcom fans the ability to get into the game without being overwhelmed by introducing a more manageable two-character system. Infinite is designed to be a "more elegant and simplified" game but still as "complex and hardcore" as past Marvel vs. Capcom installments. To expand the number of options for players, the "X-Factor" and assist attack mechanics from Marvel vs. Capcom 3 were removed in favor of the six Infinity Stones to provide teams with additional customization, and utilizes Switch Cancel combo, akin to Street Fighter X Tekken. Marvel and Capcom compared the Infinity Stones to the "Groove System" used in Capcom vs. SNK 2 and the latter company's goal with the Infinity Stones was to create a level playing field by acting as a comeback enabler, and allowing players to compensate for their characters' deficiencies and enhance their strong points.

Story and influences
Beyond appealing to genre and series fans, Capcom sought to target a diverse audience with Infinite and bring in casual players who were fans of Marvel's comic books, movies and television shows. To this end, the developers wanted to introduce a more robust, cinematic story compared to previous Marvel vs. Capcom titles. Bill Rosemann, Creative Director at Marvel Games, also explained that Marvel Games would not force its development partners to tie their games into existing storylines throughout Marvel's universes, giving them more freedom to craft their own original stories and create new visions for their characters. The game's story mode script was penned by writer Paul Gardner, with oversight from Rosemann. Frank Tieri, the lead writer for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, confirmed his involvement with Infinite on Twitter. Rosemann stated that Infinite ' s emphasis on storytelling was largely influenced by Marvel's story and character-centric approach to their recent projects in games, film, and television; Insomniac Games' upcoming Spider-Man video game, Telltale Games' Guardians of the Galaxy episode series and Marvel's successful Netflix series have been cited as examples.

Contents
Capcom also promised a larger variety of single-player and multiplayer content at launch; the promise for a "feature-rich" product resulted from experiences with Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Street Fighter V, both of which were criticized for its lack of content upon release, especialy the former game which was originally also promised with a robust single-player story mode with Frank Tieri as story writer. Capcom's struggle with the launch of the latter game influenced several decisions during Infinite ' s development. As a result of Street Fighter V ' s initial online multiplayer server issues, the developers choose to forego their own servers in favor of dedicated servers provided by Sony and Microsoft, aiming to provide more stable online play for Infinite. Evans stated that the game does not feature cross-platform play, citing Capcom's trouble with implementing the Capcom Fighters Network cross-platform structure into Street Fighter V. Infinite does also not include any currency systems similar to Street Fighter V ' s "Fight Money".

According to Bill Rosemann in DICE 2017, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite does not involve anything related to movie rights issues since it was lasted on Marvel: Contest of Champions.

Character roster
When it comes to the playable fighters, Mike Evans and Associate Producer Peter Rosas stated that the development team examined the strengths and weaknesses of each returning character and adjusted them by providing new moves and abilities, hoping to make every fighter viable. In terms of roster selection, characters were chosen based on two aspects: their potential interactions within the story and their gameplay style. The developers sought to include a variety of different character archetypes, from small, nimble characters, such as Strider Hiryu, to large, brawler-type characters, such as the Hulk. The Marvel characters' designs were proposed by Capcom's research and development team in Japan, who took inspiration from both the characters' comic book and film appearances. Marvel staff members worked closely with the team, providing feedback to maintain the authenticity of their characters' portrayals.

Evans also claimed that the Marvel character choices would not be limited to those who have appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Merchandise
There are three types of editions for fans who pre-ordered the game; Standard Edition contains "Warrior Thor" and "Evil Ryu" alternate costumes, refered as "Premium Costumes", for Thor and Ryu. Deluxe Edition contains everything from the Standard Edition and addtionally "Gladiator Hulk" and "Command Mission X" costumes for Hulk and X as well as the "2017 Character Pass", which will give players access to six post-launch characters. Collectors Edition has everything Deluxe Edition offers, in addition to four detailed, interlinking dioramas from TriForce and LED-powered Infinity Stones.

A demo of the story mode was released on June 12, 2017, following Sony's press conference at the E3 2017.

In February 2017, Hasbro announced a Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite toy line during their presentation at the American International Toy Fair. In May 2017, Marvel Comics announced a series of Marvel vs. Capcom-themed comic book variant covers, which were available in comic stores throughout August.

Reception
The game received generally mixed reviews from critics, who praised its new gameplay systems, but heavily criticized its presentation, visuals, character design and the character roster.

Sales
Capcom expects Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite to sell two million units worldwide before March 2018.

Trivia

 * Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is notable for having these distinctions in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
 * It is the first installment to include an alternate version of the original Mega Man as a playable character, not counting Zero's X costume in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
 * It is the first game to feature the Infinity Stones, last featured in the series' precursor game Marvel Super Heroes.
 * It is the first game to not feature any playable X-Men or Fantastic Four characters. This is most likely because of personal issues between 20th Century FOX (which owns the movie rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four), the Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios. Marvel is however working on the X-Men ' s future return to Marvel Studios.
 * The second game to feature an "original" main antagonist, first being Marvel vs. Capcom 2 which featured Abyss. Although in this case, the antagonist, Ultron Sigma (and its second form Ultron Omega), is a fusion between two villains from Marvel and Capcom.


 * Similar to Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, the announcer states the names of the winning fighters at the end of a match, as opposed to Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and 3, which used the more traditional "You Win" and "You Lose" messages that are used in the Street Fighter series.


 * Like Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Infinite does not have individual character endings in arcade mode.

Official character art
To view all official character artwork, see: Official Art.