News Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection Will Include Yoshiki Okamoto's Most Hated Character After All

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Update [Tue 27th Aug, 2024 16:30 BST]: Well, well, well. After it was initially hinted that Norimaro would be removed from Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, it has been confirmed that the character is present in both the Japanese and Western versions of the game.

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Original Story [Wed 19th Jun, 2024 14:45 BST]: Capcom's announcement that it is bundling up some of its crossover fighters in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics went down rather well yesterday; games like X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 are legendary brawlers, and getting to experience them again on modern-day hardware is something we're really looking forward to.

However, as you perhaps might expect when dealing with licensed titles from decades ago, there are going to be some changes in this pack – the most obvious of which is the removal of a Norimaro, a Japan-exclusive character who starred in 1997's Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.

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Norimaro is based on a nerdy, 'otaku' persona created by Japanese comedian Noritake Kinashi and was always something of a leftfield choice; he was predictably removed from international versions of the coin-op and the Western PS1 port.

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Here's a bit more background on the character, taken from the Marvel vs. Capcom Wiki:

The new character was initially stated to make an appearance in the "most recent work related to the Street Fighter series", later revealed to debut in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, which was at the time the latest game in the company's release schedule. Executive Producer Yoshiki Okamoto really disliked the character, thinking he was incredibly uncool, but artist Akiman really liked his clear and simple design and praised him. Okamoto was also fearing he'd end up debuting in Street Fighter III, still in development at the time, and allegedly made sure it would not be the case. Norimaro was balanced in consideration of new players coming to play from watching Noritake's show.

On the upside, Mecha Gouki has been added as a playable character in the version of the game which is included in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics.

Other changes include Juggernaut and Magneto being playable in X-Men: Children of the Atom, Doctor Doom, Thanos and Anita being playable in Marvel Super Heroes and the removal of some images used during the ending in the Japanese version of The Punisher.