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'Marvel vs. Capcom 3': The Thought Behind the Marvel Alternate Color Schemes

December 21, 2010 | 4:18 PM | By Marvel_Interactive | In General

As far as career highlights go, working on Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for Marvel definitely ranks way up there for me. (And as far as obvious statements I’ve made go, my last sentence ranks pretty highly itself.) From the start, I’ve had the honor of personally working closely with Capcom to ensure everything Marvel in the game feels appropriately, well, “Marvel”—from character designs to environments to the phrases that come out of the characters’ mouths. Basically, I’ve acted as a fan on the inside, making sure that the stuff in the game is as cool as it’s always been in Marvel fighting games from Capcom—actually, to do my best to help it become even better!

That’s a tall order, too—they may be on the other side of the world, but the folks developing the game really know their Marvel characters! But one of the things I’m proud to say I’ve actively helped to influence was the creation of alternate color schemes for all of the characters. As a holiday gift to you—or maybe just to show all this cool stuff off on the internet—I’d like to show you the kinds of things I’ve worked with the team to bring to the game in this regard.  

First, some back story of what I’m talking about here, in case you’re new to this whole Capcom fighting-game thing. Basically, a game like this allows you to pit the exact same characters against themselves, providing the need for differentiation of their visual presentation. With a few exceptions (such as Gray Hulk), this has always meant some sort of random color variation without a ton of thought behind why, leading to characters like the “mango Sentinel” that makes you think of the New York Knicks (hardcore MvC2 fans know exactly why that reference is so Pringles…). So…I took it upon myself to help in putting a ton of thought into the color variations this time.

If you know comics, you know most characters have one or two iconic outfits we associate with them...plus, in many cases, many others we don’t. What follows is a small sample of the color variations you can expect when you play MvC3, plus an explanation of the thought that went behind each, usually based on less iconic ensembles. There were two key rules we had to deal with as we selected each alternate color scheme:

1. Gameplay comes first, so the color scheme has to differ enough from the others to easily differentiate in the heat of battle. Because of this, we can’t do alternates like “Bucky Cap” for Captain America—they’re just not different enough.

2. The color scheme has to fit on the character model. For this reason, I hesitate to call these “alternate costumes” (although in some cases, they actually are). With so many characters, changing the models to get completely authentic alternates in there would delay the game quite a bit—and we think you want to play in February. You’ll see some examples of this below. 

So, with that in mind, here are five characters, along with their three alternate color schemes, along with the story behind each. And yes—they all have a story.

IRON MAN

Here, we have Tony Stark’s primary suit of choice, based on the popular Extremis look he’s sported with regularity over the past few years. (Yeah, yeah… I know he’s not wearing it now—he’s just worn it a lot’s all I’m sayin’…)

The team would love to have gotten the “Tin Can” first-ever look for Iron Man from TALES OF SUSPENSE #39 in there… but adapting the color scheme to this character model will have to do.

The stealth suit is just plain badass. It hasn’t appeared much in the comics, but we don’t care. It serves the color differentiation purposes well, plus it’s actually a fairly close fit to the source material.

And, my personal favorite—the Silver Centurion color scheme. Actually, I think this combination of Silver Centurion colors with Extremis svelte makes for my favorite Iron Man costume ever.

WOLVERINE

That’s right, bub—this is the primary look Wolvie’s been sporting since ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 in 2004. You might not notice at first, but it’s actually quite different from his similarly colored MvC2 outing, especially in the lower legs and, uh, ear things.

I’m proud to say I’m friends with Craig Kyle, the co-creator of X-23, as well as the new take on X-Force that started in 2008 (and producer on next year’s THOR movie—guy gets around!). The new X-FORCE comic—which was recently relaunched as UNCANNY X-FORCE—introduced this great gray/black color scheme for Marvel’s most popular mutant.

Another classic! The brown suit is predictable, sure, but it’s gotta go in there. Of course, the ASTONISHING X-MEN model adds some variation to it we’ve never seen before, but I kind of like that, actually.

When it came to the fourth suit, the pickings suddenly got slim—so I resorted to expanding the idea a bit here by dipping into one of my all-time favorite (if all-time convoluted) X-Men stories, “Age of Apocalypse.” You might recall Wolvie was missing a hand in that one and didn’t have a mask. Well, this is what he looked like right before he lost the hand! Right? Two hands and a mask. The justification works for me, and I’m sticking to it. Frankly, I’m just glad I got some AoA love in there.

SHE-HULK

The classic look of Jennifer Walters.

Now, this might stir up a bit of She-Hulk controversy, but rather than go with the “She-Hulk in the Fantastic Four” costume you might predict, Capcom convinced us that the “Lyra in the Frightful Four” look was better for gameplay—Lyra having a red outfit and red hair and all. Plus, in a weird way you get an extra character (who just so happens to move and talk like Jennifer Walters). Wait, you don’t know Lyra? Read some SHE-HULKS then, written by the guy I could throw Pac-Man figures at from my desk if I wanted to, Harrison Wilcox.

And the “She-Hulk that isn’t Jennifer Walters” theme continues with this ensemble, which you may have seen in Damon Lindelof’s—yeah, the LOST guy—ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS. HULK. In the Ultimate Universe, She-Hulk is actually Betty Ross, not Jennifer Walters.

Oh, and speaking of Betty Ross…we’ve also got a take on Red She-Hulk.

SPIDER-MAN

You might have played a game or two wearing this suit before.

Maybe even this one.

And less likely, but still possibly, this one.

Definitely not this one, though. (Dan Slott, where you at?...)

MAGNETO

Behold, the Master of Magnet! …Uh, -ism. The Master of Magnetism! (Sorry about that, X-chickens—X-Men Arcade new on Xbox Live and PSN and all…)

In the Ultimate Universe, they spell “Erik Lehnsherr” as “Erik Lensherr,” and he prefers darker hues mixed with a deeper shade of red.

Mixing it up a bit is Magneto from the Mutant X Universe. No big yellow X on his belt, but hey…if you ask me, it’s an improvement.

Finally, you might know this version of a Magneto as a version of Magneto I can’t say on a family blog like this—let’s just call him “MAG-F#$%IN’-NETO”! That’s right. The MvC2 variant from that delightfully profane, wildly popular viral video. Gotta respect the old school (pardon me—OLD SCHOOL!), my friends…

So, there you have it—the first in what I hope is a series of blog entries like these that reveal all the alternate color schemes of all the Marvel characters, plus the thinking behind each and every one. Of course, your comments will inspire me to get off my butt and actually do it, so please, let me know what you think. The more thoughtful your comments, the more inspired I’ll be to reveal more. So, on that note…

Excelsioryuken!

C-Bake

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Comments

i love the color schemes! i'm still holding out for a planet hulk alternate though

wiltl2122 - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

What happen to IM black/silver alternate color? I saw it in a video..

and thanks for putting this up. I hope you do Cap. America, Hulk and Deadpool next.

Jackpot90 - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

These are so much better than I thought they would be! Love how you designed them through various comic costumes, but using different colours without changing the costume. Genius! I am really looking forward to seeing what you can do with Storm, M.O.D.O.K and Super Skrull. Great so far,keep up the good work guys!

PipboyV3 - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

I love that She-Hulk has her Rulk pallette.

NukeA6 - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

Thanks for the comments, all!

wilt, unfortunately doing a Planet Hulk alternate would have required a pretty drastic model change, so it broke rule #2 pretty handily. Would love to have had it in there, though!

Jackpot, I'm not actually sure what you're referring to. Hope you like these better anyway. :-) I'll try and get to all characters eventually, after the first of the year.

Pipboy, you named some of the toughest given our limitations...but we did do something for each! I'm particularly happy with how MODOK came out. (If you look hard enough, you can find screens of one of the alternates, which is his original appearance.)

Marvel_Interactive - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

this one, black and silver Ironman
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVsP6ocPXrk

Jackpot90 - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

I'm liking the neon green Spidey and the stealth suit.

Skullblade - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

I have seen M.O.D.O.K's silver alternate, it reminds me of a rustic, unpainted suit, kinda like War Machine, which is really cool. I could guess that those would be the hardest characters, but I'm sure you did a good job of them no matter hat limitations! I also hope that Capcom will match your reveal, did you help creating their alternates also?

PipboyV3 - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

Nice work. You should do this every week. I can't wait to see Phoenix alt. colors. Thanks

4everbuffy - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

I made an account just to comment on this and encourage more posts like this. Nicely done. I especially love the She-Rulk; I wasn't digging her normal look, and this would make it more aesthetically pleasing to play as her. Same goes for Iron Man. I don't care for Iron Man, but I dig that costume.

Two questions:
1) Do costume color changes ever effect the color of their projectiles? In particular, I am wondering if Dr. Doom can fire pink lasers - I loved that in MvC2.

2) Will you guys have a lot of input when it comes time for alternate costume DLC? If so, I respectfully request an alternate costume for MODOK: a paper bag over his head with two eye holes. I love MODOK, and I think this fits his ugly mug perfectly.

Thanks!

Karsticles - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

Classic brown Wolverine, X-force costumes are awesome! The AoA is cool too.

I would have preferred the original costume Lyra weared since the beginning.

Red She-hulk, yes, thanks! Wearing that Domino's costume would work, too.

The Spider-man costumes are really cool to look at.

I hope there is a World War Hulk as I think that was the most badass version of the Hulk.

Hmm about Magneto I am wondering, did you guys give thought to that costume "Joseph" used?

Thanks for making sure these other costumes are in the game.

AriesWarlock - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

Wow you guys are really giving us a lot of fan service in this game and I for one really appreciate it. Keep up the good work.

Bladerah - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

I forgot, what costumes are you giving Thanos? The original one, and the one he used on his mini-series?

AriesWarlock - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

Love it! I saw Spidey's black costume already during one of the gameplay videos and I actually had to pause the video, because I wasn't sure if I was just seeing things or was it actually it. Instead of the neon suit Spidey I would've liked to have seen Spidey in his web armor costume, but I'm still happy with the neon suit. I can't wait to see Capcom's alternate costumes, Wesker in particular!

chrono60637 - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

These are really awesome. Hopeing to see a nod to Doom's "Unthinkable" armor. Secret wars would be cool too but I guess that's still green and silver so it probably wouldn't work.

Would love to see X23's "Fang" costume too. She needs a more colorful look for when she goes up against Tron Bonne.

How come Deadpool got to have an "X" on his chest for his X-Men costume but Magneto couldn't get one on his belt? Not complaining, just curious. I think Deadpool's X-Men costume is my favorite alternate so far.

kmfollia - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

Great feature, I hope we get more of these in the near future. Keep up the good work!

BoSox06 - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

Jackpot: Thanks. There was an old build shown at conventions before all alternates were approved. That must be where this comes from.

Karsticles: Thanks for signing up! As for your questions: 1) I honestly haven't studied the actions of the alternates versus the originals to know for sure. Sorry. 2) We've got input (final say, even) on all Marvel-related items that go into the game. Did that actually happen with MODOK?

AriesWarlock: I wanted Planet Hulk too, but that one requires a pretty drastic model change to do right, unfortunately. This all happened months ago, so I don't remember for sure if Joseph was considered, but I think we probably decided against it because he didn't wear a cape. And...Thanos?

chrono60637: We actually had Spider-Armor as a candidate, but decided against it because it's really only had one appearance, and we really wanted to get the Big Time costume in there since it's current with comics now.

kmfollia: Unless I'm thinking of something else, the "Unthinkable" armor is unfortunately aptly named for our purposes because we can't change the model beyond colors, and the colors are basically the same as core Doom. And X-23 was one of the trickier ones since she's only got so much clothing on to begin with -- they had some good solutions though, as you'll see soon enough. Finally, that actually isn't Deadpool's X-Men costume -- another tale for a later date... (Sorry, but I don't know the answer about adding the X.)

Everyone else: Thanks for the compliments! Definitely inspiring me to do more...

Marvel_Interactive - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

I liked Golden Storm !
Well at least if they dont add the Green Goblin, i can pretend im using Iron Patriot.

Zerglot - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

This was great. I was spot on for most of the costumes, although I thought the Silver Iron Man alt was a reference to either the Prototype Armor, like in the movie, or War Machine.
I personally can't wait to see X-23's costumes, I personally really want to see one based on the one from the cover of New X-Men Volume 2 (images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb200711071...), and I'm, of course, expecting to see an X-Force alt, although without the mask most likely, like in this image (images.wikia.com/marveldatabase/images/f...). I can't really place where the only one revealed so far is from (the primarily pink/purple one with the fishnet portion).
I also can't wait to see Deadpool's or Hulk's (Since we've already seen one is Gray Hulk, I'm expecting to see Red Hulk, but the only other Hulk I can think of is Orange Hulk, the secret 'character' from Marvel vs Capcom 1).

None the less, please continue this.

Deva-Princess - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM

Mag-F@#$IN-NETO!
I love the colors so far please show us more! I would love to see X-23's colors or Dormammu's.
Also if Sent gets in a mango color would be awesome.

JetSetDizzy - December 21, 2010 | 1:12 AM
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