Retroview - Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Characters

Like many other players who got Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (MvC3), I was sad to see the number of characters go from 56 down to 36 (excluding Jill Valentine and Shuma "Squid-thingy" Gorath with each costing $5 as DLCs).

Source: http://www.creaturesofaccident.com/

It's not to say that MvC3 isn't as great because that so many characters were taken out (especially since MvC3 is such an incredible follow up to MvC2) but that it saddens me to see so many characters cut out of the roster.  If they do get added to the roster or if a new character arises, Capcom will either make them into DLCs or create another MvC3 with extra features and stuff.  Balancing a fighting game is one of the most difficult things I see in development for the genre, so it's understandable why adding more characters would delay the game even more.  But I hope that more characters get added and that the game can be expanded to the stature that MvC2 possesses.  Here is the list of characters from MvC2 that didn't appear on MvC3 (excluding Bone Wolverine) and the series they were known for (not where they originated from):


Blackheart - Daredevil
Cable - X-Men / New Mutants
Amingo - Original Character
Anakaris - Darkstalkers
Colossus - X-Men
B.B.Hood - Darkstalkers
Cyclops - X-Men
Cammy - Street Fighter
Captain Commando - Captain Commando
Gambit - X-Men
Charlie Nash - Street Fighter
Hulk - The Incredible Hulk
Iceman - X-Men
Dan Hibiki - Street Fighter
Dhalsim - Street Fighter
Juggernaut - X-Men
Guile - Street Fighter
Marrow - X-Men
Hayato - Star Gladiator
Omega Red - X-Men
Psylocke - X-Men
Jin Saotome - Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness
Rogue - X-Men
Ken Masters - Street Fighter
Sabretooth - X-Men
M. Bison - Street Fighter
Mega Man - Mega Man
Silver Samurai - Daredevil
Roll - Mega Man
Ruby Heart - Original Character
Spiral - Longshot
Sakura Kasugano - Street Fighter
Thanos - Iron Man
Servbot - Mega Man
Venom - Spider Man
SonSon - "One of the Arcade Beat 'em Up Games, I think, that follows the story Journey to the West."
War Machine - Iron Man
Strider Hiryu - Strider
Zangief - Street Fighter

(List of Characters from Wikipedia Article "Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes")

Most players seem to miss Cable, Strider, and Jin the most since they were commonly used for competitive tournaments.  I personally miss Cyclops, Gambit, Mega Man, Roll, and Servbot since I used them to mess around and piss players off in MvC2.  This makes me thankful for characters like Viewtiful Joe, Arthur, and Amaterasu as the new characters in MvC3 since they're not the most serious of characters within their games (with Amaterasu an exception being a Sun God and all).  For competitive play, I miss Hayato, Psylocke, Rogue, Sakura and Strider since I like fast combo characters.  Ever since the announcement of MvC3, gamers across the world have already been predicting what new characters would be added.  Here are some of the ones I was hoping for:

Capcom side:
-Frank West - Dead Rising: Since he was in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, I was hoping for that.  (He was to be added into MvC3 but was taken out late in the development with problems on his animation and move sets.
-Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney series: Yes, Phoenix Wright.  He'd be an awesome "funny" character to use.
-Wayne Holden - Lost Planet: I just played the game last year and I think there's potential in him as a character.

I was extremely happy with the inclusion of Dante and Zero for sure though.

Marvel side:
Firstly though, I think they did a pretty good job on the Marvel side.  Some of them seem as if they were added for future promotional purposes (Thor movie, another Fantastic Four movie, etc.) but for the most part it seems like an interesting cast of characters (especially Deadpool).
-Magik - X-Men: It would make sense.  Colossus was in MvC2, and being the sister of Colossus, she would show up with her awesome sword and cut everyone up.  What's that?  Too many characters with magic, swords and teleportation abilities already?
-Ghost Rider - um, Ghost Rider: Can you just imagine his hyper special with flames, motorcycle and chain?  I'm surprised Trish's hyper special doesn't involve a motorcycle seeing how she busted into Dante's building with one in the beginning of the game.
-Human Torch - Fantastic Four: Yeah, I know there's already enough Fantasy Four characters along with a lot of characters with fire abilities, but can they have a constant coat of fire around them?  (Dark Phoenix)  Well dang...

The inclusion of the Phoenix was possibly one of the coolest ones for the Marvel side.  X-23 was a confusing addition since she's a clone of "Wolverine", but I realized she has a different play style after trying her out in a few matches.

Oh well, I can only hope for additional characters.  MvC3 is still really fun and I hope the roster continues to grow without having to accumulate a large sum of money to get them.