Marvel Versus Series Backgrounds - Part II

This is part six of my backgrounds edit commentary and my second covering the Marvel Vs. Games. Not updating in a year or so, I went back to hit upon some other stages I didn't deem worthy in the initial batch. Here I learned a little bit about Capcom's methods and enjoyed seeing these backgrounds as full images. I do hope you enjoy!

The XSF->MSF Change

As I started with MVC, I saw how very easy the stages were. Each image was 768 pixels wide, captured in the native resolution at 384 for each side. Simple enough. There were 3-4 layers in each, all very straightforward and my background issue from the earlier games was not present here. Reason enough for celebration, all those captures (seen below) were so easy. It was when I started doing the XSF and MSF captures that I found out the precise issue. Up until XSF, they had foreground parallax, which means that the foreground images moved more quickly than the background to give you a realistic impression of depth. However, as they pushed out game after game, they did away with it, making these static images. It was easier for them to do so, I suspect. A good example of this is the Showdown in the Park image from my Part II - Marvel Vs. Games page. With the parallax gone, a little depth is gone from the vantage point of the gamer, but the images become more vibrant and alive.

So, with that out of the way, you'll understand that a few other minor changes were present as well. For the first images, I've set up the MSF image first and the XSF image second, with a little empty filler space. This is to give a proper mouseover comparison as they're not the same resolution.

Comparisons

The first stage for you is Mall Mayhem. You'll see that like everything else, MSF went crazy with details. The image from XSF, by comparison, is bland and boring! However, it's still bright and flashy, matching the motif of the series. There is a huge animated crowd in the sequel, with a Cody cameo and a Megaman guy! All of the signs and banners were altered as well.

Mall Mayhem

MSF (mouseover for comparison)

XSF

Dead or Live - The Show

Another 30 pixels or so were added to the MSF game and the developers gave the stage a much cooler, more animated background. There are a few minor changes and some cool ones like the Spider-Man screen and the whole cooking area. This was a cool edit that has 4 layers for each game.

Dead Or Live - The Show

MSF (mouseover for comparison)

XSF

Apocalypse Now

A relatively boring stage, really, more tubes existed in XSF. There were other minor differences, but nothing really worthy of mention, Enjoy!

Apocalypse Now

MSF (mouseover for comparison)

XSF

Manhattan

This was a long and arduous edit, but the final product is worth it. Taking liberties to merge the two levels, you'll see that the entire stage is here. Starting above ground, surrounded by police, the fight ends up underground in dark tunnels.

This is one of the few in which the XSF capture is larger than the MSF. This was a lot of work and the errors here are glaring. Perhaps that's just my perspective, I do hope you don't agree! The large image sizes in at 768x900 at its largest. See what you think here!

Manhattan

XSF (mouseover for comparison)

MSF

Marvel Vs. Capcom

Most of these stages didn't really inspire me the first time I went through the games. I went through them all as the edits were so easy. The final products came out much better than I expected them to. All are animated, so I just chose the best positions for each item and left it as that. They didn't name these levels, so just check them all out!

Oh, first off, this one eluded me for over five years. You'll see stage 1 has a breakaway section that leads to a bath area to the right. I've captured the full image, so just click the thumbnail for the complete 1425x447 stage. It's pretty cool!

Stage 1 (Full)

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

For the fifth stage, screens appear and really cover up a big chunk of the stage. Therefore, I've give you an alternate form so that you can see both.

Stage 5

Stage 6

Stage 8

Stage 10