Take you for an infinite ride.

The anniversary of Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite has quietly drifted past. It’s been a year of unfilled promises from the developers, outlandishly negative and corny memes poised as an affront to the game’s community, and a struggle for relevancy in a crowd of titles propped up with esports. I don’t care to retread any of that, because it’s tired ground and an incredible disservice to where both the game and community are currently at.

Game-changing tech found just days ago.

The meta has evolved voraciously over the past months, allowing for more variety than theorized at release, fleshed out by a base of dedicated fighters who understand that they are still playing for something for something more than monetary gain.

It’s these fans who keep the spirit of the game alive. They are still sifting through the depthless innards, only emerging when the grosses combos, setups, and resets are found. They are still actively showing up in brackets, both in numerous events hosted online and for the tournaments offline willing to afford the space.

There are still hundreds of active players ready and waiting to piece you up, and they won’t be leaving any time soon.

Kinderparty:

“Marvel Infinite carries such a positive spirit with it. It’s been a year already and we’ve grown alongside the game throughout its hardships, while continuing to push it and make it our own. I can’t really ask for a more genuine experience than that. It’s not what we expected, but it’s organic, and that’s just super satisfying.”

Dual Kevin:

“Marvel has always been a game where you can express yourself. Whether it be a team composition, an assist call and now even a stone. Not much esports money is put up for it so it’s all pride at this point.

Our personality/playstyle is put out there. Other games like Street Fighter V and such don’t have as many options to do so like Marvel does. With that much in our hands, we def trying to prove something to everybody including ourselves.”

Jamal Seto:

“Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite is an understandably polarizing game. The entry throws out numerous franchise traditions: bringing the fighter count from a traditional 3-versus-3 style down to 2v2 characters, lowering the maximum super meters down from five to four, and introducing a Groove-like fighting system (a la Capcom vs SNK 2) with the Infinity Stones, in lieu of an universal “power up” mechanic like X-Factor from Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 or Baroque from Tatsunoko vs Capcom. But I still heavily enjoy this game.

For me, the fact that MVCI is a much more forgiving MvC title keeps bringing me back everyday. In previous installments like UMVC3, getting hit with a lone jab at the very beginning of the round could lead to the death of your entire team. In MVCI, a full death sequence from 100% health isn’t nearly as common as in UMVC3. In addition, a new defensive mechanic, Counter Switch, allows you to interrupt your opponent’s combo and call in your partner character at the expense of 2 super meters. This combo breaker mechanic also brought with it an interesting metagame of meter management and neutral that I love playing to death. The button structure also reverted back to a MVC2 style 2 punches 2 kicks button layout (abandoning the LMHS button layout from MVC3), which in my opinion calls for more control over your character. That combined with the fast, flashy gameplay of MVCI delivers an addicting experience no other games currently offer.

That being said MVCI isn’t without its classic MvC issues. Characters with more mobility or bigger toolsets tend to be advantageous and widely used. Wonky hitboxes or frame data combined with seemingly unresponsive inputs can cause for frustratingly silly situations. And you can still get caught in unforgiving 0-to-death situations if you guess wrong on mixups designed solely to prevent you from Counter Switching. But despite these flaws, the core gameplay is so rewarding that it makes me want to try to find in-game solutions to these gameplay issues.

I still enjoy how there’s no limit to creativity in this game. It’s definitely an “open world” type of fighting game.

From the very first time we saw MVCI revealed at PSX way back in 2016, I immediately sensed the deep potential of the game. My very first thought was “Oh, you can just Unibeam tag and it’s like an assist for your other guy.” and some of those same initial strategies I imagined before the release of the game I’m still applying today.

I’m seriously hoping for more Marvel vs Capcom content in the future, regardless of what direction the franchise heads. Until then, I’ll be playing MVCI.”

WaveChan:

“Why am I still playing Marvel one year later? This game is just too much hype and too much fun! The amount of tech people are still coming up with… there’s still so much to be discovered! This game has so much potential!! Plus it’s MvC, why wouldn’t I still be playing it? I understand that people are turned off by the graphics, but in my opinion gameplay is the most important part of a fighting game for me and MVCI just hits all the right spots.”

Macho:

“What makes this game so much fun to play is the complexity in every stage of the game. In games like Marvel 3 or even DBFZ, there are situations where you get a hit and you just shut your brain off and just do your combo. In MVCI, you constantly have to be keeping track of both players health, red health, meter, and storm gauge as different variations and permutations of each will result in your combos, neutral, approach and resource management all different.

In MVCI you never get a break, which is one of the reasons many people dropped it because in my opinion, that’s the one core reason the game is so hard to play compared to other tag fighting games, however, if you choose to look at it the way I do, because there’s so much depth and so much to keep track of, it makes every game unique and there’s so much variation.”

lolraid:

“I still play MvCI because it’s the only active fighting game I enjoy playing for long periods of time. The game looks ugly and FGC gave it the dead game label but I’ve never been one to let public opinion decide what I like and dislike y’know? I’m lucky enough that I have a local community to fall back on and that this game’s netcode is massively underrated. If it wasn’t for MvCI I probably wouldn’t be playing fighting games right now (laughs).”

Knives:

“The majority of the players that I’ve seen continue to play MvCI have one thing in common. They genuinely enjoy the game. Whether they are strong players or not, they appreciate the game for what it is and spend little time complaining about what it’s not.

The unfortunate circumstances of developer support and tournament inclusion have somewhat worked to bring the community who has stuck around closer together. The players who have continued recognize each other as true fans of this unique game regardless of what’s “missing”.

I understand that one of the game’s strengths is just how different it is from everything else. I’d imagine this creates a sense of pride in the players who have kept up enough to reach the point where they are able to play, watch, and enjoy the game through all of its chaotic nuances.”

TPC| Ned (Not Enough Damage):

“I’m still playing Marvel vs Capcom Infinite despite it having such a rough start because it is simply what I enjoy the most out of many of the staple fighting games you see today. The gameplay is actually very strong (contrary to common misconception), but it just needs some additional tweaking through developer support, not unlike any other successful competitive game you see now. I got into the fighting game community through Marvel, and absolutely fell in love with the unforgiving chaos, relentless speed, and incredibly diverse cast.

Seeing some of my favorite comic book and cartoon characters come to life at the arcade was something I’ll never forget. Marvel Infinite looks pretty rough graphics-wise, but giving it a fair shot shows all the pieces of all the great ideas they had, but I still love the characters and style of gameplay. At the end of the day, we all invest time into this hobby because it is what we enjoy. I continue to play it because I love the series and community.

It’ll take a lot more than one abandoned product in the series before I lose my love for the series.”

MegamanDS:

“The game brings back an old feeling of competition to me. Playing marvel 2 during its prime was the most fun I’ve had in my gaming career. The game brought a real sense of gratification because winning means you actually outplayed and outsmarted your opponent.

When Marvel 3 was released, it didn’t have that sense of gratification of accomplishment even when winning because of the game mechanics. Fast forward to MvCI and one year after it’s release… The game definitely brings back a sense of gratification and makes you feel skillful when you win. On top of that, the community is really inviting to new and experienced players. The game being fun coupled with an awesome little community is why I still play it.

I have no gripes with the game or know of any problems. I really couldn’t care less about artwork if that’s what the major issue is with the game.”

Emorawr:

“The game has never gotten stale, the community around me is amazing everyone here is incredibly supportive and constantly trying to help one another improve. We’re still finding out new tech and no ways to further improve the meta. And the game is just so God damn fucking fun.”