AWWWW YEAH! Nemesis, the b a mo fo from the Resident Evil series makes his first fighting game appearance ever in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3!

I don’t know how hyped you guys were when you saw him bust on the scene in that leaked character lineup but I about pooped my pants. I love the big characters and I can’t wait to team him up with the Incredible Hulk and wreak a storm of devastation upon my enemies!

First Impression: Utterly grotesque and preeminently awesome, Nemesis looks pretty darn slow but makes up for it with some surprising range on a select number of normals and two totally awesome hyper combos.

Video 1



Video 2



Video 3



Video 4



Normals

The majority of his normals seem par for the course when it comes to a bruiser like Nemmy. They’re slow but have decent reach and look to do pretty alright damage. I’m more interested in what appear to be his aerial command normal, the one where he shoots the tentacles out of his outstretched hand (Video 1 – :27). It has great range (I wonder what the actual hitbox looks like?) and helps Nemesis exert some mid-range pressure but I have a feeling people will be fishing with this move just like they do with Haggar’s pipe.

It also appears that he has this same command normal, if that is indeed what it is, on the ground (Video 4 – 1:26). His jumping hard attack looks like it has great ambiguous cross up potential (Video 3 – 1:44) and I’m really curious as to whether his bazooka uppercut (Video 3 – 1:23) is a normal or a command normal. Speaking of move classifications, what do you guys think about the Q-like overhead punch he has and uses to great effect pulverizing the Hulk here (Video 4 – 1:34)? Normal, command normal, or special?

The reason I ask is because it looks like it can be cancelled into, wall bounces, and leads to huge damage. I think it’s a special but…

Specials

Q Punch

Yeah I decided to include it in here anyway. Like I said before leads to some seriously damaging combos (Video 4 – 1:34) and is a little like Spencer’s Armor Piercer in that even if you’ve already used up your one wall bounce the Q Punch will cause them to float just enough so that you can connect his Rocket Assault hyper OTG from a full screen away! Definitely a move you’ll be seeing often, but hopefully not too often because it looks wicked punishable.

Shoulder Rush

I’m thinking it’s a command normal but I saw a little red energy animation on a few occasions and decided to include it in the specials section. Nemesis crouches, rushes forward, and hits the enemy with his shoulder (Video 2 – :20). Can be cancelled/linked into Q Punch (Video 1 – :50) and lowers Nemesis’ hitbox significantly, making him a much smaller target for a second or two.

Rocket Blast

Nemesis shoots a rocket at his enemy. Looks as though it hits OTG at a downward angle, fires straight (Video 1 – :40), and possibly upwards. Also looks as if it can be tiger kneed in the air to add a little more damage to ground combos (Video 4 – :56). Seems like a pretty average projectile but I’m sure almost all the cast can crouch under the normal straight shot version.

Command Grab

Looks like a pretty decent command grab with some serious range. Can be done to snag aerial characters from the sky (Video 1 – :50) and on the ground in front of him (Video 2 – :33) though Nemesis is so tall it almost looks like the normal height one misses crouching characters! Whips enemies to the ground and bounces them for a combo. I wonder if this takes up one ground bounce or if it’s like Thor’s Mighty Hurricane and is just a way to start a combo from the throw? Regardless, it’s just another great tool to add to his repertoire.

Hypers

Rocket Assault

Ok, I cannot get over how freaking awesome this hyper is. Nemesis launches a volley of rockets at his enemy that OTG and after the last rocket hits he jumps into the sky and smashes down on his foe, sending them careening into the air just a little higher than Nemesis’ standing height. Why is this so awesome? It OTGs from full screen (Video 4 – 1:34) and then puts Nemesis right back into the enemies face for mixups!

It’s not like Hulks Gamma Tsunami or Thor’s Mighty Thunder or Haggar’s Body Press. When you use those midscreen they put the enemy a little too far away to immediately continue pressuring. Nemesis breaks the mold in a very dangerous way and with the aid of a lockdown assist I can only imagine how scary he’ll be when he’s got you in the corner after landing this hyper.

I’m even more geeked about Rocket Assault because it looks like an amazing DHC choice. I want to use Hulk and Nemesis together so when a Gamma Tsunami puts them a full screen away I’ll DHC into this, pick them up with the three rockets, curb stomp them, and get right back in there. If Nemesis is on point and I connect with this I’ll DHC into Gamma Crush right after they get sent flying after the hyper’s last hit, catching them on the way up and on the way down. I wonder if it’ll pick them up OTG while the rocks from Gamma Quake hit? Hmm…

Also I know we’ve really only seen it hit OTG but when I was watching the most recent Capcom Unity stream I saw the first rocket fire straight out so I’m assuming you can change it’s trajectory if need be. Cannot stress enough how useful this move looks simply because it puts Nemesis back in his opponent’s face from anywhere on the screen.

Umbrella Combination (Swing for the Fences)

Hulk and Sentinel’s super armor attacks got nothing on this bad boy. Nemesis hauls off and starts throwing haymakers while slowly moving forward (Video 4 – 1:06). Might as well call him the Juggernaut because it doesn’t look like anything stops him, not even other hypers!

While the super armor may tempt you into throwing this out whenever I think it’ll only be useful in some very specific situations. Namely, it looks like a great way to bait X-Factor. Catch your opponent in a move with a lot of hits, startup, recovery, or whatever and they’ll be forced to X-Factor. If this were any other hyper with such big gaps between hits an X-Factor cancel might present a significant threat, but because of the super armor your opponent will need to block to stay safe and then you can DHC out of there.

Ok, so possibly a great way to force an unwanted X-Factor but you’ll still need to worry about quick DHCs into Taskmaster or Wesker’s counters. Those’ll likely put an end to your reign of terror. Not only that but moves with lots of invincibility or that navigate the opponent out of Nemesis’ killing field (Gamma Crush, Body Splash) and possibly some throw hypers will beat it as well. A perfect example of when to use it is given when Nemesis blows through the Kikosho. Chun-Li had no meter to DHC. That’s when you want to use it.

The punches have ridiculous range but hit high so I’m assuming a lot of characters will be able to duck under this and it might be completely useless against characters like Amaterasu. Overall a great hyper but very situational.

Level 3

The most disgusting hyper in Marvel vs. Capcom history. Nemesis transforms into his nasty super saiyan of grotesqueness form, tentacles, tumors, and all and puts the hurt on his enemy (Video 1 – :54). Not much else to say about this besides it’ll be great for unsuspecting enemies when you’ve got the meter. The damage looks pretty ridiculous, with a level 3 x-factor destroying half of Super-Skrull’s life (Video 3 – 1:45)! Also looks like it can be cancelled into from his ground tentacle command normal, which he does in both examples.

Assists

Straight Rocket

Nemesis shoots a rocket straight through the air (Video 2 – :50). Looks like it can be crouched by nearly everyone. Probably won’t be his assist of choice.

OTG Rocket

I have no idea where I saw this but I’m almost positive I did! If someone can link me I’d greatly appreciate it. Might be good for characters who can’t OTG themselves.

Clothesline Rocket Blast

Nemesis runs forward with a Q Punch and then fires a straight rocket. I saw this on the Capcom Unity stream. Looks like a very subpar “Get offa me” assist simply because he’s so damn big and it doesn’t seem to have any invincibility.

Miscellaneous

Oh my gosh Nemmy’s enormous! While that’s an immediate draw for me he’s going to be highly susceptible to instant overheads. Also, for some reason the green slime explosions that follow some of his normals look kinda shoddy. Maybe that’s just me though.

Final Thoughts

While probably not the best of the new characters, I think Nemesis has a ton of charm and a lots of potential. I can’t wait to try him out with Hulk and work some decimating DHC combos into my game. Then there’s the fact that he’s big and slow and he’s going to need a lot of help from his assists. I think all of Dr. Strange’s assists look like they could help Nemesis out alot, especially the Eye of Agamotto which has some serious lockdown potential.

Until I see what’s up with Iron Fist I have a feeling that my team is going to be Spencer/Hulk/Nemesis or some variation of that. I CAN’T WAIT TO PLAY THIS GUY!

Again gentleman, let me know what you think in the comments. You can follow me on twitter at Kingofbreaker and if you see me on XBox, iFight4food, feel free to demolish me in MvC3 because I’m utter trash. Gutter trash for all you Dudley fans out there 🙂