It’s been nearly 30 years since Capcom popularized tag-based fighting games with X-Men vs. Street Fighter — and to a lesser extent, SNK with Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle. But now, the subgenre appears to be thriving in the vacuum left by Capcom itself, which hasn’t delivered a new tag-based fighting game since 2017’s Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite.
Even still, this month alone, two major new tag-based fighting games were announced: Marvel Tokon: Fighting Spirit from Guilty Gear developer Arc System Works and Quarter Up’s Invincible VS. These titles will join a long list of recent tag-based games including Hunter x Hunter: Nen Impact, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and the Capcom Fighting Collection games. It’s clear we’re entering a new era of tag-based fighters. It’s a revival that took years to materialize, and it likely wouldn’t have happened if a true Marvel vs. Capcom 4 had ever arrived to reclaim its throne.
There’s been a hunger for tag-fighters for years, sated somewhat by games like Skullgirls and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, but the pioneers of the format couldn’t or wouldn’t deliver. The fighting game community has been starved for Marvel vs. Capcom 4 since 2017, when the next installment in the franchise, Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, almost immediately failed upon release. Its lack of X-Men characters, lack of previous comic book influences, and poorly received art direction resulted in it being perceived as a sequel unworthy of the series.
Keeping the MvC franchise alive fell to fans. It took fighting game content creator Maximillion Dood and the fighting game community to start the #FreeMvC2 campaign in 2021 for Disney and Capcom to pay attention — and realize that the IP is still a profitable franchise to explore.
Although it may have resulted in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection being released, it also propelled Max to begin work on Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond in 2024, a fan-modded version of Infinite that addressed most problems fans had with the original.
When asked if he believed Infinite & Beyond got Disney and Marvel’s attention more than the #FreeMvC2 campaign, Max told Polygon in an email, “If anything, I’d like to think so.” But more than anything, Max believes “the positive reception of our work allowed for further confidence to Capcom and Marvel, that investing into the Marvel Vs. Capcom series is a worthwhile venture.” But instead of an announcement for a new game, we just got a compilation, which, while a great gesture, wasn’t the advancement of the franchise most craved.
Other developers have recognized an opportunity even Capcom couldn’t; it was open season to breathe new life into the tag-fighter subgenre.
“The past several years and [a] large multitude of 1v1 fighters left a gap created by the MVC series and DBFZ, that have led us to where we are today,” Max said, “with several large tag fighters on the horizon.”
But crafting a hit that could rival one of the most legendary tag fighters ever made is no easy task. Developer Quarter Up — and even Max— faced their own set of challenges stepping into the development process of a tag fighter.
“I simply had no idea how much of my year this project was going to occupy until we were at the end,” Max said. “At that point, we started to make individual teams for textures, models, art, interface, audio, and gameplay. Each one of these departments, full of fans just wanting to add something to the project, was able to work towards our pre-determined goals. At several points, we realized the scope of the project would become much too large, so we pulled back and focused hard on a 2024 release.”
As Quarter Up’s foray into the tag-fighter genre, Invincible VS comes with some unexpected advantages. “The great thing about our particular process is that we weren’t shackled by having to adhere to any previous titles,” said Bau Bautista, lead combat designer for Invincible VS. “We were free to pick and choose features and mechanics that fit the vision of what we were trying to create. That freedom allowed us to hone in on a direction and rapidly iterate as we moved forward.”
Invincible Vs is being built with a clean slate — there’s no legacy version for fans to compare it to. That’s a luxury Capcom didn’t have when developing Infinite. Even Mortal Kombat 1 flirted with tag-based mechanics with its Kameo system, a kind of half measure that ultimately didn’t add the depth that NetherRealm and its fans were looking for.
“Tag-fighting is also an interesting hook conceptually,” Max said. “Allowing for more general gameplay and character interaction than the typical 1v1 game. I feel that developers like to be challenged. And the tag-fighter sub-genre has mostly been stuck to the concepts that Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 created all the way back to the year 2000.”
Fans of the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise are understandably wary about Marvel handing its IP to a different dev team for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Spirit, but Capcom has largely abandoned the tag-fighter format it helped pioneer, opting for safer, more traditional projects like Street Fighter 6. Maybe Capcom didn’t have the gumption to evolve its tried and true format the way newer developers are doing with their own tag-based games.
“With a team-based, 3v3 tag fighter, based on a long-standing and beloved IP, it adds so many more factors to the formula that it gets downright daunting at times,” Bautista said. “That being said, innovation and evolving a genre will always be one of the biggest challenges involved in the process. Tag fighters are a very specific sub-genre of fighting games, with a pretty solid history of established and familiar mechanics, where deviating too far from that formula will quickly lose you your player base.”
Arc System Works stepped in with Dragon Ball FighterZ and proved itself with its successful gameplay innovations, making Marvel’s move to choose ArcSys as its new dev team feel like a no-brainer. Meanwhile, Invincible VS, another superhero IP, recognized the appeal and demand for the format and jumped in as well, however daunting it may be. Even if it’s not quite built for high-level tournament play, Nen Impact shows that the anime crowd is moving away from arena fighters and yearning to see their favorite shows get the tag-fighter treatment as well. Call it a breakup if you want, but both ArcSys and Quarter Up saw the demand, and they see the subgenre as a worthy investment.
Whether Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Spirit and Invincible VS can break through like the Marvel vs. Capcom games did remains to be seen.
“Several of the games coming in the near future are trying something unique in this space. It’s exciting,” Max said. “But the bigger question remains…is 4v4 fighting going to push the barrier and create a bright future? Or is it going to be too much for the masses to comprehend? I can’t wait to find out.”
