Catkeeper wrote:

Just a point when it comes to distribution rights, this could be released outside Japan so long as all the distribution rights are held by Capcom of all included anime titles, considering I doubt a lot of them have been lisenced games with the exception of Speed Racer.

I'm not sure how it works though, Marvel games have been coming from EA and Activision at the same time, and EA has the rights to The Dark Knight while Midway are making MK VS DC...

Legal stuff is overly complicated...

Of course, there's also whether or not they want to release this outside Japan. For all we know, someone in the company might think that the characters are too obscure for non-Japanese audiences.

Zoop wrote:

Protip: Those 'unknown' companies probably aren't unknown in japan.

Bingo.  These are huge properties in Japan, and they're even better known in the US than many people realize (they know Tatsunoko by individual brands, not as a studio). 

Speed Racer?  Robotech?  Neon Genesis Evangelion?  And that's just to name a few.  Anybody that dabbles even a tiny bit in anime will know Tatsunoko, and even if you don't they still have some recognizable characters in their lineup. 

I also think Tatsunoko characters are better known in the West than Marvel characters were known in Japan when Capcom first started crossovers like XMen: Children of the Atom, etc. Now of course Marvel is better-known in Japan since there have been so many smash-hit Marvel movies. 

Anyway, yes, as predicted, rights situation makes a US release for this game very challenging. 

On the happy side of things, I spent many happy hours playing this the last time I was in Osaka R+D, and I have to say:  it is totally awesome. 

best,
Seth

s-kill wrote:

Bingo.  These are huge properties in Japan, and they're even better known in the US than many people realize (they know Tatsunoko by individual brands, not as a studio). 

I also think Tatsunoko characters are better known in the West than Marvel characters were known in Japan when Capcom first started crossovers like XMen: Children of the Atom, etc. Now of course Marvel is better-known in Japan since there have been so many smash-hit Marvel movies. 


best,
Seth

To add to this, the Marvel vs. series in Japan was seemingly an illogical pairing for a while (of course it'd seem logical to Americans 'cause SF and Marvel are known here), but in Japan, around the time X-Men Children of the Atom came out, there was an X-Men manga released that proved to be pretty popular there. They also aired the 90s American cartoon there, but with anime intros. This may be one of the things that led Capcom to get the Marvel license in the first place. And since Marvel Comics is popular in the States, well, that's a win-win situation.

Of course, it also helped that there were a few Japan-only Marvel games already before Capcom started the Marvel games, like this Spider-Man game whose name I can't remember now, and a couple others.