Anyone who has traveled to arcades in the past ten years has likely past by a “Marvel vs. Capcom 2” machine. One of the most popular and competitive fighting games of all time, “Marvel vs. Capcom 2” was famous for it’s competitive field, it’s fast paced fighting style, and one of the largest character rosters in any fighting game. Since it’s release in Arcades and the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, the game has become a phenomenon that has been burned into the minds of many rabid fans for years.

Now, ten years later, we finally get a quasi-sequel, although this time it may be unrecognizable for many fans. “Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars” the third all-star fighter game in the series by Capcom, is likely an obscure title if you are unfamiliar with the “Tatsunoko” brand. “Tatsunoko” is an anime brand that was very prolific in the 1970’s and 1980’s, creating some of the most popular anime shows of all time, including a co-production with the anime company Gainax on “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” Their long lasting popularity is thanks to a diverse amount of anime productions that focus on superhero and giant mecha shows, which can be reflected in their roster for the game itself. While they may not be iconic characters in the United States, in Japan they are the equivalent to Marvel Superheroes.

Ryu takes on Ken the Eagle from Gatchaman, Tatsunoko's most famous franchise.

Which is why “Ultimate All Stars” is a very unusual title to come to the States. A Wii exclusive, “Ultimate All Stars” is a versus fighter where the goal is to basically win battle after battle with a two person team, choosing from 27 fighters. The “Capcom” side has some stalwart favorites like Ryu, Batsu, Viewtiful Joe and Mega Man, along with some new faces like Frank West from “Dead Rising” (an exclusive to the U.S) and the PTX walker from “Lost Planet.”

While the “Tatsunoko” characters may not be familiar to American audiences, their fighting moves will no doubt offer some new and exciting combination’s to experiment with. The controller layouts are simplified, only using three primary buttons instead of the complex, six button combination’s found in games like “Street Fighter.“ Controls can come in three flavors, the Wii-remote, the classic controller, and the old school game cube controller, offering a ton of different ways to play the game. And thankfully, none of the controls feels sluggish or unresponsive, offering a streamlined experience, something that is lacking for fighting games on the Wii.

The combat is basically a simplified version of “Marvel vs. Capcom,” offering the same smash-mouth experience that many arcade rats have experienced in the past. There are numerous combos and special moves for each character, offering a degree of play that makes the action fast, frantic and overall, fun. So mastering the combos, when to switch characters and use double team special attacks is a part of the strategy that needs to be employed when playing the game. You also have different modes of play, from standard time attack and survival modes, to the regular arcade and multi-player modes. Each of these modes gives you points to unlock costume colors, backgrounds, concept art and extra characters. Overall the package is pretty lean, but extra bells and whistles in the game may have detracted from the experience.

Combos and super moves, along with double teams can put the hurt on your opponents.

The game is also pretty to look at, with a quasi- 3-D style, similar to “Street Fighter IV” in design, 2-D plane with 3-D models. The characters animate beautifully, the color palette is really rich and diverse and the backgrounds, while pretty much eye-candy in terms of what the game is, look solid and offer that nice homage to areas from both franchises. This also translates to the sound design, which is very solid as always with decent techno/hard rock background music and excellent sound effects. Curiously, the voice-overs are all in Japanese, with no English subs or dubs found, but I guess that doesn’t matter in the end.

And frankly, why would any of these words matter much anyway? If you liked “Marvel vs. Capcom 2” or fighting games in general, and your Wii is picking up dust in the corner, you should go get this game. This is definitely the throwback, the spiritual successor to “Marvel vs. Capcom” that many have been waiting for, and thanks to the minor changes both graphically and in control schemes, perhaps there is hope for another installment just on the horizon.