Interviews// Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Producer Ryota Niitsuma

SPOnG: I understand that Marvel vs Capcom 3 will take a unique approach to online rage-quitters, by pairing them with each other to allow honourable players to enjoy the game in peace. How did that brilliant idea come about?

Ryota Niitsuma: The idea came from one of our network programmers, and I think because they play online games so much they know all about these rage-quitters. We felt that rather than try to stop people doing these things - because they won’t stop, there’ll always be someone - we should protect the environment for those who just want to play normally.

So we included this system so that people who play normally can get on with it, and those people who disrupt the harmony gets put into the same place where they meet alike. This way rather than offer a warning as such, it quietly reminds them what they shouldn’t be doing when playing this game. Hopefully they’ll realise that somethings disrupt the enjoyment of others and it’s not good practice. We don’t want to go really hard on them, because we can’t really decide how people should play, but it’s just a mere suggestion that we’d like to make.


SPOnG: Have you experienced any rage-quitters yourself? Is this a revenge?

Ryota Niitsuma: [Laughs] Not on fighting games, but I have met a spammer or a bot on network games, and they’re just not fair for people who are there to play the game. The behaviour itself gets used as a different form of entertainment, other than what the game is intended for. I always felt it rather unfair, so I just wanted to make a system where people who want to play the game get to do so in a fashion they expect.


SPOnG: Is there a chance for rage-quitters to repent their actions after being sent into the chaos that is rage-quitter matchmaking? What if they see the light?

Ryota Niitsuma: It’s actually top secret to reveal the conditions in which you go to hell [laughs]! But we do have a means of repentance so if you don’t do it for a while you get to come out from this. If you don’t do it on purpose anyway, you’ll never end up in that place. So my advice in that regard would be to not bother [laughs].


SPOnG: I bumped into Yoshinori Ono in Amsterdam recently, and he really seems to be into the Nintendo 3DS. It certainly appears to be a platform where fighting games can thrive. Do you share his enthusiasm for the device? What are your thoughts?

Ryota Niitsuma: As a creator, I am very curious about 3DS and it’s only natural that Yoshi went ahead with Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, I understand his intentions. However I think the nature of Marvel vs Capcom 3 is slightly different. As it is right now we can have up to six characters on screen and many more effects going on.

It’s a busier game than Super Street Fighter IV. I have a feeling if you put that into 3D, it might be a bit too ‘in your face.’ It’s already chaotic as it is, and if that’s all coming out towards the player that’s just going to drown them in effects and characters. I’m not sure that would be a good experience. It requires a bit of thought, but personally speaking I think it’s a really interesting device - there’s plenty of potential for exploration.


SPOnG: I played both Super Street Fighter IV and Dead or Alive Dimensions on the console and the latter appeared to suffer a bit in the framerate department when the 3D was turned on. Do you think that’s a concern for fighting games in general on the platform, where precision input is required?

Ryota Niitsuma: I’m not aware of the specifics of 3DS’s specs and Dead or Alive, but I presume you can’t just port what was meant to be on a console directly to a handheld. I heard that Super Street Fighter IV had to go through some changes in tuning to adapt to 3DS.

I think it’s quite important that we differentiate between fighting games on consoles and handhelds. When it comes to that, there are more difficulties for Marvel vs Capcom 3 just from the sheer amount of data and it would require a lot of thought into it before executing this.


SPOnG: What’s your ultimate tag team in Marvel vs Capcom 3? I’ve noticed that you like playing as Spiderman an awful lot.

Ryota Niitsuma: [Laughs] When it comes to character selections for me, I like to play with lots of combos. It makes me feel good and also makes me look pro when the combos all link up. So for that reason, using Speed type characters enables combos a bit more easily.

I like to play with the faster characters - Wolverine, Dante and Amaterasu. The Power types can also do combos as well, obviously, but it’s easier for Speed types and when I play with this combination it makes me look a hell of a lot better than I actually am!


SPOnG: Thank you very much for your time.

Ryota Niitsuma: Thank you very much.

Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is heading for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on 18th February.