The Modders Try From Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite to make something beautiful

For more than 25 years, the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe have been trading blows with Capcom’s iconic characters from Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Mega Man. But we haven’t seen a newcomer to the crossover fighting game franchise since 2017, when Capcom dropped the divisive Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.

Unending was derided for its roster choices – which at the time reeked of Marvel corporate interference – and an art style that deviated from the cartoon and comic book-inspired look of games of the past. But Unending is also loved by many old Marvel vs. Capcom fans for its gameplay innovations.

Now, one of Unending‘s biggest boosters aim to fix the game’s most glaring problem, thanks to an in-depth mod that takes the visual power of older Marvel vs. Capcom games restores. That project is known as Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyondled by a prominent figure in the fighting game community: Maximillian Christiansen, the streamer known as Maximilian Death.

With the help of a group of artists and game moderators, Christiansen has a simple goal in mind Infinite and beyond: “My hope for the project in general is just to release a game that looks good,” he told me in an interview.

Christiansen has been a fan of both Marvel Comics and Capcom fighting games for decades. He grew up on Jim Lee’s X-Men books and early ’90s Marvel trading cards, and got into fighting games with Street fighter 2.

“I think it really boosted my fandom X-Men vs. Street Fighter” he said. “It really came to a head Marvel vs Capcom 1; I’ve actually built a community at the arcade of like-minded people, people like me who just love that game. We met at the same place every weekend, basically any opportunity to go practice and train. I learned how to use an arcade stick during that time. That’s the game that introduced me to what the fighting game community is, and it’s kind of my entry into the big arcade culture.”

Many years later, in 2011 Marvel vs. Marvel Capcom 3: The Fate of Two Worlds marked an important turning point for Christiansen.

“I have a great attachment to it Marvel vs Capcom 3because it was one of the starting points of my career in content creation,” said Christiansen. “I created this show called Help me!which was all about teaching people how to use characters, with costumed characters showing up and doing crazy things.

“For Miracle 3I was really into it. I went to competitive events every week until the show took over my life. Then we were hired by Capcom to make an official show for the expansion. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.”

When Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was first shown several years later, Christiansen said, there was an “unease” surrounding the game. Many Marvel characters who were important to the legacy of Marvel vs. Capcom were missing, and while the gameplay was fun, he said, “it was clearly not in line to be something that would be on the same level as other Marvel vs. . Capcom games. (…) The biggest culprit (was) the visuals – the game just doesn’t look visually appealing.”

“It was kind of going for a weird, clunky-realism-anime thing,” he said. “Another similar game comes out a year later called Jumping powerand it does the same thing, where it tries to create a realistic looking superhero anime look, but it just doesn’t look right.

Interested in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite faded quickly. The game failed to meet Capcom’s sales targets and many MvC fans withdrew Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3that flourished on PC, thanks to mods that added more characters to the game’s already extensive roster.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was “this game that was so good, but everyone gave up on it, including Capcom and Marvel,” Christiansen said.

In 2024, there was a breakthrough – and renewed interest in the series, thanks to the release of the Marvel vs. Marvel Capcom Fighting Collection. An artist and modder named Ryn (aka Wistful Hopes) has released an editor for Unreal Engine’s version Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was built on. Ryn started making adjustments himself and applying a cel-shaded look Unending that transformed the aesthetic of the “clunky realism anime thing.”

Christiansen caught wind of the editor and knew Ryn from one of her previous modding efforts, in which she brought Dragon Ball’s Goku into the fighting game Guilty equipment pursuit.

“It was crazy impressive,” Christiansen said of Ryn’s work to reimagine the look of a car Unending. But he wanted more. “So I thought, ‘Can I just pay you to fulfill my wishes and dreams?'” In addition to Ryn, Christiansen began gathering artists and programmers who had worked on other mods and unofficial roster additions to further develop other MvC games. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond.

Ryn, who said in an interview that “Dragon Ball is still one of the biggest influences on (her) art”, did not have the same strong affection for Marvel vs. Capcom as Christiansen.

“I’m relatively young and didn’t grow up playing MvC games, so I look at the games more from a retrospective lens,” she told me via Discord. “That said, the bold aesthetic of Marvel vs. Capcom greatly influenced my taste in art in the earlier games. The fusion of Western and Japanese styles is something I want to capture myself.”

Ryn added, “I saw a friend talking about how (Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite) was wasted potential, and I thought it would be cool to make a tech demo mod for it. It’s honestly amazing to me to see it getting so much attention.”

Originally, updating the fighting game’s visuals was the team’s sole purpose, but the scope has expanded, Ryn said. Since the Infinite and beyond project kicked off in earnest in May, more than 20 people contributed to the mod with new art, music, and technical work. Christiansen estimates he spent almost $30,000 on the mod, paying artists and programmers to create the flawed (but fun) Marvel vs. Capcom game to his will.

Christiansen regularly provides updates Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond to his millions of subscribers on his Twitch and YouTube channels. He estimates that the mod will be available in a version 1.0 in the coming months, and that it will “hopefully be something that people like.”

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond is “a project that essentially generates zero dollars,” he said. “It’s just something that I personally want to exist.

“No one played (Unending) because of visuals and roster stuff,” Christiansen said. “If the only thing I can do within my capabilities and budget is improve the visuals, something that actually makes it look better, (something that) gets people to even play it, that’s the goal – for you go to Steam and buy Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite(download) our mod and change the game.