Even though you probably couldn’t have played him in the first place
The recent announcement of the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection has fans around the world excited to finally have easy access to these arcade classics even though everything won’t be the same on the cabinets.
On top of adding some cool new features to update the collection, it looks like Capcom is going to cut the silliest fighter they’ve ever made.
This would of course be Norimaro’s infamous but still largely mysterious inclusion in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.
Norimaru was a special guest character created by Japanese comedian Noritake Kinashi as a stereotypical pretty coward/high school nerd who asks other fighters for their autographs and wants to take their picture.
Although he started out mostly as a joke, he is a former Capcom artist, writer, and translator Katsuya Ikitomo It was revealed that producer Yoshiki Okamoto said that they promised Kenashi to feature Norimaru in the next Street Fighter release.
Okamoto himself was reportedly not a fan of the “mind-bogglingly uncool” character, but legendary artist Akiman loved him and so he became a reality in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Marvel. Street Fighter.
Back to topic: Ultimately, the most influential character in MSHvSF was Norimaru, a character created by Noritake ‘Noritaro’ Kinashi in the TV show Tunnels no Namade Daradara Ikasete, and Okamoto-san thought he was mind-bogglingly uncool, but… “https://t.co/FxMCf1tbLY
— GlaxoSmithKline | https://cohost.org/gosokkyu (@gosokkyu) October 31, 2020
Unsurprisingly, it seems that Marvel themselves weren’t down with Norimaru at all either, so he was made a Japanese-exclusive character as a compromise.
As for the new MvC group, it certainly looks as if the comedic guest has been removed entirely.
“Marvel was strongly against it; naturally, they didn’t want some random, not-so-powerful character competing with their heroes. I begged them hard and tried to calm them down – ‘We’ll only use it in Japan!’ – and so it’s missing from overseas releases.”https://t.co/UheWyNgZUj
— GlaxoSmithKline | https://cohost.org/gosokkyu (@gosokkyu) October 31, 2020
While other hidden fighters such as the Cyber Akuma can now be unlocked through the settings in the changes made to the arcade assets, there is no mention of Norimaro being removed – though there is no reference to him at all on the compiler’s Japanese site.
There is no entry for him on the character page for Marvel vs. SF (as is the case now with Cyber Akuma), and a screenshot of the fighter select screen shows that Norimaro’s usual place at the bottom has been replaced by the game’s logo as in other versions. From the game.
Norimaru’s absence will likely boil down to licensing issues with Capcom likely not wanting to need to tie Nippon TV and Arrival back into the fold above Marvel/Disney.
Or maybe the powers that be still don’t like him and want to avoid jumping through extra hoops just to get him back.
Norimaru also didn’t really play like a normal fighter, as most of his damage doesn’t come from big attacks and combos but rather comically throwing random objects at the opponent from his bag and trying to push/kick them away.
It seems that this unintentional fighting style likely helped inspire Phoenix Wright’s gameplay and mechanics years later in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Although he technically remained a Japan-exclusive character, Norimaru’s localization and translation work appears to have been essentially done and is still present in the code but unused.
Other English versions of Marvel vs. Street Fighter can be adapted to use Norimaro as he is shown to have fully translated the character’s victory quotes and endings as well (although he appears as Captain America).
A new Marvel vs. Capcom collection would have been a fun way to make Norimaro officially playable and finally use this work officially, which would likely confuse a lot of the player base outside of Japan, although it looks like that won’t happen.
It won’t be the only removal/content modification present in the assembly either.
A comparison between the motion capture tricks done by Noritake Kinashi at Capcom Headquarters and the Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter Norimaro sprites based on them. pic.twitter.com/NV1SotI8yC
– Felineki (@felineki) February 15, 2020
The first Marvel vs. Capcom title was listed as having some changed stages, which would likely include Honda’s Bathhouse to bring out the rising sun from the background as well as the pin-in-the-calendar model and the man taking a shower although that did not happen. It has not been fully confirmed yet.
This new MvC Fighting Collection won’t be released on Xbox at all and won’t have an original PlayStation 5 release, and we recently took a look at why that is as well.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is scheduled for release in 2024 on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
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