Maybe you’ve never played him before
With the recent announcement of the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, fans around the world are excited to finally have easy access to these arcade classics, but not everything will be the same as it is on the cabinet.
Along with some great new features being added to modernize the compilation, it looks like Capcom is also planning to cut perhaps the most ridiculous fighting game ever.
This is, of course, Norimaro’s infamous, yet still fairly unknown, inclusion in Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter.
Norimaro is a special guest character created by Japanese comedian Noritake Kinashi, who appears as a typical timid and awkward high school nerd who tries to get autographs and take photos with the other fighters.
At first it was mostly a joke, but as a former Capcom artist, writer, and translator, Katsuya Akitomo Producer Yoshiki Okamoto revealed that he had promised Kinashi that Norimaro would be cast in the next Street Fighter game.
Okamoto himself was reportedly not a fan of the “amazingly lame” character, but legendary artist Akiman loved him, so he was brought to life in Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter.
“Going back to the original topic, in the end, the character that had the most impact on MSHvSF was Norimaro. He was a character created by Kinashi Noritake “Noritaro” on the TV show “Tonneruzu no Nama Daradarai Kasete,” and Okamoto-san thought he was surprisingly uncool…”https://t.co/FxMCf1tbLY
— GSK | https://cohost.org/gosokkyu (@gosokkyu) October 31, 2020
Unsurprisingly, Marvel themselves didn’t like Norimaro at all, so as a compromise they made him a Japan-only character.
As for the new MvC collection, it looks like comedy guests have been removed entirely.
“Marvel vehemently opposed it. Naturally, they didn’t want some random powerless gag character to face off against their heroes. We desperately pleaded and tried to appease them: ‘We’ll only use him in Japan!’ So he doesn’t appear in the international versions.”https://t.co/UheWyNgZUj
— GSK | https://cohost.org/gosokkyu (@gosokkyu) October 31, 2020
Other hidden fighters, such as Cyber Akuma, are now unlockable through settings in modifications made to the arcade original, but there is no mention of removing Norimaro, although the compilation’s Japanese website makes no mention of Norimaro at all.
No entry for him is present on Marvel vs. Sci-Fi’s character page (even Cyber-Akuma currently has one), and screenshots of the fighter select screen show that Norimaro’s usual location at the bottom has been replaced with the game logo, as in other releases of the game.
Norimaro’s absence is likely due to licensing issues, as Capcom may not have felt the need to bring Nippon TV and Message back under its wing in addition to Marvel/Disney.
Or maybe the powers that be simply didn’t like him yet and didn’t want to go to the extra trouble of trying to get him back.
Norimaro also didn’t play like a normal fighter, with the majority of his damage coming not from big attacks or combos, but from throwing random items from his bag at his opponents and pushing or kicking them away.
It’s likely that this unintentional fighting style influenced Phoenix Wright’s playstyle and mechanics in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 a few years later.
While he’s technically still a Japan-only character, the localization and translation work for Norimaro is basically complete, and he’s still in the code, but appears to be unused.
Other English versions of Marvel vs. Street Fighter can also be modified to use Norimaro, and will display Norimaro’s victory lines and character endings fully translated (though Norimaro will appear under the name Captain America).
A new Marvel vs. Capcom collection could have been a fun way to make Norimaro officially playable and finally make the title official, perhaps confusing many players outside of Japan, but it looks like that won’t be the case.
He’s not the only person to be removed/content adjusted in this compilation.
Noritake Kinashi’s motion capture shenanigans at Capcom HQ and the resulting comparison between Marvel Super Heroes and Street Fighter’s Norimaro Sprite. pic.twitter.com/NV1SotI8yC
— Felineki (@felineki) February 15, 2020
The first Marvel vs. Capcom title is stated to have some altered stages, which may include a Honda bathhouse to remove the rising sun from the background, and may also remove calendar pin-up models and men drying themselves off with towels, but this hasn’t been fully confirmed yet.
This new MvC Fighting Collection isn’t releasing on Xbox at all, nor is there a native PlayStation 5 version, and we recently looked into why that might be.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is scheduled to release for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2024.