Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
The first title in which characters from Marvel Comics' best-known work X-MEN fought alongside characters from Capcom's best-known series Street Fighter (mainly Street Fighter Alpha).
When the project began in 1995 the title was X-MEN2, and at that stage half the characters were from Street Fighter.
It is Capcom's third fighting game to feature Marvel Comics characters, following X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994) and Marvel Super Heroes (1995), and the first installment in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
The port was the first game announced to support the Saturn's 4MB RAM cartridge.
The game was only mildly popular when first released in North American arcades, but after several months it caught on and became a hit.
GamePro said it was "worth a cautionary rental at best", arguing that the slowdown is not only frequent but dramatic enough to throw off the player's timing, making the port not fun to play.
Though Capcom USA said the game would eventually come out in the U.S., Sega's decision not to manufacture the requisite 4 MB RAM cartridge in the U.S. presented a major obstacle to the game's release there.
Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot commended the character sprite animations and background details, claiming that "there is no better looking 2D fighter on any console system".
GamePro said it was "worth a cautionary rental at best", arguing that the slowdown is not only frequent but dramatic enough to throw off the player's timing, making the port not fun to play.
Electronic Gaming Monthlys four-person review team was split: Dan Hsu and Shawn Smith both said that while the conversion is so terrible that anyone who had played the arcade or Saturn versions would have a hard time enjoying it, it was decent fun on its own merits, while John Ricciardi and Sushi-X both agreed with GamePro that the slowdown kills any enjoyment of the game.
Next Generation stated that "If you've never seen a Capcom fighting game before, this might be fun for a few minutes, but there is not one single positive thing to be said for the trade-offs that Capcom made to get this game to PlayStation.
Reviewers praised the Saturn edition's close recreation of the original arcade version, particularly the animation and sound quality, fast loading times, and absence of slowdown.
While Gerstmann also praised the port for its fast loading times and lack of slowdown, he criticized the game for its defense-oriented gameplay and recycling of the Street Fighter music themes.
Rich Leadbetter, reviewing the later cancelled European edition of the Saturn port for the British Sega Saturn Magazine, criticized the lack of PAL optimization and compared the game unfavorably to its predecessor Marvel Super Heroes, saying the selection of characters is less exciting and the lack of console-exclusive modes is conspicuous.
Reviews also criticized the low frame rate and noticeable decline in animation quality.
It took 8th place for the Grand Prix in the 10th Gamest Grand Prix (1996) run in the magazine Gamest (Shinseisha), as well as 5th for Best Graphics, 6th for Best Fighting Game, 2nd for Best Presentation, 9th for player popularity, 8th for Best Income and 12th among the year's hit games, and for Best Character Gambit took 15th place and Juggernaut 20th.
On the Sega Saturn, a 4M expansion RAM cartridge brought the RAM to 6M in total, so 4 characters could be handled without trouble and loading was almost nil, but the PlayStation version, with no expansion RAM, cannot read in every movement for 4 characters, so it was reworked with long loading times and no switching during a match.
Sega licensed the game from Capcom, intending to release it in Europe bundled with the expansion cartridge; however, these plans were eventually shelved.
Rich Leadbetter, reviewing the later cancelled European edition of the Saturn port for the British Sega Saturn Magazine, criticized the lack of PAL optimization and compared the game unfavorably to its predecessor Marvel Super Heroes, saying the selection of characters is less exciting and the lack of console-exclusive modes is conspicuous.
However, the PlayStation version was not released until February 26, 1998, in Japan, where it was renamed X-Men vs. Street Fighter: EX Edition.
The game was only mildly popular when first released in North American arcades, but after several months it caught on and became a hit.
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