The following exchange took place between Marvel games intern Randy Ma and myself. Or at least something like it. Or, possibly, absolutely nothing like it at all. You decide...
Randy: I love all of your Blip blog posts! They're the greatest things ever, and I want to do some of my very own!
Chris: Really? You think so? I enjoy writing 'em and all, but--
Randy: I mean, they're, like, the greatest things EVER!!! I don't know how you do it, but I'd love to try!
Chris: I'd be ha--
Randy: "Happy to give me a chance?!" Wow, thanks, C-Bake! You're the greatest! You know...despite the daily whippings.
So, long story short, Randy wanted to do his own celebration of Cable being in "MUA2" and I went ahead and let him. Here's what Mr. Graduate School Gamer came up with...
Cable hasn’t made many appearances as a playable character in past Marvel games. So, in celebration of his being on the roster for playable characters in “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2”’s downloadable content, I thought it would be nice to see what other Marvel games could also use the addition of this time-traveling tough guy.
Chris spoke a little last week about the strange premise behind this first-person shooter, where you play as a nameless cyborg created by Magneto to fight clones of the X-Men created by Apocalypse (let’s just call him Nameless Cyborg Man). In retrospect, I could totally have seen a “Days of the Future Past”/“Age of Apocalypse”-type storyline with Cable traveling through levels to fight Apocalypse in this game. A first-person shooter with Cable as the protagonist is just a match made in geek heaven. ...Plus, there's no question that Cable can destroy Nameless Cyborg Man any day of the week.
This was actually a pretty great game in its heyday, and I implore anyone reading this to try to play this 16-bit gem as soon as possible. The plot involves Apocalypse enslaving the mutant population of Genosha -- I would love to have seen Cable among the X-Men chosen for the job. Cable could have added a “Contra”-like element that would have given a whole new dimension apart from the game’s core brawling mechanics.
X-Men 2: Clone Wars (Genesis) 1994
Another revered action game from the 16-bit era, this sequel surrounds the crisis where the techno-organic race known as the Phalanx make their way to Earth with the intent on assimilating all its inhabitants. This would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce the techno-organic virus, which loosely followed the “Phalanx Covenant” arc from the comic series. And with a plot involving the techno-virus, I see no reason not to call in Cable to help out the X-Men. Okay, it’s not actually necessary for him to be in the game because this title is already pretty great. But can’t you tell by now that I really just want a side-scrolling "Contra" game with Cable?
And I can’t talk about Cable in videogames without talking about…
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (Capcom, 2000 -- Arcade, Dreamcast, Xbox, PS2, PSN, XBLA)
All right, so Cable famously appears in this game. You obviously are well aware of this. But there is no way there was going to be a post about Cable and Marvel games without this title making an appearance. Fans of "MvC2" often refer to him as one of the cheapest characters to play with in this classic, with various combos that take advantage of his Hyper Viper Beam finish. But that doesn’t mean the game couldn’t use more Cable.
When one of Cable's victory poses features his cybernetic arm becoming grossly mutated, we get "MvC2"'s only hint of the techno-organic virus. Wouldn't it be cool to integrate the virus into combat? Just imagine Cable finally being able to get some mid-range attacks and blocks utilizing that left arm. This would make the character an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. Well... Not that he isn't already...
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