After the excitingreveal ofCapcom Fighting Collection 2and a release date forMarvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, we’re learning of a very peculiar piece of news regarding the latter. One of the most mismatched characters to ever duke it out with Marvel superheroes is retaining his roster spot.
Although fans had speculated that Norimaro, a playable character only seen in the Japanese version ofMarvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, would not be present in the re-release, that’s not the case. We just learned that Norimaro is both making a return to the Japanese version and having his debut in the international one. Don’t worry if you don’t know why that’s surprising; Norimaro’s confusing origin, and mysterious life story, only adds to his charm.
Who is Norimaro?
Though you can usecheats to unlockhim in the international version, Norimaro’s only video game appearance is in the Japanese version of ’97sMarvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter. He looks like a bit of a nerdy caricature, but he’s powerful enough to not be chained to either Marvel or Capcom’s universe.
Norimaro was created and voiced by Japanese comedian Noritake Kinashi, and was originally intended to makehis debut in aStreet Fightertitle.Kinashi showed the process of creating the character in a JapaneseTV show, where Norimaro ended up getting his name from a fan letter thatKinashi picked out of a pile.Norimaro’s Japanese voice lines show that he’s a fan of Chun-Li and of Marvel characters, and the Gouki (Akuma) dolls that he throws at his opponents seem to point out that he’s a fan of the fighter as well.
Though Norimaro has a move set decent enough to make him a capable fighter, his moves aren’t a surprising display of badassery, but rather a reflection of his cowardly nature, or at least of his very out-of-place situation.
Please enjoy this clip of Norimaro literally getting Apocalypse melted solely by hitting him with his satchel:
Do not underestimate this man, as Norimaro’s ending reveals that he would go on to rule the world as a tyrant.
Though details on why exactly he never made it to the main roster of the International Arcade and PS1 versions are scarce, it’s possible that it had something to do with the rights for the character, as hinted by the copyright mentions from Noritake Kinashi’s agency that appeared in the Japanese version of the game.
Moreover, Yoshiki Okamato, then Capcom’s head of development, talked about the character’s peculiar copyright situation, andrevealedthat Marvel didn’t want the character to be included in the game back then. Was that because Marvel thought it’d make The Hulk look cruel for (non-accidentally) putting his muscles to use on a civilian? Could it have been because Marvel feared Norimaro would be seen as a tasteless caricature of certain fans? Or maybe because Marvel just didn’t like Norimaro’s questionable throw animation? We don’t know.
What we know is that some Capcom fans were saddened to see that Norimaro seemingly wouldn’t make it into the re-release’s roster, as he’d been removed from the game’s poster:
But they were wrong. All possible copyright and mismatching disputes have seemingly been resolved, as Norimaro is there not only in the Japanese version, but also in the International one.
Oh as it turns out it was in the English stream too; completely missed it.pic.twitter.com/XSfSPmgziT
And so is Cyber Akuma, an even more menacing version of Akuma, whom I’m betting is there just to give theStreet Fightercrew a fighting chance against the beast that is Norimaro.Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classicswill release on September 12.
