Anyone keeping an eye on the import scene can recognize the fact that we really don't need another 2D fighter. Period. Groove on Fight, Waku Waku Seven, Rabbit and more -- these games just seep out of the woodwork in Japan, and most of them just aren't that great. Enough's enough, right?

Wrong. Capcom knows the market, and knows it well. The company's designers are the masters of the 2D fight, and each of their games, albiet existing in a tired genre, introduce new ideas and themes into the field. The newest entry, Marvel Super Heroes, is yet-another-Capcom-fighter (tm), but as usual, it's a gem in a glut of mediocrity. And now it's available in the US.

MSH uses the same style gameplay as their previous hero-fighter, XMen Children of the Atom. This time, the game calls upon the skills and talents of some of most popular Marvel Comics heroes and villains: Captain America, the Hulk, Wolverine, Iron Man, Psylocke, and Spiderman duking it out with Magnito, Juggernaut, Shuma-Gorath, Blackheart, Doctor Doom, and Thanos.

The same super-sky-high jumping attacks in XMen that scroll the screen three or four screens are here. The major gameplay change is the inclusion of the Power Gems. Each of the Gems - Time, Power, Reality, Space, Mind, and Soul - toss in an added variation of offensive and defensive techniques. And let's not forget the Infinity moves for a dynamic finish.

If you know any Capcom fighter, you'll be right at home here since the same layout applies. Heck, many of the secret moves in MSH have been ripped right out the company's earlier games.

Capcom includes the ability to plug in the Japanese Sega-made one megabyte RAM cartridge to improve the animation quality. The downside is that the cartridge alters the game speed noticably, changing the pace of the game and timing. The unassisted game has plenty of that with large characters, like BlackHeart and Magneto, and it just gets worse with the add-on. We recommend that you don't knock yourself out trying to locate a RAM cart. For Marvel Super Heroes, it just isn't worth it.

It might be hard to swallow another Street Fighter-esque fighter for the Saturn, but this one's a good one. Very close to the arcade, and enough diversity in the action and style to differentiate MSH from the other Capcom fighters. A gloved thumbs-up!