Four characters square off with new "Infinity Stones"; no X-Men (yet).

https://youtu.be/S1hTW2VFpJ4

ANAHEIM, Calilfornia—After a week of teases and leaks, Capcom confirmed on Saturday that its long-running fighting series, Marvel vs. Capcom, would receive a sequel in 2017. The announcement came during the kickoff panel at this weekend's PlayStation Experience expo, but the cooler stuff came later at the evening's Street Fighter V world finals tournament.

The crossover sequel, dubbed Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, received its world premiere gameplay trailer on Saturday night, and it was introduced by Street Fighter V director Yoshinori Ono. "After you watch this, you might not be able to go to sleep tonight," Ono told the crowd.

http://i.imgur.com/bfJhKt6.jpg

The 1:30 trailer might not have been insomnia-inducing, but it was definitely far from a lullaby. The game now only lets players create teams of two, as opposed to the prior games' three-on-three fights, and the trailer showed Capcom favorites Mega Man and Ryu squaring off against Marvel superheroes Iron Man and Captain Marvel.

Iron Man and Ryu returned with the same screen-filling and full-jump moves they enjoyed in the super-charged Marvel vs. Capcom 3, while Mega Man's appearance marked his first in the series since Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Captain Marvel has never appeared in the series, but she looked the part, what with her high jumps and massive diagonal laser blasts.

http://i.imgur.com/f8KoyCu.jpg

The beautiful, modern-gen visuals had a tinge of comic book-style cel shading, though not nearly as severely as in the previous game—and, honestly, the new game looked handsomer for the subtlety. (That being said, plenty about the trailer looked far from subtle, with massive waves of blue and pink laser fire filling the screen at crazier moments.) The trailer also revealed a new "Infinity Stone" system, which temporarily granted Ryu alternate special moves—as in, twists on his usuals, including a killer vertical fireball. Captain Marvel equipped her own move-changing stone, and hers had a "Time" label, while Ryu's had a "Power" label. Those Infinity Stones were not further explained at the Capcom Cup event.

The reveal of only four characters leaves the biggest question unanswered: will X-Men characters appear in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite? Marvel's push for characters in its "cinematic universe" may mean Capcom is forced to leave the Fox-licensed fan-favorites out, but the only outlet to assert this possibility, Polygon, never fully ruled it out in its report from earlier this week. Capcom may very well be hiding its X-Men fighters, such as Wolverine and Cyclops, for a later date, or the company may still be negotiating for the rights.

Either way, consider this a vote cast for more "tornado claw" in the newest Marvel vs. Capcom game, because Wolverine would look awesome in this new sequel's design language.