MARVEL VS CAPCOM - PUBLICITY VERSION

[HDemon]

Hi all! I had this Marvel Vs Capcom A+B for a while but never turned it on till today. I think I never seen this PUBLICITY VERSION before. Is there a dump of it? Weirdly it is set to FREE PLAY on default setting. Maybe location test unit?

 

[msamiullah]

Pretty cool, in mame I see only two games with PUBLICITY VERSION Puzz Loop 2 & Janpai Puzzle Choukou.

 

[GoldenGlover]

That’s rad & looks like the earlier Jan ‘98 revision. Are you able to dump the program roms?

 

[HDemon]

That’s rad & looks like the earlier Jan ‘98 revision. Are you able to dump the program roms?

Yes but not at the moment.

 

[msamiullah]

looks like these Publicity versions are quite rare as the two known (other games) were recently (30 Jun 2025) dumped!
https://www.mamedev.org/?p=552

• 13660: capcom/cps2.cpp Added Publicity versions of Puzz Loop 2 and Janpai Puzzle Choukou. [Team Japump, Wayder]

 

[msamiullah]

@MetalliC any insight on what these versions were for?

 

[HDemon]

looks like these Publicity versions are quite rare as the two known (other games) were recently (30 Jun 2025) dumped!
https://www.mamedev.org/?p=552

I was about to mention that

 

[Asure]

Can you take a picture of the board/chips please?

 

[thegreathopper]

Better get that battery swapped out.

 

[msamiullah]

Better get that battery swapped out.

keys should be same as the normal 980112 version (i reckon)

 

[MetalliC]

@MetalliC any insight on what these versions were for?

I no idea, never heard of those publicity versions. as I see 2 existing dumps came from "Team Japump", so, they are seems quite rare Japanese releases.

 

[kazuo]

It's probably a version used in a release event of some kind, would line up with the mention of "publicity" in the version screen, and the fact that it is free play by default. I would imagine location test versions would have much earlier build dates since the official release date of the game in Japan was January 23rd.

 

[HDemon]

It's probably a version used in a release event of some kind, would line up with the mention of "publicity" in the version screen, and the fact that it is free play by default. I would imagine location test versions would have much earlier build dates since the official release date of the game in Japan was January 23rd.

Yeah, It must be a review unit.

 

[_rm_]

Curious to know if they also use battery for protection...
You should open it up and look inside (as mention above) ASAP.

Great find

 

[RocketSpaceship]

Wow! I never even herd of this kind before, and I'm a big CPS2 fan. Cool stuff.

 

[GoldenGlover]

I was a *huge* MvC nut back when it first came out & always wanted to play the earlier revision.

If @HDemon is ever interested in selling it I’d love to add it to my collection. I’d even be willing to dump the roms.

 

[shelcoof]

Wonder if there are other revisions out there

 

[kazuo]

There's a few, according to MAME:

"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Europe 980123)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Asia 980123)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Asia 980112)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Brazil 980123)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Hispanic 980123)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Japan 980123)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Japan 980112)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Japan 980123) (Single PCB)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Europe 980112)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (USA 980123)",
"Capcom", "Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (USA 971222)",

It looks like USA 971222 is the earliest dumped revision.

Probably more beyond this, I imagine, but who knows if they will ever see the light of day.

 

[HDemon]

I would like to dump it but I don't know where is my programmer atm. (Im slowly getting ready to move houses) But on other hand Im thinking of selling it as an undamped unit. I need to think it over.

 

[Asure]

Please take a picture of the rom board and show it here.

I recall from the early days and region/key hacking that there was also some 'show version' or something that could be a one-byte change? Not sure as Google shows me nothing.

But i'm really curious to see the program ROM labels in the case.