When Capcom announced that more characters would be added to the American release of the Wii-exclusive fighter, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, we assumed they would be American characters, or at least characters that were more popular in the US than in Japan.  So far we’ve gotten Frank West from Dead Rising, who fits the bill perfectly, and Tekkaman Blade, which really, really doesn’t.  Capcom has announced the final two characters to appear in the game, and once again, they only halfway serve their audience.

From the Tatsunoko side, we get Joe the Condor, member of the Gatchaman team.  This makes a total of three Gatchaman characters, which is great if you’re Japanese, but Gatchaman (or Battle of the Planets) just isn’t that big a deal over here, so tripling up on them is a bit of overkill.  Capcom’s offering is slightly beter; Zero from the Mega Man series.  Sure, Mega Man is beloved on this side of the globe, but for an “American” character, Zero is pretty…Japanese.  Regardless, check out the gameplay videos for each of them below.

While Zero isn’t a bad choice, I was hoping for some legitimately American characters from Capcom.  Arthur from Ghosts N’ Goblins would have been a great addition, as would pretty much anyone from the Resident Evil or Breath of Fire series.  Hell, I’d have been happy with Harman Smith from Killer 7 or even Phoenix Wright!  As for Tatsunoko, there’s really not much more they could have done.  Outside of Gatchaman, the general, non-anime-watching public has no idea who any of these wacky characters are, so using someone from Samurai Pizza Cats or Generator Gawl instead of Joe the Condor wouldn’t have helped any. We should be thankful that Joe the Condor is at least a human character; they could have easily put another giant, animated lighter in the game.