American fans might be very familiar with Marvel vs. Capcom, the popular fighting game series that pitted some of America's most iconic superheroes (Spiderman, Wolverine) against their capcom rivals (Chun-Li, Megaman). Now imagine the very same excitement of seeing Spiderman take down Ryu, but for a Japanese person. That is what Capcom has hoped to achieve with their new arcade game, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes.

Japanese anime studio Tatsunoko might not be a household name here in America, but its properties have seen marked popularity on both sides of the Pacific, from Gatchaman (a.k.a. Battle of the Planets) to Speed Racer to Casshern. Most American Tatsunoko fans were under the impression that the game would never come to North America because the lack of fan recognition for Tatsunoko over here, but lo and behold, the Capcom-Unity Blog has confirmed the North American release of the Wii version.

The characters on the Capcom side include the usual characters from Street Fighter, Megaman, etc., while the Tatsunoko side includes Ken the Eagle and Jun the Swan from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Yatterman-1 and Doronjo from Yatterman, Casshern, Tekkaman, and Karas, among others. And who could forget the giant lighter-turned robot, Gold Lightan (who has the silliest robot design ever)?

With so many awesome Tatsunoko characters, this is looking like a really fun time for any fans of classic Japanese animation. As such, I'll definitely be looking to pick this up when it hits stores on its as-of-yet-undisclosed release date.

Capcom has recently announced that if their latest 2D fighter were to be coming state-side any time soon that it would not be in arcade form. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes, which is set to release in Japanese arcades later this year, is Capcom’s latest installment to their acclaimed Vs. series alongside Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK. The game is set to include such Capcom staples as Ryu and Mega Man as well as the likes of Tekkaman and Casshan of anime studio Tatsunoko Productions.

Despite their previous statement, Capcom did actually bring this title to American in arcade form during the 2008 EVO World Finals which were held in Las Vegas in early August. The reason behind this was that Capcom wanted to conduct localization testing to see how the American 2D fighter community would receive the product. Since then there have been rumors abound concerning a Wii-port of the title thanks to the Japanese website Fighting Front Line claiming that the game supported a “Wii-compatible board.”