It's been a few days now since the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics title launched, with players all around the world enjoying it and having fun when they're not dealing with matchmaking issues.
A deciding factor in which fighting game more competitively minded players will choose depends on which platform has the lowest input lag, and now we have some more information on the subject for Marvel fans.
Resident Battle Game Latency Guru Nigel “Noodles” Woodall After conducting numerous tests on Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on the available systems, we've shared our findings.
Woodall previously released the findings from his PlayStation 4 input lag experiments on PlayStation 5, and now he's done the same experiments for MvC2 on PC, Steam Deck, and Nintendo Switch.
Starting with Nintendo's hybrid console, it probably won't surprise you to learn that the Switch's less powerful hardware has the highest latency, though it's not as different from the other consoles as you might expect.
Using the video interrupt method of testing, the Switch version of the MvC Collection showed an average input lag of 68.75 ms.
https://t.co/8NsrOa6Q2H
NSW
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Video interrupt method
P1 Command History Brook UFB Fusion 68.75ms(105T)
P1 Animation Brook UFB Fusion 68.75ms(105T)
Difference 0.0ms(110T)
Turbo pic.twitter.com/cTZVjrISaL— Nigel Woodall (@noodalls) September 12, 2024
Since a 60fps game, like almost all fighters, has 16.67ms in one frame, from the time you press the button to the time the game registers/displays the input, this equates to an average latency of 4.12 frames.
Running the PS4 version on PS5 using the same method showed that it averaged 57.74 ms or 3.46 frames, so there's a difference of around 0.66 frames between the main consoles.
The Steam Deck, using the same testing methodology, was by far the fastest when connected to an external monitor.
https://t.co/UqvkykKmER
SD
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Video interrupt method
P1 Command History Brook UFB Fusion 43.89ms(111T)
P1 Animation Brook UFB Fusion 43.89ms(111T)
Difference 0.0ms (111T)
Turbo pic.twitter.com/IjXrhbyI9t— Nigel Woodall (@noodalls) September 12, 2024
Noodles' initial Steam Deck tests showed an average lag of 43.89 ms or 2.63 frames, so it wasn't a full frame ahead of the PlayStation.
However, he added that PCs don't work well with the video interrupt method, so they had to test that version via the “phototransistor” method – which they also used to retest the PS5 and Steam Deck.
PC is where you'll find the most variation depending on your available hardware, monitor, and settings, but it seems to provide the best speeds when configured correctly.
Woodall's setup utilizes an Nvidia 3080 GPU, GSync, Ultra Low Latency mode, and tests at 240Hz using a Sony InZone M3 monitor across all systems.
MvC2 input lag test for PC. Use the leftmost red figure for comparison with VideoInterrupt.
The full data is here.https://t.co/3TJyylnJ0K pic.twitter.com/mgGeSbRb9Z
— Nigel Woodall (@noodalls) September 15, 2024
At its lowest point, MvC2 on PC had a lag of just 15.5 ms with borderless windowed mode and V-Sync turned off, which is a staggering 0.93 frames.
In initial tests in fullscreen this figure was actually quite high at 28.87 ms or 1.73 frames, so borderless windowed mode interestingly appears to be the best way to play MvC2 at present.
As for the Steam Deck, using the phototransistor method reduced its latency to an impressive 20.71 ms or a mere 1.24 frames with the same settings as the PC.
However, the PlayStation version did not actually perform as well in the second testing method, seeing an average increase compared to the initial test.
Woodall's phototransistor method produced a consistent delay of 66.52 ms regardless of the settings for running the PS4 version on the PS5 or 3.99 frames per second – so about half a frame more than the interrupt tests.
We technically don't know why different methods produce different results and why PS increases while Steam Deck decreases under the same parameters, which Woodall has also kept vague for now.
You can check out the full details of input lag tests with the phototransistor method devised by Nudals here, which shows that MvC2 is around 11 ms / 0.65 frames slower than Street Fighter 6 on PS5.
Ultimately, it seems that PC is again the best option in terms of latency if you have the hardware to make a difference, while PlayStation offers around the average of what we'd expect from a system.
Keep in mind that these tests were only run on Marvel vs. Capcom 2, but every other game in the collection should probably produce roughly similar results, though we'll provide an update if that doesn't happen.
We've also compared different systems and testing methods for the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, which you can find below.
• PS5 on PS4 – 3.46 frames
• Nintendo Switch – 4.12 frames
• Steam Deck – 2.63 frames
• PC (borderless windows, Gsync, V-sync off) – 0.93 frames
• PC (fullscreen, GSync, V-Sync off) – 1.73 frames
• Steam Deck (borderless windows, V-sync off) – 1.24 frames
• PS5 on PS4 – 3.99 frames