Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Mike Haggar may be joining the fight

Remember Final Fight? The iconic side-scroller, first released by Capcom in coin-op format in 1989, helped usher in a new generation of arcade gaming – and introduced the world to characters such as Cody, Guy, and Mayor Mike Haggar. In the two decades since, Cody and Guy have both taken repeated star turns in the Street Fighter franchise, but Haggar has been relegated mostly to cameo roles in other games.

Now comes word that Mike Haggar – a mustachioed, brawny, bare-chested brawler, with a mean drop-kick and an arsenal of professional wrestling moves – may soon be climbing back on the national stage, this time as a character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. The evidence comes from a gallery of photographs from the Capcom Halloween office party.

The gallery was comprised mostly standard fare office-party stuff: Zombie and Flintstones and Snow White and the Seven Dwarf costumes abounded. But one image caught the attention of a few eagle-eyed bloggers. The image in question shows a Capcom employee sitting in front of a computer screen; the screen is open to a big image of Mike Haggar. (The photo has apparently been pulled down from the Capcom site, but several blogs, including Ripten, have preserved the evidence – and even magnified the pertinent part of the image. Yep, that's Haggar, alright.)

So it's not a reboot of Final Fight. But assuming this is all legit – and not some Halloween prank from the kids at Capcom – a playable Mike Haggar avatar would be the next best thing. This Horizons blogger has fond and enduring memories of late nights spent steering Cody and Guy and Haggar through dingy subway cars in the console version of Final Fight – controlling Haggar in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 would be a trip down memory lane.

Here's hoping.