At some point I stop wondering if the flashing purple lights on the screen are going to give me a seizure and become conscious of my right hand. I cock my head at an angle so that I can glance back and forth between the television and my furiously flying fingers. I’m intrigued by this. It’s only been about 30 minutes since I’ve been playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and I realize there’s an appeal beyond all the colors, characters and epileptic-level flashing: I feel like a god.

But I’m not. Not even close to it. It’s been about a week now and I can tell you I’m not even good at the game, especially when playing real people, but there’s a style to what’s happening both on screen and off, and that translates into me looking supremely impressive and knowledgeable about something I’m not.

While the biggest fighting game fans and pros want to write this game off because it doesn’t hold to the old conventions of the genre, that’s exactly why it succeeds. Sure, the renaissance may have just started back up thanks to Street Fighter IV, but this could be a heck of a hint as to where things are going.

Older 2D fighting games feel like a worn down piece of machinery compared to this. Every move you make is like a rusty gear making a clockwork type motion, beat by beat, until there is a winner. I’m not just talking about Street Fighter either, it’s every fighting game, even the previous “Versus” titles. Go ahead, bust out any 2D fighting game, and become conscious of your hand movements.

Shrouyken. Beat. Jump back. Beat. Hadoken. Beat. Block. Beat. Jump forward. Beat.

The clicking of the stick and drumming of the buttons almost sound like marching troops, or a loud, slightly broken clock.

Then there’s Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Now it sounds like a typewriter, or in more intense moments, the offices of a big city paper from an old film. It’s that furious.

It’s definitely organized chaos, though. I’m not just slamming buttons, however it could appear that way. I actually understand what I’m doing, even if it is completely crazy and manic. How can this be?

The new button layout is responsible. Similar to Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, instead of breaking up attacks into various levels of punches and kicks, there are three levels of just plain “attack.” Combine them with your typical “toward-down-quarter circle toward” type commands and you get special moves for each character. Drum your fingers over these three buttons and you do a combo. One button is assigned to a special attack. Just like the previous MvC games, you choose three characters, so another two buttons are there for you to call out your assist characters, either for an attack or to replace your main. A combination of three buttons at once will have your character dodge forward or backwards. Four buttons at once give you “X-Factor,” which boosts your strength and speed.

The ease of all these commands leads to you executing them at a rapid pace, which works out since the game brings new meaning to the phrase “Hyper Fighting.”

I’m not saying that this style is going to replace traditional 2D fighting; in fact I’d be pretty upset if it did. But there’s certainly something special about the spectacle of what’s occurring both on screen and off that I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of this sooner than expected.