As game preservation becomes increasingly normalised within the industry, there are always going to be some companies doing it better than others. Capcom is high up on that list, as one only needs to look at the two Capcom Arcade Stadium compilations, Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, and Capcom Fighting Collection for confirmation. That’s without even considering the various Ace Attorney bundles on top of all that.
With fighting games being Capcom’s bread and butter, it’s no surprise the developer has dipped its hands once again into its back catalogue of versus combat hits, digging out fan-favourite titles and overlooked gems alike for Capcom Fighting Collection 2.
In this eight-game package, what jumps out immediately is the pair of crossover titles between two fighting developer giants. Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro and Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 bring their dream matchmaking bouts to the fore once more, as the likes of Ryu, Cammy, Chun-Li and Morrigan trade blows with Mai, Terry, Yuri and Nakoruru.
The sequel ventures a little further outside the box of common faces, with Capcom’s Maki, Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma taking on SNK’s Haohmaru, Orochi Iori and Ultimate Rugal. There is a spicy mix of combatants across the two games, meaning regular fans of either side will more than likely find a favourite character from the off.
While these two games are the cream of the crop, other titles should not be disregarded. Street Fighter is represented heavily across the board, with Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper featuring an extraordinary roster that includes characters not present in the original arcade edition, including Maki, Ingrid, Eagle and more.
Capcom Fighting Evolution is a creative blend of various fighting game styles, with characters utilising their techniques from the respective franchises they come from, be it Street Fighter II, Darkstalkers or Red Earth. It sounds like it couldn’t work on paper, but the unusual concoction is pulled off in a way that doesn’t feel completely out of place; it just means characters have unique movesets that can be plenty different to others in the line-up and must be learned properly to be effective.
The two Power Stone entries make a welcome return, where their manic gameplay could be likened to a 3D arena Super Smash Bros. Items and ridiculous weapons litter the stages, and brawls are made even more crazy due to the mad rush that ensues when the Power Stones show up. Grabbing these can transform the character into an even more formidable foe for a short period of time, turning the tables in their favour. It can get messy, but the silly arcade storylines offer a good reason to check these ones out.
The same can be said for the over-the-top drama accompanying the student team battles of Project Justice, and the Star Wars-inspired bouts of Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, which round out this meaty package that has something for everyone.
Capcom has implemented many of the necessary features as in its previous collection, including a hefty amount of training options for those aspiring to master any of these games, shortcuts to pull off special moves in an instant, and even the marquee cards of each title to view the technical gameplay details and special move commands for characters.
Lobby, ranked, and casual online matches are present with rollback netcode, but the kicker is that there is no crossplay to battle users playing on other systems. Capcom Fighting Collection 2 may have stood a better chance at longevity had it not avoided this much-requested feature of today’s fighting games. Although Capcom did patch it a few months after release to add in some of the console-only combatants and features of certain titles, it would be a huge surprise if crossplay was integrated at this stage. It is difficult to find matches now, so organising online is a must.
The addition of a museum to check out the massive soundtracks and art galleries is hugely appreciated, even if there is an unusual case of censorship for one of Mai Shiranui’s images. A range of challenges exist for those wishing to maximise their single-player enjoyment, but many are too tiresome to want to complete them all, requiring a lot of arcade mode beating with many different characters.
Given the love put into this huge collection, it feels a little low to complain about too much, but the thoughts need to be put out there in the hope more could still be done in the future. Arcade game preservation is massively important, but so is console game preservation. It is very reassuring to know Capcom has added in some console-only features and characters, but without the full console versions of some of these titles, there are entire editions being left completely inaccessible to the public.
The recent Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition came with a mighty five different versions of the game from across the various systems it released for, and there is certainly a fair argument that fans of any of these fighting titles have their favourite adaptation, be it an arcade, PlayStation or Dreamcast edition. Just lock online battles to the arcade variant only.
A bump down from 10 titles in the first Capcom Fighting Collection to eight in this one is unfortunate, too. Surely the prequels Rival Schools and Star Gladiator could have been woven in to stand side by side with their follow-ups that are present here? Curious oversights.
Thanks for calling out the censorship.
Baffling, isn’t it? Especially compared to some of the other images in there.
Come on, Capcom, Project Justice 2 please xoxo
You never know! I miss the days where we’d get so many different types of fighting games. Lots more risk and obscure titles.