It’s been decades since Capcom was king of the fighting game genre, but they’ve fallen far behind since the disappointing release of Street Fighter V. Alas, the Capcom Fighting Collection has a saving grace. A compilation of Capcom’s weirder classic fighting games that brings back memories of arcades and PlayStation 1.
This collection includes Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition, Super Gem Fighters MiniMix, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Unreleased Red Earth, Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness, Darkstalkers: Night Warriors, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge, Vampire Includes Savior: The Lord. In addition to Vampire, there are two variations of him, Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2. This is an impressive list full of unreleased content, version variations, and other hidden gems within the Capcom catalog. Let’s take a look at the list.
Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition is a classic cornerstone of any Capcom collection. The prized fighter is back with a full roster and adjustable speed options. The impressive part is that this in itself lets you play different versions of the classic roster, from the original Street Fighter II to Turbo. This premise is even more compelling when compared to online matches where you’ll be fighting different versions of characters from different editions. It’s a game we’re all familiar with because it’s been released in places (especially in our own collections).
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is as much a street fighter as Tetris and remains an underrated, underdog competitive puzzle game. There are gems dropped from above and your job is to move them into place to create bigger gems and shapes. In the end, when placed next to those colors, you get a colored orb that destroys all like colors. This means that it is important to organize your board by grouping them by the same color. Since this is a competitive game, destroying gems on the board will drop them onto your competitor’s board, but with a timer that prevents them from being destroyed until the timer expires. This can block players from completing larger chains or disrupt the organization of the board. If the board is full of gems, you lose. What makes this so compelling is that in the center of the screen you have a chibi version of your Capcom fighter of choice performing moves as you destroy gems and attack each other. , is a neat presentation that is very satisfying to watch Ryu perform a super move and defeat his rival.
Gem Fighters is rare here as it hasn’t been re-released in the Street Fighter Alpha anthology since PlayStation 2. (it’s a real snake that eats its own tail). However, the ability to perform is done in a cute and slapstick way. Characters can wear and take off silly costumes and perform incredibly silly activities that provoke laughter. Akuma wears his Speedo and performs his dives as Super High. Alternatively, Chun-Li can become a cross guard and attack opposing players throughout the biker’s race. It’s silly in the best possible way. Super abilities are performed by charging the player his meter with gems found throughout his plane of battle, but other than that it’s a fairly standard 2D fighter, but what makes this title so special That charm goes a long way.
Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness is a 3-button fighter with 2 attacks and projectiles. There is also a dash for mobility. Each character and mech has its own style and flavor that works well in the 2D combat realm, plus the added wrinkle of knocking off armor shards makes for engaging gameplay. However, due to the character’s size and art his design, it was a bit difficult to measure each character’s hit his box, but overall it wasn’t too much of an issue. Otherwise, this is a worthy addition to your collection.
Red Earth is an arcade fighter never seen before in any state. While it may look like a Street Fighter III clone at face value (using the same engine), it actually does something completely unique. Red Earth has only four playable characters in two modes: Quest Mode and Versus Mode. In quest mode, experience up to 8 boss battles to level up your character. During boss fights, chests appear giving the player health, experience, or orbs to perform super moves.In between boss fights, you can level up your character’s stats and unlock new moves. Another standout thing about Red Earth is that it also has fatalities that affect many of the game’s endings. Competitive mode still only allows four players, which was quite unique outside of what Capcom was doing at the time.
The last of the packs here is the entire Darkstalkers series, including Vampire Saber (third in the series). This includes two of him in Vampire Saber 2 (Vampire Saber roster update) and Vampire Hunter 2 (Japanese roster update). Darkstalkers have always been slower, more calculated fighters, with an emphasis on technical defensive play. The characters are all based on fantastical monsters and are beautifully designed to give it a classic Capcom feel. There’s everything from guitar-playing British zombies to badass maggots in Little Red Riding Hood and even pharaoh mummies. It’s a strong draw for the Darkstalkers series and Capcom’s games in general. The beauty of the details in their designs is always a highlight.
The full Darkstalkers series is an interesting undertaking, but having two roster updates in Darkstalkers Revenge: Vampire Savior is easily filled out by other exemplary titles in the catalog like Street Fighter III, Final Fight, or Mega Man. It feels like extra padding added. power battle. It feels like his two variations of Darkstalker don’t always bring enough new things to the table to warrant an entry than the others.That being said, all the games in this collection are It runs smoothly and plays exactly as you remember it. This is the best way to play these games.
The Capcom Fighting Collection also includes a complete collection of artwork, unfinished sketches, music and bonus remixes, with art for the Switch also available.Each game also has a training mode to hone your skills. I can. Robust enough to set up CPU actions and practice scenarios. Another welcome addition is the ability to launch each game from the collection menu rather than launching the game, waiting for it to load and then selecting a mode. original game. This allows rapid transitions from game to game and mode to mode. Going from Darkstalkers 2 story mode to Street Fighter 2 matches in seconds feels seamless. You can also create save states at any time and load them back even during a match. This feels like a cheat, but will definitely come in handy in some of the more difficult boss encounters.
An important new feature in the Capcom Fighting Collection is the online mode. You can now create online lobbies with your friends and your friends’ opponents in both casual and ranked modes. Sadly, with so many games in one collection, the online scene is split and it’s hard to find a match for a particular game. You can select multiple games to play against other players online, but selecting only one game will result in a very long wait. We waited about 40 minutes for a Puzzle Fighter match, but it was still a lag-filled mess. , which is where we are today. Keep this local, or at least set up a lobby with your friends and hope your netcode is stable.
The Capcom Fighting Collection pulls some of the best and brightest from 90’s Capcom Hay Days. It is the happiest time that is commemorated through the many games in this collection. Working with sprites and sound design is as important as we’ve always remembered. Aside from the nostalgic Wax, there are also more rare finds in Gem Fighter for those who want to dig deeper into Capcom’s catalog, in addition to Red Earth’s unpublished American entries. To some extent it bloats and the poor online puts a damper on it but otherwise there are a fair number of games that show why Capcom was king in the first place and hope to one day return to the throne again .
