The Capcom fighting Game collection is finally here. Bundling together a total of 10 different capcom fighters, some never before officially released outside of Japan, with both offline and online content that would sure please many fans of these classic titles. So how does this collection fare when it comes to its content, value, and above online netcode. Let’s find out.
Released on steam, ps4/5 xbox series and the Nintendo Switch, the capcom fighting collection contains a large selection of fighting games that might be obscure from some new fans of the genre. These are the entire Darsktalkers series, with Darskstalkers, night warriors, vampire savior, vampire hunter 2, and vampire savior 2. Outside of The darkstalkers series, the collection includes, hyper street fighter 2 anniversary edition, super gem fighters, super puzzle fighters, cyberbots and Red Earth. These last two titles are obscure games released on capcom’s CPS3 arcade system and never received a home release until now.
Looking at the lineup, it is clear that this is more of a darkstatkers collection with bonus tittles than a true capcom collection. But nevertheless what we have here is plenty and is indeed a joy to be able to replay these titles on modern consoles.
Cyberbots and red earth remain the most obscure of the bunch. The former is a game pitting giant mechas against each other, in a rather limited gameplay style. While red Earth is more of boss rush mode rather than a traditional fighting game. With only a handful of selectable fighters, as the player, you fight boss after boss until you finish the game. I found myself enjoying Red Earth, but could not say the same about cyberbots.
Hyper Street Fighter 2 might the highlight for street fighter fans as this is the first time this version of the overly released SF2, where you get to choose different versions of your SF2 characters, gets the online treatment, and it is a title I see myself spending a lot of time with.
Super puzzle fighter is more of puzzle game, hence the name, than a fighting game, but I love this title so much so I will not complain that it is part of the collection.
Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix is also quite an interesting addition, putting a handful of selectable capcom character in Sd forms fighting each other in silly ways is an interesting idea, that was odd when the game was released back the day and still is today. But I am glad this little gem, pun intended, made it to the collection.
Capcom has also included a neat feature showing the exact rom used for the collection. Some of the games, which had worldwide arcade releases, allow you to choose which rom region you want to play which is absolutely a great little bonus.
All the games here are perfectly emulated. Allowing you to relive the hayday of the arcade scene of the 90’s.
Launching a game is quick, and gets you quickly into the action. The games available are all in their arcade form, so do not expect a training mode or in game options. Speaking of options the collection allows you to add different filters to the screen. So whether you want scanlines added to your image or you prefer a crystal clear pixel representation, the collection got you covered. You can also play the games in there original 4:3 aspect ratio or in a modified 16:9 and stretched form.
The collection also tries to cater to new fans of the fighting genre by having a 1 button attack option. This is a little bit similar to what we heard about the upcoming street Fighter 6. This feature will allow you to map a motion attack like a fireball or a super to a specific button, making you able to shoot hadokens with one button press. IF this sounds terrifying for online play, you can choose to not play against players who have this option turned on. Between this and the street fighter 6 easy control, it really seems that Capcom is trying to bring new fans to the genre, and even though I am no fan of these simplified inputs I really appreciate the effort in trying to grow the fighting game community.
Speaking of making things easier, a save state option is also available. Giving you instant access to a previously saved spot in a particular game. So if you do not want to just hit continue after a loss and try again, and rather want to correct mistakes within the same match or round, all you have to do is save your state and reload at will.
Aside from the games themselves, the capcom fighting collection includes a museum section with tons of artwork and design files for each of the ten games. This alone is worth the 39.99 price tag if you are a fan of these series. A music section is also available where you can listen to the entire soundtrack of each of game. While this is indeed a cool feature, you are limited to listening to the music in this mode only. So you cannot customize the games to have different soundtracks or changing the menu music.
An important aspect of this collection is the online play. Capcom has announced previously that the game will be using rollback netcode, which is becoming the standard of online play and rightfully so. While it is kind of early to definitely judge the quality of the netcode, from the initial impressions, things are good. You can choose in which games you want the matchmaking to find opponents for you. You may chose one game or all of the 10 game. You can set to find opponents in your region only or worldwide, and it is in this screen where you choose whether you want to fight those monsters who chose to use 1 button special or one button supers. Shame on you one button gang!
While matchmaking is taking place, you can choose to wait for your match while playing any of the 10 games of the collection. While I am very pleased to see these games getting the rollback treatment, as a street fighter fan I feel really bad about the amazing package that is street fighter collection. As that title is a collection of many of the street fighter games but unfortunately has terrible netcode, and only a few selections of those games have online. But that’s another subject for another video.
Capcom fighting games collection is a great package with tons and contents and games. And while this feels more like a darstalkers collection featuring other games too, it is still a commendable effort by capcom and one that should please fans of the fighting games genre.
Capcom Fighting Collection is currently available on PS4/PS5 Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC via steam for $39.99
