Developer: CAPCOM
Publisher: CAPCOM
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 – Review
Fighting games were extremely popular in the late ’90s and early 2000s, not only because they were a lot of fun but because they were the go-to genre for arcade cabinets. Nowadays, the hype has died down, and only a few franchises remain standing. Street Fighter, Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and a handful of others survived the culling of series, and they are thriving. Even so, we do love to play a few older fighters now and then, as a lot of these retro fighting titles deviated from the standard formula and often made for great party experiences. Capcom Fighting Collection 2 brings back the glory days of fighting games with a few classic titles, but also a few quirky ones. We were eager to dive into this nostalgia-induced experience. As this is a retro-inspired fighting collection, we’ll be ditching our traditional review format to look at the overall package.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 offers a variety of fighting games that range from mainstream arcade classics to some quirky niche entries in the genre. In this bundle, you’ll find Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro, Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, Capcom Fighting Evolution, Street Fighter Alpha 3 UPPER, Power Stone, Power Stone 2, Project Justice, and Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein. Most of these titles are traditional 2D fighting games, while a few others embed 3D elements. The Power Stone series throws all conventional mechanics out of the window, instead aiming more at a party game experience with an isometric point of view, silly consumable items, and very interactive stages. Titles such as Plasma Sword and Project Justice are also a bit more niche, which makes the collection a bit more versatile.
Everything in this collection can be played offline or online in a variety of different modes. You can opt to play the Arcade mode, but also the Versus or Practice modes. On top of that, there are even more settings you can tweak, for example, to adjust the difficulty level or even to play the Japanese version of the game(s). It’s a very accessible package this way, mainly thanks to these additional settings. We were able to ease into some of the harder games this way, while gradually cranking up the difficulty as we familiarized ourselves with some of the gameplay mechanics and the special moves.
While some may not really delve into the additional content that comes with Capcom Fighting Collection 2, we still quite enjoyed the addition of the so-called Museum. Here you can find character art for all the available games in the collection, as well as some art that went on the original arcade cabinets, and so on. You can also listen to the soundtracks of the different games, which is something we have done a lot since we received our review copy. It’s a nice bonus for fans of these old-school brawlers, and it’s simply the icing on the cake for an already great bundle of classic fighting titles.
Even though we enjoyed everything on offer, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 isn’t perfect. Because of the makeshift menu that connects all the different games, it seems there are a few items missing from some of the original games. The menu also doesn’t save preferences. For example, you’ll always have to select two players if you’re swapping games in the midst of an intense multiplayer session with a friend or family member. For those who want to play online, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 sadly does not support crossplay. We struggled to find matches online for some games as a result.
Conclusion
Even though Capcom Fighting Collection 2 will probably mainly lure in a huge crowd that played the titles in this collection when they originally came out, we still feel that pretty much all the individual games here hold up extremely well, even today. We loved the combination of more traditional brawlers with more quirky ones, such as the two Power Stone titles. It’s simply a blast playing through the Arcade modes of the different games, but it’s equally enjoyable duking it out with friends locally or just taking on strangers online. The Museum mode is a nice bonus for an already interesting collection, making it well worth the RRP. Fans of the originals will certainly be able to keep themselves entertained for a long time. Even if you didn’t grow up with these vintage beat ’em ups, but you’re still into fighting games, we can wholeheartedly recommend checking out Capcom Fighting Collection 2.
No Comments