Here’s our full review of the Capcom Fighting Collection.
The fighting genre of games is one of my favorite genres. It’s easy to learn and hard to master, and spending a chunk of time in specific games can make the entire experience feel different from when you first started. The Street Fighter series has long been heralded as one of the best fighting franchises, being set up round after round and KOing any opponents in its way, aside from Mortal Kombat, Injustice, and a few others.
Read More: Our Sonic Origins Review
But Capcom has an extensive list of fighting franchises that have been left in the dust. For every Street Fighter, there’s a Darkstalkers game that could have been made. Fortunately, Capcom has decided to put the spotlight on some of its classic Arcade games within the Capcom Fighting Collection. This collection, showcasing 10 different Capcom fighting games is set to release soon, and we’ve been fortunate to review this anticipated set of games.
All of these changes make the Capcom Fighting Collection the definitive way to play these classic titles.
The Capcom Fighting Collection includes all five games from the Darkstalkers series, including two only released in Japan, a few Street Fighter-based games such as the Pocket Fighter titles and Hyper Street Fighter 2, and finally, two miscellaneous titles, Red Earth and Cyberbots, the former of which has never seen a home release until now. Whether you’ve played all of these games, some of them, or none of them, it’s safe to say there are a few titles for you to play through here.
Each of these titles isn’t simply ported from Arcade machines or previous collections and packaged for sale again. Not only do all of the titles feature an Online mode with Rollback Netcode, but nine out of the full collection feature training rooms for you to prepare, the one without being Super Puzzle Fighter. In fact, Red Earth also features a training room for you to prepare against Boss Fights. Alongside these changes comes plenty of new settings, such as adjustments for controllers, difficulty, and other accessibility features. The training modes are missing some modern features, such as hitbox references, but plenty of other modern features like opponent behavior and more are available here.
Don’t Miss: Our The Quarry Review
It’s fair to say that Capcom could’ve easily thrown together a bunch of Arcade games and sold them to fighting enthusiasts, but they went the extra mile and a half to bring these games together for both nostalgic fans and newcomers. Not only does the Capcom Fighting Collection include these modern mechanics, but there is plenty of quality of life changes and gameplay balancing too. All of these changes make the Capcom Fighting Collection the definitive way to play these classic titles.
Unless you’ve played all of the games in the collection, which is highly unlikely, there will be something new here for you to play. I have never played Darkstalkers before, so I was excited to give it a play with this collection and I have to say, I was really impressed. Despite showing some age, the games really held up. What is strange, however, is Vampire Savior 2 and Vampire Hunter 2 are almost identical games. Many of the same backdrops, characters, and general appearance function similarly. It seems like a cop-out, but considering how well this package comes together, I’ll let it slide.
The Capcom Fighting Collection has set the bar on how you bring classic and retro games to a modern market.
In fact, I enjoyed the Darkstalkers set of games so much, that I wish they’d make a new one. The series has been dormant for years, with the last entry arriving in 2013, which was a collection similar to this one. The gothic-horror charm and atmosphere suit a fighting game really well, and the characters are extremely fun to play. I imagine the series wasn’t the commercial success that Capcom had hoped for, but given that fighting games aren’t as plentiful as they once were, I imagine a Darkstalkers revival could work well!
Read More: Our TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge Review
Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of a chance to play Capcom Fighting Collection’s online modes. Due to the fact that review copies are spread far and thin over different platforms, finding a match is fairly difficult. Alongside the fact that there are 10 games in the collection, it made it hard to do. But what I did experience worked wonderfully. Using Rollback Netcode makes fighting games so much smoother and works wonders for games that require responsive gameplay, and is a much-appreciated inclusion to the whole collection.
There’s also an in-game Museum mode, that allows players to listen to songs from different games’ soundtracks, look at artwork from the production of each game, and more. Looking at the history of individual games and what work got put into them is wonderful. And, some games feature both their US English and Japanese versions, technically making the number of games available here bigger. It bundles the collection up nicely, and the Capcom Fighting Collection has set the bar on how you bring classic and retro games to a modern market.
I’m happy to say the Capcom Fighting Collection lands every punch it throws.
Capcom has done incredible work here with the Capcom Fighting Collection. More than a simple port, this collection includes plenty of games, with much-needed modern additions and balancing. All of these games feel smooth like they were made for the current generation but with a retro overlay, and players who have missed out on all or some of these titles will get to experience these titles at their very best. While it’s still unclear how the online functionality will fair once more players buy into the game, I’m happy to say the Capcom Fighting Collection lands every punch it throws.
A review code was provided by the Publisher for the purpose of this review.
