Monster fighter

Capcom is synonymous with fighting games. For years we have talked about Street Fighter, but they also used to dabble in other games as well. Their latest collection brings to light some forgotten gems as well as some games that most gamers have never heard of. To be fair this collection should be called “Darkstalkers and friends” but it does have a nice swath of titles that I grew up enjoying. Capcom Fighting Collection is indeed ten more classic fighting games that I thought the company had forgotten. Yet here we are in 2022 playing the likes of Red Earth and Cyberbots like they never left.

Let’s kick off with what is included. I joked about Darkstalkers, but here it does make up five of the ten games. We have Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge, Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire, Vampire Savior 2: The Lord of Vampire, and Vampire Hunter 2: Darkstalkers Revenge. Confused yet by those names? Then we have Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (weirdly) and Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix. Only one of which is an actual fighting game. The last three include Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition, Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness, and Red Earth, the only game without a subtitle surprisingly.

MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $39.99

Outside of the included Street Fighter game, all of these titles are from the 90s era Capcom arcades. Some of them saw limited release outside of Japan, and one thing I love about this collection is that I could switch between versions, which in turn would also sometimes change the name of the game itself. It is a lot to process for anyone unfamiliar with Capcom’s arcade fighters of that era. Luckily this collection contains explanations and a museum full of info and media about each game and fun ways to unlock the history behind it.

This is one thing I adore about this collection. There is simply a ton of stuff tucked away here that is worth uncovering. Each game has a set of achievements to unlock as well as art to check out and even developer notes on each game. The entire soundtrack of every game can also be listened to within the menu. The presentation here is top-notch. Thumbing through each area was a nostalgia trip and Capcom has done an outstanding job of making everything easy to access. The menu for game selection is simple and I could swap the region roms with a simple switch. There are also settings per game including CRT filters and difficulty settings down to nuances such as attract and boot screens. All nice touches.

Not everything is great in this collection though. For starters the game selection feels like it missed out on some titles. Only one Street Fighter entry when SF3 is right there feels like a miss. Also only one save state for all games is wild to me. There should be at least one per game.

Capcom really went all out when it comes to online play though. This collection has a matchmaking system that runs while players are doing other things such as perusing the museum. There is also an option to set a latency trigger offline to practice for online play. In my sessions the game felt nearly as good as local play. It is also cool that I can queue for multiple games at the same time so I am not limited to just trying to get online for one title. I wish that was also true of save states for each game. Come on Capcom. Sadly there is no crossplay which I feel like is a huge mistake. While I love these games, they are definitely a niche collection and I don’t expect the online community to be here for months or years to come.

Capcom Fighting Collection is a wonderful package with some truly great features and only a couple missed opportunities. It feels great to see Darkstalkers once again getting some air time, I just wish we would get a new game after nearly 30 years. The series was one of the best Capcom ever put out, and it shows with how many times that Morrigan sprite has been recycled. It is also cool to see rare games like Cyberbots and Red Earth discussed again. This collection is easy to recommend and I hope Capcom continues to recognize their legacy games going forward.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.