Fighting games dominated the arcades during their heyday and Capcom was considered the reigning champion.Street Fighter IIprovided a tremendous popularity boost for the genre, which led to countless great fighters being released in the ’90s. Having access to the Marvel license, Capcom decided to make anX-Mengame in the style ofStreet Fighter, which ended up spawning several more games using the same premise. As things progressed,X-Menended up facing off againstStreet Fightercharacters, and eventually the whole Marvel universe was trading punches with just about every Capcom IP.Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classicsrounds up six of these games from the bygone arcade era.
Review: Capcom Fighting Collection
Capcom Fighting Collection isn’t the definitive collection of Capcom’s best fighting games, but it does bring a respectable assortment of them.
Wanna Take You For a Ride
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classicscontains a total of seven games:X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, X-Men vs. Street FighterandThe Punisher. The first six games are all tournament fighters, withThe Punisherseeming somewhat out of place as it is a beat ‘em up brawler. All the games are ports of the original arcade versions, so any extra features and game modes that were included in any home versions are absent from these versions.
X-Men: Children of the AtomandMarvel Super Heroesare standard fare tournament fights. These two games are a series of one-on-one matches, but instead of Capcom’s normal street fighters, the battles are fought between Marvel universe characters. Due to the super powers of these characters and that a few of them have shapes that don’t conform to human physiology standards, the attacks go beyond the standard of punches and kicks so that these mutants and otherwise not quite human characters can fully use their abilities in battle.
X-Men vs. Street Fighterintroduces the tag team cross battle system, which allows for two on two battles. This is the same format forMarvel Super Heroes vs. Street FighterandMarvel vs. Capcom.Marvel vs. Capcom 2takes it a step further and ups the fighting to three on three tag team battles. This concept makes the fights more interesting, as the characters can help each other in battle. The tag team concept evolves a bit with each subsequent game, as do the rosters, leading to the potential for devastating full team attacks inMarvel vs. Capcom 2.
The Punisherseems like it would make more sense in one of theCapcom Arcade Stadiumcollections. Aside from being a Capcom arcade game that takes place within the Marvel universe, it really doesn’t have anything in common with the other six games. It’s a beat ‘em up brawler and a decent one at that. It’s a welcome inclusion if viewed as a bonus game, even if theFinal Fightstyle gameplay doesn’t fit in the same genre as the other games.The Punishersupports two player co-op, as each player can control either The Punisher or Nick Fury as they punch their way to vengeance with the use of found weapons, which include firearms, medieval weaponry and the standard beat ‘em up knives, pipes and baseball bats.
How About We Step Online
When fighting games get ported to home platforms, they are often given extra modes, like a single player story campaign, survival mode or multiplayer versus mode. None of these modes have been added to any games here. The games inMarvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classicsare strictly ports of the arcade games, so they can be completed in the single player arcade mode or against a friend, just like in the arcades. The six fighting games have a training mode to help learn the ropes, but that’s about it. All games can be played online or offline. Online matches can be casual, ranked or custom. Custom matches allow players to set battle parameters such as how many rounds a fight will last. Ranked matches will affect a player’s standing on the leader boards and casual matches are just for fun.
There’s a museum where players can peruse promotional artwork and artwork from the original arcade cabinets. There’s also a sound gallery for each game. The collection of bonus content is standard fare for this type of collection; nothing extraordinary, but an acceptable amount of content that is fun to look through once.
Review: Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium shows that Capcom has created so many memorable games that it takes more than one collection to hold them.
A New Champion
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classicsmight not have a ton of bonus content or add any additional modes to the games, but such things aren’t really necessary. Many fans of the crossover series will argue thatMarvel vs. Capcom 2was the peak of the franchise, and all the other fighting games leading up to it are great in their own right. Starting withX-Men: Children of the Atomand progressing through each title, one can witness the evolution of Capcom applying their expertise in constructing fighting games to the Marvel universe. Minimal changes were applied to each game, leaving them looking, sounding and playing like they did back in the twilight of the age of arcades. Playing through each game’s arcade mode to see the different endings is fun, but the real joy comes from playing against other people. Couch multiplayer is still the best for this, but online play is also a great way to fight other players.
As out of place as it may seem,The Punisheris a nice inclusion in this collection. It doesn’t fit the criteria for being considered in the same genre as the other games, but having a nice co-op beat ‘em up is a good way to balance out the competitive nature of the other games in the collection. On top of that, it’s actually a very good beat ‘em up and it’s kind of a shame it’s taken this long to see it included in one of the numerous arcade collections Capcom has become known for releasing.
Closing Comments:
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classicsbrings together multiple beloved arcade classics. The seven games included in the collection haven’t been heavily altered from their original arcade releases, save for the art and music galleries and online play, but that’s perfectly fine. These games were great in the arcade and they remain fun today in their unaltered state. The six fighting games, when played in order, can show the evolution of bringing the Marvel Universe to Capcom’s approach to fighting games, starting with the straightforward one-on-one matches ofX-Men: Children of the Atomto the three-on-three tag team matches between 52 characters inMarvel vs. Capcom 2.Countless hours of enjoyment can be had fighting against friends in the six fighting games, withThe Punisherserving as a nice bonus game when the gameplay style needs a change of pace.
Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
PlayStation 4
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics brings six fighting games to modern platforms. Beat ‘em up The Punisher is included as a bonus.
