Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium (Xbox Series X) Reviewed.

When I reviewed the original Capcom Arcade Stadium, I hoped that Capcom would continue to release more games for it in the future. Well, I got my wish with Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. Not exactly what I wanted…but beggars can’t be choosers right?

Either way, now there are more games to celebrate Capcom’s awesome arcade days!

The thing is…as a sequel of sorts to the original, does Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium improve upon the original?

Continue reading to see what I think.

What is Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium?

Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium is a compilation of games from Capcom’s arcade library. Son Son is free for everybody who downloads the game but the rest of the titles are sold ala carte or in bundle packs. If you bought the Capcom Fighting Collection, Three Wonders is also available free as a bonus.

The compilation is available on the PC, Nintendo Switch, Playstation and Xbox consoles.

Our copy of the game was generously provided to us by Capcom Asia! As always, massive thanks to them!

Here’s a list of what’s available for Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium.

• 1943 Kai
• Block Block
• Gun.Smoke
• The King of Dragons
• Knights of the Round
• Three Wonders
• Magic Sword
• Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors
• Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge
• Vampire Saviour: The Lord of Vampire
• Hisatsu Buraiken
• Black Tiger
• Capcom Sports Club
• Chariot: Adventure through the Sky
• Eco Fighters
• The Speed Rumbler
• Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition
• Last Duel
• Mega Man: The Power Battle
• Mega Man: The Power Fighters
• Pnickies
• Rally 2011: LED STORM
• Saturday Night Slam Masters
• Side Arms: Hyper Dyne
• Son Son
• Savage Bees
• Street Fighter
• Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors’ Dreams
• Street Fighter Alpha 2
• Street Fighter Alpha 3
• Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
• Tiger Road

While most titles have both English and Japanese roms, some like Pnickies or 1943 Kai only have Japanese roms. It’s not really a problem since they aren’t text heavy but you do miss out on some of the narrative.

The games are a pretty decent mix, with some legit classics and some hidden gems you might not have played before.

The games in the collection run the gamut of genres; fighters, sports, a couple of beat’em ups and even some puzzle games.

I had a blast with 1943 Kai (which I’ve only played once before in a run down arcade in Malaysia), Gun.Smoke (which I’d played only on the NES), Saturday Night Slam Masters (which I’ve only seen in the arcades in the 90s but never played) and Mega Man: The Power Battle (again, seen but never tried). I’d recommend the collection for those games alone for their sheer fun factor.

The rest are just awesome bonuses.

Unfortunately, for hardcore fans of Capcom who’ve been buying everything the company pumps out, the Street Fighter and Darkstalkers (or Night Warriors) games, along with a couple of others, have already appeared before.

Some in the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, some in the Capcom Fighting Collection and a few in the Capcom Beat’em Up Bundle.

It’s a bit of a letdown but on the flipside, it is understandable given that there’s only a limited pool of titles Capcom can draw upon.

Remember, the majority of Capcom’s most memorable titles were licensed properties.

X-Men vs Street Fighter and the other VS Marvel games were all licensed. So were Alien vs Predator, The Punisher and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs beat’em ups. Thankfully, you can easily get the Dungeons & Dragons beat’em ups on Xbox Live…they’re not in this collection unfortunately.

Capcom does have great 3D titles (Tech Romancer and Rival Schools United By Fate comes to mind) that are still MIA in compilations, so hopefully those will get the Capcom Arcade Stadium treatment next.

As you’d expect from the name, all of the titles in Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium are the arcade versions. They’re emulated perfectly and are pretty much as they were in the arcade. Unfortunately, that means that some versions of the game aren’t as good as their console ports.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 is probably the worst off, as the Dreamcast version (the best of the ports) had multiple characters and modes added to it that are missing from the arcade version (which was released earlier).

One can also make the case that Street Fighter Alpha 2 should’ve been replaced by the superior Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha (Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold if you’re going by its Western name) instead, which was an updated version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 released in the arcades.

Another strike against the Capcom Arcade Stadium series is that the games don’t have online multiplayer or any sorts of extras in the form of design documents, artwork or developer commentaries. Those are the main issues I had with the original, and they return yet again with Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium.

In fact, everything I loved and hated about the original Capcom Arcade Stadium is the same here because pretty much everything is unchanged except for the games. Just read my original review and reapply it here as well.

On the plus side, the Rewind, arcade style presentation, the special challenges and unlocks are still awesome! On the flip side, not being to walk around your arcade and no extras suck.

Honestly, seeing that the UI has virtually nothing changed, I’ve been wondering why Capcom needed to make this a separate title. I mean in the age of CDs and DVDs sure…but this could’ve been easily done as DLC bundles for the original Capcom Arcade Stadium.

Was Capcom afraid of people being confused? Two different volumes does make differentiating the games easier, but I honestly would’ve loved an integrated solution instead of needing to boot up two different apps to play the games.

The Bottom Line.

I have nothing but fond memories for these games but they’re also genuinely fun. They can sometimes be unfair to play due to their arcade coin-munching roots but that’s unavoidable. Nostalgia does tint my impression somewhat but I’m pretty sure everybody can enjoy the collection nonetheless.

It’s true that Capcom’s double dipping for some titles and I honestly feel that everything should’ve been DLC for the original Capcom Arcade stadium.

Despite that, I think the line up for Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium’s stellar enough to warrant a purchase. If you have the games from previous compilations, simply don’t buy them. It’s great that Capcom makes the games available individually, so you’re not forced on getting everything.

Hopefully, Capcom goes for their 3D titles in the next go round. I’ve missed playing Tech Romancer and Project Justice since my Dreamcast died a couple of years back.

Come on Capcom, don’t keep me waiting!

TLDR:

Some great games in the compilation, so just buy them piecemeal if you don’t want to get everything.