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If nothing else, the Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics shows just how desensitized we’ve become to crossovers.
In the 90s, Capcom did the unthinkable when they unleashed upon the unsuspecting world X-Men Vs Street Fighter. Remember, this was a time when crossovers between companies (especially in gaming) was pretty much unheard of!
To have two of the world’s biggest properties face off? Insane!
Now though, with the likes of games like Fortnite and Overwatch, we barely bat an eye. It’s a sad and sorry state of affairs honestly, which is why I was so damn glad to take a time machine and revisit these classics from my childhood.
Are they as good as I remembered?
What is the Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics?
The Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is a compilation of 2D Marvel arcade titles that Capcom released throughout the 90s and early 2000.
It consists of X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom, Marvel vs Capcom 2 and The Punisher. Apart from The Punisher (which is a 2D beat’em up sidescroller), the rest are 2D fighting games.
Developed and published by Capcom, the Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is available now on all modern platforms.
Our copy was graciously given to us by our kind friends over at Capcom! Thank you so much for the code!
As somebody who grew up playing games in the arcades, all of these titles have significance for me. I played them (save for The Punisher, which I only played on the Mega Drive) religiously whenever I saw them, dropping tokens into the machines like there was no tomorrow.
I have fond memories of facing off against Ah Bengs (who would usually rage when they lose) and regulars joes alike. Hell, one of my most memorable matches was with an old uncle (dude was 70 or 80) who was insane with Magneto, Doom and Cable in Marvel vs Capcom 2.
When Capcom finally revealed this collection a few months ago, I was pumped and super excited to play.
That excitement hasn’t faded, even now, after hours of playing the games.
First, let’s clear the air for the collection.
These are all arcade ROMs and both English and Japanese versions are included. The best news is that MSH vs SF’s Japanese-only fighter Norimaro is now available for everybody to try. The bad news is that since they’re ROMs, they don’t come with the extra features available in console versions of the games.
The biggest issue I have in this regards (and this is a HUGE deal) is that Marvel vs Capcom 2 doesn’t allow you to unlock its 56 character roster with in-game points (like in the Dreamcast or Playstation 2 versions) or via gameplay hours logged (like in the arcades).
Yup, despite this being the arcade ROM, this crucial feature is missing completely. You either settle for having everybody unlocked, have specific character groups unlocked or have only the base playable group unlocked. Nothing in between, no way to earn your unlocks.
WHY?
I understand today’s generation are spoiled idiots who want everything handed to them on a silver platter, but old school gamers like me relish spending time replaying a game to get new characters and features! I remember beating Tekken 2 with every character to unlock everybody! Just like I did with Soul Calibur, Street Fighter EX 3 and more.
The draw for me in the past for returning to arcades to play Marvel vs Capcom 2 was to see who was available after the last time I played!
Hell, I have Redream on my ROG Ally X right now with Marvel vs Capcom 2 and I relish slowly earning the points and unlocking the whole roster. I’ve just unlocked 7 characters and every time I get somebody new, I replay the game to try them out again. It gives the game replay value!
Why Capcom has removed this essential feature is anybody’s guess. If it’s for online purposes, why not make the full roster unlocked only when you play online? Why take away the joy and fun for single player gamers who want to relive the old days!
To be fair, the Xbox Live and PSN versions of Marvel vs Capcom 2 also had this issue. It was a stupid one then (and many gamers complained) and it’s sad to say that it’s resurfaced now, years later.
Why Capcom? WHY?!
That single feature means I will never play the Marvel vs Capcom 2 version in this collection.
Why should I when I already have the Dreamcast version emulated perfectly and with character unlocks for me to work through?! Online play? Psssssh. I (and I know many other gamers feel the same way) don’t care about that at all. Local play is what it’s about!
It’s a damn shame really because Marvel vs Capcom 2 is one of Capcom’s greatest (if not THE greatest) fighters. It’s simply sublime (and pretty unbalanced). The huge cast, the 3-on-3 fighting, the beautiful sprites and the jazz music combine to deliver an unblockable combo.
There is simply no other fighting game like it, and not even Capcom managed to replicate their success with later Marvel vs Capcom games.
Thankfully, the other games in the compilation aren’t as screwed as Marvel vs Capcom 2. Apart from not being able to play as Onslaught in Marvel vs Capcom or Apocalypse in X-Men vs Street Fighter/ Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter (a feature in the Playstation versions), the games are just as I remembered them.
That means the insanely fast speed, the outlandish special moves and even the frenetic air combos are back! Even better, Capcom’s made it super easy to use the hidden characters with the Easy Hidden Character toggle. Turn it on and you can simply access the new characters by moving up or down on certain character portraits on the character select screen!
No more counting seconds or moving in a specific way to unlock Shadow Lady or Red Venom! No more using hacks to unlock Magneto or Doctor Doom or even to play as Cyber Akuma!
It does mean that fights can get a super unbalanced though. Use Thanos in Marvel Super Heroes or Magneto in X-Men and you’ll quickly see why. These characters (Magneto especially) suffered from SNK Boss Syndrome, with their overpowered moves and blatant input reading. As player characters, they’re deadly in the hands of a capable player. Hell, even Cyber Akuma (who is handicapped somewhat by being a solo character in a tag game) can wipe the floor solo against two characters!
Of the fighters, X-Men is probably the worst of the bunch.
Capcom was just testing the waters with their over the top fighting system here and it shows. The combos are relatively easy and slow (but with high damage), with the groundwork being laid for future titles.
Marvel Super Heroes, the next entry after X-Men, fares better. Character animation was improved, backgrounds looked better and the Infinity Gems was a fun gimmick. It’s wasn’t perfect (the lack of characters was a huge issue) but it still is fun fighter.
X-Men vs Street Fighter was the first VS title and like X-Men, it showed teething problems. Fun cast, great moves and specials but the final boss was kind of meh. There wasn’t much skill needed to take down Apocalypse, which was a letdown after the fights leading up to him.
Still, the first ever VS title was phenomenal when it launched.
It was so hardcore that the Playstation port wasn’t even able to deliver the tag team action due to the console’s lack of RAM. The Sega Saturn did, but required a special add-on RAM card that plugged into the console’s expansion slot.
This (apart from the bootleg Street Fighter II versions back in the day) was the first time where Ryu can do his hadoken in the air! You do NOT know how awesome that was coming off from slower paced Street Fighter games!
Forget about his Shinku Hadoken being just a flashier version of the Hadoken like it was in Super Street Fighter II! It’s now a bona fide column of screen filling energy! It was mind-blowing back in the 90s!
Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter followed and like Marvel Super Heroes, was pretty much an improvement over the last game in every way. Even the final boss fight was great, with Cyber Akuma jumping in after Apocalypse’s defeat in-game. I knew I had the shock of my life when I thought I beat the game only for Cyber Akuma to come in and wipe the floor with my face.
Marvel vs Capcom was a bit of a disaster for me personally. The small roster and the character assist system wasn’t really that interesting to me back in the 90s and it still bores me today.
Needing to remember which buttons to press during the pre-fight matchups (so you can get the assist character you wanted) was a hassle and I remembered bringing handwritten notes (scribbled from the cheat section of GameFAQs) on what to press to get who.
Hell, Colossus and Juggernaut are the assists worth a damn anyways. Maybe Unknown Soldier and Arthur if I was feeling adventurous. The rest were purely situational and more suited for certain characters than others. Considering I mained Red Venom and Shadow Lady back then, they weren’t for me.
Onslaught was an amazing boss though but then again, I’ve always been partial to the character. No surprise I loved him as the final boss.
As for The Punisher, it’s a capable beat’em up but nothing really special.
It’s basically a reskinned Final Fight with blood and guns. Not Capcom’s best brawler (that honour goes to Aliens vs Predator) but far from its worst effort in the genre. You’ll probably play through it once or twice and be done with it since there’s nothing to unlock for completing it.
Besides, Nick Fury (yes, the original character was white and not black like in the MCU) and Frank Castle aren’t really super fun characters anyways.
If I had to pick the best game in the collection, it’d definitely be Marvel vs Capcom 2.
The inability to unlock characters really hurts the game but gameplay-wise, it’s the best and most polished entry in the series. The large cast alone makes gives it a huge boost over the other games. Pretty much everybody who’s been in a Capcom VS title prior to the it is included, so why bother to play anything else?
Apart from the games, there’s a museum and music player included as extras. There’s quite a decent amount of art included (including arcade marquees and movelists) but its the design documents that are the highlights.
Being able to look at them and see how the designers thought is great! It’s a shame that there’s only a handful of these because I’d have loved more!
Unfortunately, there’s no ending viewer, which is a really glaring omission. If you love a character ending and want to see it again, the only way to do it is to beat the game it’s from again.
As these are the arcade ROMs, everything is arcade perfect. There are even faux scanlines to replicate the CRT effect. I don’t mind these but you can also opt for clean visuals. Sprites haven’t been touched (and there’s no option to use HD versions) which is great because these sprites are works of art! The animation on some of the characters (especially in the jump from Marvel Super Heroes to X-Men vs Street Fighter) is nigh Street Fighter III quality.
As an unabashed purist, the sprites in the game being untouched is one of the best things the Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics has going for it.
On the ROG Ally X, the games are perfect.
There’s no slowdown, extra loading or input lag, even if you’re playing on the 11W Silent Mode. It’s just as if you’re playing in the arcades. The ROG Ally X’s D-pad and buttons aren’t the best though, so if you can, hook up the machine to a TV or monitor and pair an Xbox controller with it to really enjoy the games.
The Bottom Line.
The Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is a great compilation of fighters from yesteryear. If you were there to play them in the arcades, their return on modern platforms is nothing short of miraculous. Netplay makes them even better!
Unfortunately, Marvel vs Capcom 2 is ruined for single players. The unlock system is missing completely, which sucks out all the replay value. As there’s no individual character endings to work towards, the game with the biggest roster of all the VS titles is ironically the game with the least replay value for a single player gamer.
If you’re fine with that, Capcom’s done a wondrous job porting the titles over and there’s a ton of fun to be had with them. Even if the netplay goes the way of the dodo in the following years, the single player alone is more than worth it.
TLDR:
The Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection is nearly perfect, save for the unlockable issue in Marvel vs Capcom 2.
The Good:
- Great compilation of games.
- Arcade perfect fun.
- Easy way to select hidden characters.
- Sprite art is beautiful.
The Bad:
- No way to unlock characters in Marvel vs Capcom 2.
- Not enough design documents.
- No ending viewer for the games.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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