Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics Review (PS4) – Take Me For A Ride

For all the pomp and flair that Street Fighter and Tekken’s latest iterations bring, sometimes you can’t beat a classic 2D fighter. If you’re of a certain age, this is what you grew up, before we went all 3D and embraced polygons. But back in the day, before Kingdom Hearts took over the crossover market, Marvel and Capcom were looking to do battle.

Now, brought to us via the medium of compilation, Capcom have put together the games that gave us the answer to who would win, Spider-Man or Strider? Zangief against Hulk, man to radioactive man. From X-Men: Children of the Atom to Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and more in between, this is the definitive collection for Street Fighter against superhero fans.

Is Capcom on to another good thing with this compilation, or is it just another cynical attempt to cash in on emulated nostalgia? Let’s pick our favourites and find out.

A New Era

First and foremost, what are we looking at in this compilation? Well, here’s a list, in chronological release order:

• The Punisher (1993)
• X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994)
• Marvel Super Heroes (1995)
• X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996)
• Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997)
• Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Superheroes (1998)
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000)

These are faithfully recreated arcade versions, with both English and Japanese options to play. The Punisher isn’t a fighter, per se, but it is the arcade side-scroller akin to Final Fight and the like. There’s a range of accessibility options, as well as options to play the straight forward arcade ports or with the secret characters unlocked. Well, not all, there’s still some secrets to be found.

Who’s Side Are You On?

Now, like any retro compilation that I review, I’m not going to review each game individually. If you want individual character strats and whatnot, there’s GameFAQS for that kinda thing.

Instead, think of each game as a foundation, a stepping stone of progress to something better next time. Children of the Atom, for example, is a straight-up X-Men brawl with limited characters. Magneto’s the final boss, standard Marvel Stuff.

Skip ahead to Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, and the palette becomes broader. Alongside each stable’s recognisable names are some more left-field ones, like Blackheart and Dan Hibiki.

By the time Marvel vs. Capcom 2 came about, we’re talking some 50+ fighters in all. Marvel rolling out the likes of Omega Red and Marrow, whilst Capcom gave us Amingo and SonSon. Yup, a Mexican stereotype cactus and a Journey to the West homage, respectively.

The Best Of The Best

As mentioned at the beginning, all of the games in here (sans The Punisher) are 2D fighters. They start off as 1v1, but as we go through the years they become 2v2, right up MvC2 and its 3v3 matches.

Simple enough in concept: pick your favourite Marvel-ite, or Street Fighter in later avenues, and brawl. Children of the Atom is straight 1v1, as is Marvel Super Heroes, yet that adds an Infinity Stone buff system that works well enough. X-Men vs. Street Fighter brings in the 2v2, with players being able to switch out their teammate on the fly. It adds a new dynamic, but then it’s the Marvel SH vs. Street Fighter that improves on that formula.

Introducing Assists to the 2v2 combat, this allowed players a chance to “tag in” an additional character for a brief on-screen attack, or a quick shield, it added some new levels of tactic. By MvC2, we’re talking full-on 6 man brawls, tagging in waiting fighters for a quick attack. But that’s not all, there’s forcibly removing your opponent’s current fighter in favour of one that’s been tagged out to recouperate. There’s combination special attacks, screen-filling, multi-hit combos that are as much fun to master as they are to look at.

The joy, as it were, is to experiment across the board. Play each title, pick teams that are familiar or dabble with odd combinations. Personally, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is my favourite, as I imagine it is for a lot of people. But if you’ve got some mates round, couch multiplayer won’t go amiss against any of the titles. Or playing The Punisher in co-op, let us not forget.

What Else Is There To Look At?

Much like the Ace Attorney trilogy, Capcom likes to bolster their compilations with art and music galleries. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is no different, and boy is there a wealth of art to look at it in there. Galleries from each title are readily available, for those that want to check out their favourite fighters in a variety of poses. Or use screenshots for wallpapers, that kind of thing. But that’s not all.

For those that like to track their progress, as well as trophy/achievement hunt, there is a highly specific tracker to keep tabs on. The main page of it is tied to trophies/achievements, and were trophy colour-corresponding in the PlayStation version. Yet break it down and there’s a page dedicated to what character a game has been finished with.

It may not sound a lot, but here’s the ru: there’s an ultimate trophy/achievement/bragging right for finishing every game with every character. Yes, you read that right. That means going through every title with what is easily 150+ characters. I’m not attempting it, but I know some madman will.

Tipping The Scales

Whilst that challenge may sound daunting, there are fortunately some means around it. Each title has the means for players to choose the difficulty, or round timer, or even required round wins to their preference. There’s also save states available, should you want to save before a final boss and exploit completing it, loading, dying and changing character without the slog. Again, too much faff for me but I know there are completionists out there.

In terms of other quality of life tweaks, there’s the option to change the filters for that old school preference, or none at all. There’s also options to play in traditional bordered arcade screen style, or full screen. Outer borders can be changed, again to a style that players like or none at all. These are all little tweaks available to cater for the nostalgia, see.

To top it off, there’s even training modes available. As well as serving up frame data for those that take it seriously, players can craft their own scenarios to practice moves and combos on. So if you had trouble hitting a Jill/Sentinel/Blackheart combo on an enemy jumping in a corner before, now’s your time to specifically practice that.

As far as extra content, that’s pretty much it. I would comment on the online aspect, but unfortunately didn’t get chance pre-embargo to really sink my teeth in. From the few MvC2 games I did play, I didn’t experience any netcode issues or whatnot. Take that as you will, I haven’t seen any damning online reports since.

Marvel-lous

To conclude, because there isn’t really much more I can say about a collection of 2D fighters. Again, like all things retro, this will only really appeal to those who enjoyed it before. That’s not to say it won’t be accessible to those that haven’t, but the charm is in the nostalgia. That being said, there’s always room for those that are sick of 3D fighters and know about the legacy of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Or played MvC3 and thought, “I wish this were a better game”.

There’s enough of a challenge in there to keep the hardcore going, the types that recreate the Official Evo Moment #37 (if you know, you know). I had a good crack at some of the more novel trophies, and may keep it around for the occasional casual online match if any friends pick it up. Or if anyone comes over, rare as that is.

Capcom, in my opening, are on to a much better streak as of late. The cynical may call these a cash-grab instead of, ooh I don’t know, remaking Dino Crisis. But given the option to play this or spunk out for a “supposedly mint” copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on Xbox, I know where my money would go. Yes, I release the irony of that statement as I got review code, but you know what I mean.

Get out there, let Marvel vs. Capcom take you for a ride. You can’t go wrong with these.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is available now on PlayStation 4 (reviewed on PlayStation 5), Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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