games / Reviews
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (PS5) Review
Image Credit: Capcom
Loading...Capcom is well-known for releasing, re-releasing, re-re-releasing games, it’s part of their trade and they are usually good about it. This is the third game in their new “Collection” series, after Capcom Fighting Collection 1 and the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, with both those games having more well known games. This collection has really wanted games by fans but also some lesser known games as well. I’ll briefly touch on each game and then give overall thoughts after:
Capcom Vs. SNK: Millenium Fight 2000 Pro, this is the first of the Capcom made games from the Capcom Vs. SNK franchise, and the first actual mainstream fighting game. It features a roster of 35 characters from both franchises, 18 Capcom and 17 SNK guys. Most of the heavy hitters are here, Ryu, Dan, Chun-Li, Terry Bogard, Geese Howard, etc. The two big hooks with this game is that you can select either a Capcom or SNK “GROOVE” (Super Meter), with the Capcom one being segmented and the SNK one just being a bar you need to fill to 100%. The other hook is that it has a “Flexible Ratio” System, where you can either one powerful fighter on your team, two lesser powerful fighters, three weak fighters, or four very weak fighters. The problem though, is that this system is pretty locked in the arcade mode. Only certain fighters are four ratio fighters, three ratio, etc. This is something rectified in the next game.
Capcom Vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 is the second and last of the CvS series. It makes a few notable changes, including an expanded roster. Now featuring 48 characters, it has all the old roster as well as some more obscure characters like Kyosuke from Capcom (Rival Schools), or Rock Howard from SNK. The “GROOVE” system has also been expanded in insane ways. Instead of the two basic Grooves, there are now six: A, C, K, N, P, S, or “CapSnk”, if you want to see it actually spelled out. Basically the “C” and “S” Grooves are the same systems from the prior game, while the other letters are all variations on it that are bewildering to even look at, let alone play. They did fix the Ratio system, now they called it the “Free Ratio” system. Now, you can freely (get it?) pick however team you want to set up, but it is a bit different. You pick three characters and get a choice over who you want to be the stronger one, vs. the weaker other two. You can’t just make one really strong single fighter, but you can still pick who you want the stronger one to be, compared to the other two.
Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein is something I’ve only heard about but never actually played. It’s a crazy, science fiction weapon fighter, where some characters have traditional swords or hammers, while others have crazy yo-yos, or Wolverine-like claws. The big hook with this game is the “Plasma Field” maneuver. It takes a bar of your super meter and expands out from your character in a short radius sphere. If the enemy is trapped in it, you enter basically “Plasma Field” mode, where your attacks change, based on your character. Some characters auto-attack, some cant throw tons of projectiles, some have increased range on their weapons and so on. You only have about five seconds in this powered-up mode, so you have to make the best of it. Other than that, it has regular super moves, a basic reversal system also a reflection system and so on. It really feels like this game is based off of an anime that doesn’t actually exist.
Power Stone is the biggest departure in this collection. Unlike most of the other games here, it is a 3D fighting game that is almost more akin to something like Bushido Blade. When you start a round, you and the opponent each has one of three gems, with the third spawning in after a few seconds. You can knock the gem(s) the enemy is carrying with various attacks and they can do the same thing to you. Whoever collects the three gems enters a powered-up mode where their basic attacks can change but they can also do two super attacks for a lot of damage. Being in this powered-up mode is governed by a meter that decreases with the basic, power-up attacks, and is completely used up if you do a super. The three gems are then ejected from you and put on the playfield again for you, or your enemy to collect. In addition to this, you can run, jump, kick or throw various objects at your enemy, and there are even weapons for you to pick up, usually of a limited ammo or durability, to deal damage. Power Stone isn’t like a hardcore, EVO-styled fighting game, it’s more of a party game where you are just meant to have a good time.
Power Stone 2 is like Power Stone 1 only on steroids. The biggest change is that it went from a 1 on 1 fighting game to having four characters all battling it out. This means that there are more gems to try and collect, of different colors, but they all do the same thing. The second biggest change is while there aren’t as many stages as in Power Stone 1, they are a lot more intricate and involved. One starts you outside an Asian temple, then it gets attacked by flame arrows, so all characters have to move to the next section, as you climb the outside of another temple, all the while fighting one another. Lastly, you enter the temple, while still continuing to fight each other and that’s where the stage ends, until a winner is declared. Or another stage starts you fighting in the sky on an airship, where pieces can blown out of the sky and it has everyone freefalling to the sky while attacking each other to get umbrellas that slow your fall. It’s a very chaotic fighting game that is even stranger than the first one.
Capcom Fighting Evolution is another game I’ve only ever barely heard about. It is basically positioned as a “Greatest Hits” mash-up fighting game. The roster is grouped by game, so SF2, SF3, Darkstalkers, Street Fighter Alpha and Red Earth. Quite why Chun-Li falls into the “Street Fighter 3” group, instead of Street Fighter 2, is anyone’s guess. This game is a bit like Capcom vs. SNK 2 with it’s “GROOVE” system, because each of the franchise groups all play differently. The Street Fighter 2 characters, for example, just have a regular “bar” style super meter, while Alpha characters have a Super Combo bar, where you can burn half a meter to create shadows of your character that add additional hits to your combos. This game just doesn’t feel right for some reason. Like, it was just slapped together, or is one-step above a M.U.G.E.N. thing. Actually, scratch that, there are some M.U.G.E.N. packs that are better than this. It just feels like they made it for three bucks, and games like MvsC2, or even CvS 2 have better production detail and art.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper is a weird version of Alpha 3. I’ll have a very long rant about this, and the next game down below, but it’s basically the arcade version of Alpha 3 with some light balance changes. Alpha 3 has the “ISM” system that has the A-ISM – which is a three level super meter. The X-ISM which is just one regular super meter and then the V-ISM which is basically the Super Combo bar from Fighting Evolution, which creates shadow clones that mimic your moves, including projectile attacks. Alpha 3 also has the guard meter, where it’s an actual gauge that shows how much you are blocking and goes down the more you block. If it goes down completely, you get dizzy and open to attack.
Finally, the big game that made me excited to play this whole collection, Project Justice. I love me some Rival Schools as well as Project Justice and not having to spend over $200 to get a Dreamcast version is very nice. Project Justice is a three on three fighting game set in Japan where characters from various high schools fight, usually due to some evil, Machiavellian plot to take over everything. You pick a main character and then your main partner and backup partner. During the fight, you can call in either partner to deal damage to your enemy, heal you, or make you stronger, depending on their attribute. You can also do a “Party-Up” move, where if your super meter is all the way full, all three of your characters will team up and do a flashy attack. Occasionally, you and your opponent will do team-up attacks at the same time, and a clash starts. Another teammate from each side will rush in and whoever lands the first hit will “win” the clash, and their team-up attack will occur.
So, yep, it has eight games in this package. Some hold up very well like Power Stone 1 or 2, or Project Justice. Some are interesting and complex like the Capcom vs. SNK stuff or Plasma Sword. Alpha 3 is still one of the best fighting games ever but maybe not this particular version. And the last, Fighting Evolution, is a bit of a funky project that I didn’t really like. It’s a decent collection, especially for fans of the games or franchises, especially since almost all of these games are over 20 years old and some of them are a bit expensive to find.
The problem with this collection is that these are solely the arcade versions of these games. For four of the 8 games, Plasma Sword, Power Stone, Capcom Vs. SNK 1 (the Pro revision) and Fighting Evolution, this doesn’t really mean anything. The version of Capcom Vs. SNK 2 is some version of the home release, I’m not sure which, but it has the new characters in the home port.
So, what about Alpha 3, Power Stone 2 and Project Justice? Well, they are the arcade versions also, and that is a problem. All three of these games had expanded home ports on varying consoles and that isn’t included at all.
Project Justice had a League and Team Battle option that was in the Dreamcast version. More importantly, the Japanese version of Project Justice included a mode called “Nekketsu Seishun Nikki” which was a board game/Mario Party mode where you created your own character and would move them around spaces, adjusting their stats and such. It never got included in the original port due to the cost of translation. But, guess what, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to translate stuff nowadays. They should have done the work to include this mode and make this the “Complete” version of Project Justice.
As a general aside, I probably would have ditched Fighting Evolution altogether. I would have rather they slid in Rival Schools to help compliment Project Justice, or Star Gladiator to give some background on Plasma Sword. Those two games would probably need a bit more work, but it would have been better.
Power Stone 2’s Dreamcast port had an “Adventure Mode”. This was an additional mode where the player could collect money and buy items from the shop to use in the arcade mode, and let you craft your own little favorite arsenal of gear. Unlike with the “Nikki” mode in Project Justice, this mode was fully translated and brought over to America. It’s just not in this collection since it’s the arcade version.
Alpha 3 undoubtedly gets the worst treatment in this collection. To my count, there are at least four versions of Alpha 3 that have additional content: PS1, Dreamcast, GBA and PSP. None of those versions are included here. The PS1 had a “World Tour” mode where you picked a character and you fought various other characters, gaining experience and power. Other versions of Alpha 3 had this also, specifically the other three I mention, also have this World Tour mode, in slightly different forms. Other versions of the game also have slightly more characters, notably the GBA and PSP versions, and other versions of the game had an Entry/Edit mode, so you could create your own character. How hard would it have been to include these other versions in this package, just with a version selector? I can completely understand not wanting to support netcode for all this stuff, you can just have Upper be the “official” version of Alpha 3, that has online play. But having this collection housing all the other versions of Alpha 3 would make it a more enticing package, especially for those die-hard fans, at a very negligible cost. There are still the weird, hidden modes in Alpha 3, Dramatic and Final Battle, but those were in the arcade version so they don’t count.
As for the actual package, it largely remains the same. It has the suite of challenges for you to do in each game, including beating each game with each character, doing specific things in each game, viewing all endings, etc. It also has the usual Museum stuff, galleries for each game/character, and the soundtracks for each game. The collection also has a save system, if you want to save and come back but it’s still only limited to one slot, across all eight games, so that’s a bummer.
It’s not a surprise that online works well here also. Capcom has been putting their fighting games online for over 20 years, so that’s not a huge surprise. It features rollback netcode but I didn’t really have any negative experience with it. Power Stone 2 is as chaotic as you might imagine but a fun time.
