Capcom Fighting Collection Preview – A Collection Worth Fighting For

Recently I was able to play an early version of Capcom’s newest fighting compilation, aptly named Capcom Fighting Collection. What makes this collection stand out from others the publisher has released is a few of the titles make their first North American rerelease appearance in this compilation. Red Earth, in particular, hasn’t seen a rerelease in any region ever. With that said, I was anxious to jump in and play the ten titles included.

Beyond the rarity of some of the titles, Capcom Fighting Collection has a pretty solid list of ten games. Half of these titles belong to the Darkstalker series as all the arcade entries of the franchise are found here. Also included are Cyberbots, Super Gem Fighters, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, Hyper Street Fighter 2 Anniversary Edition, and the previously mentioned Red Earth.

Each game gives you a couple of different settings options to play with. For those looking for a more emulated arcade look, there are several CRT filter options to give you that classic appearance. While I didn’t get a chance to mess around with them too much, it looked like there was enough variety to suit most players’ needs. Of course, you can just play without a filter for a more updated and clear presentation. 

Capcom Fighting Collection also offers key binding to customize each fighting game’s controls as you would like. While many of the controls are similar from game to game, some do deviate more than I remember, so the importance of this can’t be understated.

The usual collection wallpaper borders also adorn the sides. In some collections, you could unlock more borders, but I’m honestly not sure yet what all can be obtained in Capcom Fighting Collection. 

There is a museum section that appears to contain promotional and conceptual art, and the short time I had with various games did seem to unlock a bit more as I progressed, but it’s hard to be sure as there is a lot of artwork available from the start. The same can be said for a list of music also contained in the museum. A lot of these tracks are stellar, so I can certainly see them getting tons of play by fans. 

What is a clear marker of achievement is the fighter badges you get when you accomplish certain tasks. It looks as though these achievements can provide a lot of replay value in the final version of the game, but it’s unclear if they unlock any additional content or if they are simply there for completionists and bragging rights.

The actual gameplay is a blast and instantly transported me back to the late 90s. Performance-wise, everything felt responsive and just how I remembered it to be in the arcade. The only issue I really experienced was a saving error that came up about 25% of the time when I exited out of a game, but it didn’t seem to actually affect any progress or achievements I made. Still, anytime you see a save error, it is a bit anxiety-inducing. That being said, this is an earlier version of the game and it most likely will not be an issue in the final build. Obviously online play and other modes are ones I can’t speak to at this point, but are all things to consider as well.

Here’s hoping that when Capcom Fighting Collection comes out, it does justice to some nearly neglected titles. With the bit of time I’ve had with it so far, it looks like it’s a positive path to get there.

Capcom Fighting Collection releases on June 24th for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.