Capcom announced two massive legacy compilations of their classic arcade fighting games. The first was the recently released Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, which finally ports the beloved X-Men and Marvel vs. fighting games on modern consoles with updated graphics and online play.
That trend will continue in Capcom Fighting Collection 2, the spiritual sequel to the 2022 compilation, scheduled for a 2025 release.
All games will feature online support with a rollback netcode. New goodies include leaderboards, detailed training modes, graphical filters, one-button supers, difficulty settings, and a viewable music and concept art gallery.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 comprises four 2D and four 3D fighting games released in the late 90s and early 2000s. Many started as Sega arcade games and were later ported to the experimental Dreamcast.
Since some of these games have never been internationally released, while the rest will be available for the first time in over 25 years, it’s worth giving a quick refresher on which games to look forward to playing again.
Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein (1998)
Dr. Bilstein, leader of the Fourth Empire, has returned as a cybernetic ghost and wants to conquer the universe. Former enemies and new friends join the heroes to save the galaxy.
Plasma Sword, the sequel to the space epic Star Gladiator, is a weapon-based game fought on an endless 3D plane. A unique meter called the Plasma Strike System allows supers, counters, and a unique Plasma Field. The Plasma Field emits a sphere of energy from the player that traps the opponent on contact, causing various effects.
Power Stone (1999)
In the 19th century, treasure hunters worldwide hunted for the mythical wish-granting Power Stone.
What this hidden gem lacks in mechanical complexity, it makes up for in spades as a high-energy party game. The series is uniquely considered an “arena” fighter, meaning that objects in the 3D environment can be used to attack opponents. Collectible “Power Stones” power up and allow a long or short-range special attack.
Power Stone 2 (2000)
Power Stone 2 adds 4-player battles and more Power Stone attacks, but questionably removes the prequel’s combo system and blocking. Stages are highly dynamic, creatively evolving into sub-stages throughout each match. Each stage is more interactive, with unique items and wall-jumping being included.
The Adventure mode offers hours of gameplay as players are given an inventory to collect, trade, and create new items for use in the other game modes. Wacky new items include invisibility potions, roller blades, sticky sprays, and flamethrowers.
Project Justice (2000)
Project Justice, the sequel to the cult classic Rival Schools, introduces three-character teams and Party-Up attacks unique to each character’s school. Players can block their opponent’s Team-Up special with their own, creating a quick-time event where the first player to land a hit nullifies their opponent’s input.
The cast lives their peaceful school lives until a ninja assassin named Kurow attacks Justice High’s principal, Batsu’s father. Kurow’s master plan to rule Japan involves sending two moles into the hero groups to sow distrust, brainwashing Daigo’s gang into attacking various schools, and framing Batsu for these crimes as his doppelganger Vatsu. The themes are as much about stopping evil as they are about friendship.
On top of adding five new characters, alternate versions of old characters are included. Special moves are hilarious since they’re based on the character’s school sports club. In the Story mode, players fight with their chosen school’s cast and come across cutscenes and branching paths.
Capcom vs. SNK Millennium Fight 2000 Pro (2000)
The all-powerful fighting organizations from King of Fighters and Street Fighter create the Millennium Fight 2000 gala tournament to squash their beef in the ring.
Capcom vs. SNK, or CVS, finally allowed Chun-Li and Terry Bogard to duke it out. Pro adds two new characters, new moves for the roster, and new gameplay modes. However, Pro‘s superior Dreamcast version was only available in Japan, leaving Western audiences with the laggier PlayStation port.
Of course, the sizable roster can hardly squeeze in the many iconic characters of both franchises, but the game compensates with its mechanical depth.
Four-character teams are limited by their strength “Ratio,” which encourages both teams to have equally powerful characters. A character’s Groove meter is based on their respective franchise. The Guard Power gauge depletes after each block, leaving the player vulnerable to a “guard crush.”
Playing alone is also an excellent option, with the game offering unlockable characters, levels, and modes.
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 (2001)
CVS2 is one of the greatest fighting games ever made and the main selling point for this collection. The vastly expanded arcade roster features 44 characters (48 on home consoles) without removing a single character from the first game. Characters outside the Street Fighter and King of Fighters series are included, such as Kyosuke from Rival Schools and Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown.
This sequel takes giant steps to improve the mechanics of the prequel. Matches can be 3V3 or 1V1 now. Tweaks to the Ratio system allow significantly more freedom in team building. KOF‘s four-button controls in the first game have been substituted with SF‘s six-button controls.
Grooves, encompassing all the super meter and special techniques, now incorporate “subsystems” from other Capcom and SNK games. Players can select one of six of these subsystems before a match.
A noticeable blemish on this masterpiece is in the sprite department. SNK’s cast is living it up with redrawn sprites, and Capcom’s roster is stuck with reused sprites.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper (2001)
Street Fighter Alpha 3, the final game of the Alpha sub-series, introduces new characters, new stages, and three selectable “-ism” fighting styles. A-ism is based on Alpha, V-ism is based on Alpha 2, and X-ism is based on Turbo. Each style offers distinct move sets for every character in the roster.
Upper features the full roster of all the SFA3 editions, along with balance fixes and custom characters. Hidden toggles can add unique difficulty changes. This game introduced series favorites like R. Mika, Cody Travers, and Karin Kanzuki on top of the entire cast of its prequel.
Capcom Fighting Evolution (2004)
Ah, Capcom Fighting Evolution, the black sheep of this collection. This ambitious title brought together the Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and Red Earth universes. Each series’ characters use fighting systems from their respective games. The exception is Ingrid, an original character with six different fighting styles.
Much like the CVS series, a glaring flaw of this game is the reused sprites, causing the three universes never visually to mesh. Some characters had moves removed, and fan favorites became background extras. On top of this, the game borrowed from Capcom Fighting All-Stars but with far worse balancing of the cross-series mechanics.
Conclusion
Fighting game fans, especially Capcom fans, are eating up the myriad of announcements of sequels, new games, and returns of classics such as in this compilation. While Capcom Fighting Collection 2 still doesn’t return beloved oldies like Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future, or Street Fighter: The Movie, its lineup is impressive.