Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics

Capcom is a great example of how to bring classics to new platforms and keep gaming culture alive, as the company's games collections show. This week, the Japanese company continues with Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting: Arcade Classics.

Following the release of the Capcom Fighting Collection in 2022, Capcom is releasing another compilation of classic games: Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. As the name suggests, it includes seven crossover fighting games featuring Marvel characters, including the first Marvel vs. Capcom game. The originals were released between 1993 and 2000. The compilation includes:

• 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 Super Heroes (1998)
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000)

Capcom is highlighting the "rare" beat-'em-up The Punisher, which was released as an arcade title in 1993 and only ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1995. Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter also features the hidden character Norimaro, who was only included in the Japanese ROM.

The Japanese publisher has reworked all the games and adapted them for modern PCs and consoles. Each game can be played online or in co-op (online or split-screen). There are ranked battles and casual matches. "Create a lobby with friends and battle head-to-head, play co-op, or spectate other matches," the publisher wrotes and there is also a high score challenge mode with global leaderboards. To make the fighting experience as smooth as possible with fast and accurate input, Capcom is using rollback netcode for all titles. But Capcom has also thought of newcomers. So there are adjustable difficulty levels, one-button specials and training modes. Players will be able to save and load their progress from just about anywhere and pick up right where they left off.

Finally, an extensive archive of over 500 pieces of artwork and development documents used to create the original games has been included. The music feature contains over 200 tracks from the original arcade games.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics will be released on 12 September 2024 for PC (Steam), PlayStation 4 and Switch. On Xbox One, the collection will be available in 2025.

And next year, the classic games collections will continue with Capcom Fighting Collection 2. It includes Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro, Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, Capcom Fighting Evolution, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper, Project Justice, Power Stone, Power Stone 2 and Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein.

Conclusion

For fans and newcomers alike, Capcom once again shows how to update classic games and bring them to new platforms.

Features

• Modernised collection of seven classic games
• Improvements for pros and beginners alike
• Rollback netcode for online matches

Hit potential

B