Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics will finally launch this week, and it’s a cathartic moment. These influential fighting games haven’t been readily available on modern gaming platforms for a long time, and this rerelease is their chance to capture the hearts of fighting game fans during this genre renaissance. I’ve been playing Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection ahead of its wide release, and I’m happy to report that it’s exactly what fans of this series have been waiting for. From The Punisher to Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, Capcom’s Marvel arcade games of the 1990s are represented here in glorious, unadulterated fashion.
Fighting game fans and those particularly in love with titles like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 will be happy with the tournament-ready emulated versions of all the games here. They all hold up alongside modern fighting games like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8. Those with less nostalgia for these games, but an appreciation for their history will enjoy seeing Capcom’s Marvel video game efforts evolve over time. There’s also a museum with plenty of interesting content from the development of these games.
A series revived
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection features the American and Japanese versions of seven different arcade games: The Punisher, X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. If nothing else, it’s fascinating to both play and see how this loose series of games evolved over seven or so years.
These games were released before my time, and my only experience really playing them was at Galloping Ghost Arcade in Chicago. Still, playing all of them back-to-back like this gave me a deeper appreciation for these revered classics. I played through the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection chronologically, which is the best way to do it if you’re unfamiliar with most of the games featured. I enjoyed looking at the collection’s museum to check out some concept designs before diving into a game like Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter to see how it builds upon what came before and what unique ideas it featured.
The Punisher is the odd one out as a Final Fight-like beat ’em up, but other than that, they’re all fighting games. X-Men: Children of the Atom starts things off with a small roster and relatively simple mechanics compared to what would come later. Then, going game by game, I slowly saw the roster expand. I’m not just talking about this series going from 1v1 fighting to 3v3, either. It’s neat to see it start quaintly with X-Men characters, only to expand to the wider Marvel universe, then Capcom characters. That eventually culminated in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which essentially features every fighter from the games that came before it.
In this pre-MCU time, it was novel to see deeper cuts in terms of Marvel characters, like Spiral and Blackheart, fight obscure Capcom heroes like Captain Commando and SonSon. Of course, most players will probably end up finding that they jive with a specific game the most, and from there, this collection gives players all the tools they need to learn more about it, get good at it, and test their skills against others.
A new age for these games
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection meets the bar set by the Capcom collections that came before it. The Japanese and American versions of all these games are here in their full glory and are set to Free Play by default, so you can start playing without worrying about getting a Game Over too much. While they’re emulated, all of the games still feel very responsive and run smoothly on my PlayStation 5. It helps that all of the games included are very well-designed, so anyone with a modicum of experience with fighting games can get the hang of the basics.
These are arcade games made in the 1990s, so don’t expect much in terms of mode variety or in-game tutorials. Thankfully, for those playing these games for the first time, the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection gives players all the tools they need to succeed. If you just want to see flashy special moves and combos, you can customize each game’s controls to do them with a simple button press and turn the difficulty down.
If you actually want to get better at playing a game like Marvel vs. Cacpom 2, you can turn the difficulty up or hop into its dedicated training mode to learn the intricacies of each fighter’s moveset and the complex 3v3 assist-driven systems.
While tournaments for games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 have been restricted to the most hardcore of fans who have found creative ways to play these previously delisted games, now anyone has a chance to fall in love with them. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection succeeds at both demonstrating how Capcom’s Marvel game efforts evolved throughout the 1990s and and revitalizing these fighters for modern audiences. I see that as an absolute win.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics launches for PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch on September 12. It will receive a physical release on November 22 and come to Xbox One sometime in 2025.