Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics Hands-On Preview
Gamecom came and went in a flash, but towards the end of the show Capcom invited MP1st and others to an in-person showcase of their upcoming releases in Los Angeles, so those of us not able to attend in Germany could still nab some hands-on time with some of the projects in the works. We sparred a couple of rounds in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, and have our impressions ready right now.
Seven Games for the Price of One
There are a whopping seven different arcade games packaged into this one release. This includes 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, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, and, last but not least, The Punisher. All solid fighters, and in fact not all were available to play on the build we were situated in front of.
Before launching each game, you can press a button to bring up options to load the game with, which back in the arcade days might have been set via hardware jumper pins. This includes things like difficulty level, scanline effects, and other settings. Each game runs in a letterbox format, with artwork along the sides of the screen.
Since each entry in the collection has a campaign, there are options to save the game, which allows you to progress through the campaign in more than one play session. This is great for anyone who doesn’t necessarily have the hour or so it might take to clear a campaign playthrough all at once. On the PS5, pressing the touchpad button on the DualSense controller brings up this menu. This has the effect of pauing the game that is being played – something unheard of on arcade cabinets.
Smooth Action, Instant Pausing
Graphically, every game runs at a very smooth frame rate. Considering the average age of each title included in this collection, it’s not surprising – your phone can probably run these games at a full 60 frames per second as well. Scanlines are enabled by default to simulate that arcade feel, but if you either never played in an actual arcade, or enjoy the smooth line art of today’s fighters, you can always turn it off. Since these seem to be one-to-one ports of the originals, it’s likely that things which caused a particular game to slow down might still be present here, but we won’t know that for sure until we get the retail copy of the game in our hands.
There are also online and co-op modes to extend replayability. A high score challenge mode has been added, to keep competition going even if you’re not competing in real-time. While we had an opportunity to play against other journalists/influencers at this event, there were other games to get to and a local matchup didn’t take place – probably for the best, because I do not pretend to be any good at most fighting games, never mind classics where the controls took some time to master.
If you’re a huge fan of these games, you’re in for a treat. There are over 500 pieces of development-related artwork to view across all games, along with various documents detailing different iterations of the games that each development team went through as they created genre-defining arcade juggernauts. There are also over 200 audio tracks ripped straight from the originals, which can be played at any time. These extras are sure to be appreciated by anyone who spent gobs of quarters on the original units.
Digital or Physical?
Just as this article was being prepped, Capcom let us know that the game has a bit of a staggered release schedule. The digital version will release on September 12, 2024, on PlayStation, Switch, and Steam. However, those who prefer physical copies will need to wait until November 22nd. But pre-orders for the physical edition will include an exclusive 32-page bonus comic which features characters from the games within the collection. Whether you can bare to wait a whole extra month for that comic is up to you.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics should appeal to fighting game fans in general, but especially to Capcom arcade fans. With seven games to choose from, alongside hundreds of unlockable development-related art to view and admire, plus online and offline multiplayer modes, this looks to be a complete package for anyone who ever had a passing interest in the original arcade machines of old. Only this time, you won’t be scrounging up some extra quarters for just one more go. Practice your combos for Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics before it releases later this month!
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