Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is shaping up to be a triumphant return

Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics shocked the world when it was unveiled during last month’s Nintendo Direct. Those who didn’t spend their childhoods in arcades watching Ryu and Cyclops shake hands may be wondering what the big deal is, but for many, this was an announcement over a decade in the making.

After getting a chance to take three of the seven games included in the collection for a spin at Evo 2024 last weekend, we’re feeling confident that this is going to be a return to glory for Capcom‘s vaunted Vs. franchise, and another feather in the cap of a genre in full renaissance mode.

First, for those unaware, Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is a bundle of seven games – six 2D fighters and one side-scrolling beat’-em-up – which were all a collaborative effort between Marvel and Capcom.

The Punisher (the side-scroller) was the first game released, and it was followed by six fighting games:

• X-Men: Children Of The Atom
• Marvel Super Heroes
• X-Men Vs. Street Fighter
• Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter
• Marvel Vs. Capcom
• Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

The Evo 2024 demo included three of the six fighters: Marvel Vs.Capcom 2, X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, and X-Men: Children Of The Atom. All three were the full versions, with completely unlocked rosters and the option to play the standard arcade mode or a surprisingly robust training mode created just for the collection. Also, Capcom provided both a standard controller and a fight stick for the demo, and both performed very well as I fought through Marvel and Capcom’s top characters.

The arcade mode for each game plays just as it did in the arcades all of those years ago, and it’s quite the nostalgic trip. The difficulty slowly scales as we progress through each level, until we get to a matchup that was specifically designed to beat us into submission – these are arcade ports after all, they’re made to take our quarters.

However, the game does offer some modern benefits; quick saves let us set a checkpoint before a hard battle, even at a pivotal moment in a match, so we can cover our butts if we lose. It’s a nice feature to have, though we suspect purists might leave it by the wayside.

X-Men: Children Of The Atom is the first fighting game in the Marvel/Capcom timeline, and this collection’s rendition is worthy of the fighter that started it all. The game does show its age – this is an accurate representation of an arcade game from 1994 – but it’s still incredibly fun even in its 30th year of existence. Hearing the announcer yell “X!” as we shoot our opponents into oblivion with Cyclops’s massive Hyper Optic Blast never gets old.

“The game does offer some modern benefits; quick saves let us set a checkpoint before a hard battle, even at a pivotal moment in a match, so we can cover our butts if we lose.”

X-Men Vs. Street Fighter introduced a 2v2 format to the fast-paced 2D fighting ring, and the extra element of having two fighters instead of one adds to the enjoyment. There aren’t as many options as the final game in this demo, sure, but what’s here makes for some interesting teams. We leaned on Akuma and Gambit in our run, but there are plenty of good options.

Finally, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 is the marquee game in the collection, as it is making its first appearance on modern home consoles since the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 re-release in 2009. All 56 characters are unlocked from the start, and a roster of that size still offers way too many choices for team combinations.

We chose a team of Hayato from Star Gladiator, Doctor Doom, and Jin Saotome from Cyberbots as we ran through the arcade mode while pulling off flashy combos and over-the-top super moves. Jin summoning his massive bot Blodia simply to punch his opponent is as entertaining as it is absurd.

While the arcade modes are authentic to the original releases, the addition of an in-game training mode for each of the fighting games is very cool, and it’s a feature I suspect the hardcore fighting crowd will be most excited for. Accessing the training mode is easy – you simply press Start instead of the X button when selecting the game, and then you select your team and start practising.

The training mode is surprisingly robust, as it offers a new way to approach getting better in each of the games in the collection. The hitboxes on each character provide valuable information for those trying to get better at the game, in a way that hasn’t really been represented before in these specific games, and we’re impressed with how it turned out.

Watching the hitboxes in real time can actually teach you more about the game itself. For example, we’re not sure we ever learned the trajectory of Gambit’s Royal Flush super move back in the day, but with the hitboxes of the training mode, we can see the actual damaging elements shooting from Gambit’s hands in a spread formation. Little discoveries like this abound in each of the games, and we’re ready to dig deeper.

While we only saw pieces of what this collection offers, Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is shaping up to be the triumphant return to form that its fans have clamoured for years. The three games we checked out are faithfully recreated, the controls feel great on a fight stick and a controller, and the little additions to the experience are notable improvements.

The wait is almost over, Marvel Vs Capcom fans, and based on our experience, it’s shaping up to be a new age of heroes.