Capcom Fighting Collection 2 was provided by Capcom for review. Thank you!
I love finding time to go back and play through classic games now and then, and Capcom has been providing some great collections to be able to do that. The last one I played was Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, which has some of my favorite fighting games ever made. However, with Capcom Fighting Collection 2, I found myself not only enjoying myself more but also basking in the fantastic variety that the experiences had in store for me, making this my favorite collection Capcom has created.
The Capcom Fighting Collection 2 contains eight games that all came out between 1998 and 2004, but unlike other fighting collections, they all have unique features. While the last collection from Capcom (Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection) had some incredible games, they were all just different iterations of the 2D fighting game with a pixel aesthetic, apart from The Punisher. This collection has four different 2D pixel fighting games and four 3D fighting games, which gives us a nice balance of different types of gameplay to enjoy.
The four 2D fighting games, Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro, Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, Capcom Fighting Evolution, and Street Fighter Alpha 3 UPPER, all play very similarly, but have different gimmicks that help them stand apart. Street Fighter Alpha 3 feels like a familiar fighter, while Millennium Fight 2000 Pro has you choose up to 4 characters based on numbers they are assigned. They all generally play the same once you get into the fights, but because of the structure, each game feels individually unique.
The four 3D fighting games are all individually unique as well, and differ greatly from the 2D ones. Power Stone and Power Stone 2 are both full 3D games where you run around a semi-open platform and fight each other, with the first game focusing on 1v1 fights and the second focusing on 2v2 fights. On the other hand, Plasma Sword and Project Justice are both weird and somewhat hilarious fighters that feel similar to Tekken or Soul Calibur.
The games, apart from Power Stone 1 and 2, all play similarly and feel fantastic. I love the Capcom vs. SNK titles, so being able to get back into the tight, exciting combat was such a blast. While Plasma Sword and Project Justice were both a little slower, it felt equally exciting while playing them, and there were some hilarious moments like the team-up attacks in Project Justice and playing as Prince in Plasma Sword. The Power Stone games are more like party games where you have basic attacks and tons of items to pick up and use, like rocket launchers and swords, as well as gems that can temporarily boost your power immensely.
In the Marvel Vs. Capcom collection, I didn't feel like I needed to go back and play Marvel Vs. Capcom 1, since I can play the second game instead, but here, I feel like there's something to enjoy with each of the titles. I love the variety in this collection, with there being something to enjoy when I want a break from the normal fighting experience I come to know from the classic Capcom arcade fighting games.
I also made sure to test each game online, and the experience was fantastic. The rollback netcode is working like a charm, and I was able to play with someone in the UK, with me being in Indonesia, with no lag. We tested every single game in the collection to make sure the experience is consistent, and I can happily say it is.
Each game in the collection has its own settings that allow you to change its difficulty and more details like stage music, along with a training mode that shows hitboxes and details for you to practice combos. You can also change the wallpaper, filter for the screen, and how much of the screen the game takes up. There are a nice number of options for each of these, and I appreciated the customization options to make the experience more like what I want. I can be a little obnoxious when navigating through all the different menus to find these options, but I am glad they are here.
There's also a gallery to check out different music and artwork for each of the games, as well as Fighter Awards, which are essentially just in-game achievements. They are wonderful to look through and nice to have as an option.
As expected, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is extremely easy to play on the Steam Deck and essentially just runs as is. However, without any changes, the battery drain is significantly higher than it needs to be. These are all games from the late 1990s and early 2000s, and there's no need for it to be draining at almost 12W. Luckily, we can bring it down very easily.
With a TDP limit of 5 and GPU Clock Speed Frequency lock at 800MHz, we can bring down battery drain to around 8.5W, giving us at least an extra hour of battery life, and we still get a solid 60 FPS. I can also confirm that the performance sticks during offline and online play with every game included in this collection.
You can bring the TDP limit down to 4 if you want to save a little more battery life, but I found bringing it up to 5 is the safest bet for online multiplayer, just in case. Regardless, it saves battery with no compromise to performance or stability, and it's awesome:
On top of the individual game options, which allow you to change difficulty, attack power, timer speed, max rounds, and more, you can also change the game's overall settings like language, keybindings, music volume, and enabling voice chat when playing online.
There is no 16:10 resolution support, but there are cloud saves and great controller support. There are no HDR settings.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 has become my favorite collection of classic arcade fighting games from Capcom. The variety and quality of the experiences we can get from the eight games included here are great, and they still feel just as tight and smooth as ever. The online multiplayer and customization options are great as well, though the interwoven menus to make these adjustments are a little tedious. Luckily, the core of the game and the extra content make up for it, and I definitely have more reasons to come back and play more than not.
It also runs flawlessly on the Steam Deck, and we can maximize our battery life with just a few changes and no compromise on quality or framerate. It's a wonderful experience on the go, and one I am happy to highly recommend.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is a fantastic assortment of classic games with a wonderful variety of experiences and near-perfect Steam Deck performance.
