Video game maker Capcom is recognized for a lot of their titles.  But one thing they are known best for is their one-on-one fighting games.  Sure there’s Street Fighter, but there’s a lot more they’ve made, too.  So here’s a collection of some of Capcom’s other one-on-one fighters they’ve created over the years.  And yeah, there’s some Street Fighter stuff in here, too.  Capcom Fighting Collection is available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.  So let’s take a look at what’s on here!

Darkstalkers Series

Darkstalkers is like Street Fighter except all the characters are based on movie monsters and there’s a creepy motif to the whole thing.  You’ve got a vampire, succubus, yeti, zombie, Frankenstein, etc.  If you are a Darkstalkers fan, you’ll definitely want to get this collection because they put all five of the arcade Darkstalkers games on here, both in Japan and overseas.  There’s the original Darkstalkers game, Night Warriors, Vampire Savior, Vampire Hunter, and Vampire Savior 2!  I’m not really a big fan of the series, but I have to say Capcom’s sprite artwork and character designs were on point with this one.  It’s hard to believe these games were originally made in the mid 90s!

Red Earth

This is a pretty unique one.  You only choose one fighter out of four, but you go up against giant bosses that you can’t play as, like an armored T-Rex and such.  I think Konami made a game like this also, but with a superhero theme.  But Red Earth’s theme is more fantasy oriented, as you pick characters like a lion man or a witch.  You can also pick up items and level up your character as you go, and can even get a password to use your levelled up character again.  Which you’ll have to do because even the last boss can’t be beat in one playthrough I don’t think.  The other thing about this game is that it was never released on a home console until now.

Cyberbots

In this one-on-one fighter, you pilot giant mechs as you battle each other.  And that’s pretty much it.  Still cool, though.

Hyper Street Fighter 2

According to the title screen, this was made for Street Fighter’s 15^th anniversary.  I don’t remember seeing it in arcades, though, but I could have and just don’t remember it.  By then, Street Fighter games were everywhere.  It just combines everything that had been done before it, and you can play as my favorite character, too (Cammy).  As an older fighting game, I felt this one was a bit slower, clunkier, and harder than the others, but it’s still a good game.

Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo

Aw, yeah, now this is what I’m talking about!  Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo is one of my top three favorite puzzle games, right on up there with Puzzle Bobble and plain ol’ Tetris.  I’m really good at it, too!  This game is worth the price of the whole collection right there.  Yeah I know it’s not a fighting game, but who cares?  Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, I say.  It’s a typical ‘match colored blocks falling in a well’ kind of game, but man is it good!

Super Gem Fighters Minimix

This game takes the chibi cute characters from the previous puzzle game and turns it into a fighter.  You can knock gems from Puzzle Fighter out of the other players and collect them like you do in Red Earth to power up your player’s moves.  Characters range from Street Fighter, Red Earth, Darkstalkers, and more.  There are tons of Capcom references in the background, and even your moves make callbacks to other Capcom games.  Felicia dresses as Mega Man to fire a shot, and Chun-li dresses as Jill Valentine to use a flamethrower!  Even the ways you die are from other Capcom games.  You can explode like Mega Man, turn into bones like Ghosts N Goblins, or fall into the water like SonSon.

All the games come with nice quality of life features.  You can set the difficulty to your liking, and even make it too easy for me!  You can also pause and save at any time, go at it online, set screen settings, and more.  Could they have put more games on here?  Yeah, sure.  But that’s the only problem with this one.  Otherwise it’s a great collection.  And yeah, I’m just glad Puzzle Fighter’s on here!

Kid Factor:

Capcom Fighting Collection is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Violence, Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Mild Language, and Use of Tobacco.  These are one-on-one fighters, so there is violence.  But it’s still pretty cartoony.  Most of the blood and gore comes from the Darkstalkers series, which has creepy backgrounds and splashes of pixelated blood when you deliver a hit.  Some of the female characters are a bit underdressed and look like they’re about to fall out of their clothes.  Morrigan I’m looking at you!  And I saw some characters in the background smoking.  But I grew up with these kinds of games and I turned out OK, so I’d be all right with most any kid playing these.  At least the older ones anyway.

Tags: Game Reviews