Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics

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For many fans of games, comics, and games mixed with comics Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics won’t need much of an introduction for this review. Ever since this compilation was announced this past summer the reception has been overwhelmingly cheerful, to the point it‘s become one of the most anticipated games of 2024 (at least for those aforementioned fans). For them, this one has been a long time coming.

Think about that for a second – a compilation almost entirely comprised of over-the-top fighting crossovers mixing the best and brightest from both Capcom and a pre-MCU Marvel Comics hailing from the mid-1990s early millennium has more enthusiasm than most modern AAA titles currently out now. What does that say about modern gaming?

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Freed From the Vault

That sounds like hyperbole, but within the FGC (fighting game community) the hype is real and felt electric. All titles included in this compilation come from a more jovial, or what others might call a “magical” time, where coin-op arcades were at their peak and collaborative projects between different entities were more creative endeavors than corporate-dictated product. As a result, MVCFC gives you seven Marvel-branded games that forever revolutionized the fighting genre as we knew it.

Titles include the acclaimed X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998) and finally the chaotic cornerstone of Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000). For beat ‘em up fans, 1993’s The Punisher rounds out the package while adding some side-scrolling variety.

Fast-forward to today and the red tape of marketing bureaucracy and prerequisite Marvel cinematic tie-ins means these crossover classics have been sporadically locked away, or briefly available in digital form until licensing issues just as quickly pulled them off storefronts. Even worse was the intentionally limited release of Marvel vs Capcom 2 that begat the infamous #FreeMVC2 campaign by giving fans what they wanted in the most cynical cashgrab way possible: it was sold as an expensive novelty cabinet made for suburban game rooms instead.

Fresh Coat of Paint

That’s why MVCFC has been welcomed with open arms. After decades of begging and pleading Capcom finally delivered the goods and all those arcade memories exactly how longtime players fondly remember them. For the most part. The games still look and sound incredible, better than any modern attempt to capture the essence of these characters (if you ask me), and there’s no denying the power of amazing artwork and peerless sound design. On a proper display these games look amazing.

Following the same formula seen in the original Capcom Fighting Collection, the entire package cuts fat with a UI that’s purely functional and designed to immediately get you into the action. If playing the games aren’t enough you can view all the official artwork and listen to the jukebox in the digital museum, which is fantastic but hardly the reason we’re playing.

There are a few graphic display modes (i.e. CRT and LCD filters) with changeable border marquees available, but that’s the extent of visual enhancements, which is fine because this preserves the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio these games were intended to be played at. You can even pause during offline gameplay to reference move commands or view marquee cards, create quick save states, and even change the ROM region and boot screen. If that’s your thing anyway.

The QoL improvements are equally prevalent with the inclusion of Training Mode for each title, which modernizes the typical practice options with dummy action settings, network delay situation, and adds welcome visual hitboxes and active input display with timing.

Online Domination

For many, online play will be where they spend most of their time and here the collection doesn’t disappoint, but excels, utilizing the same rollback netcoding that the first Capcom Fighting Collection ran on. Lag and gameplay freeze was virtually undetectable unless your primary connection is on Wi-Fi or your opponent lives on another continent. Fortunately, you can attempt to reign in ping issues with adjustable input delay if you still have latency hiccups.

Overall, the experience was nearly flawless during the majority of my matches with the only problem getting my butt handed to me against top tier fighters. Alas, such things cannot be helped, even with decades of experience.

Like the Arcade (Almost)

Each game on MVCFC is nearly 1:1 to its arcade counterpart, so expect a faithful coin-op experience. If you’ve played any of these games (minus The Punisher) then you know the core action is energetic and frenzied that prioritizes quick reactions and knowledge of pulling lengthy combos – sometimes of the infinite hit variety. However, Capcom did make some tweaks either for accessibility or balance such as being able to map individual super moves to a single button and completing achievements for offline play.

One point of possible argument is that some glitches have been altered or removed entirely, to the point that may negatively affect competitive gameplay to some extent. For example, some and tactics and character hacks that were grandfathered in by the FGC specifically for MvC2 aren’t as viable as they once were compared to their original arcade (NAOMI) and Dreamcast versions, even though this iteration on MVCFC is like an optimized amalgamation of the two.

Of course, The Punisher isn’t a fighting game, but it’s still a fun two-player beat ‘em up that’s short, sweet and a cool little extra for people that aren’t remotely familiar with it.

Conclusion: It’s Mahvel, Baby!

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is exactly what devout lovers of this crossover franchise have been asking for. The compilation is manic and borderline crazy, but weirdly refined despite the age and legendary lore these games have enjoyed for nearly three decades. While some earlier titles like X-Men:CotA and MSH didn’t age as well in terms of gameplay, each game remains a showcase of Capcom at its prime as an arcade giant and why Marvel would soon became the cultural behemoth it is today.

If you want to officially expand your pool of challengers beyond Fightcade, or just plain tired of breaking out your ancient PlayStation, Japanese Saturn or Dreamcast consoles like I regularly do, then it’s about time you take yourself for a ride here.