Review: Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics explained to parents

What parents need to know

Details

Level of experience required

Local game modes

Arcade

Training

That’s it.
To play with 2 players, you must press Start after the first player has started a game in Arcade mode.

Otherwise, there’s a museum mode with hundreds of artworks for each of the games, and a music mode with all the songs from the games. It even includes music from the Dreamcast version of MVC 2.

Online Game Modes

Unranked match: To play an unranked game with hidden characters unlocked, and hotkeys for special moves enabled.
Points and ranking are not taken into account.
You can choose all the fighting games you want to play among the 6 and wait to be matched with another player.
The Punisher is not playable online via this game mode.

Ranked match: The opposite of the mode above.
Hidden characters are not accessible except in Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter (except Cyber Akuma), shortcuts are disabled.
Points, ranks and rankings are taken into account.
You can choose all the fighting games you want to play among the 6 and wait to be matched with another player.
The Punisher is not playable online via this game mode.

Lobby: Allows you to create lobbies from 1 to 9 players.
Players can participate in or watch matches for all games, including The Punisher.

High Score Challenge: Finish the arcade mode of one of the 7 games with the highest score, and see how you stack up against other players worldwide.

No crossplay.Each console/computer only plays against players on the same online platform.
The network code called “Rollback” is included.

Expansions/Add-ons (DLC)

There is no DLC, expansions announced for now

Our opinion

This compilation is filled with my favorite video game series of all time!

I discovered X-Men Vs Street Fighter in an arcade on vacation in Italy when I was a complete fan of Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo at the time.

I bought X-Men Children of the Atom on PC while waiting for the console release of X-Men Vs Street Fighter.

I bought X-Men Vs Street Fighter on Playstation 1 but the console didn’t have enough RAM to hold all the sprites of the 4 characters on the screen, so it came down to 1 vs1.

I bought a Dreamcast for Marvel Vs Capcom (MVC) 1 and 2. I played Marvel Vs Capcom 2 and then 3 and then Infinite for years.

This series left a lasting impression on me.
Suffice to say that I was looking forward to this compilation.
Especially since due to licensing problems, the series of games is delisted every 10 years or so and disappears from physical and digital stores.
Consoles change and games are no longer playable.
Having a compilation like this is a rare and unique opportunity.
It’s not just me who is happy about this compilation.

It’s a whole generation of players who grew up at that time who are delighted to have access to these extremely fun games again.
The Marvel Vs Capcom series has made history in fighting games: without these games, there would be no Guilty Gear, Dragon Ball Fighter Z, Skullgirls, 2XKO, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle and many more.

It has also left its mark on thousands of artists around the world, even at Marvel, who have gone on to take some of Capcom’s designs for their comics.

Is it beginner-friendly?

Yes, it’s a lot of fun to experiment with the moves, to test all the characters and the multiple combinations.
However, the handling and move lists are over 20 years old and aren’t as forgiving as the newer games.
Some moves have unintuitive handling, and the games were designed to be played with an arcade stick on an arcade machine, so sometimes you have to perform button combinations that are not natural for players with the controller.
In addition, some online players have more than 20 years of experience with these games, so it will be impossible to suddenly defeat them without training for years.
The problem is most obvious on Marvel Vs Capcom 2, the most popular game of this compilation, where 6 characters are much better than the other 50 available and can totally dominate matches so well mastered.
The games aren’t well balanced, that’s normal, and fans enjoy them as they are.

What do experts need to know?

As the title of the game suggests, these are the arcade versions of each of the games.
So no bonus features from the multiple console versions are present.
It is not possible to play with Apocalypse (XVSF), Onslaught (MVC1) or Abyss (MVC2).

However, the hidden characters of each of the games are easily selectable!
And that changes everything!
Instead of doing complicated manipulations every time you want to select them on the characters’ screen, you just have to hold a button, or go out to specific places on the screen to see them appear.

It allows you to rediscover all the games, as a whole, with characters that you have had very little opportunity to play in the past.
Even Cyber-Akuma is selectable in Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter is available!
It is not selectable online though.
There is no Versus mode either, but the new Training mode has many new options such as the display of collision masks (hitboxes and hurtboxes), frame data, the ability to record the opponent’s behavior and many others.
Each of the games of the compilation is present in its final version: X-Men COTA in version 3.0, X-Men Vs Street Fighter the same.
Marvel Vs Capcom 2 has seen many bugs fixed, especially those that blocked the console or arcade machine.
Infinite or asymmetrical combos have also been patched.

If fans have been playing the first versions for a very long time, they were destabilized by the corrections and of course grumbled on social media.
It then took a few days for them to get used to it and stop talking about it, finally enjoying the return of their favorite games.
I’m personally happy that the games have been fixed, it allows for better online games, and minimizes possible abuse.
If the infinite combos are fun to see on video, especially when they cause graphical errors, when it comes to playing it’s not fun at all, especially on the side that suffers.

What’s wrong?

With so many games, released so long ago, it’s hard to keep everyone happy and plan for all the uses of the game.
However, when it was released on September 12, 2024, matchmaking worked randomly.
Players are mostly unhappy on PC, but I find the same results on PS4 as on PC.
Sometimes I have 10 games in a row, sometimes nothing for 30 minutes.
Capcom is aware of the problem and will fix it soon.

Secondly, when you wait for an opponent online and you choose to wait for him in a game, it’s great to pass the time.
However, if you have the misfortune to refuse a game and you want to leave the matchmaking to continue your game… well it leaves the game without saving anything…
Speaking of saves, and it was the same problem in the Capcom Beat’em up Bundle and in the Capcom Fighting Collection, but there is only one save for all games.

Want to save your progress in MVC1?
OK.
Do you also want to save your progress in MVC2?
it deletes your backup of MVC1.
A weird choice in an era where storage spaces are unlimited, for backup files with tiny sizes.

Who is it for?

Fans like me already have the game since midnight on September 12, 2024.
There is no need to convince them.
The compilation is ideal for discovering or rediscovering an important part of the history of fighting games, to understand the multiple influences on the industry.
We also see the different iterations of X-Men COTA up to MVC2, both in the mechanics, but also in the moves, possible manipulations by each character.
In X-Men COTA, most characters have 2 special moves and a super.
In MVC2 they end up with 2 or 3 pages in their move lists.

It’s not the best way to start fighting games, Street Fighter 6 is much more suitable, but if you have the X-Men or Marvel, you’ll put in the effort to learn the games.   I love this compilation, it’s very qualitative, it’s a pleasure to dive back into the series.
In a few days, I spent about thirty hours there already while the games last 3 minutes, and an arcade mode ends in less than 18 minutes.
The games work, the graphics, the characters are magnificent for the time.

I play it on the TV, on Steam Deck, everywhere.
It’s what we, the fans, have wanted for 20 years, and Capcom has enchanted us.

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