I still remember going to one of the last existing arcades in my city, a dinky little place at the boardwalk. There was one fighting game in the building, and that was Marvel vs. Capcom 2. My personal unbalanced 3v3 fighter to take up my obsessions when I started getting passionately (notice how I did not say “good”) into fighting games was Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but I always had a soft spot for this game. So when Capcom announced they somehow were able to revive it along with a bunch of other Marvel-themed arcade classics, I was stoked.
Included in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is the following games: The Punisher, X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. I honestly wasn’t aware of the existence of most of these games,
Explaining each of these games with my level of skill is a monumental task I’m frankly not going to be able to pull off. With the exception of The Punisher, which exists in an entirely different genre to the other games on offer here (it’s a solid little beat ‘em up), there’s a lineage to be observed in how Capcom builds off of a really strong base. Starting with X-Men: Children of the Atom and ending with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 you see art assets and mechanics iterated on satisfyingly.
These games are fast and frantic, balanced enough to be competitive but unbalanced enough to have a level of chaos that’s truly enjoyable by almost everyone. They won’t be great beginner fighters since the games on offer are essentially arcade ports but with a training mode and a move list, you should be able to get this figured out if you’re really committed.
Visually the sprite work has been carried over excellently. By default, there’s an excellent CRT filter applied to the visuals of each game, with eight filters in total. There’s also a large amount of display sizes between Original, Full, and Wide (with Original and Full having more accurate 4:3 display options). The sprite art under all of these options is quite crisp both docked and undocked on the Switch, and I really appreciate the deliberate choice to keep 3D background assets aliased. The chunky pixels pair beautifully with the 2D sprites, and the added on CRT filter blends the two even better.
Like with all Capcom remaster collections, there’s a thorough digital museum included here showing off a large amount of beautifully preserved Art and Music from each of the games. It was fascinating to look at Capcom’s artists draw all these iconic Marvel characters, and even if I don’t spend as much time on these modes as the most passionate Gaming Historians I’m glad they’re here.
I’m sure the online netplay is good for these games, and you’re sure to find a decent amount of players on other platforms, but I think I found a single match while in Online Play. To get that I had to open myself to any of the six fighting games in this collection, and proceeded to get destroyed in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. The rollback netcode is quite good, but finding matches is pretty difficult since it seems like the game doesn’t have an active player base on this platform.
Switch fighting games don’t live long unless you’re Smash Bros, and it’s no shock why that is. The entire time I was playing this game on Switch I was missing my arcade stick. The awkward pseudo d-pad just doesn’t work for the inputs you need to pull off for this. Of course, you can just get a Pro Controller and the game will be adequate, but I am left wondering why pick this particular platform for a fighting game like this.
If you’re looking for a version of these classic Marvel fighting games to whip out during a party of 20-30-somethings who would know about these games, this is a great port you should look into. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is genuinely great if you value the history of 2D fighters, and I’m really happy I have a chance to play Marvel vs. Capcom 2 again. I always beat myself up for missing out on the HD remaster way back in the day, so having this game accessible is a treat. This collection for me is just a way to get MVC2 back in its arcade-accurate glory, but I’m glad it pushed me towards several other fascinating additions to Capcom’s fighting game lineage.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch
Review copy provided by Capcom
