Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time Capcom has ventured into the realm of retro compilations – in fact, nearly every title in this collection appeared in the Capcom Generations series of games (five in all) that were released on the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation throughout 1998. It would even seem that this collection is an extended port of the five Generations titles; there are several more games, but the emulation is largely of about the same quality seen previously on the Saturn and PlayStation.
Arthur; poster child for boxers over briefs
Capcom have compiled a pretty solid collection of their arcade games (and one SNES game) from the 1980s – of course, there’s a few 1990s games in there too (as they featured on the Generations collections), but there is also few notable omissions (such as Willow), presumably due to the fact that they were licensed based. Included on the collection are;
- 1942
- 1943
- 1943 Kai
- Bionic Commando
- Commando
- Exed Exes
- Final Fight
- Forgotten Worlds
- Ghosts n Goblins
- Ghouls n Ghosts
- Gun.Smoke
- Legendary Wings
- Mercs
- Pirate Ship Higemaru
- Section Z
- Son son
- Street Fighter II
- Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
- Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting
- Super Ghouls n Ghosts
- Trojan
- Vulgus
Funnily enough, whenever Brendan whistles, a bunch of goons appear out of nowhere, too
The games featured on the collection are emulated with relatively good accuracy, with most of the problems in the package being game-specific or just minor presentation errors. Some liberties had to be taken for Forgotten Worlds, with the original twist style joystick being separated onto your choice of face buttons or the second analogue stick – it actually controls really well, but makes the game a little too easy.
Street Fighter II seems to have copped the worst conversion, with the game suffering from timing and accuracy problems across all three versions, as well as unnecessarily long load times. It seems a bit useless having the three versions of the game, especially after Street Fighter Anniversary Collection and Hyper Street Fighter II were released – heck, the game has largely the same feature set, including the ability to mix and match fighters between versions in versus battles. The vertical shooters tend to have problems with aliasing and interlacing; while they don’t affect gameplay as such, they’re still a minor annoyance.
Capcom Classics Collection does feature a whole bunch of little extras, though nothing on the scale seen in any of the Midway Arcade Treasures compilations. These extras include a brief history of the game, information about the game, official artwork, gameplay tips, jukebox, and development credits and so on. If you think you’re pretty good at a game, you can take on a challenge to unlock a few extra remixed music tracks. Certain games also feature enhanced viewing modes, which basically just move the on screen display off the main screen, allowing the player a better view of the action. A few games even have extra difficulty modes and remixed versions which allow for an extra bit of replay value. Load times are excellent for the most part, with the only exception being Street Fighter II. Just about every game on the collection is playable co-operatively too, though no online options are available. All high score charts are saved onto your memory card, which can also assist in the age-old practice of high score competitions, especially amongst friends and siblings.
Having been raised by wolves, Blanka isn't properly toilet trained
Menu presentation in Capcom Classics Collection is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, with a notepad style interface which is easy to navigate. Graphical accuracy of the emulated titles is mostly good, with the exception of some transparency, interlacing and aliasing issues on most titles. It’d be nice if they weren’t there, but it’s nothing game-breaking. Developer Digital Eclipse has done a very good job of sound emulation, with almost every game in the package having sound that is indistinguishable from the original experience, with the exception of the three Street Fighter II games, in which the music cuts out early. One final disappointing note is that the collection does not include a 60 Hz display mode; something that comes across as confusing to us, given that a) Capcom has squeezed 60 Hz display modes in to every title since 2002, and b) all of these games are native 60 Hz titles.
Capcom Classics Collection is a competent compilation of some of Capcom’s best from the 1980s, though it’s not without its problems. Why was such a great disservice done to the conversions of Street Fighter II? I’m not even sure if they were necessary inclusions in the collection, given the release of compilations of the games on both the PS2 and Xbox in the last few years. Apart from some minor emulation issues, this is going to be the best way to legally play some of Capcom’s best output without buying your own cabinet and boards. Bring on Volume 2.
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