Gaming compilations are nothing new and Capcom are certainly no strangers to this “genre”. They started back as early as 1998 and last year released Capcom Classics Collection for the PS2 and Xbox. Rather than reproducing the same game, Capcom Classics Collection Remixed has a few of the games that were found in the first compilation and a bunch of different ones have been added in place. The same team that brought us last year’s title (Digital Eclipse) have been handling the PSP version as well.
A new addition to the classics.
The PSP version has twenty titles in all, each with a varying degree of “classic” status. It’s a broad representation of three of the classic genre, Beat ‘em up, Side-scroller and Top-down Shooter:
- 1941
- Avengers
- Bionic Commando
- Black Tiger
- Block Block
- Captain Commando
- Final Fight
- Forgotten Worlds
- Last Duel
- Legendary Wings
- Magic Sword
- Mega Twins
- Quiz & Dragons
- Section Z
- Side Arms
- Street Fighter
- Strider
- The Speed Rumbler
- Three Wonders
- Varth
One area of slight ambiguity comes in the form of some of the game’s “classic” status. The games that came out of PS2/Xbox title include Final Fight, Section Z, Bionic Commando (the arcade version), Legendary Wings and Forgotten Worlds, of which a few happen to be some of the finest titles that have ever come out of Capcom’s studios. Reproducing them in multiple games on multiple platforms would make prefect sense, as a classics collection ought to have some real classics.
Titles that weren’t found in the previous collection include 1941, Magic Sword, Captain Commando, Black Tiger, Strider and Side Arms. These are a few of the titles that can genuinely be considered as “good” or even “classical”. Captain Commando supports four player carnage, Magic Sword and Black Tiger have an uncanny amount of depth, while Strider is, in simple terms, exceedingly excellent. They are a throw-back to styles of gaming that have rarely been repeated in recent years.
Supreme classical gaming.
Now for the rest of the titles in the collection, calling them classics is at times, a bit of a stretch. You’ve got a game like Street Fighter, that is just as stiff as it was in the arcades and really hasn’t aged well. Then there are games like Mega Twins, Three Wonders, and Varth which aren’t really memorable for doing anything or just feel too aged. It degrades down to games like Avengers, The Speed Rumbler and Last Duel which are just really poor games. The Speed Rumbler has you playing in a car that is meant to have you shooting stuff at a rapid pace but the gun is pretty much useless.
The last two are an odd pair. Quiz and Dragons is conceptually one of the worst games ever conceived. You fight fantasy creatures by answering quiz questions that were relevant in 1990 and only to a US audience… The less said, the better. Block Block is one of the little games that has you tile breaking. You know, bouncing a ball off a paddle, watching it break a bunch of tiles and you catching it off the rebound and so forth. There is a puzzle element to the game and apparently it was included due to its rarity. However, this type of game has been redone a billion times and neither of these two games would be reasons that you would purchase this compilation.
The majority of the games have been faithfully reproduces in terms of controls as well. For some games it’s a good thing, while for others it’s not. One issue that gets in the way of a sometimes is that the analog nub can, at times, feel a little twitchy or imprecise. Another interesting feature that has been added is that of being able to adjust how the game fits into the PSP screen on the fly. Pressing the "select" button will cycle through numerous screen modes, including one where you’ll be holding you’re PSP on its side to play a few of the shooters. It’s definitely novel but the effect wears off when you get tired of the slightly odd feeling of holding the PSP length-wise.
As in the previous compilation, each game comes with a host of extras. Each starts with a brief history and allows you to unlock tips, artwork and soundtracks as you play through and complete given tasks. The soundtracks are especially challenging because you generally need to complete the game. And these aren’t easy games. Still, you have the option of increasing continues or decreasing difficulty. Some may argue that infinite continues diminishes the challenge that the games once presented. One PSP specific issue that would’ve been nice to have, would’ve been the inclusion of a save state feature. Some of the games can be a quite lengthy when played in one stretch, so the lack of this feature diminishes their portable value a tad also.
There is a line to draw between classic and remnant.
In terms of presentation, Capcom Classics Collection Remixed retains the same notepad style interface from the previous title. It looks good and is easy to use. The emulation job that has been done is a very good one. Most of the games look like they should and even a little sharper, since they are being crammed onto a smaller screen. As mentioned, the player has the option to change the screen format to suit their needs. Sound-wise, there are little to no issues. The only real concern is that the load times are a bit longer than they should be.
Even if you haven’t ever played any of the games that are on offer, most will appear familiar and your likely to have played similar styles of games before. The difference here, is a few are the absolute pinnacle of their styles. Capcom Classics Collection Remixed works off the strengths of it’s PS2 and Xbox predecessor. It’s quite a collection that is sure to invoke a few memories along the way, especially for those who are able to satisfy the multiplayer requirements. Unfortunately, it’s not as portable as it could be with stretched load times and no save stat, and the collection in general is not as robust as the PS2/Xbox version. You can take this however you want but superior collection, in the form of Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded is in development and set for a release on the PSP later this year. But for now, Capcom Classics Collection Remixed is here to fulfil your retro needs on the go and it does it reasonably well.
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