Capcom Fighting Collection has me even more excited for Street Fighter 6

Many of Capcom’s past curation efforts have yielded uneven affairs. Some Street Fighters were packaged with four versions, while others had a handful of marquee titles which overshadowed the smaller siblings. New! Capcom Fighting CollectionIt quickly puts aside all of these issues and earns its authority title. It includes nothing but golden fighting games from one of the most exciting eras in the company’s history. Over the past week, I’ve fallen back in love with all the games and miss the experimental period it perfectly captures.

Capcom Fighting Collection brings 10 games from Capcom’s CPS2 era of the mid- to late ’90s, complete with rollback netcode and tons of new features. Vampire Savior, Darkstalkers, Cyberbots, Red Earth, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, Hyper Street Fighter 2And even more Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix They are all available. While playing these titles back to back to back, literally jumping from one online match to the next, I couldn’t help but wonder: What happened to this Capcom?

Starting in Street Fighter 4 era, Capcom entered a period of stagnancy — one marked by a lack of innovation, odd design choices like a hyper-focus on the offensive game, and an overall lack of content. It wasn’t until Street Fighter 5’s recent final season, and what we’ve seen so far of Street Fighter 6That was when the light at the end the tunnel began to shine. Yoshinori (mostly) a fighting game producer, Ono led the charge. Street Fighter 5’s earlier, and less well-received, seasonal releases, Street Fighter lost its grip on the fighting game genre. In fact, Capcom’s fighting division as a whole was trending downhill.

Playing Capcom Fighting Collection,I was able to add 10 Tatsumaki Senpu Kyakus (to my face) to this idea. For the past two decades, we’ve been stuck playing the same “safe” Street Fighter games ad nauseam, with lackadaisical side projects like Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Street Fighter X Tekken leaving a lot to be desired — Capcom basically left them for dead as soon as they arrived.

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Capcom Fighting Collection, on the other hand, is a concrete reminder of the era in the ’90s when the company’s fighting game division was firing on all cylinders. There’s the legendary quintessential version of Street Fighter 2, Hyper Street Fighter 2 – The Anniversary EditionThis is a weird, as-hell game about hell-fighting ghouls Darkstalkers Vampire Savior; Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, a chibi spinoff that has so much effort in it you’d never know it’s a spinoff; and CyberbotsIt can be described as the original anime cartoon with mecha fighters. The brilliant Super Puzzle Fighter 2 TurboIt has a tremendous battle system and has hosted community tournaments for many years.

Capcom was the arcade poster child of fighting games in 1991. Street Fighter 2. Over the next years, they continued to release gems and pushed the pedal hard. Each game seen here represents that streak of excitement, weirdness, creativity, and thrill — even by today’s standards. It’s 2022, and I have half of the games in this package active on the matchmaking menu.

Capcom Fighting CollectionCould not have been released at an earlier time. The following is the Street Fighter 6 news hypes us all up, and I, and many others in the fighting game community, hope against hope that former CEO Kiichiro Urata’s claim that “Capcom is back” rings true. This collection feels like more than just another compilation — it feels like a message.

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Capcom entered a stagnant period with the early season of The Animated Series. Street Fighter 5Other companies and developers have taken up the challenge to bring the strange, experimental fighting games the company was sorely lacking from its former founder. There are many new developers, such as 8ing with great gems like the “new” DNF DuelArc System Works with the hit Guilty Gear StriveThese are just two examples. Now, Capcom Fighting CollectionIt reminds us that Capcom used to be the leader of the pack.

That spark Capcom lit throughout the ’90s is one that changed the fighting game genre forever. And it’s one that’s been dim for quite some time. I’ve never forgotten the creativity it once sprinkled into each release, and I’ve been waiting for that version of the company to return. It will be interesting to see if it returns. Street Fighter 6Capcom is indeed here back — But Capcom Fighting CollectionThis makes me happier than ever.

Capcom Fighting Collection On June 24, the game was made available for Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Capcom gave us a pre-release downloading code to play the game on PlayStation. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. Although these partnerships do not impact editorial content, Vox Media could earn commissions from products sold via affiliate links. Find out more. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.