Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is the second in a hopefully long-lasting series. The collection takes eight games, nearly all of which are unavailable on modern consoles or don’t have a PC version, and brings them back with rollback netcode, new music, art, and plenty of “DIP switches” to play with. This also marks the first time many of these Sega NAOMI arcade board games have been rereleased. This is a great chance for collectors or younger players who didn’t experience these games in their heyday to see what history is made of now.
With older fighting games comes older input standards with less leniency, but Capcom thought of that, letting players choose to turn on one-button specials as well. It is important to note you may lose access to certain special moves by doing this, however. While the star of the collection is probably the venerated Capcom vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 (CvS 2), this preview will detail three other games that may be worth your while.
Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro
Before Capcom vs. SNK 2 (CvS 2), there was Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 (CvS). While you may wonder why the first CvS isn’t mentioned with the same reverence as its sequel, it becomes readily apparent as you start playing. The grating robotic announcer has none of the personality you’d find with Street Fighter IV’s or Tekken 8’s, and the roster is much less “Capcom vs. SNK” and more “Street Fighter vs. King of Fighters.” As an update to the base game, Pro added Dan Hibiki on Capcom’s side and Joe Higashi on SNK’s, who in their own series are considered the butt of jokes more often than not. Beyond some balance changes and more detailed sprites, Pro does not provide much to differentiate it from the original release of CvS, and with the slowdown on certain stages, it isn’t Capcom’s best showing. The ratio system also dampens players’ expectations of having dream matches, as each character is rated one through four, and you won’t be able to see whether Evil Ryu and Sakura can go toe-to-toe with Orochi Iori and Raiden. There is an option to fight unrestricted 2v2 with the pair match setting instead of using the default ratio setting, but as I’ve described, this game is not balanced around pair match. CvS 2 was released shortly after CvS Pro — it’s no wonder CvS remained a distant memory for many.
There is still some charm to CvS, and some of the jazzy and moody tracks that would become more common in fighting games like CvS 2 and Marvel vs Capcom 2 are present here. The original music for the game is intense and electronic, but the new nostalgia option for music in CvS is an option. While I’m glad to be able to go back to Sagat’s Street Fighter II theme or put on Soy Sauce for Geese, the music is overridden by the “final round” music, which seems like an oversight as it defeats the point of changing the music. Though the roster is small and centered around Street Fighter and King of Fighters, there are two versions of most characters in the roster — Normal and Extra. The Normal versions of Capcom characters often represent their “modern” version (at the time) from the Street Fighter Alpha series, while the Extra version is a bit of a throwback to their “classic” Street Fighter II version. On SNK’s side, it is a bit more varied on what Normal and Extra represent, understandably because the characters have been in a number of series: Fatal Fury, King of Fighters (KOF), and Art of Fighting. While Normal Yuri represents her KOF incarnation, Extra Yuri is similar to her appearance in Art of Fighting. Meanwhile, Kim’s Normal version plays like in Fatal Fury, while Extra Kim is akin to his KOF form. There is a lot of game here if you’d like to spend time with it, and since it is in a collection, there’s no harm in trying it even if you eventually end up going to the much more well recognized CvS 2.
Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein
Plasma Sword’s predecessor Star Gladiator – Episode 1: Final Crusade was originally designed to be a Star Wars game, but they had to settle for the legally distinct wookie-esque character Gamof. Knowing the backstory of this series, it’s not hard to figure out why the most we’ve received from it is crossover appearances of the protagonist Hayato in games like Marvel vs Capcom 2. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised when booting Plasma Sword up, as Capcom may have left it in the past, but it’s still plenty of fun today.
Despite being an arcade game from 1998, Plasma Sword looks great, as Capcom probably learned from the earlier Tekken games how to implement a background and stage that transitions beautifully. Effects and characters look good, with plenty of variety in moves characters perform, and some fantastic looking grabs even by today’s standards. Plasma Sword, as you may have guessed, is a weapon fighter, with each fighter brandishing a weapon from the titular Plasma Sword to axes, staves, and chainsaw-blades. New to this entry is the Plasma Field mechanic, which in modern day fighting game terms equates to an install. It varies by character to a shocking amount, with some characters turning huge, others gaining freezing abilities to their moves, others having infinite projectiles for the duration. Also notable is that if you are hit by a Plasma Field, the endlessly scrolling stage turns into a much smaller arena where you’ll have to do your best to survive your empowered foe without supers. You are able to use your meter defensively in the form of Plasma Reflect or Plasma Revenge as well, so be wary when wailing on your opponent.
Plasma Sword does not have a huge roster, with nearly half the characters being Echo Fighters, though this version does now allow you to play as Kaede and Rai-on without inputting a secret code. The roster size did not bother me much due to the game’s smooth and responsive gameplay, great looking graphics, and surprising amount of story. Of the three titles I am previewing as part of this collection, I did not expect the Star Wars-inspired game to draw me in the most, and I do think this is one of the games out of the bunch to spend time with.
Power Stone 2
Power Stone 2 may be a sequel to Power Stone (which is also available in this collection), but it’s very much a different game. While the original was a bit more intimate and strategic at two players, Power Stone 2 presents itself as a chaotic, bombastic race to be the last (or second to last) person standing. To do this, you’ll collect Power Stones, weapons, and other oddities while trying to survive a rapidly changing battlefield. This is all while three other players do their best to knock the Power Stones out of you. I hope you have a friend or three, as there’s not much here if you don’t. This Power Stone 2 is the arcade version, so though the Capcom Fighting Collection unlocks Pride and Mel as playable characters, it lacks some features. Unlike the console version, there is no Adventure mode with a shop ran by Mel, where you would unlock, purchase, and combine items. This is definitely a capital “P” Party Game, so if your friend group wants to add something new to the rotation, I can see Power Stone 2 being that game.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 will be available May 16, 2025, on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam.
