The Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium is out now on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch

Back to the arcade

Growing up in the '90s in rural Canada meant that I saw the decline of the arcade early on. However, I've always had an overwhelming fondness for them. My mind is then focused on video games, that I tin can still point out the bowling alleys that had a Metal Slug chiffonier. I recall the fourth dimension that one place had Marvel vs. Capcom two and X-Men vs. Street Fighter. What a win! When I went to Japan, I stopped in every tobacco-scented game middle I crossed paths with.

I recently changed my life by getting a decent arcade stick. It's very difficult to find any cabinets these days (I wonder if the Galaxy Theatre still has Virtual On), but the feeling of slamming my fingers beyond a cluster of big ol' buttons eases my longing.

But a expert arcade stick is nothing without games to play using it. Capcom Arcade Stadium is still one of my favorite compilations to fire up for some button mashing. Yet, it left me with a laundry list of titles I yearned for. I kept waiting for more than packs to be announced. Instead, nosotros're getting Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, which feels a lot like when you tell a cashier that you brought your own purse with you and they pack everything into a plastic purse anyhow. Thanks, I judge.

Capcom Arcade second Stadium (PS4, PC [Reviewed], Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)
Developer: CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Publisher: CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Released: July 22, 2022
MSRP: $39.99 Complete | $iii.99 per title

Capcom Arcade Stadium had a lot of the visitor'due south heaviest hitters. When yous already accept Street Fighter 2, the 1942 series, Ghosts 'northward Goblins, and Final Fight, where do you get? I'm tempted to throw shade and say, "to their really good games," but I really love those serial, so that would be disingenuous. Nevertheless, Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium but proves that the well runs deep. Then, so deep.

Kickoff off, Capcom checked off the top game on my wishlist, Saturday Night Slam Masters. Information technology's a pretty simple wrestling game, but its simplicity makes it satisfying to slap the attack push. Plus, information technology has Mike Haggar in it, which will e'er country a game high marks in might book. Unfortunately, we didn't become the updated version, Muscle Bomber Duo, or the sequel, Ring of Destruction. This is perhaps Capcom's style of ensuring I buy Capcom Arcade 3rd Stadium ane day, but also Ring of Destruction kind of sucks. I yet would have rather had the option to play it.

You likewise become the Darkstalkers serial strangely close to the release of Capcom Fighting Collection but only ane version of Vampire Savior rather than all 3. It also includes Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and Super Precious stone Fighters Mini Mix. The downside here is that at that place'due south no online multiplayer; something of a downside for the collection every bit a whole.

The well runs deep

The way I rationalize it is that if yous're strictly a fighting game fan, the Capcom Fighting Collection is probably better for y'all. Still, if you're like me, and y'all miss the taste of grape soda and queso cheese nachos, then Capcom Arcade second Stadium is more for you lot. It's easy to fine-tune for your taste.

Switching betwixt gamepad controls and arcade stick is simple. There is a ton of means to view these games. Do yous just want to see the game in all its pixel-art glory? Sometimes I do. Other times I like to play it zoomed out so I tin meet the cabinet. I turn the filter to K, and so not only do I get scanlines and curvature, but I likewise become cathode glow and tin see the demos playing on adjacent cabinets.

Is information technology a practical way of playing games? No. It never was. Simply it causes my brain to release chemicals that brand me feel expert, and at the stop of the twenty-four hours, that's the best thing I could possibly hope for.

Phosphor glow

If you take experience with Capcom Arcade Stadium and so expect the exact aforementioned sort of thing hither. Zip has actually changed except the game pick music and that horrible automobile-tuned song that plays on the main menu. Y'all can bandy the game select music and UI colour dorsum to the original'due south if yous want. I compared the two titles side-by-side, checking to see if there was whatever difference in filter quality, and I couldn't tell the difference. Not that Capcom always indicated otherwise. Information technology just demonstrates how identical the framework is.

I don't really know why this wasn't simply another pack of games. It doesn't make much of a difference, I approximate. it simply means I need to remember which game is on which before I kicking them up. You withal go withal changing challenges. Your experience doesn't bear over, so you lot need to level up all over again.

Regardless of whether or non Capcom Arcade second Stadium bills itself as a separate championship, information technology actually is just more than packs of games. Because the framework itself is gratis and you but buy the games separately, that'due south not necessarily a huge problem, it'south just kind of weird.

Sticky joystick not included

Perhaps information technology's inevitable, but I'm still left with a wishlist after Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. Alien vs. Predator would be at the top now, only since we've had two compilations without any of their licensed titles, I'thou not sure how expert our chances of seeing information technology again are. I mean, without dropping a mint on the Capcom Home Arcade unit.

However, what is included definitely satisfies. Information technology's a proficient mix of solid games, straight classics, and relative unknowns. Some of the games haven't seen ports in a hog's age, if at all. It's definitely overnice to run into Mega Human being: The Power Boxing and its sequel again. And maybe Rally 2011: LED Tempest isn't a game I've heard of, nor is it one I particularly enjoyed, but I feel enriched for having experienced information technology.

I might even say that I enjoy the selection for Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium more the original'southward considering I haven't had as many chances to play a lot of these games. For Saturday Nighttime Slam Masters, I've been playing the SNES version all this time. It'south a lot like walking into an actual arcade; you're never quite sure what yous'll run into.

Eyeball-destroying tastes

Everyone volition have their ain expectations. If you desire to compete at these games, you're going to have to settle for leaderboards or offline play. If y'all want a minimize the barrier between you lot and the game, you lot could do worse. Just if you want Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, I take bad news. There is no such affair as a perfect compilation, and CAS still has room for improvement.

It might exist worth noting there is only one bundle of games, and a printing release I have refers to it as "CapcomArcade 2nd Stadium Parcel ane." Could there perhaps be a Bundle 2 at some point? They fooled me once…

Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium is almost everything I desire from a compilation. Information technology not merely provides a handsome slew of games, but it pays reverence to the feel, likewise. Across that, it gives a lot of options that are pretty piece of cake to figure out and configure. Switching between a controller and arcade stick is a breeze, equally information technology should exist. Maybe ane day I desire pixel art, and maybe the next I desire phosphor glow. My eyeball-destroying tastes are catered for.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

Source: https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-capcom-arcade-2nd-stadium-retro-compilation/

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