Collection essentials #577 & #578: Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 (Xbox) & Vol. 2 (PS2)

If you’ve read a lot of my earlier blog posts, you’ll remember that Capcom was a name that came up a LOT. They were one of the greatest and most prolific developers for a couple decades starting in the 1980s. I think of them, Konami, Nintendo and Sega as the “big four” developers of that era who were incredibly prolific and made great games for a variety of different genres.

Capcom really made a name for themselves making arcade games first and foremost. Of course, they made a habit of porting their biggest arcade titles to then-current home consoles. One problem, though, was that home consoles almost always lagged behind the power of arcade cabinets until the end of the ‘90s. Therefore, home versions of arcade games were almost always compromised at least a little bit. As home consoles caught up by the turn of the millennium, more and more companies started getting into the habit of releasing these compilations of their arcade games which were more direct conversions and close to perfect. Not only was this great for gamers to play the true “original” versions of the classics, but it also game companies another opportunity to port some lesser-known arcade games that originally didn’t get a home version at all.

This wasn’t Capcom’s first “years later” arcade compilation, though. In the previous generation, they had a series of releases called “Capcom Generations” on the PlayStation and Saturn. But these releases in the following generation were superior, if nothing else because there are far more games per disc in the Classic Collections and more games ported in general. Vol. 1 contains a series of the games that had been spread across several releases of Capcom Generations. Vol. 2 contains games that didn’t make the cut at all for Capcom Generations. 

Vol. 1 contains some of the best-known arcade games from Capcom’s archives. The first three versions of the extremely popular Street Fighter II are included in this one. The beat ‘em up giant Final Fight is here as well, a game that had been notoriously shafted in its port to the Super Nintendo years earlier. The famously difficult Ghosts ‘n Golbins is here along with two of its sequels (one of which is actually a port of a SNES game, not an arcade title). Not all the games are super famous, such as Vulgus which was Capcom’s first ever arcade game. The second disc has fewer recognizable titles, but that’s part of what makes it enticing. Checking out this compilation lets you see some of Capcom’s cool and creative works which flew under the radar, such as Eco Fighters, Three Wonders and Mega Twins. There are some welcome extras, such as additional gameplay options, the ability to save high scores, and bonus art galleries.

I fired up Capcom Classics Vol. 1 quite recently, in order to try out one of Capcom’s oldest games, Pirate Ship Higemaru, which I had never played before. I was delightfully impressed with how darn fun the game was! That’s one thing that’s cool about these compilations, you might buy them primarily for two or three games you’re really interested in, but then find something else included that becomes an unexpected favorite.

Why do I have these games on two different consoles? The main reason is honestly just that the Xbox version of Vol. 2 is rarer and a little more expensive than its PS2 counterpart, as it was very late in the Xbox’s lifespan. I suppose I could replace the PS2 release of Vol 2. with the Xbox version if I ever get my hands on it.

In the last 20 years, obviously rereleases of old school games have still happened in various forms. But I think the releases for this console generation in particular were very well done. As a fan of gaming’s arcade era, I find these compilations more than worthy of their spots as essentials in my collection.