We all thought such a collection was impossible. Imagine having to deal with Marvel and Disney in order to unearth a bunch of non-E rated games released more than two decades ago. We’ve seen how draconian those companies could be with their IPs. Remember Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite? Yes, you may have forgotten about it, but that game, released at the peak of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s popularity, wasn’t enough to convince Marvel to keep on allowing Capcom to make more fighting games based on their characters.

Yet, here we are now. Every single Capcom-developed Marvel-themed fighting game from the 90s, up until 2000, in one package, with a plethora of quality of life enhancements, rollback netcode, sound testing, concept art, and much more. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is a collection we never thought would ever see the light of day, but I’m so glad I was wrong. This is downright phenomenal, even if we are basically just going to play one game in it for the most part.

Don’t get me wrong, I love that the collection features more than just Marvel vs. Capcom and its sequel. X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes are legitimately excellent games, each one with a different fighting style and mechanics to master. X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter are, admittedly, pretty freaking redundant, but I’m glad they’re here. I will probably play each one of those just for long enough to grab one or two trophies to prove I’ve booted them up, but preservation is a pretty important thing in this day and age, especially when it comes to licensed video games.

The meat of the collection is, of course, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The former focuses on fights between teams of two fighters, as well as an additional, unplayable assist hero. I personally think that it’s a bit more aggressive and streamlined than its sequel due to the reduced number of fighters per battle. Everyone deals a bit more damage and tends to guard less. A more “in your face” fighter compared to Marvel vs. Capcom 2, if that makes any sense. The problem is that, well, its sequel is just bigger, better, and more memorable in pretty much every single aspect you can think of.

It’s no exaggeration to state that Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is one of the best fighting games of all time. You might even want to consider it THE best fighting game of all time, and no one would ever dare to call you a maniac. It’s just that good, even if it’s pure madness. It’s unbalanced as all hell, with a handful of characters just being infinitely better than the rest. I simply couldn’t care less about it, though, as I never grew up playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for the competitive aspect of it.

Booting it up after all these years felt like a dream. I was able to quickly pick up my beloved trio comprised of Cable (broken as all hell), Akuma, and War Machine. There I was, once again, mopping the floor with our combined hyper combos. The completely customizable control scheme allows you to map commands to whichever button you feel like, including button combinations being assigned to a single input. Responsive controls, fluid animations, juicy visuals… what else can I say, what else NEEDS to be said? Mate, it’s Marvel vs. Capcom 2. It’s that kind of game that speaks for itself, where a review feels borderline irrelevant. It’s the reason you are going to grab this collection, and there’s no need to pretend otherwise.

That being said, the final game included in this collection was a pretty neat surprise. The Punisher is a beat ’em up original released as an arcade title back in 1993, eventually receiving a terrible Sega Mega Drive port two years later. I won’t say I had ever played it before tackling it in this collection. To be fair, I had completely forgotten about it. I shouldn’t have done so. This is actually a pretty good beat ’em up… it might not exactly feel innovative or groundbreaking, but it’s a beat ’em up by Capcom. You know it’s good stuff.

In fact, there’s one interesting aspect about it, especially when you consider the fact it was originally released in 1993: it’s actually quite violent, with guns, (a bit of) blood, and Frank Castle killing folks after interrogating them. It’s not a lot, but considering the time, I just wasn’t expecting it to be so edgy. Then again, it IS a Punisher game. It is nowhere near as violent as that fantastic game from the PS2 era, but it’s still quite accurate to its source material.

The overall consensus is that sure, you are going to buy Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection solely because of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and it sure has been remastered to perfection, but I’m glad that this package features every single Marvel-themed Capcom title developed and released prior to their 2000 magnum opus. It’s a phenomenal collection I never thought would ever be released, a magnificent piece of gaming preservation and mindless arcade fun. In short, grab it, have fun with it, and rejoice.

 

Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (20%): 8.0 It might be monstrously overshadowed by its sequel, but it also plays quite differently, making it feel unique enough to also warrant a handful of playthroughs every now and then.	Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (50%): 9.5 The one we’re here for. Without a doubt, the best game in this collection, and still one of the best fighting games of all time.
The Punisher (10%): 8.0 It might have been added to this collection almost like a bonus, but it’s yet another fantastic Capcom beat ’em up released back in the 90s. It’s also bizarrely violent for “90s Capcom” standards, though very accurate to its source material.	The MvC Predecessors (20%): 8.0 They might feel like filler in a collection where Marvel vs. Capcom 2 reigns supreme, but not a single title released prior to MvC is a bad game. They each have a unique gimmick or playstyle. Granted, I don’t think I will play them often, but I’m glad Capcom bothered to add every single title in one package, even if it’s just for preservation purposes.
Final Verdict: 9.0

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is available now on PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Reviewed on PS4.

A copy of Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection was provided by the publisher.