Capcom Fighting Collection 2 Preview: A Look Back at 3 Different Types of Fighting Classics with Plasma Sword, Power Stone 2, and Capcom vs SNK Millennium Fight 2000 Pro

Capcom has had many eras throughout their long and storied history. You can easily say that they are currently at one of their peaks and one of the best developers in the industry today with the huge success of games like Monster Hunter and Resident Evil as well as highly anticipated upcoming return of classic franchises with Onimusha and Okami. However, another avenue Capcom has been on fire with their collections of their classic games.

Last year, we saw the release of the Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection which had a slew of insanely beloved fighting games return such as Marvel vs Capcom 2. Now, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is set to release next month, and we got to preview three of the games that are part of the collection with Plasma Sword, Power Stone 2, and Capcom vs SNK Millennium Fight 2000 Pro. Jumping into these games felt overwhelming at first, but all feature a dedicated training mode you can access from the main menu. With that, boy, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to play such a variety of fighting games that all feel so different yet still all released, among the deluge of other Capcom games, around the same time near the turn of the millennium.

Plasma Sword

Let’s start off with the earliest release of the three games, and earliest release overall in the collection, that we got to preview with Plasma Sword. First, I never would’ve known this was a sequel to their first 3D fighter, Star Gladiator, if the intro didn’t mention it. It’s strange that they changed the name for the Western release of this game. What caught my eye immediately was the aesthetic of the game’s intro which oozes 80s and 90s anime vibes. Unfortunately, the in game graphics aren’t the strongest as it was still in the early 3D graphics days. The roster is rather robust with  24 playable characters. However, half the roster are just basically copies of the other characters with just minor tweaks to their movesets. With such a robust roster, you would expect more than just what this game provides. Gameplay wise, Plasma Sword is still fun to play. It’s simple to learn the moves, as it feels like a 2D fighter that leapt to the 3D space.

Power Stone 2

Next up is Power Stone 2. I sincerely adored my time playing this game and even got my friends to try this one out with me. There’s nothing like this game that I’ve played before. A 4 player fighting game feels so unique compared to the usual two player games we are accustomed to in the genre. It’s crazy that Capcom never continued the series after this game as it easily could’ve carved out the party game fighting game that Smash Bros. has owned for the past 25 years. This game is so much fun just grabbing the plethora of weapons that spawn on the stage constantly and engaging against all three opponents at the same time. The arcade mode sees four characters fighting until two are left and move on. Even the boss stages are so different than what you would expect from a fighting game. The only real downside is how hard it can be to keep track of what’s going on even through all the fun it is.

Capcom vs SNK Millennium Fight 2000 Pro

Finally, my favorite game of the ones we got to preview during our time with the collection. While a mouthful, Capcom vs SNK Millennium Fight 2000 Pro is a crossover that takes what’s great of two of the biggest fighting game franchises of all time. The roster for the game is massive. In this game, there is a ratio meter when it comes to picking your team and all the fighters fall somewhere on the scale between 1 and 4. However, your team can only have a max ratio of 4. Thus, you must build your team accordingly as you can have a range of 1 character if their ratio is 4 up to 4 characters if they all have a ratio of 1. This gives so many added layers of strategizing when it comes to building your teams that you don’t get from other team based fighting games where you can freely pick which characters to choose. Then, you also get to choose the game’s Groove every time you start it to either Capcom or SNK. Capcom gives you special meters you’d see in Street Fighter whereas SNK gives you an Extra meter from the King of Fighters games.

Overall, getting to preview these specific games highlights what makes Capcom so special. Even though these are all fighting games that release relatively close to each other, it’s crazy just how different they all are from each other. You could tell me all these games were made by different companies, and I could easily see it. But, no, Capcom managed to crank these games out consistently with no game playing like the others. Plus, there’s still more fighting games from Capcom’s catalogue that have yet to see a modern release which I’m sure we’ll see eventually. Looking at you Rival Schools!