Throughout the years, games have been a huge source of entertainment, from arcades, all the way to home entertainment. These days we even get to relive the fun of going to the arcade after school, from the comfort of our home. Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is the most recent game collection that gives fans the nostalgic feel of the arcade. This game is a delightful experience for old school fans and newcomers that makes me want to return to the arcades of the past.

When you boot up the game you are given a choice from a list of different Capcom fighting games, and they all play well. When you pick a game you are welcomed with the same menu screen you used to get at arcade cabinets. The games play well and work exactly like how they played in the arcade. You have high and low attacks, you block the same way as in the arcade version, and even due super attacks the same way. However this is also a drawback for new players. Doing super attacks isn’t the easiest to do during the matches and it was harder back in the original arcade version, and these games don’t change anything to improve these games except remove the need to put quarters in to play more, if you lose the match. While I understand the want to keep the experience as close to the original as possible, they could have fine tuned some of the mechanics to make it easier for newcomers, but it doesn’t take away too much from the fun.

One game that immediately caught my attention was Power Stone 2. This game is a basic 3D fighter, where it’s a 4 player free for all fight. The objective of the game is to escape the tower by fighting against 3 other people who are also trying to escape. The twist is you don’t have to knock out all the other fighters. Only the remaining 2 can advance to the next round so if you are playing with a friend, you can work together to survive, or just fight for survival, whichever you prefer. You can even revive another player during the match so if you want to advance with your friend or just with a player you believe you have a better chance to escape with. If you’re playing solo mode, if you get knocked out you lose and will have to start all over again, so this game is better experienced with other players.

After each round you can choose the next arena to fight in, so make sure you pick the arena you are familiar with to increase your chance of victory. This game plays like a party fighter game, since there are items you can use to help during the fight, from horns that knock back players to swords to cut the competition. Every character has a super move that activates when you collect 3 gems during the match and these moves will turn the tide of battle. After a few matches you will face a boss fight where you have to work with the other winner of the previous round so make sure you work together to defeat the boss and advance. Power Stone 2 was definitely the best part of Capcom Fighting Collection 2, and i can see why this was the selling point of the this collection.

The graphics are just like how they used to in the 90’s giving off the classic feel of arcade games. Not to mention the sound effect and the voice acting, especially the announcer brings me back to the days I used to go to the arcades and spend all the quarters I saved up. I alone spend hours playing all the games reliving my childhood. All though most of the games are too similar, which is to be expected for early fighting games, but they could have added different kinds of fighters and not just focus on fighting games featuring Street Fighter characters. They also could have had an incentive to play all the games, like unlocking a sound player or concept art, just something to look forward to when playing every game it has to offer.

In conclusion, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is an amazing collection of classic arcade games that are very nostalgic. But, the nostalgia is also holding it back. If this game had more of a variety, fine tuned controls and more incentive to play each game, it would easily be the best game to relive how arcade games used to be.

Score 8 out of 10

Reviewed of PlayStation 5