Capcom Fighting Collection 2

Round one: the first night

The collection has eight games: Capcom vs. SNK Pro, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Capcom Fighting Evolution, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper, Power Stone, Power Stone 2, Project Justice and Plasma Sword. They are presented with care: save anywhere, training options, display filters and a gallery of more than 700 pieces of art and design documents.

One-button specials help new players with the older control schemes, and the difficulty can be turned down for arcade runs. The High Score Challenge with global leaderboards gives solo players a reason to replay.

Power Stone 2 with four friends on one sofa is still one of the best evenings in games.

Round two: online

Every game in the collection has rollback netcode, which is the reason to buy it over older releases. Matches in Capcom vs. SNK 2 or Alpha 3 feel crisp, and lobbies let you spectate and queue for rematches.

Queues are smaller than for a new game, and most players pick one or two games from the eight. Capcom vs. SNK 2 is the busiest.

Round three: depth

Capcom vs. SNK 2 alone is a deep game, with six Grooves that change how every fighter plays and a ratio system for building teams. Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper brings its own lifetime of study. Power Stone and Power Stone 2 are another thing entirely: 3D arena brawlers where you throw furniture and transform with collected gems.

Cammy, the British commando, appears in both Alpha 3 Upper and Capcom vs. SNK 2.

Round four: the bill

It is £34.99 on Steam UK with no fighter add-ons at all. For eight games, two of them rare and hard to play legally before this release, that is very good value.

If you only want one game, check which one: four of the eight will interest most players.

There are no fighter add-ons. The only extras on Steam are soundtrack albums, which change nothing in the games.

Who to pick first

Before your first ranked match

1. In Capcom vs. SNK 2 start with C-Groove: it plays most like modern Street Fighter.
2. Use save anywhere to practise the hard parts of arcade mode without starting again.
3. Look in the museum: the design documents show how these games were made.

Is it for you?