January 23, 2006 | 6:33 PM PST
by: Sean Kennedy
Some of Capcom’s greatest all on one disc!
When it comes to compilation packs they are usually a hit or miss affair. Often developers will slap these packages together with little thought or care, resulting very poor quality conversions with a lot of popular games missing and a lack of bonus content. With Capcom’s new compilation pack, Capcom Classics Collection, gamers need not worry about these problems. For the most part this is a solid must have package for classic gaming fans or gamers interested in playing with gaming history.
Featured Games:
Contents
The Classics Collection is chuck-full of content with games from multiple genres. On the disc gamers will be treated to 22 class Capcom games from the heyday of the arcade. Some of these titles even graced the original 8-bit Nintendo console and the Super Nintendo. The games included on the disc include some of the most popular titles for Capcom’s past including Street Fighter II, 1942, and Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts. Unfortunately a lot of extremely popular games such as Captain Commando and Saturday Night Slam are not included on the disc. On the topic of missing titles, it would have also been nice to see many popular games from Capcom’s NES days such as Duck Tales and Rescue Rangers be included as well. Hopefully Capcom will release a follow-up to the Classics Collection with these and the many other great overlooked games included.
Since the games contained on this disc are being emulated, many are probably wondering if these are quality emulations. The answer is mostly yes. Many of the games run perfectly all around while some do feature some graphical losses due to the emulation process. That being said they still look good enough to still be enjoyable.
In addition to the 22 games, Capcom has also included a large amount of bonus material for every game on the disc. Bonus material ranges from giving the history of each game and the original release information; to game artwork, videos, a Street Fighter animated movie trailer, and music. A lot of the bonus material must be unlocked by meeting specific requirements, which gives you even more reason to keep playing through the games. It’s nice to see Capcom filling the collection with as much material as possible, when so many companies push out barebones packages.
Graphics
Graphically, there is not much to say. You are dealing with a package of 22 old arcade games dating back as far as the1980’s. Everything looks dated, some games look very dated. Almost all of the games included look as they did when they were originally released and running on their original hardware. That being said, not all of them are perfect. Some of the older vertical scrolling shooters suffer from some odd flickering issues, but noting too bad.
Sound
The sound package for the collection holds up surprisingly better than the graphics, but there is a reason for this. Some of the games give you an option listening to the original very dated sounding music or listening to all new alternative audio created by Digital Eclipse. This is a very welcome addition to package since sometimes you just don’t want to relive really bad audio. The audio conversions for the rest of the games is very well done and sounds just as good as it did when the games were new, if not better thanks to today’s sound systems.
Closing
Capcom Classics Collection is a solid compilation pack that will be sure to make fans of Capcom’s past excited. With 22 games to chose from and a large variety of bonus content to unlock, there is something for almost everyone to enjoy in this package. While the game list is impressive it does lack some much loved classics and that comes as a bit of a let down. Hopefully Capcom will follow up this collection with a sequel that will include the missing classic games and more of their NES and SNES library.
