For many who have followed Capcom’s fighting games for years, the announcement of the Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics was an incredible event given recent events and the response to the last Marvel vs Capcom game. As someone who has only played Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, I’ve always wanted to play the older games, as some of them have received praise from both competitive and casual players. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to officially hear the Marvel vs Capcom 2 music, because it’s just so damn good. So here we are a few months after the announcement, and Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is available on Steam, Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox in 2025.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Includes Arcade Classics
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics includes seven games: X-MEN CHILDREN OF THE ATOM, MARVEL SUPER HEROES, X-MEN VS. STREET FIGHTER, MARVEL SUPER HEROES vs. STREET FIGHTER, MARVEL vs. CAPCOM CLASH OF SUPER HEROES, MARVEL vs. CAPCOM 2 New Age of Heroes, and THE PUNISHER, which are fighting games, not fighting games. These games are based on their arcade counterparts, so you don’t have to worry about missing features like older console ports. This includes the English and Japanese versions, so Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter includes Norimaro in this collection if you pick up the Japanese version of that game.
This review is based on me playing about 15 hours of Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics on my Steam Deck (both LCD and OLED), 13 hours on my PS5 (via backwards compatibility), and about 4 hours on my Nintendo Switch. As this is the first collection I’ve ever played, I’m not qualified to speak to the specifics of the games included here, but the fun I had with the pre-release Marvel vs Capcom 2 was enough to justify the price tag and make me want to buy both physical releases.
What’s new in Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
If you’ve played Capcom Fighting Collection, Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics’ interface and front-end will be familiar. In fact, it has the same issues as the collection, but we’ll get to those later. Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics includes online and local multiplayer support, local wireless support on Switch, rollback netcode for online play, a training mode, customization options for your games, a notable option to reduce white flashes or light flickering per game, a variety of display options, and a few wallpaper options.
It includes a training mode outside of the game (accessible on a per-game basis), hitboxes, marked inputs, and other options to make it more user-friendly. Speaking of newcomers, Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics has a new one-button super option that can be activated or deactivated when playing online and searching for other players.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics Museum and Gallery
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics also includes a robust museum and gallery with all the game soundtracks (over 200 tracks) and over 500 pieces of artwork. I played Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics with a friend who was playing online and he told me that a lot of the artwork in this collection had never been released before. It’s all new to me, but I thought it was notable for longtime fans. It should be noted that there are no translations of the Japanese text, such as sketches or design documents.
As for the music, I’m glad that there will finally be an official way to hear the soundtrack in 2024, but I hope this is the first step toward getting a vinyl or streaming release.
What’s the online multiplayer experience like in Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics with rollback netcode?
Before we get into the online experience, the options menu has its own network settings, which allow you to enable or disable your mic, voice chat volume, input lag, and connection strength on PC. On Switch, you can only adjust input lag. The PS4 version has input lag and connection strength adjustments, without the voice chat options. I think people will use the PS5 and PS4 native voice chat options instead of the in-game options. It’s disappointing that the Switch version doesn’t have a connection strength option in the build I have.
Pre-launch, I was able to test online, both wired and wireless, on my Steam Deck. He was on Steam too. In our experience, Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics online is similar to the Capcom Fighting Collection on Steam, but vastly improved over Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. You can also adjust input lag and cross-region matchmaking. We tested most of the games, and even did a little co-op in The Punisher. It worked well, even with the distance between us.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics includes matchmaking support for Casual Match, Ranked Match, and Leaderboards, including High Score Challenge modes.
It also keeps the cursor right when you rematch online, so you can choose who you were playing with before in games like Marvel vs Capcom 2, so you don’t have to manually move the cursor to choose your team every time. These little things add up and make this collection feel like a lot of love has gone into making sure that it provides the best experience for players, including those who are new to the game.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics Issues
My biggest gripe with Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is that there is only one save state (quick save) for the entire collection. It’s not one save state per game, it’s a save state for the entire collection. I was hoping that this wouldn’t continue with the Capcom Fighting Collection, but it’s gone now. Another minor gripe is that the settings aren’t universal or easy to apply or toggle the light reduction or adjust the visual filters all at once. It’s nice to have the option per game, but it would have been nice to have the ability to enable light reduction and turn the filters off for all games at once.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics on Steam Deck – Already Verified
I first tried Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics on Steam Deck, and it worked perfectly out of the box. It’s been verified on Steam Deck, so I’m not surprised, but you never know until you try a new game. When playing on the deck itself, Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics runs at 720p, with 4K support when docked. I mostly played at 1440p when docked, and 800p on handheld. It’s still 16:9, though, and doesn’t support 16:10.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics PC graphics options are located in the PC Settings menu in Options. This allows you to adjust the resolution, display mode (fullscreen, borderless, windowed), and toggle v-sync.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics on Nintendo Switch
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics looks great on Switch, but its biggest drawback compared to other platforms is the loading times. While Steam and PS5 take almost instant to load and exit the game, the Switch version basically loads everything. This adds up, and since I played on all three platforms simultaneously, it was very noticeable. PlayStation and PC have connection strength options, so I hope they add connection strength options at some point. The Switch version supports local wireless, but the other versions do not.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics on PS5
I wish Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics was natively playable on PS5 rather than via backwards compatibility, as PS5 Activity Card support would be great for launching and quitting other games from the dashboard. Otherwise, it looks great on my 1440p monitor and loads quickly even when played from an external hard drive. You can move it to an SSD for even faster loading. I have no complaints about using the PS4 version on PS5.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is one of Capcom’s best collections, and it’s the best in every way, not just fighting games or arcade games. It has great extras, fantastic online play on Steam, and it was a pleasure to experience it for the first time. I wish the entire collection had at least one save slot for save states.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5
