Party like it’s 1999.
While Capcom Fighting Collection 2 may not have the Marvel brand in its corner here after the successful release of the previous collection offering the likes of X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel Superheroes, and the Marvel vs Capcom series, Fighting Collection 2 reaches deep into many games that haven’t seen a release in decades, a collection of some of Capcom’s best 3D and 2D fighters of the era.
From Powerstone to Project Justice and their original attempt at a Star Wars game with Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, each game is a prime example of some of the most original and captivating fighting games of their time. With full online support for many of these titles for the first time, this collection is an absolute riot.
Fighting Collection 2 also contains plenty of what some consider to be the best Street Fighter games ever made; Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro, Capcom vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, and Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper, the latter of which being an enhanced port of the original classic, and a game that has never been released outside of Japan. Rounding out the collection is also Capcom Fighting Evolution, a game that feels tacked on here and is universally despised.
Evolution aside, this collection is a standout series of some great games, especially with new audiences being able to take these games online. Powerstone 2, for example, I only ever got to play that locally with friends back in the Dreamcast days, so having this and the first game playable on modern hardware is a dream. While Project Justice and Plasma Sword: NoB don’t feature their own first games in Rival Schools and Star Gladiator, respectively, it is possible that those could appear in a future collection, as we still haven’t seen the Street Fighter EX series ported or added to any collection so far.
As with the previous collection, this release has all the bells and whistles you would expect. From casual, ranked, and lobby play, each with online leaderboards and rollback netcode, this is a dream for fighting game fans and collector enthusiasts. It’s also the first time many of these games have even had online play, as Powerstone, Powerstone 2, Project Justice, and Plasma Sword didn’t feature any online play outside of these games featuring on services like Fightcade. In many respects, if you wanted to play against a bunch of ransoms, you needed to visit the arcades.
Powerstone and its sequel are very different beasts when you really take a good long look at them. Powerstone was a one-on-one fighter, with Powerstone 2 taking a visual hit to allow for full four-player shenanigans. The mechanics are simple: gather the gems, power up, and unleash powerful attacks to destroy the other players. Powerstone is also a very different type of fighting game that sort of brings some Smash Bros DNA to its formula with its sequel due to the party-game-like feel of having four players on screen as you pick up items like chairs and tables and use them as weapons as you frantically gather the gems that appear around each evolving stage. The isometric viewpoint also made this game feel unique to anything out there.
Rival Schools was a game I actually owned back then, and the name change to Project Justice likely made me unaware of this wonderful and much-improved sequel. Project Justice is a cool game that has a very stylish presentation with some extremely fun combat and a wealth of colorful characters. Plasma Sword is a game I was only made aware of about a year ago through numerous YouTube/Twitch channels like Matt McMuscles and Maximilian Dood. Star Gladiator, the debut of this series, was initially meant to be a Star Wars fighting game before the deal, for whatever reason, fizzled out. If you browse the cast of characters, you can see similarities to what would have been, especially their Chewbacca. Both Project Justice and Plasma Sword are the 3D clunky fighters they were back then, oozing charm, personality, and some solid presentation.
What is likely going to be the driving force for some fans is the inclusion of Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper, making its first appearance outside of Japan. With some solid gameplay systems and pixel-perfect sprites, it’s a solid version of the game that feels incredible here. As someone who only ever played Alpha 2, I am absolutely hooked on what Alpha 3 brings, especially through the “isms” techniques that offer a wide range of variety each time I jump in. Still, any Street Fighter game I can rock out with old-school Cammy is good in my books.
Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro and Capcom vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium, however, are the stars of the show here. These are some of the greatest arcade fighters of all time, and the SNK modeled artwork of the Capcom cast is worth the price of admission alone, It’s staggering how good the portraits look. This collaboration was a huge deal back then seeing Capcom and SNK teaming up, and the results speak for themselves. As each game has a wide range of colorful and visually pleasing borders, there are several CRT filters, quick saves, and galleries to unlock, allowing each of these games, and those also in this collection, to be the best way to play them, across multiple platforms.
About the only negative part of this collection is Capcom Fighting Evolution, and that is largely due to the haphazard way this game was built. Originally, Capcom had a very ambitious project that fell through, and Fighting Evolution was built from the scraps of that game, reusing sprites and taking no care of passion to balance or make its systems even remotely fun. It’s been a title looked down by the community for years, so tacking it on this collection felt like a lazy approach to add in another game. The previous Marvel collection included the Punisher arcade game as an addition, it's a shame Capcom didn't add Cannon Spike here instead. I mean, just look at the awful background below. Ouch..
As was the case with the previous collection, you can take in training modes for each and every title, providing on-screen inputs, hitboxes to make you more familiar with how each move hits, and a wealth of options to make you a better fighter. And, like the Marvel vs Capcom collection, I devoured the artwork galleries as Capcom’s art team is vastly impressive and that era of fighting games provided some of the best artwork around. I also was quite impressed with the remixes of many of the games’ soundtracks, taking music that was great back then and making it even better now, aside from maybe one or two tracks.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 has some of the best fighting games of their era in one amazing package. Nostalgia is certainly riding high here as the 3D visuals obviously don’t hold up, but they nonetheless are oozing with charm and personality, especially Project Justice. Powerstone 2 matches online have been wildly entertaining, and jumping in to get a few rounds of Alpha 3 has been a dream. As Capcom winds down on the available games to add into a future collection, this release has been one of the best, providing the first time many games have seen a release either outside Japan or in the past twenty-some years. If you need any more proof that Capcom is the king of fighting games, this collection is Exhibit A.
Developer - Capcom. Publisher - Capcom. Released - May 16th, 2025. Available On - Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4, GeForce Now, Windows. Rated - (T) Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X. Review Access - Review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.