VIDEO GAMES: A Blast of a Bundle: Capcom Fighting Collection

Feb. 25—PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

It's become a regular occurrence for video game giant Capcom to release collections of their beloved classic games for the new generation, giving fans of all walks of life the opportunity to enjoy these treasures for themselves.

And with games this good, you definitely don't want to skip out on enjoying the treasures in "Capcom Fighting Collection."

As the latest bundle from the company, "Capcom Fighting Collection" compiles 10 fighting games from among some of Capcom's most well-known and popular fighters.

There's something for every fighting game fan here, from the gothic "Darkstalkers" series and the classic "Hyper Street Fighter II" to the goofy but wonderfully charming "Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix."

Even "Puzzle Fighter II," a game that puts a lot more emphasis on "puzzle" than "fighter," is still a blast to play.

The real gems of this collection, though, are "Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness," which hasn't received a console port since the original PlayStation, and "Red Earth," receiving its first-ever console port with this game.

Not only is it great to see Capcom giving some recognition to some of their older, less popular properties, but these games are also both a delight to play.

Players will also be able to challenge fighters across the world to a match in any game in the collection, as every game in the bundle has been outfitted with online play capabilities, many for the first time.

Online fights run smoothly, with relatively little slowdown, and the ability to pass the time between matches by messing around in one of the games or browsing the collection's gallery of classic promotional and concept art is a refreshing change of pace from simply waiting for matchups.

And for players that are new to these games, the inclusion of a training mode and full command list for nine out of 10 games — there isn't really a reason to add one for "Puzzle Fighter" — is a wonderful addition that makes the collection so much more accessible to new players.

Many of the games in this collection never had a command list, so the implementation of one for people who are trying to learn these games for the first time — like me — is a massive helping hand.

Despite the massive star power on display with some of Capcom's most prominent fighters joining this collection, I do feel it's important to point out that there's a bit of an imbalance in what games are actually in the collection.

Half of the games in the collection are "Darkstalkers" games, which shouldn't be considered an inherent negative, as each one is a finely polished fighter in its own right.

But three of these gams — "Vampire Hunter 2," "Vampire Savior" and "Vampire Savior 2" — are essentially the same game, aside from some differences in character rosters.

There is some game balancing going on behind the scenes between all three, but from a layman's perspective like myself, there doesn't seem to be that much setting each apart from the others, which, given that they take up a third of the collection, is more than a little disappointing. It makes the 10-game collection feel more like an eight-and-a-half-game collection.

That being said, all of these games are still bundles of fun in their own right and even moreso brought together.

Many of these fighters have ports on older consoles, though they're no doubt going to be hard to find and unnecessarily expensive. Having these 10 classics on modern consoles is a great and easy way for anyone to experience them or add them to their collection, and definitely worth checking out.

Davis Cobb is a reporter with The Tifton Gazette.