Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics released digitally back in September, but I’m a weirdo who needs his games physically when possible. Because of that, I had to wait a few months for my copy, but it showed up today! So, here’s my first impressions of it. And when I say first impressions, I really mean it. I didn’t have a lot of time today, it’s very late, and I played less than an hour. But whatever, he we go!

This is a collection of seven classic Marvel arcade games by Capcom. These include X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men Vs Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter, Marvel Vs Capcom, Marvel Vs Capcom 2, and The Punisher. The Punisher is the odd one out, as all the others are fighting games that build off of each other. The Punisher, on the other hand, is a beat-em-up.

I played a (very) little bit of each of the games. The only one I have any real experience with before this is MvC2, and that’s the one I was most excited to have on a modern platform. Having them all on this collection, you can really watch the series evolve. X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes are one on one fighting games that play very similar to Capcom’s Street Fighter series. Then the two Vs Street Fighter titles added in the element of tag teams. Marvel Vs Capcom included both X-Men and general Marvel characters and expanded the Street Fighter roster to include other Capcom characters. And finally, Marvel Vs Capcom 2 has like a billion characters, three on three battles, and a jazzy soundtrack.

These games are all easy to pick up and play but can take a lot of practice to master, as Capcom fighters typically are. Marvel Vs Capcom 2 is long been a crowd pleaser because of just how easy it is to fill the screen with chaos. You can build up a meter to use a screen filling hyper attack, and you can even build it up enough to have all three of your characters use their hyper attacks at the same time. But even with how easy it is to just fill the screen with nonsense, someone who really knows what they’re doing will still take down a button masher.

As for The Punisher, it’s a pretty by the numbers arcade beat-em-up. As the Punisher (or Nick Fury if you’re player 2), you walk from the left to the right and punch everyone in your path. You can also pick up temporary weapons or use a special attack. These are all things that are very typical of the genre. It also has the same issue that basically all arcade beat-em-up ports has. These are games that were designed to take your money, so when you’d lose, you’d just throw another token in and keep going. When you’re playing at home, you have unlimited credits, so any kind of challenge is basically gone. But it’s still fun to poke around with and I’m glad to have it preserved here.

I haven’t spent much time with Marvel Vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics yet, but I’ll be continuing to play. These are great games that I’m glad to have available on my Switch. I honestly would have been happy with just Marvel Vs Capcom 2, but having everything here is great as both a historical piece and just an extra value. I’m very happy with this collection so far.