Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium – Trial, Arcade Action

Champions League

Nothing beat the arcade until the mid-1990s: arcade games had the best graphics, the latest technology and the most precise input devices. A whole generation of players grew up with implementations that were always hoped to be as close as possible to the arcade original. Of course, as a PC Engine or Super Nintendo owner you had better cards than a C64 or Master System player. Of course, consoles and PCs have long been 150,000 times more powerful than the thickest arcade board of the early 90s – and we’re lucky that Capcom in particular is keen to sell its technically flawless arcade originals to a wider audience.

In February 2021, the Japanese invited to their Arcade Stadium for the first time – first exclusively for Switch, a few months later it was the turn of the other platforms. Over 30 retro classics were at the start, these were sold in sets of ten, the “basic game” with an oldie was free for everyone. Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium relies on a similar concept, but turns the screws: Again, the basic software is available free of charge in the shops, but if you get the part from PSN, Xbox Store & Co., you only get one game again included – the simple, but still whimsical action-platformer SonSon from 1984. The 31 remaining games – we’ll get to the selection in a moment – each cost 3.99 euros as DLC. So if you are only interested in three, four or five titles, then buying them individually would be an option; and still cheaper than comparable retro series (such as ACA NeoGeo or the Arcade Archives) in the online stores. But the purchase price for the entire “Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium Bundle” is actually too tempting: 39.99 euros for retro games that would cost over 130 crowns individually. But this offer can only be really good if the titles contained are convincing. Let’s go…

15 years arcade history

Of course, among the total of 32 oldies from the years ’84 to ’98 there are again a number of titles that were already included in other Capcom collections: The Darkstalkers games, for example, were recently in the Capcom Fighting Collection, two street bangers were in Capcom Beat ‘Em Up bundle included and shoot’em ups like 1943 Kai or Eco Fighters were already part of classic collections in PS2 times. All in all, the mix in the 2nd Stadium is just as salubrious as it is high-quality – with prominent hits and quirky games that even retro aficionados don’t immediately have ready.

Martial artists rejoice in the first-ever Street Fighter, three high-quality alpha episodes and the inevitable second installment in Hyper SF2 Anniversary Edition; this is joined by two Darkstalkers parts and the turbulent Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix. Whether you see Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters as versus fighters or boss rush titles is up to you – in any case, there are robo duels here that certainly not every Capcom fan is familiar with . And the slickly modeled pixel wrestlers in Saturday Night Slam Masters are in high spirits too. Connoisseurs can look forward to a guest appearance from the Mayor of the Final Fight and characters from the pen of Fist-of-the-North-Star artist Tetsuo Hara.