A fistful of virtual Quarters.

Ask somebody born after the year 2000 what Capcom does, and they may answer with Monster Hunter, Resident Evil or maybe even Street Fighter; but their lineage goes much deeper and further back. Back to the days of shoveling quarters (or in my case 10p pieces) into a machine glowing with bright lights and exotic sounds. And it is with Capcom Arcade Stadium that they hope to transport you back to this golden age of arcades.

It is not the first time Capcom have done this, however. Over the years there have been a few Capcom ‘Classic’ collections. But to my mind this one must be the most extensive and interesting of them all. For a start there is the pricing model; At the time of writing the base game, which includes 1943 is free as is Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins (this is only free for a limited time). You can play these titles to your heart’s content, but if you want to expand the library, that’ll cost you. You have two options for purchasing games. Firstly, you can buy the whole collection for $40 which includes all 32 titles. Alternatively, you can buy them in three chunks at $14.99 each. Obviously buying the full collection represents the best value for money, but if you are only looking for a particular game or two you can hope that they are in the same collection and just buy that. I did find it odd that you cannot purchase games individually, maybe for $2 each. That way buying them all would still be cheaper but would also give those that only wanted to play a specific small set of games an alternative. Here is the full list of games and bundles:

Dawn of the Arcade (1984-1988)

• Vulgus (1984)
• Pirate Ship Higemaru (1984)
• 1942 (1984)
• Commando (1985)
• Section Z (1985)
• Trojan (1986)
• Legendary Wings (1986)
• Bionic Commando (1987)
• Forgotten Worlds (1988)
• Ghouls ‘n Ghosts (1988)

Arcade Revolution (1989-1992)

• Strider (1989)
• Dynasty Wars (1989)
• Final Fight (1989)
• 1941: Counter Attack (1990)
• Mercs (1990)
• Mega Twins (1990)
• Carrier Air Wing (1990)
• Street Fighter II (1991)
• Captain Commando (1991)
• Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (1992)

Arcade Evolution (1992-2001)

• Warriors of Fate (1992)
• Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (1992)
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo (1994)
• Armored Warriors (1994)
• Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness (1995)
• 19XX: The War Against Destiny (1995)
• Battle Circuit (1997)
• Giga Wing (1999)
• 1944: The Loop Master (2000)
• Progear (2001)

Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Switch (Reviewed)
Price: Free – $39.99

Something else that bothered me slightly was that there were a few missing games that I would have liked to have seen in here. Games like the original Street Fighter, Gun Smoke and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. Street Fighter may not be a very good game, but I would still consider it a classic.

The games are presented in the form of a virtual arcade with all the games lined up in a row. Even if you haven’t brought a particular set of games they still appear here; undoubtedly to entice you to purchase them. From here you can select the game, which opens up another menu. This menu allows you to select what type of game you want to play, be it the original version or one of the timed or score-based versions. The menu also allows you to change the difficulty of the game and the number of lives you have. This is a very welcome feature, as all arcade games were designed to drain you of as much money as possible and because of this were often unusually difficult or unfair. These options allow you to enjoy the games for what they are instead of getting frustrated at their lack of respect for the player. And of course, you can pump in as many virtual quarters as you like, so the option of unlimited continues is there.

The other main feature is the ability to change the display options. By default, it is set to display the game as if you are looking at a real arcade cabinet. But if this doesn’t take your fancy, then you can change this to make it more standardized and even add borders that you can unlock through gameplay. With the Switch version there is also the unique view of turning the switch on its side to make it more resemble an arcade screen, using one of the Joycons as the main controls. A cute touch that adds a little extra to the handheld version. And of course there are a large number of screen filtering options as well, which can add things like scanlines, screen curves and RGB pixels; all adding to the arcade experience. My only issue with this is that the display for each game has to be set individually, as there is no option to select the display features you like and set them as default for each game. Just means extra work going into the display menu for every game.

The games themselves play very smoothly and are just as I remembered them and even brought back some very fond memories of playing games like Forgotten Worlds, Final Fight and of course Street Fighter 2 (with three versions of this game included). The audio also seems spot on, with the relative chiptunes and bleeps and bloops sounding authentic. Unfortunately, as I am no arcade ROM expert, I cannot say exactly how accurate these are to the original, but as a layman they looked, played and sounded great. Most of these games also offer a 2-player option as well, which is especially cool on the Switch with both players using a Joy-Con each.

All in all the Capcom Arcade Stadium is a lovely little package. Whether you are an old-timer like me who reminisces over their mis-spent youth, or someone who would like to explore the earlier days of gaming, Capcom’s legacy as a maker of fine arcade games is here for all to see.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.