Capcom would change the industry forever with the release of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior in 1991. It was based on the CPS hardware once again. Street Fighter II has you choosing one of eight fighters to face off against the other seven, and four hidden bosses in a 2D fighting game. What Street Fighter II really had going for it was a new control scheme using six buttons and joystick combinations. Three levels of punches and three levels of kicks. Beyond just a direction on the stick and a button, the game employed sweeping joystick movements and button combinations to pull of the moves. You would have to do motions like back, down-back, down, down-forward, forward + kick to execute a move for example. The game also had great 2D art combined with great animation. It set the arcades on fire and started a glut of fighting game contenders. It's cool to have as close as possible arcade version at home without owning an actual machine for the history of it all. I was never a fan of the game though. Even at the time. It's too much based on rock, paper, scissors type gameplay for my tastes. This punch beats that kick in the air or this kick beats that kick on the ground. It created Pac-Man like pattern recognition in the players. They were on autopilot.
In 1991 Capcom released the third game in the GnG series with Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Princess Prin Prin is once again kidnapped and it's up to Arthur to get her back and save the day. They took one step forward and two steps back with the gameplay. The step forward is the addition of a double-jump. The classic move adds a whole new element to the skill needed. They took two steps back with the removal of being able to fire up or down while standing or in mid jump. They added in a middle level armor. You start with the standard armor and the next armor you find will be bronze. The bronze armor powers up your weapons. A new weapon, the bow-gun for example, shoots out two shots when in the standard armor. One shot goes straight out, the other diagonally forward. When you have the bronze armor, the bow-gun shoots three flaming shots that home in on the enemies. When you have the bronze armor and find another armor, it will be gold. The gold armor once again grants you magic you charge up and release. It's again based on the weapon type you're currently carrying. Beyond those changes, the game is very much the same extremely tough game its always been. Great graphics and sound and challenge. It's a wonderful title and series. Speaking of titles, the Japanese names for Ghosts 'n Goblins, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts are Makaimura, Daimakaimura, and Chomakaimura which mean Demon World Village, Great Demon World Village, and Ultimate Demon World Village respectively. I can't wait for the upcoming PlayStation Portable new game in the series called Extreme Ghouls 'n Ghosts.
In 1992 Capcom wanted to keep the Street Fighter II momentum rolling along so they released an update called Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. It was of course based on the CPS arcade hardware. It featured the ability to select the bosses as playable characters and added in a match of playing the character you selected against a computer controlled version of the same character. It also reworked the Vs screen art and other graphic issues here and there.
They again released an update to Street Fighter II on the CPS system in 1992 called Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting. It essentially again reworked some of the still art in the Vs and win screens and allowed you to select the colors of your character's clothing. They increased the gameplay speed by about triple the original's. They also worked on balance issues and other real gameplay tweaks. Nothing about the two updates will change your opinion of the original. These updates are small tweaks for the most part and you'll like them if you like the original. They're meaningless if you don't like the original. I would have preferred Capcom use the space for two other titles, but the series was their arcade bread and butter. Fan demand for the series is still strong, and you can't really blame them for including three versions of the same game.
My final opinion on Capcom Classics Collection is that it's a must buy compilation of Capcom's arcade history. For the most part, the emulation is great. The games look and sound and play great. They're not entirely perfect of course, and nitpickers will be able to bitch about this or that. The presentation is great. No fancy 3D menus or anything like that. Just a simple interface. It works great.The bonus material is great. They could have done more with the developer side of things. But for each game you're getting a mini history, art, music, and gameplay tips. If you can unlock them. That's a minor flaw in the title. Some of the goals to unlock the bonus material border on impossible. The earning the bonus content is fine, Capcom just needs to keep the goals within reason next time around. This is the best retro collection to date. Twenty-two games at $19, how can you go wrong with classics like the full GnG series, Final Fight, Street Fighter, Commando, Mercs, and Forgotten Worlds on there? Plus it has lesser known gems like Trojan and Son Son. It has Capcom's first game in Vulgus, which is great for the history aspect of it all. And it has great surprises like Pirate Ship Higemaru which is far more fun than you could have hoped for. I'm going to give Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 an 8.
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