Capcom’s Next Game Must Be The Power Stone Games On Console

I love the recent wave of Capcom fighting game collections. Well, maybe ‘wave’ is the wrong term, since they seem to come out about every year or so. Maybe ‘gentle flow’ might be better. Doesn’t matter. I’m a complete sucker for this crap. I love that these compilations contain everything I’ve ever wanted – like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 – to everything I didn’t know I wanted and I’m still not sure I do – like Red Earth.

These collections give us the best of Capcom and the weirdest of Capcom, and I am even more on board with the second than I am the first. Which is why I’m loving Capcom Fighting Collection 2, a thing that I was ready to buy the exact moment I saw the trailer. But this might be the first time I’m worried we’re getting lesser versions of some of these games. Or, to put it in a more gentle way, give me the Dreamcast versions of the Power Stone games, you absolute cowards!

Look, I am grateful this thing exists. You can feel Capcom going through a transition period in these games, both with the SNK crossovers and 3D titles like the amazing Project Justice and the no-adjective Plasma Sword. Even Capcom Fighting Evolution is interesting. I’m not saying it’s good! It’s really not. Some might say it’s bad!

But it is fascinating to re-experience a time when Capcom was mixing and matching fighters from different games with different artistic directions in what almost felt like a bootleg MUGEN-style ripoff. As someone who enjoys weird, less-than-great games, I’m thrilled it’s in here. Meanwhile, Street Fighter 3 Alpha Upper gives one of the best versions of one of my favorite fighting games. One of the best doing some heavy lifting, but more on that soon.

So I’m still getting a lot of play out of it. I’ll probably play some more after I finish complaining about it here. I’m still more or less happy with my purchase, so my worries don’t really matter. Capcom has my money and is likely on their way to develop another Monster Hunter game that I’ll start playing way too late in its popularity cycle because I am often the Slowpoke meme of video games. I either play them the moment they come out or in five years when nobody gives a crap about them anymore. Which also makes me the perfect demographic for this collection because it basically caters to that exact Venn diagram of broken weirdos like myself.

And, to be honest, the games are presented well and play well. I’m not a high-level competitive fighting game athlete, so what the hell do I know, but the emulation seems good and online play is smooth and easy. I’m not even an online player that often, so I was surprised by how much fun I had jumping from game to game, getting into quick matches of Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper and Power Stone.

Again, these are arcade-accurate versions of the games and sold as nothing more than that – so having online play alone added in is a nice, albeit necessary bonus. In their defense, Capcom doesn’t hide the ball about what’s in the package. This isn’t a half-assed port where they chopped off some of the console goodies, it’s a great port of the arcade editions, some of which were later better on consoles.

I Just Want More Power Stone, Capcom

Power Stone and Power Stone 2 are good here as they are. Don’t get me wrong. They just had a lot more unlockables and secrets on the Dreamcast. The first Power Stone even had VMU games. Remember the VMU? That little handheld system that doubled as a Dreamcast memory card? God, what a time to be alive that was. Anyway, those aren’t here. I know it’s stupid, but I do believe it’s possible for Capcom to emulate those VMU games if they wanted to. I do believe that having the alternate versions of the game would be possible if Capcom wanted it.

Digital Eclipse does it in their collections all the time. It takes extra work, but it also adds extra history and extra context and – again – VMU games, which I will not let go. They added so much replayability to these titles, man. They gave me a reason to finish it with every character to unlock other characters who I’d then beat the game with again to unlock even more features. Power Stone 2 wasn’t quite as stacked with unlockables, but they were still there. These were better versions of the games and ones that, with proper online play, would’ve locked up a good chunk of my summer.

The same goes for Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper. If you don’t know, this version of SFA3 adds new characters and makes some minor changes here or there. And having the arcade edition is incredible because it is the superior version compared to almost any other console release. Including, based on how much of a sicko you are, the Game Boy Advance one. Oh my God, that Game Boy Advance Street Fighter 3 Upper was a godsend when I was in college.

Although that’s not the point, because the best SFA3 – with the most content – was Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max on the PSP. Does it run quite as well as the arcade version? Somewhat debatable. Is it annoying to miss out on even a little content that has been in previous versions for years? Yes. Having the top, best-of-the-best, final edition of this game would’ve been a nice touch. I can’t imagine it would’ve increased the download size that much.

In my perfect world, which lord knows this isn’t, we’d get as many versions as we could. And I don’t just mean in this collection, I mean in others. How much more fun would it be for dorks like me to compare the SNES Street Fighter 2 games to the arcade Street Fighter 2 games to the Game Boy Street Fighter 2 games in one package? Yes, I know that the audience for that might be narrow, but, hell, due to body image issues, I’ve wanted to be called narrow my whole life. Give me all the games you can. Anything you can get the rights to, I want that version. And if that’s not doable, at least give me the best version with the most features along with the arcade game.

Maybe that’s what I’m circling here. I’m not mad we got the arcade editions rather than some other one. That’s what I knew was coming and that’s what I wanted. I just happen to think there could and should be more in these collections if Capcom has the ability to do it. Maybe VMU emulation isn’t on the table due to some rights issues. Who knows? But, as amazing as these collections are, they would be perfect if they just went one additional step. Just one. Granted, one that could be expensive and time consuming and not move the sales needle, but that’s between them and their God.

The Dreamcast ports of Power Stone 1 and 2 are the best ports. They are the best editions. They have the most ‘game’ in them. It’s debatable on Street Fighter 3 Upper versus Street Fighter 3 Max in arcades, but it does sting a bit to be missing that extra character, even if they – between you and me – kind of suck. Regardless, if there are multiple versions and ports and sidetracks, preserve that history and let us play as many as possible. Especially, and I can’t emphasize this enough, ones superior to the arcade.