Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium Review

Back in May of 2021, I got a chance to check out the first game in the Capcom Arcade Stadium series; now, 14 months later, we have the second entry called Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. Like in the first collection, another 32 arcade titles are here; some of them were only available to play in Japan, and a few others, like Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, haven't been seen on home consoles for quite some time. This second entry is not just a package of titles like the previous Stadium game offered; instead, the titles can be purchased separately or all at once. I am surprised that the titles included here weren't just made available to download for the original game instead of releasing an all-new delivery system. Still, either way, a fun arcade experience is sure to be found here. 

Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium starts you with a free copy of SonSon, which was released in arcades back in 1984. This title is loosely based on the story Journey to the West. Instead of a monk in the original tale, you play as a monkey boy who is trying to find the statue of Buddha. Accompanying you is a pig named TonTon (who the second player will control in co-op) in this 2D-scrolling platformer. You try to grab fruit and flowers while jumping between the various horizontal platforms and destroy the lines of enemies coming toward you. I have previously played this title on the Famicom console released in Japan. It is a ton of fun — especially if you play two-player. It's nice to see it released on a modern console where you won't have to spend a lot of coins or hook up an old console to enjoy it! 

If you are like me, one game isn't enough; luckily, there is a whole collection of titles that you can purchase for £3.29 ($3.99) individually or as a full set for £32.99 ($39.99). Though if you do have the recently released Capcom Fighting Collection, there are some titles in Arcade Stadium 2 that are also in that game, like Darkstalkers: the Night Warriors, Night Warriors: Darksiders Revenge, Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Vampire Saviour and Hyper Street Fighter II, so if you have both collections, there will be some overlap. If you enjoy fighting games the most at the arcade, you may be better off getting Capcom Fighting Collection. 

Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium works like it did in the original entry of the series. You browse through various arcade cabinets, decide which title you want to play, and insert a coin into the machine. The great part is there are endless continues on all the games, so now you have the chance to complete the titles that previously ate so many of your coins! The ability to rewind is still here, which is incredibly useful when you get hit by an enemy and want to try that part again without having to start over — though if you are playing with someone else, it can get quite annoying if they constantly rewind a game like Street Fighter when you successfully land a hit. One of my children’s favourites is to speed up the action and slow down the game for fun. Each of the titles has its own filters that you can turn on to recreate the look of the game as it appeared on the arcade cabinet with scanlines, the side of the screen, or distortion on the sides replicating a curved screen. The settings for each title can be set individually, or if you've found a combination or filter and wallpaper you like, it can be the default for all the machines. It was fun playing with the settings to find out which ones I felt were perfect. There is a 3D-rendered frame that makes it look like you are playing on an actual arcade machine which was great! Especially when you have the option to see and hear the sounds of other cabinets around you. It recreated the feeling of being in an actual arcade — as much as possible when sitting at home. Though being able to rotate your screen between horizontal and vertical for flying shoot'em up games is not something you would be able to do at the arcade. Along with a vast number of customisations to tweak your personal in-game arcade to match your playstyle and the difficulty you like, maybe playing these arcade titles at home has its advantages!

There is a huge variety of games presented here. Some are more popular titles in the Capcom catalogue like the Street Fighter Alpha series and Mega Man: The Power Battle, but there are also more obscure titles like Capcom Sports Club and Pnickies. I was excited to see Saturday Night Slam Masters and Knights of the Round included in the collection; these are great games to play with a friend. If you only have one controller, you can play many titles in tag team mode, where you hand off the controller to the other player. A series I enjoyed immensely on the NES is here: 1943 Kai was previously only available in Japanese arcades, but you can play it now using the Japanese ROM. There is no English ROM available, so the text may not be readable, but all the flying and shooting action is here, so that's all that matters to me!

All the titles included in Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium are perfect ports that are nearly identical to the games you would find in arcades, so the graphics, music, and sounds are exactly how you expect them to be. They may not be cutting edge these days, but they were when they were first released. I remember a long time ago when finding good home console versions of these titles was difficult to find, so it's amazing to see so many great ports in one collection. Some people are disappointed that Capcom didn't include Cadillacs and Dinosaurs or Alien vs Predator in this collection. Still, there is always the chance that they will be offered as one of the game packages, or possibly later with a new instalment of this series. Got to save some titles for future collections, I suppose.

If you are a big fan of going to the arcade or the more retro-like titles in the Capcom catalogue, you won't go wrong with picking up Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. There are a lot of titles here you will enjoy playing, making it feel like you have a game arcade right in your house. Unfortunately, there is no online multiplayer to challenge or play with others. But I guess that makes sense if you are trying to recreate the feeling of being in an actual arcade where you only played with the people there. The overall experience is exactly like the previous Capcom Arcade entry. Still, with a whole new batch of titles to play and tons of customisations you can set, this game will keep you busy for a while! Though if you have the Capcom Fighting Collection, you will see some repeats of games here.