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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded




File Size: 392 MB
File Type: CSO



A solid compilation based on last year's PS2 anthology, Capcom's most recent PSP effort, Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded, is a downsized port with 19 games that revisits some of the company's best arcade titles from 1984-1992. For Portable owners this is particularly good news as Reloaded is certainly better than Capcom's last omnibus for the system, Classics Remixed.

Now it was widely accepted that the original PlayStation 2 version of this collection was a nod to renowned videogame designer, Yoshiki Okamoto (after all, he was involved with the creation or development of almost half the games in the assortment). Best known to recent players for his contributions to Devil May Cry, Resident Evil and Genji, Okamoto had an equally important role in titles such as Street Fighter, Final Fight, and 1942. Sure, his namesake in America isn't as recognizable as that of Kojima or Miyamoto's, but his games are... and that's pretty impressive.

But what about those games anyway? To Okamoto's credit, most of the ones he was involved with are also the best of this collection. 1942, 1943, and 1943 Kai are all considered legends in the arcade shooter market and the heavily-Japanese Pirate Ship Higemaru is an addictive homage to the SEGA puzzler Pengo. Let's also not forget that the world-renowned Street Fighter II series speaks for itself, and Ryu and Ken fans should be happy to note that both SFII Champion Edition and the always-killer Hyper Fighting join the original Street Fighter II for triple the Hadoken fun.

The rest of the collection is no pushover either. Ghosts 'N Goblins, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, and Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts are great, while Gun Smoke, Commando and Mercs kick all kinds of double-barreled ass. Oh, and whatever you do, don't overlook the surprise of the bunch in Exed Exes (you know it better as Attack of the Savage Bees) -- it's a terrific little Gaplus rip-off with better graphics and some neat variations on the typical wave shooter. Unfortunately, Volgus and Son Son are only moderately exciting additions to the anthology.

Another thing to take note of is that if you enjoyed the original PS2 version and want to pick this up to relive Final Fight, Forgotten Worlds, Bionic Commando, Trojan or Section Z, then you should look backwards -- four of those games were dropped since they appeared in "Remixed," while Trojan has disappeared entirely. Luckily there are three PSP-Exclusive games that take those missing titles' places: Knights of the Round, the King of Dragons, and Eco Fighters.

Of the three new additions, Knights of the Round still holds up best. Similar to King of Dragons in that it's a side-scrolling hack 'n slasher, Knights was one of the earliest arcade actioners we can remember that used experience points to upgrade your characters. It's definitely uncomplicated and somewhat cheesy compared to today's crop of sword-wielders, but for a quick fix "on the go" it does its job well.



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