Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 (Sony PlayStation 2, 2005)

If you're looking into the varied classic anthologies and collections, I would direct you towards the Sega Genesis Collection which is, to date, the best of these compilation packages.

That said, Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 isn't horrible -- it's just marred by several problems that prevent it from rising to "great". First, I'll get it out of the way: the Street Fighter II games available on this collection are pretty obnoxious -- they aren't perfect ports of the arcade classic, and the subtle changes have mostly been for the worse (ex. the emulation for the game is slightly off-time, the controls don't feel tight, and the graphics are a little worse -- though that may be due to the minor lag-rendering). Ghosts n' Goblins acoustically has been changed; also for the worse.

However, if one can move beyond these and other small annoyances, the collection that is present is really quite a good one, featuring solid titles like Gun.Smoke and Commandos. Great stuff!

Here's a list of what's on here [referenced from wikipedia]:
1. 1942
2. 1943: The Battle of Midway
3. 1943 Kai
4. Bionic Commando
5. Commando
6. Exed Exes
7. Final Fight
8. Forgotten Worlds
9. Ghosts 'n Goblins
10. Ghouls 'n Ghosts
11. Gun.Smoke
12. Legendary Wings
13. Mercs
14. Pirate Ship Higemaru
15. Section Z
16. SonSon
17. Street Fighter II
18. Street Fighter II': Champion Edition
19. Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting
20. Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
21. Trojan
22. Vulgus

So if you can see yourself enjoying about half of those titles (and aren't buying this for Street Fighter II alone), you'll be in for a pretty good time. If not, this probably isn't for you.

First off, let me tell you why I bought this collection: Street Fighter II. I was excited at the prospect of playing my favorite game from the SNES. With that said, everything else that came with the game is just gravy. Here are some of my favorites from the collection.

The 194X series are vertical shooters that are still challenging, but thanks to unlimited continues you can finally beat them in about 90 minutes.

The Ghost and Goblin games are still super tough, and in order to get the true ending you still have to beat it twice.

I was somewhat disappointed with Section Z. I think compared to the NES version this one isn't nearly as fun, the graphics seem cheesy, and I was sad to see such a fun game get nerfed.

SonSon was a favorite for my three year old to play. It's a fun game for kids without any gratuitous violence.

But speaking of gratuitous violence, here is the reason for the purchase: Street Fighter II. You get three versions, regular, Champion, and Hyper Fighting. Regular lets you choose one of 8 fighters that duke it out with each other, then 3 mini-bosses until you get to take on M. Bison. The Champion and Hyper versions are basically the same, you get to play all 12 characters with different color palettes and different speed levels. If you're wondering about Fei-Long and Cammy, you'll need to play Super Street Fighter II. The controls were very good, but it seems they were better on the SNES than on the PS2. Other than that, it seems like they've been able to capture every pixel and sound they way I remember it. Hadoken!!

The rest of the games seem to have been ported over very well, I just haven't had time/interest to play them.

So overall the graphics are the pinnacle of 16-bit goodness, so if you don't mind playing something that looks dated by today's standards you'll love this collection. Same with the sound. It's stereo. That's all we had back then.

If you're interested in playing some fun games from the peak of the 8-bit and 16-bit gaming era, you can't go wrong with this collection. All games are rated either E for everyone or T for Teen.

this game is fun and worth your money and your time to play it, but i don't like that most of the retro games are ported from the capcom generations series rather than the original arcade emulation, but this game is still good to play.

A great collection of games. They are the original arcade versions so on some you can just keep going as long as you have another quarter and that works great for my 4 year old son. It's not so easy on others like "Ghosts & Goblins" and the Street Fighter games. Don't expect great graphics {8-16 bit graphics} but the games are fun and classics as the title says.

This is my favorite classic collection & I have alot of them. Capcom is one of my favorite game makers and this release is no differant. The games on here will make you feel like you're back in the day with the good old Super NES. My favorite game is Final Fight. The new final fight is on PS2 and is awesome, check both of these out.