Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium Reviews
If you heart is beating with nostalgia, Capcom, Arcade 2nd Stadium does its best to bring you back down the memory lane.
Review in Italian | Read full review
With 30+ games, an embarrassment of customization options, and plenty of opportunities to play casually with local friends or seriously for online high scores, it's a rock solid collection both for arcade enthusiasts and old-school players.
Thanks to titles being available individually, however, possible duplication shouldn’t put you off Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. The bundle still offers excellent value for money if you’re a fan of classic arcade games. And when you factor in the additional features and solid emulation, you really can’t go wrong. Ultimately, Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium might not be as essential as its predecessor, and you might wonder why these games couldn’t have just been delivered as DLC, but it’s still a fantastic retro collection.
Capcom's latest pack of coin-op classics won't disappoint old arcade hounds looking to re-experience their youth.
Overall, while it feels a little steep at $40, there’s a terrific collection of games included in this pack. The only way this would be any better would be if these games could somehow all interface together so you could launch any of them from within the same game. I’m hopeful that this trend of keeping older games alive keeps going and Capcom finally gives me Cadillacs and Dinosaurs in the next iteration.
Hissatsu Buraiken is worth persevering with, though, because aside from its cumbersome boss fights, it’s an enjoyable game and an interesting twist on both the beat ’em up and top-down run and gun formulae. It’s presented well, has some catchy music and is a decent amount of fun in two-player — just don’t take it too seriously, particularly while you’re getting to grips with it, and there’s fun to be had for sure.
While it’s not my favourite Capcom game to date, Hyper Dyne Side Arms is a historically significant one for the sheer number of times it’s been referenced in other titles from the company. And with that in mind, it’s worth giving a go at least once or twice — even if the difficulty spike ends up driving you away in frustration!
Despite never having come across this game prior to trying it in Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, I’m now very much convinced that this is a proper hidden Capcom gem. Like most arcade games from the era, it’s got a bit of a learning curve — but stick with it and you’ll find an interesting, rewarding and enjoyable game that is quite unlike anything else from this period in gaming!
Don’t expect an easy ride — this was an arcade game, after all — but take the time to learn Gun.Smoke’s distinctive mechanics and overall feel, and there’s a really rewarding shoot ’em up experience to be had here, for sure.
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium once again delivers the experience of visiting an arcade with tons of great titles; this collection is sure to be a good time.
That doesn’t mean it’s not worth playing, mind; if you enjoy this sort of simple early ’80s shooter, Savage Bees is as good as any out there. Just don’t expect a particularly life-changing experience!
Like the first title, Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium lives off of the strength of the titles presented here. Even if it does repeat titles from the company's other, more focused compilations, the quality and variety of each one shows why the company has been respected in the arcade space for so long. Just about every title remains fun to play today, with no stinkers in the lot. It really would have been nice to see some improvements over the first collection as far as extras and online play goes, but it remains a solid pick-up for retro fans. Should the company go for a third compilation, we have to hope that it'll reach the polygonal era of games now that the sprite era has been all but exhausted.
If it’s not a classic Capcom title you’ve heard of before, downloading the free Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium pack is a good opportunity to familiarise yourself with it — and it sets a solid expectation for the rest of the collection to also feature a variety of enjoyably lesser known titles. And, of course, several versions of Street Fighter, but you know how it is.
This is a strong start to this second collection. While some may bounce off it due to the relative lack of big-hitters available up front, it serves as a great reminder that many of our favourite video game developers and publishers from over the years are considerably more than just their most famous titles. Sure, those famous titles are great — and that’s why some of them are included here — but it can be incredibly rewarding to discover new experiences that you didn’t previously know existed. And that’s where the real value of this collection lies.
Here's the full list of Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium games:
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium is a fairly robust collection that, complete or with chosen titles, will offer a nostalgia bath for players who lived through the golden days of Arcades. In addition to presenting several important titles for a new generation, it complements, diversifies and expands the collection released in the previous package.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium's more eclectic offering is excellent. With a familiar presentation, array of extras, and wealth of options; it's a fitting follow-up to last year's incredible collection of arcade treasures so if you enjoyed that then definitely play this, too.
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium is essentially a follow-on from the first collection in 2021 and has an almost identical layout to the first hub we saw. To me though it felt like the overall experience had a more polished feel to it. Switching between games is flawless and depends on your tastes there is potentially unlimited replayability here if you want to invest in completing each game and trying your hand at the leaderboards.
When I saw the roster in this massive arcade compendium I was already pretty impressed, but having jumped in...
The list of games is inferior to that of Capcom Arcade Stadium, and it is not unreasonable to wonder why the 2nd is needed, since everything could fit in the first.
Review in Greek | Read full review