Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded for the PSP
© Capcom

Mania Grade: C+
Platform: PSP
ESRB: T
Genre: Compellation
Players: 1-3
Online: No
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Suggested Retail: $29.99
Graphics: C-
Sound: C-
Gameplay: B
Replay: B-
Fun Factor: B
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"Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded"

Over the past 25 years, Capcom has become a brand name for quality. They have released hundreds videogames, and delighted millions of fans. They have decided to return to their roots, and show off exactly what has made it such a fine company. How do they do this you ask? It is done by showing off some of its earlier games, those that elevated them as a company. In Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded (CCCR), we continue to explore some of their many hits, but also many of their average games. Since these are older games, it is difficult to compare them to the current games founds on any system, since the technological bounds literally blow these old games out of the water. That does not mean that these old games are horrible, even compared to these new games, but they offer something different. 

Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded offers quite a few different games, and many of them you will recognize. The main hits are 1942, Street Fighter 2, and Ghosts & Ghouls. You can tell this because there are three different versions each of these games, and that rounds off the first nine. Not all of the games are exactly the same, and revolve more around their series. 1942 is followed by 1943, and also involves the Japanese version. Likewise with Street Fighter 2, you also have the champion version, as well as the hyper fighting game. Ghouls and Ghosts is accompanied by Ghosts and Goblins, and Super Ghouls and Ghosts. In total there are almost twenty games to play. 

While there are plenty of games on the system, not many of them are too well known. Besides this point, I was glad to see two of my arcade favourites on the disk. They just happen to be to fantastic classic games, Knights of the Round, and King of Dragons. Beyond that Mercs and Commando will be the other games on available that people may know about. Other than that, it seems that they just added in random games to try and increase the total amount.  

What I am a little surprised about though is that the games do not load that quickly. Since most of these games are fairly small in size, I figure they should load up instantly. This is even true in Street Fighter, as the game needs to load what comes next after every battle. This includes the remarks that the winner exchanges with the loser. The loading only lasts for a few seconds, so while it is bearable, I just wish it was a little shorter. I almost had hoped that the games would be ported to the memory stick to reduce the wait times. 

Using the PSP, most of the games are pretty easy to play, as they do not require many buttons. In fact most of them only require two, like 1942 for example. The same is not true for the Street Fighter games though, which require six. This is where the PSP fumbles, much like the SNES did when the game was released on it. It can be quite difficult to hit the shoulder buttons in session, which is required for certain character’s attacks. You do have the choice on how to map them at least, and by default the mid-powered attack are located on the shoulders. Another major issue I had involved that the D-Pad, which is useless for the game. When you try to do moves that motion from down to towards the opponent, the system simple does not register it. This forces you to use the analog nub, which gets the job done, but does not feel right. There is nothing that Capcom could do to improve this though, so it is not really their fault. 

At the end of each game, you are assigned points based on how well you played. Some of the factors that you are graded on involve your top score, button presses, previous games completed, and continues used. This is fairly neat, and it even requires you to rotate the PSP 90 degrees to properly read it. The points are eventually pooled so that you can unlock content. This content ranges from art, to music, or even cheats. There is plenty of content to unlock as well, which is great to see. The problem with how the content is unlocked though involves random chance, rather than skill. It involves a slot machine, which fails to impress me on any level. The slot machine is not even streamlined to make spending the points easy. Rather than making it playable by pressing one button, you need to switch between the triangle and the down button on the d-pad. I would have preferred something different, like needing to beat the game before getting the cheats. 

In the end, Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded provides a decent experience, but nothing fantastic. Some of the games are fun to play, but Street Fighter seems a bit out of place. Most of the games are airplane shooters, so if you are into those classic games, I encourage you to pick up this game. Beyond that, most of them have game sharing, so you can hook up with a friend, and allow them to play off of your disc. This makes King of Dragons and Knights of the Round extremely fun to play. Graphically the game suffers compared against new games, but more importantly the ratio of which they are displayed at. You can use the select button to change them, but on the older ones it hardly helps. All and all, Captain Gordon gives CCCR a C+. 

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? CaptainGordonEdward@Gmail.com