Capcom Arcade Stadium 2 Announced (GunSmoke, ECO Fighters)

[Rastan78]

What I can really appreciate about this package even without knowing much about the emulation, besides the awesome game selection, is the fact that its not locked to another mini console. Especially one permanently attached to a giant 2 player CAPCOM shaped arcade stick.

I think the minis are a cool idea, but I'm not looking to pick up any new physical hardware atm. If the Genesis mini and PC Engine mini emulation packages were spruced up for console and released as DLC, I would be all over that. It seems like that would make sense to release once the sales have trailed off since M2 has already done most of the work. And I'm sure they could run a bit better on more powerful hardware. Maybe they don't want to make people who bought the consoles feel cheated?

I remember thinking that when the CAPCOM stick monstrosity was announced. Why can't I just download all these games?

[BIL]

Even owning the majority of the collective mini repertoire on old format, and having little interest in the stuff I don't, I'd snap up PS4 versions in a heartbeat, just like their Contra/CV packs. I love being able to fire up Contra III and Bloodlines at the drop of a hat with replay capture inbuilt.

If the Capcom Home Arcade has contributed one thing, it's proving that Aliens VS Predator is not flat-out impossible to see on new hardware. Now, whether AVP and indeed the rest of that thing's production was legally sound, or merely a cut/run cash grab, with lawsuits in screaming hot pursuit like an Itano circus, I don't know (and don't really care - if I wanted an FBA/MAME box, I'd build one). But sometimes a bit of false hope is better than none at all.

[Rastan78]

Back in my 20's I had my fun buying PCBs and OG hardware/carts. With all the CRT monitors, scan converters, homemade cables, pad hacked joysticks and what not that that entailed. And the price explosion of PCBs. Oh man, I about had a heart attack when I realized what my old Raizing, Seibu and other PCBs are worth now given that I sold most everything off a long time ago.

Given the time constraints of adult family life (which I endeavored to begin as late as possible), I'll never be going back to that. And I find console ports preferable to MAME, especially given the quality of recent stuff. Switch portable mode is a game changer if you're somebody that has to squeeze in games during brief moments of down time. Maybe part of it is they feel like new releases again. I'm hyped for M2 Toaplan stuff as if it's still 1987 and the games are brand new.

Through the 360/PS3 gen I did get into some of the AAA world. Fallout 3, Gears of War, Dark Souls, that kinda thing, but now the only thing that holds my interest is your classic arcade and console stuff from the 80s and 90s. In other words if it weren't for these kind of ports I probably wouldn't still be gaming at all.

Re: AVP I wondered the same thing about that considering they blurred some lines with the emulator license. Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. Shoulda just thrown Cadillacs, Punisher and DnD on there.

[el_rika]

And Capcom, literally no one wants the original SF2 World Warrior.

I find myself playing WW more than CE (in Sp).
There's something about the physics and the way characters react, that was lost/changed in CE, that i find immensly satisfying.

[Rastan78]

Oh man you gotta DP Blanka out of a ball for that huge 50 percent damage in one hit. That was satisfying. Not having mirror matches and bosses playable sucks tho
I think the thing that would drive me crazy is how powerful tick throws are in WW. IIRC its not possible to reversal out. People used to try to get an agreement going where no throws would be used bc they were so ridiculous lol.

CE had it's own problems like overpowered Bison, but its all part of the fun.

[BIL]

Maybe part of it is they feel like new releases again. I'm hyped for M2 Toaplan stuff as if it's still 1987 and the games are brand new.

Same - it's a pretty nice time to be a fan of this stuff, I think. In a way, something like arcade-perfect Hishouzame really is a new release of sorts - every previous home version has been compromised in some way, from Micronics' usual horrible NES version right up to the platforms that should've been able to nail it 1:1 (Towns one looks and sounds nice but has severe cropping issues). Then there's something like Out Zone, which literally never received any home support, not even a close/no cigar one ala Towns Tatsujin Ou.

RE SFII, I'm only a very casual fighting game fan, but I do kinda like seeing TWW there. For better or worse, when a game gets that many revisions and sequels, and makes such a massive impact, there's an undeniable charm to seeing the original again. This said, I can imagine how annoyed hardcore fans might be at it taking up a slot that could've gone to -

Actually, for the time period Pack 2 covers, there wasn't a whole lot of Capcom VS fighting besides CE and (already included in Pack 3) Turbo, was there? Hm. The CPS2-dominated Pack 3 though, I'm sympathetic with anyone who wanted a Vampire or Zero title. I don't even play the former series and I'd love to have it around in good form.



(to those fans I can only say, I'd happily bump off Giga Wing for Mars Matrix, but you gotta hope in the future )

I wonder just how far this project will go in that regard. They could easily knock off their remaining STG and fighting canon with another ten-pack apiece, if I'm not forgetting too many. The lion's share, at any rate. I hope they clear out their 80s/CPS/CPS2 catalogues, as much as licensing permits, and perfect their emulation to the best of their abilities before moving onto CPS3. (which would be a pretty short series anyway, ofc)

[Sengoku Strider]

I think the minis are a cool idea, but I'm not looking to pick up any new physical hardware atm. If the Genesis mini and PC Engine mini emulation packages were spruced up for console and released as DLC, I would be all over that. It seems like that would make sense to release once the sales have trailed off since M2 has already done most of the work. And I'm sure they could run a bit better on more powerful hardware. Maybe they don't want to make people who bought the consoles feel cheated?

That's pretty much exactly what Nintendo did. Their online service games were the same as the NES/SNES mini libraries IIRC.

[Rastan78]

Pretty much. The lineups are actually pretty different, but with a good amount of overlap. From what I've seen they tightened up the emulation some, while using the same basic emulators under the hood as the minis. New games are coming in, but not exactly at a rapid pace.

I would bet the 3rd party licensing is different between the two. Theres a bunch of Jaleco and Natsume stuff on the Switch. Games like Megaman, Contra III, Castlevania IV etc. aren't on there. I'd assume that's bc they didn't want to blow sales of their own competing compilation packs.

[CanbeeShinobi2]

Varth thunderstorm is an underrated gem as well.

[bigbadboaz]

I find myself playing WW more than CE (in Sp).

Interesting. I've always been the oddball who sticks with CE over Hyper - the speed boost feels wrong and the tacked-on aerial moves, etc. just clash - but I would never choose WW. There are definitely some things I miss like the double-hit Jab Dragon Punch, but none of them are actually better for the gameplay. I really think Capcom did a great job with the changes in CE. The depth, balance, and character differentiation took a big step up.

[Marc]

I wonder just how far this project will go in that regard. They could easily knock off their remaining STG and fighting canon with another ten-pack apiece, if I'm not forgetting too many. The lion's share, at any rate. I hope they clear out their 80s/CPS/CPS2 catalogues, as much as licensing permits, and perfect their emulation to the best of their abilities before moving onto CPS3. (which would be a pretty short series anyway, ofc)

I don't think they will. I'm getting the same vibe as the Capcom Arcade Cabinet for X360 / PS3 - where all the available packs were announced pretty much simultaneously, then the thing was just abandoned. It's like Capcom don't want my money. I realise licencing etc, but if you've got to the trouble to whip up an emulator, why not squeeze every last drop out of it?

[BIL]

Longevity's a concern, definitely.

TBH... provided they nail the emulation, a theoretical long game with a Stadium II at the end of the PS5 gen would be ok with me (provided it actually covered the remainder of their catalogue, licenses permitting). Quality arcade games take a long time to see "the end" of, and M2 and Hamster's schedules are looking pretty fat, too.

Admittedly, I wouldn't be saying all this if they'd blown another chance at Progear and 19XX. I suppose those two's inclusion has me satisfied. Another round 4-5 years on would even leave enough time to get decent scores in both.

I'm gonna revisit 1944 and US Navy this weekend, methinks. They're the other big STG debuts and I've not put much time on either. I remember liking 44's grittier element. Hosing down those tugs and gunboats felt a lot grimier than the previous entries' prestigious battleships, and of course, it's got Raizing Boss Names.

[Rastan78]

Nice scaling options are one thing I'm keeping my fingers crossed for. This is a minor detail that can make a big difference on these since unlike emulation on PC you're stuck with what they give you.

That was the only major bugbear on M2's CV and Contra collections. For some reason instead of letting you decide aspect, toggle scanlines and smoothing filter individually, they're all tied to a few presets. You can't do scanlines without smoothing. Or certain screen scales are tied permanently to the rough looking preset filters. This was probably considered a more user friendly thing to do. At least they finally let you totally eliminate the BG and just have black borders, something M2 really doesn't like to do for some reason. Granted its not a deal breaker given the budget price and the quality of the games and emulation. If you like playing in clean pixel mode without filters you're good to go. Personally I find that look too jarring if I'm close to the screen. And it's too far removed from how the graphics looked originally.

Hamster has been subtly improving their options with some of the more recent conversions by Gotch on Switch looking amazing with scanlines on. Salamander and Gradius II look way better than they ever did back on the original PS4 ACA releases. On the rest of the arcade archives they finally realized that scanlines are supposed to line up with the pixels. Games like In The Hunt look pretty damn good with the scanlines on. Smoothing filter is permanently tied to scanlines, but the result is not terrible at all. Adds a little blur without completely destroying the image quality. Depending on the native res of the game at hand you might have to play with the scaling to make the scanlines evenly spaced and you're good to go.

M2 on the other hand has kind of gotten worse. They give less options than they used to on older ports like Futari 1.5. And their trademark bilinear smoothing filter still has an absolutely tragic effect on pixel art, making games look duller and blurrier than they did on a good CRT.

I know its a nitpick and the majority of players probably don't waste too much time thinking about this stuff. But given we've had decades of these ports coming out, you might think this was one area where a little improvement would be nice?

[To Far Away Times]

To be fair Futari had a legendary port.

You can even adjust the game to get rid of a frame of lag.

And then perfect emulation with a bevy of scanline and crt filters.

Also, the first ever region free game on Xbox 360, if I recall correctly. Wonder how many hoops they had to jump through for that.

Absolute perfection.

[BIL]

Aww yeah. Remembering why 1944's aesthetic resonated with me so much. Low-altitude mayhem over beaches, quays and jetties. The Pacific Theatre's innate contrast of tropical idyll and burning metal via gorgeous Raizing pixel art. It's like a non-meh Ghost Pilots. Those CPS2 attract modes always fire me up.

Spoiler

[Rastan78]

To be fair Futari had a legendary port.

Yeah it doesn't get much better than that. Raiden Fighters Aces is right there with it. Same great screen filters. No extra lag. Basically perfect.

Aww yeah. Remembering why 1944's aesthetic resonated with me so much. Low-altitude mayhem over beaches, quays and jetties. The Pacific Theatre's innate contrast of tropical idyll and burning metal via gorgeous Raizing pixel art.

There's a part of me that wishes they had gone with a Garrega style aesthetic over the Eastern Front. All grey cloudy skies with lightning storms and Raiden style hyper detailed shrapnel. Thats what I would picture if you told me Raizing was doing a 19XX series game. Then they went with this colorful almost cartoon aesthetic that's still ultra detailed. It works well in it's own way. Aesthetically not too far removed from Bakraid really.

[BIL]

It's an interesting thought, a 194X game divorced from the Pacific Theatre. Funny how intrinsic the setting became to the series, given how at least one title (I think it was 1943) apparently caught some shit in Japan. Can't recall offhand who, but I distinctly recall a prominent Capcom figure being asked about it in EGM and replying "well, imagine if you directed a game about the Vietcong beating the shit out of the US."

Aesthetically, all of my favourite stuff from the series are the stages that actually let you see the ground, and get some sense of scenery. 1941, 19XX and 1944 are all great for that. I've a real weakness for that Hishouzame mise-en-scene - tanks trundling out of bunkers, gunboats patrolling waterways, turrets and hangars everywhere. Great as the games play, I'd had enough of water and clouds after 43 and Kai (the latter's PCE remake is a hoot... chasing armoured trains down mineshafts and misc other bizarre antics that'd look more at home in a Mahou EDIT: or 1941!).

Maybe I'm just not into cloud stages in general... it takes something exceptional, like Garegga's immense walls of stormcloud and arcing lightining to interest me. Between the backdrop and the slow but relentless conveyor belt of flying platforms, capped off by a trio of mean minibosses, then one of military STGs' most iconic scenes with BHmk1 and its "flock" tearing free of the mothership, that stage feels anything but "open." More like being in the gears of a titanic machine.

1941's canyon stages are great too, even before you get to the unbearably cute "wall rub" mechanic.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

(to those fans I can only say, I'd happily bump off Giga Wing for Mars Matrix, but you gotta hope in the future )

Giga Wing is more approachable to beginners and probably makes more sense if you had to pick only one...

(also you can bump off Giga Wing when you get it out from my cold dead hands >:3 )

Where the hell is Muscle Bomber in any of these releases? Or better yet, the 4 player Muscle Bomber Duo? I played he hell out of the SNES version of that in coop mode, Saturday Night Slam Masters.

Raiden Fighters Aces is right there with it. Same great screen filters. No extra lag. Basically perfect.

Among the best arcade ports of all time, no question.

[BIL]

Giga Wing is more approachable to beginners and probably makes more sense if you had to pick only one...

Oh I know, I want that Takumi face-shredder with music that sounds like this.

I'd have them both if given the chance, easily. TBH, the arcade MM may even be a step back in some regards, with the DC port fixing the counter stop. I'd still like to have it around though.

Like you said a few pages back, the Takumi STG most in need of a redo is Generations. I always like even the 30fps PS2 attempt for what it was, hard to go between that and the gorgeous DC GW2 though. A Night Raid that didn't get passive-aggressive on anything but an OG Japanese PS1 would be nice too, though I've never been sure if NR's actually worth playing. I'm in it for the uniquely scifi/sepulchral spook factor and skull-crushing tunes tbh.

Spoiler

Dunno what its problem is but I like it. Best powerup voice sample too. Guy sounds like he's hooked up the national grid and putting a load straight through the side of his house. ~POWAAAA~

RFA's biggest mark of quality for me was it letting you choose from 55hz/SPI, 60hz or blended refresh rate. It's something I really wish Hamster would include with their M72 stuff, hard to ignore the chop in Vigilante (to be fair, if you're not 100% attentive to Ninja Spirit or Image Fight, you're gonna die fast). That said, I always went with the SPI-accurate speed in Aces, IIRC. High-precision action gaming is felt as much as seen, I reckon... a bit of visual artefacting is easier to ignore than the game running noticeably over/under speed.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

A Night Raid that didn't get passive-aggressive on anything but an OG Japanese PS1 would be nice too, though I've never been sure if NR's actually worth playing.

Abso-fucking-lutely worth playing. A friend brought an STV over to a shmupmeet once with Guardian Force and Night Raid, fell in love. Night Raid is intense, and the hug grapple attack is uniquely satisfying to use as you just slam chaotically around the screen bouncing off enemies. It's a genuinely cool special ability, in the same way that Giga Wing's shield feels (and in exactly the way Mars Matrix's lame vacuum thing feels pathetic and gimped by comparison). It's also not as brutally unforgiving as Mars Matrix is because you've got bombs in addition to the special attack. The scoring is also uniquely wacky with three different methods to play for score (three different scoreboards for just one game mode!).

Because of how you have to mash the directions around to extend how long the hug grapple goes for it really plays best with a stick.

[Marc]

Hamster has been subtly improving their options with some of the more recent conversions by Gotch on Switch looking amazing with scanlines on. Salamander and Gradius II look way better than they ever did back on the original PS4 ACA releases.

Don't say that FFS, I've double-dipped on enough titles between PS4/Switch already!
I'm not spending another six quid to make it to the fifth boss on Salamander and turn if off in rage.

[Rastan78]

Aesthetically, all of my favourite stuff from the series are the stages that actually let you see the ground, and get some sense of scenery. 1941, 19XX and 1944 are all great for that. I've a real weakness for that Hishouzame mise-en-scene - tanks trundling out of bunkers, gunboats patrolling waterways, turrets and hangars everywhere. Great as the games play, I'd had enough of water and clouds after 43 and Kai (the latter's PCE remake is a hoot... chasing armoured trains down mineshafts and misc other bizarre antics that'd look more at home in a Mahou EDIT: or 1941!).

Maybe I'm just not into cloud stages in general... it takes something exceptional, like Garegga's immense walls of stormcloud and arcing lightining to interest me. Between the backdrop and the slow but relentless conveyor belt of flying platforms, capped off by a trio of mean minibosses, then one of military STGs' most iconic scenes with BHmk1 and its "flock" tearing free of the mothership, that stage feels anything but "open." More like being in the gears of a titanic machine.

Regarding cloud stages, I love to see how Raizing reinterpreted the cloud stage with carrier ships in each game. I like them in Raiden Fighters games. Usually fast moving clouds above distant scenery below. Psikyo's I find a little more underwhelming. I's true that the lack of grounded enemies and turrets can lead to a stage design feeling a bit too open. And i think it's harder to memorize a stage when the BG is devoid of visual cues. You're just relying on your memory of enemy patterns alone.

Dimahoo cloud stage stands out for me along with Garegga. Love how they added little goblins to the carriers. Dimahoo managed a bit of that Hishouzame aesthetic (which Seibu also had great success in riffing on) you're describing while adding in the fantasy element at the same time. Its a real tease to see Progear, 1944, and Giga Wing on here, but no Dimahoo. Makes you wonder where the rights for all these games ended up. Maybe 1944 stayed with Capcom while Dimahoo stayed with 8ing given the roots of both series.

Don't say that FFS, I've double-dipped on enough titles between PS4/Switch already!
I'm not spending another six quid to make it to the fifth boss on Salamander and turn if off in rage.

Maybe they patched these options back into the PS4 versions? If you see the additional option to select a "Sharp" smoothing filter that's a good sign. I noticed this filter smooths out all the artifacts of noninteger scaling like scrolling shimmer and uneven looking pixels without overly darkening and blurring the image.

Is that the infinite spawning blue balls of death boss? Such a random difficulty spike that pretty much requires cheating by learning a safe spot. And this is not long after the fire stage which might be the easiest stage and boss ever in a shmup.

[BIL]

Oh yeah, stages like Mahou's second and Shippu Mahou's STRATO STORM are a different matter entirely, ones where it's less open sky than a rolling parade of one monstrous war machine after another (Mahou's little guys scrambling about loading cannons, falling overboard, barking orders... Dragon Blaze does something similar in its Desert convoy stage). Especially good when the battleships become outright battlegrounds in themselves, with the player facing tanks and other massive machines right on the decks.

Bakraid's Cloud nails this too. Even though you're not flying directly over the things for that massive sense of scale, it's a nightmarish carnival of fantastic flying (and killing) machines.

I do hope this coming gen sees more ShotTriggers. We're in an odd situation where I don't want to assume anything, but rad stuff just keeps happening. Good times.

The scoring is also uniquely wacky with three different methods to play for score (three different scoreboards for just one game mode!).

I did love the "hot and cold" idea, haha. Seemed like it might be just another weird thing in an STG full of weird things, but...

Because of how you have to mash the directions around to extend how long the hug grapple goes for it really plays best with a stick.

This is what made me withold judgement, didn't have a PS1 sticl and NR is one of those shooters that hates PS2s (gets weird frameskips and input lag). Distinct Psyvariar vibes (like a lot of G-Net stuff, incidentally... they were really pushing the whole waggle gimmick, I wonder if it was a joystick MFG-led conspiracy? XII Stag, Night Raid, Psyvariar, probably some crazy Boonga Boon-ga thing I've never seen...)

[hamfighterx]

Also, the first ever region free game on Xbox 360, if I recall correctly. Wonder how many hoops they had to jump through for that.

Totally agreed that Futari's 360 release was fantastic.

It was far from the first region free 360 game though. For 360, although the system itself has region coding, it was a publisher option whether or not to make your game playable on any region hardware. Most US publishers DID allow their games to be played by any region hardware (EA being one of the most notable exceptions, they tended to favor locking). Japanese publishers tended to be more likely to release region-locked games, commonly arguing that they were seeking to avoid importers buying a cheaper NA version (but yeah, obviously that logic doesn't hold up so well for games that were only released in Japan), or that the more niche status of the system in that country warranted premium software prices for whatever reason. I guess they were worried about ¥7900 games in Japan getting released in the US for budget prices...

Futari was one of the first significant STG region free 360 releases though. Some of the other early 360 shooters were indeed region locked: Deathsmiles and Raiden Fighters Aces come to mind, those were the first two locked titles that motivated me to buy a J-360.

That's why my Japanese 360 is my default system: it plays nearly all of my US-region games (only a handful of my 100+ US region discs don't work on my Japanese console), as well as my Japanese STG collection that contains a lot of region-locked titles.

FWIW, Play-Asia did a pretty good job of compiling information on region lock status for 360 games, particularly JPN and Asia region releases (understandably, their info for US releases was a bit more spotty). See their master list: https://www.play-asia.com/info/xbox360_ ... lity_guide, and they added the information on their pages for each game.

[NeoStrayCat]

FWIW, Play-Asia did a pretty good job of compiling information on region lock status for 360 games, particularly JPN and Asia region releases (understandably, their info for US releases was a bit more spotty). See their master list: https://www.play-asia.com/info/xbox360_ ... lity_guide, and they added the information on their pages for each game.

Though it would have been nice if they actually updated it fully, but that's probably gonna take a long time to test the ones still left with question marks for compatiblity.

Other than that, yeah, the only thing surprising out of this, myself honestly, is Progear on actual consoles, lol. (I mean, yeah, there's other STG's on it, but...)

[FRO]

Aww yeah. Remembering why 1944's aesthetic resonated with me so much. Low-altitude mayhem over beaches, quays and jetties. The Pacific Theatre's innate contrast of tropical idyll and burning metal via gorgeous Raizing pixel art. It's like a non-meh Ghost Pilots. Those CPS2 attract modes always fire me up.

Spoiler

You just encapsulated how I feel about 1944 AND Ghost Pilots in a single sentence. Bless you.

I'm hoping they look at another pack in the future, so we can see Mars Matrix. Would also be nice to get Eco Fighters in there, at some point.

[BIL]

Ah, Ghost Pilots. Lacks a Hishouzame or Raiden's painterly stagecraft, being as stubbornly unremarkable a Toaplan knockoff as they come. But it does have one helluva mood. Some of my favourite non-Toaplan/Raizing/Seibu trees, dirt n' gunmetal. That wicked title and customarily arresting early Neo Game Over screen, too. Poor Seaplane won't float so good if you run afoul of MONSTER 500MM VULCAN FIRE

[Tarma]

While I welcome the news Capcom are doing this, I'm disappointed they've decided to go (on the face of it) with just the Switch.

Why they've given the PS4 / PS5 a steer is beyond me, as there must be a market for retro games on Sony consoles or else Hamster wouldn't keep churning out ACA releases, and M2 wouldn't bother porting their Shotriggers stuff.

[BIL]

Hopefully, those rumours will prove true, and this'll be a timed exclusive. It'd fit the profile of stuff like the Darius Cozmic Collection, which actually benefited from extensive patching before arriving on PS4 (to Darius Gaiden - previously shaky, now generally regarded as F3-perfect post-patch).

[OmegaFlareX]

A friend brought an STV over to a shmupmeet once with Guardian Force and Night Raid, fell in love.

Night Raid was on Taito G-Net hardware, not STV.