When it comes to fighting games, it is inevitable that there are loads of people who are going to disagree about which ones are the best since each franchise and iteration within them can vary wildly. While over the years I’ve dabbled in the likes of Tekken, Killer Instinct, and various titles in the Mortal Kombat series, I’ll absolutely admit that games with ties to Street Fighter have always been my personal favorites.

While there were different Capcom fighters that were outside of the Street Fighter mold, most notably the Darkstalkers series, I just didn’t fully latch onto them. Then, with the release of X-Men: Children of the Atom, where Capcom managed to pull some of the characters from Marvel’s iconic X-Men team and its villains into the fold, I started to get intrigued. It seems that Capcom was feeling the vibe as well, then continuing on with Marvel Super Heroes and gathering more momentum. From there, it feels like the rest is history, with Capcom then beginning to blend its own iconic characters into the mix, starting with its Street Fighter roster and then even branching into some of its other classic games and their characters, also moving from 1-on-1, to 2-on-2, then even to 3-on-3 battles in order to continue to up the ante, variety of potential match-ups, and excitement factors.

This collection absolutely celebrates that growth and progression from its pretty humble beginnings with a mere roster of 10 mutants in X-Men: Children of the Atom to the staggering 56 characters to choose from in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. With each new game not only were there new characters to choose from, which each already had their own styles of play, but also new techniques, and strategies surrounding the choice of your team… and that’s before getting into the continued improvements to the games with both outstanding art and game design. By the time you then throw in the excellent beat-em-up The Punisher (which I’d say is only eclipsed by the amazing Aliens Vs. Predator among Capcom’s best in the genre), online play, training options, and enough associated artwork and other assets to make any video game preservationist smile… and this is a collection that’s hard not to view as an absolute embarrassment of riches.