Negative reviews, is it really bad?

[Klapseninsasse]

I only see people complaining about the price in the comments. For people who've really bought it, is it really that bad? I have my finger on the buy button.

[rebelstar5]

You can see what it's like by trying the freebie game (1943).

Btw, it's currently £24.10 for the full 31 game pack on Fanatical.

[Klapseninsasse]

Nice thanks. About 30 games for that price seems reasonable.

[rebelstar5]

Personally I think it's pretty well put together.

[Klapseninsasse]

Yeah I bought it and I love it.

[Chelle]

Nothing wrong with any of it.

It is a retro parcel of nostalgia borne to serve it's purpose with us older types.

Personally I would also love to collect much older ones namely the late 70's to late 80's.

[themazingness]

It's a great retro collection.

The negative reviews are because people got the free game and rated it bad because of the bad marketing. It has positive reviews on console.

[Klapseninsasse]

Originally posted by rebelstar5:

I'm looking forward to getting on some of the high score tables, if possible (my reactions aren't as fast as they were back then).

I'm in the same boat, I would probably spend 50 bucks now in an arcade to finish a game.

[rebelstar5]

I was always more keen on the older games that didn't have the option 'insert more coins to continue', but I did play a few of these back in the day (some of the 19xx series, and Ghosts 'n Goblins).

So far I've only tried 1943, Vulgus, and Commando, and in score challenge mode (ie Limited lives, no continue option). Certainly plenty of options here.

[neildittmar]

This collection is fine and quite fun to play if you have even a passing interest in circa 1980s through late 1990s Capcom arcade games. For all three DLC "packs", I thought the price was quite fair too considering the amount of games on offer and, more importantly, the specific titles included.

Where this collection stumbles, and the aspect that seems to garner the most vitriol from the "Overwhelmingly Negative" collection of reviews, is in how it's pricing structure was presented. Upon release, games were listed as having individual pricing (~ $1.99 USD) yet could not (and from what I understand, still cannot) be purchased in that way. It seems individual pricing was only listed as a means to substantiate the "discount" received by purchasing one or all of the packs of games. I can understand where this was perceived as confusing at best and outright deceptive at worst. In my view, Capcom should've simply released all of the Arcade Stadium games in a single bundle at full price without the DLC "packs" or individual game mess.

Personally, my only real issue was with the choice of UI. The RE Engine seems overkill for this type of collection, especially in the face of Capcom's prior retro offerings like Beat-em-up Bundle and Street Fighter 30th Anniversary collection. These games had very simple, yet light and easy to navigate interfaces that didn't bring a lot of overhead. Compare to Arcade Stadium with it's steeper system demands, a feature set that I feel doesn't warrant the level of tech on display, and the occasional in-game hiccup or glitch due to the use of that technology. It's pretty for sure, but it doesn't make me think I'm "back in the arcade" by any stretch of the mind.

Overall, it's a great collection that will hopefully get greater if/when additional games are released for it.

[rebelstar5]

I just managed to crawl onto the bottom of the Vulgus score challenge table. That's actually a very good game. I have it on a PS1 Capcom Generations compilation, but I hardly bothered with it. These global high score tables make all the difference incentive-wise.

[Devin]

I think its great, just have 1943 and ghosts and goblins rn but im about to but the early years pack

[Daikatan]

For me, this release is 6/10 at best.

Pro:
- great arcade games from the past, some of them never had home releases
- they at least show controls and 1-2 tips for game

Contra:
- for now, only Makaimura is purchasable standalone, and 1943 comes free; other games sold in huge packs
- they run emulator inside a RE Engine; not a good decision optimization-wise, i get framedrops during screenshot making
- interface and navigation are far from perfect, there is no quick way to select a game instead of changing titles one by one, and also you have to go through several menu screens for basic functions
- they didn't include scans/photos of flyers/posters, also no detailed biographies for games or any other extra
- can't even have thematic frame borders for each game (perhaps it's dlc though)
- no online multiplayer presented, unlike Beatemup Bundle or D&D collection
- some more questionable decisions that may not matter to you at all

[rebelstar5]

Pros:-

- Easily the best retro. compilation I've tried on PC.
- Very well presented and put together.
- It works properly, unlike the SNK collection for example. No glitches encountered in my first 10 hours of play.
- Good value for money (Paid £22.89 for 31 games, or £0.74 per game).
- The Score Challenge mode is just my cup of tea.
- Plenty of options available.

Cons:-

- Some games missing that I'd like included (eg Exed Exes).
- No explanation of the on-screen 1/9 9999 or suchlike when playing Score Challenge. Also no way to omit it. Or at least I haven't found a way to do so yet.

[Vargas78]

This doesn't affect me but some people don't like that using the RE Engine to run the arcade as its interface means the games won't run as well on lower spec machines, when otherwise they'd have run fine on their low end PC.

[[-THEMIGHTYBOOSH-]]

no its not that bad .. what is bad .. is showing individual prices on the games .... then when you want to get the ONE or TWO you really want .. you got to pay for the whole bundle! ... so tbh untill then crapcon can go fu k them self`s