This is the second and lesser of the two CCC's released on the PSP. First off, the format is nowhere near as good as Remixed. Digital Eclipse’s logo seems to be absent from the box and I couldn’t find them in the credits (nor could I find the credits on this one, mysteriously, I honestly don’t think they’re included), leading me to believe it was handled by someone else. Each of the games are, just like with Remixed, easily available as soon as you pop the disc in. High scores are still kept, multiplayer is still intact, controls are still easily customizable, et cetera. However, they’ve done away with the achievement system. The unlockables are still there, but unlocking them is now asinine. In place of the achievements, they have added a “token” system. Depending on how many times you’ve completed games, how long you’ve played, how many points you got, and many other factors, you get a certain amount of tokens after you finish playing a game. These tokens may be dispensed in a game of slots, and by winning, you are rewarded with music, artwork, information, and also “cheats” you can activate, which were absent from the last game.

Street Fighter II: Was it really necessary to include three damn near identical versions of SFII? I say no.

While this may sound like a neat idea, the time you’ll need to spend playing slots to unlock even a small portion of these extras is freaking ludicrous. You can play the slots for hours and hours (literally, the sad part is that I’m not exaggerating), and still not have but a fraction of the unlockables, and it’s incredibly boring. In addition to that, tokens just pool in, so collecting them isn’t rewarding, either. Each time you complete a game, you’re given an additional 3,000 tokens. Say you beat five games, right? That would equate to 15,000 tokens. Now, for whatever reason, you receive that amount of tokens every time you stop playing a game. That means that if you simply start playing any game on the compilation then quit it, you’re instantly given 15,000 tokens, which makes hardly any sense. Chun-Li and Zangief do show up on the slot machine, but they unfortunately do not alleviate any of the extreme boredom. Once again, the games emulate extremely well, just like last time. Difficulties are adjustable, multiplayer is intact just like it was on the arcade originals with wireless play, so on and so forth.

Knights of the Round: Lucky for Capcom (and us) that the story of King Arthur is public domain. If it wasn't, this game wouldn't be included.

This time, the selection isn’t quite as good, and relies a little too heavily on particular series. Three versions of Street Fighter II that are nearly identical (none of them come with the 4 extra fighters that were later added, such as Cammy) are a waste, 1943 and 1943 Kai are nearly the same game, and the G'NG games mostly appeal to a “hardcore” niche (I fall in it, but many people don’t). Many of these titles are Capcom’s really old titles, too, which haven’t aged quite as well as the selection on Remixed has. Knights of the Round and The King of Dragons are two fun beat ‘em up highlights of this collection, and Eco Fighters is a neat little shmup I’d never played before, but honestly, this collection is primarily for hardcore Capcom fans.

Eco Fighters: Hey, wait a minute. Fish ships? Have we crossed over into Darius?

Worth the purchase: It depends. Few of the titles took me by surprise, I’d pass unless you really love Capcom.

Diversity: Unless you love G'NG, the 194X games and Street Fighter II, it could really use some work.

Playability: Just like Remixed, fantastic, no need to worry about emulation problems here. The token system is quite lame for the unlockables, though.

Hidden gems: Eco Fighters is the biggest one, but if you’re a Knights of the Round fan, The King of Dragons qualifies as a pretty worthy one too.

Screenshots courtesy of The Killer List of Videogames.