There’s no getting around it; I’m absolutely awful at fighting games, no matter how hard I try or how many special moves I can keep in my short term memory (spoiler: not many at all).

Yet I’ve always enjoyed playing them, and Capcom Fighting Collection is a compilation of stone cold classics, which show that Capcom have (since the release of Street Fighter II at least) always been at the very top of the pile when it comes to one-on-one fighting games.

The full list of games included is as follows:

• Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors
• Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge
• Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire
• Vampire Hunter 2: Darkstalkers’ Revenge
• Vampire Savior 2: The Lord of Vampire
• Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
• Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix
• Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness
• Red Earth

It’s refreshing that the countless versions or sequels and prequels to Street Fighter II aren’t here (they have their very own, dedicated collection after all), and instead we get an Anniversary Edition of SFII.

Everything else shows just how incentive Capcom were with their fighting games in the 90s; the sheer creativity and diversity between titles is pretty jaw dropping.

The inclusion of Street Fighter II-based gem matching title Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is a bit baffling, but definitely not unwelcome, because it’s an absolutely fantastic game.

Most games can be played as their English or Japanese versions, aside from Vampire Hunter 2: Darkstalkers’ Revenge and Vampire Savior 2: The Lord of Vampire, both of which are Japanese only, but it’s great to see the underrated Darkstalkers series here, as well represented as it is in this collection.

The stunning Red Earth, which has some genuinely incredible pixel art and animation that feels streets ahead of visually similar titles even now, is a very welcome inclusion. It’s overlooked and feels obscure, but the 1996 title is a genuinely beautiful and innovative fighter, which also has some impressively enormous characters to fight too!

The museum of production images, art and other historical information is almost worth the price of admission alone; I’ve found myself browsing the history of these games an awful lot. Of course, the pixel art visuals of the games themselves once more show a developer absolutely at the top of their game, and Capcom’s fighting games have aged beautifully in this regard.

It’s also worth mentioning that there’s some concessions to modern gameplay and beginners too, which is really thoughtful. Save states and simplified control schemes are available for each game, as is local and online multiplayer.

Fighting game fans are well served by Capcom’s various collections, and this is right up there with the best of them. There’s some genuinely underrated gems here, along with the fantastic (but definitely not a fighting game) Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo.

Even for me, as bad as I am at fighting games, this is an absolutely essential collection.