Review RossBonaime 3/5 · Jul 2, 2025
One of the things I really love about Capcom's fighting game in the 90s and early 2000s is that if something didn't work as well as they hoped, quite often, they would revamp the game they had already made. Street Fighter II was famous for having five different versions (and even more later on), Street Fighter III didn't get good …
One of the things I really love about Capcom's fighting game in the 90s and early 2000s is that if something didn't work as well as they hoped, quite often, they would revamp the game they had already made. Street Fighter II was famous for having five different versions (and even more later on), Street Fighter III didn't get good until Third Strike, and Darkstalkers didn't hit its stride until Darkstalkers 3. If at first they didn't succeed as well as they liked, they'd try and try again.
I say that because Capcom Fighting Evolution is such a cool idea, and I wish that Capcom had given this game another go. This is a very intriguing way for Capcom to mash-up their various fighting game franchise together, and I love to see them throwing in Darkstalkers, Street Fighter, and even Red Earth characters into one game. Another thing I love about Capcom and their mash-up fighting games is their decision to just throw in as many strange characters from their back catalogue as they can, and sometimes, it even helps revive that franchise.
But beyond throwing all these characters into one game, Capcom Fighting Evolution doesn't ensure that they all mesh together as well as they should. These don't feel like different franchise characters united into a different game, this feels like the characters and mechanics of several games slapped together for fun. I wish this took more care to give this title its own presentation and unity, but it's completely mashed together in a way that waters down how enjoyable this wild idea should be.