Capcom Fighting Evolution is seemingly designed to settle the arguments of hardcore gamers: Could Kenji from Red Earth take out M. Bison from Street Fighter II? What about Felicia from Darkstalkers versus Chun-Li from the Street Fighter franchise? All theories can be proved or disproved in Capcom Fighting Evolution, which brings together popular characters from five of Capcom's fighting games: Street Fighter II, III, and Alpha, plus Darkstalkers and Red Earth. Thrown into the mix is a new character, Ingrid, who supposedly comes from a Capcom game that the company never released. The overall premise of Capcom Fighting Evolution is particularly tantalizing for nostalgic purposes, especially for people who spent a lot of time with Street Fighter II on the Super Nintendo system more than a decade ago.
In spite of the graphics, which are almost laughably simple by today's standards, the games have aged well; Capcom Fighting Evolution maintains the addictive charm of the games that comprise it. On top of that, it's just cool to play characters from different games in different backgrounds, e.g., Ryu from Street Fighter taking on Hydron from Red Earth in front of a Red Earth background. It'd also be cool if Capcom just made the old games available for updated platforms (like Nintendo has), but mixing their ingredients this way both satisfies nostalgic urges and offers new challenges.