See the full list of changes coming to all 8 games here
Capcom fighting game fans woke up to a treat Tuesday morning as the company announced its second amalgamation of old school fighting games bundled together in the Capcom Fighting Collection 2. Eight different titles with debut dates between 1998 and 2004 are to be included in the Collection, but these games will have a few tweaks made to them.
The majority of these alterations (which are all listed below for your convenience) appear to exist to expedite experiences or make hidden characters playable from the start, but a number involve changes to visuals, and one involves their removal entirely.
The main protagonist of the Darkstalkers franchise, Demitri Maximoff, appears as a playable character in 2004’s Capcom Fighting Evolution. Demitri’s most iconic move is called Midnight Bliss and it sees the vampire grab his foe, exclaim “come on, baby,” and transform them briefly into an alternate version of themselves.
Each character has a different transformation (some even have rare secondary ones) and while some are fun Easter egg references aimed at deep cuts from a particular character’s backstory, the lion’s share turn characters into scantily-clad females. Demitri finishes the attack by then whipping his cape in front of his foe as the screen goes dark, rapid hit sound effects play, and their health bar depletes.
It’s been a full 20 years since Fighting Evolution dropped and sensibilities have surely changed since. While we don’t yet know which will be gone, the line “Removed some character transformations from Demitri’s Midnight Bliss,” is listed under the changes for Fighting Evolution.
Midnight Bliss has appeared in a handful of games and, save for in Namco x Capcom wherein it didn’t cause transformations to happen, has always been a little bit of a racy move; all transformation animations depict females and most are clearly sexualized. One has to wonder which visuals Capcom feels are unfit for modern times, but there are a few that stand out for various reasons.
Guile shows the most skin as he becomes a woman in an American flag bikini, but we’d be somewhat surprised if this wound up on the cutting room floor. Ryu’s transformation is another story, however, as he turns into the young Indian girl from Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie.
Capcom might view having a character jump between races and skin colors as a potential can of worms they don’t want to deal with in 2024, and so this could be one of visuals that’s removed. The other potentially problematic transformation is Urien’s as he turns into a young girl dressed for the Fukuoka Oiyama Race.
Said race is a rite of passage for Japanese men in Fukuoka and serves as the climax of the yearly Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival. Participants wear shimekomi fundoshi (traditional Japanese underwear) mizu happi (short jacket) which are a little on the revealing side.
The issue may come in with the fact that the Oiyama Race is open only to men, boys and young girls, but not women. This implies that the character Urien becomes is very young, which could be seen as problematic considering all that Midnight Bliss entails.
We’ll have to wait for Capcom Fighting Collection 2’s 2025 release before we’ll be able to confirm which Midnight Bliss animations have been removed, but you can view all of them via the video from Xenomic immediately below. We’ve also included all listed changes for all eight titles in Fighting Collection 2 so you can review them.
Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro (2001)
• Some stage visuals have been altered.
• Stage music can now be changed in the EX Settings.
• Choose from the game’s original music or nostalgic tracks from other Capcom and SNK arcade titles.
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 (2001)
• You can now switch between versions of the game via the EX Settings. Select Original to play the arcade version, or select EO Version to play the Capcom vs SNK 2 EO version. Note: Roll canceling into a move does not grant invincibility in the EO version. Note: EO-ism and GC-ism cannot be used.
• Evil Ryu, Orochi Iori, Shin Akuma, and Ultimate Rugal are now playable. They can be accessed via Game Settings > EX Settings > Hidden Characters.
• EX Settings include a Same Character Selection option. By enabling it, two or more of the same character can be on the same team.
Capcom Fighting Evolution (2004)
• Removed some character transformations from Demitri’s Midnight Bliss.
• Shin Akuma and Pyron are now playable. They can be accessed via Game Settings > EX Settings > Hidden Characters.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper (2001)
• The English version has been built using the Japanese version’s data as a base.
• Some stage visuals have been altered.
• Shin Akuma and Final M. Bison are now playable. They can be accessed via Game Settings > EX Settings > Hidden Characters.
Power Stone (1999)
• The appearance of certain characters during their endings has been changed.
• Kraken and Valgas are now playable. They can be accessed via Game Settings > EX Settings > Hidden Characters.
Power Stone 2 (2000)
• Pride and Mel are now playable. They can be accessed via Game Settings > EX Settings > Hidden Characters.
Project Justice (2000)
• Changed certain visuals during the story.
• Pre-made Edit Characters can now be used in matches. They can be accessed via Game Settings > EX Settings > Edit Characters. Note: Edit Characters cannot be created in game.
Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein (1998)
• Changed certain visuals during the story.
• Changed the appearance of certain stages.
• Kaede and Rai-on are now playable. They can be accessed via Game Settings > EX Settings > Hidden Characters.