Amid the growing trend of remasters and retro game compilations, it’s often acknowledged that some aspects of once-lauded titles may not have aged well. This doesn’t necessarily diminish its significance or enjoyment, but playing a game like the original Tomb Raider in 2026 certainly requires adjusted expectations for those accustomed to modern quality-of-life features. However, there are also games that aren’t good from the start, and repackaging them in HD resolution and adding an auto-save feature doesn’t necessarily fix their mediocrity.
Preservation Challenges and Presentation Quality
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Limited Run Games is known as a publisher that actively digs back old titles that may not be in high demand. Their latest collection, Fighting Force Collection, is an example of how not all classic games are ‘classics’ in a positive sense. Many past titles reviewed and sold poorly, making restoration and remastering efforts for modern platforms difficult to justify, except for the sole purpose of game media preservation.
Regardless of the quality of the game itself, the importance of preservation should not be discriminatory. However, with a collection like the Fighting Force Collection, there’s little chance of enthusiastic nostalgia fans, let alone any reason for newcomers to give it a try. According to AcehGround, the Fighting Force IP is at best only a niche curiosity for dedicated game historians. These games are sorely lacking in gameplay fluidity and design flow.
Before discussing each title further, it should be noted that the preservation efforts made here are very minimal, and they even tend to have bugs in some parts. The menu layout and game launcher have a presentation like an open-source emulator. While Limited Run did a great job with the Gex Collection, the presentation efforts here are the exact opposite. Even the included concept art gallery doesn’t offer much, a disappointment considering Fighting Force’s otherwise quite interesting development history.
Fighting Force 1: From Failed Streets of Rage 4 to Clumsy 3D Brawler
Fighting Force was originally designed as a SEGA Saturn exclusive, and wasn’t even going to be named Fighting Force. The project was originally intended to be Streets of Rage 4, a full 3D entry to the franchise. A search reveals early builds and promotional material for it, but a deal between SEGA and developer Core Design failed to materialize. This decision proved to be the right one, as the real Streets of Rage 4 was finally released in 2020 and became one of the best beat ’em up games ever made.
The game that had the potential to tarnish SEGA’s IP ended up being a mediocre 3D beat ’em up game with awkward ‘tank’ controls and a combat system that felt unwieldy. The hype surrounding its release was noteworthy, with lots of magazine hype and promising early reviews, but the end result was a game that not many people enjoyed, and now feels even worse to play. Even though there are guns, pistols, and big explosions, the gameplay mechanics barely allow players to mix up attacks in an intuitive way. Later, SEGA succeeded in translating the beat ’em up experience into 3D very well when it released Die Hard Arcade.
Fighting Force 2: Unsuccessful Reinvention of a Genre
As a sequel, Fighting Force 2 chooses not to continue the design of its predecessor. Instead, it tries an entirely new genre with an action-adventure approach, borrowing elements from contemporary games like Metal Gear Solid and Siphon Filter. While the original game had four characters as street fighters, Fighting Force 2 only features Hawk Manson as a mercenary involved in high-risk missions. The change in character from street fighter in jeans to military mercenary feels very odd, just like the failure of this destined IP reinvention.
The character doesn’t work well. The addition of new level design options and weapons actually makes the experience worse. The close-quarters combat remains sluggish, and the boring ‘tank’ controls make levels feel very hard to complete, with most missions dragging on until the game’s pace slows to a snail’s pace. There’s very little to engage players when the core gameplay is so awkward, with little variation in repetitive level design to reward the player’s persistence and curiosity. Every room is filled with enemy encounters, and the adventure segments are a struggle due to the poor camera and controls. This isn’t something you’ll want to spend an afternoon on, despite the attempted variety in the action segments and the extensive weapon selection.
Conclusion: A Difficult Collection to Recommend
The worst part is that neither of these two games are presented in their best form for this collection. The rushed and bug-ridden emulation means that the effort put into this is just the bare minimum to make the games work. Fighting Force Collection brings together two failed 3D projects in a collection that is easily one of Limited Run Games’ weakest products.
- Positive Aspects:
- Preservation value: Keeping two late 90s titles accessible on modern platforms.
- Historical curiosity: Provides insight into the direction Streets of Rage 4 is leaving Core Design.
- Concept art gallery: Provides a brief overview of the game’s development history.
- Negative Aspects:
- Awkward combat: A sluggish melee combat system and limited combo freedom make combat repetitive.
- Tank controls: Outdated movement and camera design slows down the pace of the game.
- Weak emulation: Performance and interface feel like a basic open source wrapper.
date:2026-02-11 17:52:00
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