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There's so much to love about Capcom Fighting Collection. However, seeing ten classic fighting games updated for the twenty-first century with rollback-netcode-enabled online play is a significant plus! Furthermore, with such a massive assortment of games, finding a match is quick and straightforward.

Related: Capcom Fighting Collection: How To Unlock Secret Characters In Each Game

So, what do you need to do to start playing Capcom Fighting Collection online? Not much. You can jump straight into matches as long as you have a stable internet connection. And with so many options available, you don't want to miss out on this action!

Breaking Down The Online Play Modes

Capcom Fighting Collection's Online Play modes: featuring Casual Match, Ranked Match, Custom Match, and Ranked Leaderboard.

Capcom Fighting Collection's online offerings are standard for the genre. Here are the modes you can play.

  • Casual Match: This mode is for friendly matches that do not affect player rank.
  • Ranked Match: This is a competitive mode where players fight in matches to earn league points and increase in rank.
  • Custom Match: This mode allows players to create lobbies with customized game rules. Players can create a lobby, join someone else's lobby, or find a lobby via ID. Note: When playing over a Local Connection (console to console) on Nintendo Switch, this mode is the primary means of matchmaking.
  • Ranked Leaderboard: This mode displays player leaderboards based on the League Points (LP) earned in Ranked Matches.

Searching For A Match

A Casual Match Search including the games Cyberbots, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, and Red Earth in Capcom Fighting Collection.

While Capcom Fighting Collection's online modes are precedent, the intuitive features of its matchmaking are unprecedented. For instance, searching for matches is highly accessible, making the whole experience smoother. Here's how it works.

Setting Your Search Criteria

  • Select Your Games: One of the most remarkable features of Capcom Fighting Collection's online modes is the ability to search for matches across multiple games simultaneously. To do this, mark the logos of the games you wish to play.
    • Game rules in Ranked and Casual matches are pre-set and cannot get changed. Still, if you wish to review these rules, highlight the game in question and press the Check Rules button.
  • Select Game Version: This option lets you choose to search for the English version of each game, the Japanese version, or both.
  • Cross-region Matchmaking: Enabling this feature lets you play against players outside your online region (i.e., North America vs. Japan, etc.).
  • One-button Special Moves: This option lets you choose whether to enable or disable the one-button special move controller mappings. You can also decide to search for matches that support either option. Note: Ranked Matches do not allow one-button special moves.

The Matchmaking Process

A New Online Challenger approaches during a standby game of Red Earth in Capcom Fighting Collection.
  • Standby: Once you confirm all of your choices, you can choose to wait for an opponent by various means.
    • Basic Standby: Stay in the online menu while waiting for opponents.
    • In-game Standby: Play arcade or training mode while waiting for opponents.
    • Museum Standby: Browse the artwork and music in the museum while waiting for opponents.
  • Match Start: Once online matchmaking finds an opponent, a message stating "Here comes a new challenger" will appear. Then you will see the game you have found a match for and the opponent's user ID. Upon confirmation of both players, the match will begin.
  • Match End: After your match concludes, a results screen will confirm the winner. Additionally, Ranked Matches will display League Points earned or lost. Finally, each player can decide to rematch or leave the session. The session will end if one player leaves or both have fought three successive matches.

Related: Things You Didn't Know About The Capcom Fighting Collection

Custom Match Lobbies

A Custom Lobby, labeled "Everyone Is Welcome!" in Capcom Fighting Collection.

Ranked and Casual matches are excellent choices for quick matchmaking. However, if you wish to play an extended session with other players, you should join or create a lobby in Custom Match.

Create A Lobby

The criteria you can set when creating a lobby are as follows:

  • Game: You can choose one of the ten games from the collection or set this option to Any to switch between games mid-lobby sessions.
  • Game Version: This option lets you choose if you wish to play the English or Japanese version of the game.
  • Cross-region Matchmaking: This option lets you decide whether players from outside your online region can join your lobby.
  • Comment: This setting lets you select a pre-made comment that summarizes the intention and tone of the lobby. Some examples include "Everyone is welcome!", "Beginners, unite!" and "Advanced Players only!"
  • Event Mode: This setting indicates whether the lobby will follow Quick Match or Arcade Style settings.
  • One-button Special Moves: This setting decides whether to permit or disable the use of one-button special move inputs in your lobby.
  • Victory Condition: This option sets the number of matches one must win to win the set.
  • Number of Players: This value determines how many players can join the lobby.
  • Game Start Privilege: This option sets whether the host or challenger can start the game.
  • Passcode: If you wish to restrict who can join your lobby, you can set a passcode required for entry. Note: this four-digit passcode is different from the six-digit lobby ID.

Joining A Lobby

There are two ways you can join a lobby. The first option is searching for a lobby from custom criteria. The options you can employ for lobby searching are the following:

  • Game
  • Game Version
  • Cross-region Matchmaking
  • Comment
  • Event Mode
  • One-button Special Moves

The second option for joining a lobby is searching for a Lobby ID. A Lobby ID is the six-digit ID number located in the upper-right hand corner of the lobby's UI.

How To Change The Input Delay

The Input Delay is set to four in Capcom Fighting Collection's Network Settings.

Suppose you play an online match and notice the game lagging, whether it be choppy frames or skipping music. In this case, you need to increase the Input Delay.

You can change this setting by entering Options and choosing Network. Then, set the qualitative value between one and ten. Increasing Input Delay will help your online matches run more consistently. However, too much delay will increase the time between your controller input and the command's activation in the game, making your controller response feel too slow.

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