tl;dr review: Don't believe the DRM hating liars, Capcom Arcade Stadium does not have performance issues. The only issues CAS has is the game selection is meh and the whole thing is overpriced. Some are also missing their NA ROMs for ??? reasons. Not bad enough for a thumbs down, but not worth buying unless on sale.

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Like many people, I didn't buy Capcom Arcade Stadium due to all the negative reviews. I got it as part of a humble bundle and after messing around with CAS 1 and 2 for hours, here's what I've discovered with CAS 1:

There tends to be 3 types of negative reviews:

1. Apparently, when it first came out, CAS was in a pathetic state. I didn't own it then, so I don't know how bad. Capcom supposedly ironed out the worst issues since then. Many of these reviews WERE legit, but haven't been updated.

2. There are lots of bad reviews over Capcom adding DRM claiming this makes CAS run poorly. This is 100% BS. CAS runs just fine on my PC. I can only figure CAS runs poorly on a potato PC since it renders a fake arcade using RE Engine. These reviews are from loser communists and pirates who compulsively throw fits over DRM and will do and say anything to make games with DRM not sell. The current top 2 reviews are lazy copy pastes for Christ sake! I wouldn't be surprised if the 'poor performance' is due to getting the free game and hacking/modding CAS to play the rest. These are stupid people who shouldn't even care. Anyone can easily get MAME and play every Capcom arcade game for free.

3. Street Fighter 2 censorship. I agree with this one. Capcom, China's militant Communist government hates Japan and capitalism. Why would you censor E. Honda's stage and Hong Kong's flag to appease them? They're just going to steal what you're trying to sell there anyway. This makes you look like a spineless idiot!

Overall, this collection is a mixed bag. Numerous classics along with lots of trash that hasn't aged well. Many games included also appeared in the awful Cacpom Arcade Cabinet. I seem to remember those games not being emulated accurately. CAS' emulation is essentially 1:1 arcade perfect outside the idiotic censorship.

Nice things about this collection: 1:1 perfect emulation. save states and a rewind feature in real time. The fake arcade provides a nice, yet pointless aesthetic.

Bad things: Apparently, if you don't buy all the games, CAS will spam ads at you to buy the ones you don't own. The SF2 censorship is idiotic. No on-line multiplayer. Its missing a few NA ROMs. Where's SF2 RAINBOW EDITION, Capcom? Huh! Where is it?!?

that said, here are my thoughts on certain games in this collection:

((((( pre-CPS Capcom )))))
Early Capcom era. Capcom knew how to make games, but not how to make them fun. Most games from this era suck. This collection actually has the best ones.

Vulgus: Captain Commando himself personally told me this was Capcom's first video game released to arcades in 1984! Thank you, Captain Commando! Game sucks tho.

Ghosts and Goblins: Lots of people love this game. I don't like it since its harder than a witch's tit in winter.

1942: I'm not sure if this was a hit in NA arcades or not, but I did see it a lot. Its ok. Premise is weird for a Japanese developer tho.

Commando: Distinct arcade hit in NA when it came out. I stink at it and find it frustrating. Data East distributed it in NA for some reason.

Section Z: Sucks. Showcases Capcom's habit of making frustrating difficult not-fun arcade games and porting a more enjoyable version to the NES.

Tatakai no Banka: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, Capcom! You released this in NA as Trojan! You know what? Who cares, this game sucks anyway. NES one was better.

Bionic Commando: another example of the arcade version being ass and the NES version being different and better.

((((( CPS-1 era Capcom )))))
this is where Capcom began to make a name for themselves in arcades with genuinely good, fun games.

Forgotten Worlds: Capcom's 1st CPS game! This game needs a spinner for the authentic experience. BTW, if you actually have a Forgotten Worlds spinner, they're rare and quite valuable.

Ghouls and Ghosts: One of my favorite arcade games. Timeless classic for me.

Strider: Another timeless Capcom classic. Staff behind this game ♥♥♥♥♥♥ off to make a quasi-sequel for Mitchell Corp called Osman.

Final Fight: ANOTHER timeless Capcom classic. Certified hit in NA arcades. This is a game that briefly revitalized arcades in NA, but not as much as Street Fighter 2 did.

1941 Counter Attack: Decent. better than 1942

Senjo no Okami II: Capcom, buddy... You released this game in NA as Mercs you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ idiot. Where's the NA ROM? This aggravates me since Mercs is another arcade classic for me! Still enjoy it even if its in Japanese. >:(

Carrier Air Wing: Slightly obscure quasi-sequel to UN Squadron/Area 88. Its not bad. Almost as good as UN Squadron!

Street Fighter 2 + SF2 CE: 1:1 arcade perfect EXCEPT Capcom censored the background in E. Honda's stage for communist China while liars try to convince everyone this was done to please South Korea. If you believe this, there's a forbidden city in China no one wants I can sell you.

Street Fighter 2 Turbo: This literally exists because someone from Capcom played Street Fighter 2 Rainbow Edition and was like, "Oh.... everything's faster. And Chun Li has a fireball..." NO, Capcom. Rainbow Edition literally turns everyone into Shang Tsung and you can throw opponents into barely moving fireballs. Get the ♥♥♥♥ outta here!

Varth: bit of an obscure shooter, but pretty good.

(((( CPS-2 era Capcom ))))
This is when Capcom was in its prime and pretty much knew exactly what it was doing.... Sometimes too well!

Super Street Fighter 2 + SSF2 Turbo: ♥♥♥♥ this game. Not only does it cheat reading inputs, they changed Guile and the announcer's voice to sound like a gay game show host. Also E. Honda and Hong Kong censorship for China.

Powered Gear - Capcom... You released this in NA as Armored Warriors. So why didn't you include the NA ROM? You put the NA version is in your Beat Em Up Bundle, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! This is an awesome game I never saw in NA arcades.

Cyberbots - Never saw this in an arcade either. Only as a Jp import on Sega Saturn. A mash up of Street Fighter 2 and giant robots? Its fun! Not sure why it wasn't promoted more in NA.

19xx: Pretty good. The 194X games consistently get gooder each seuqel.

Battle Circuit: Weird, but fun beat em up. Never released outside of Japan. The character designs give me Gunstar Heroes vibes.

Giga Wing: Developed by Takumi, who has a schmup pedigree due to its staff. This is the first game I heard of referred to as a 'bullet hell'. I never saw it in NA arcades (they were mostly dead by this time) so this was a Dreamcast game to most people including myself. It can be frustrating, but its not bad. If you're not a freak who can fly in the tiny spaces between bullets, just clear the screen with a bomb.

To finish this up, its hard to pick just 'yes' or 'no'. There's plenty of reasons for both, the censorship and missing NA ROMs being a big case for 'no'. I don't quite get the a la carte model. This collection has some fantastic games along with some real stinkers. I don't know why they didn't just sell this as one whole collection especially since they moved on to CAS 2!

Overall, recommend just edges out not-recommend since this collection has some real bangers in it that are still good enough to drown out the mistakes. But again, I only recommend buying the whole thing while its on sale.

I'm not sure how well both CAS 1 and 2 sold. They only exist since the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle sold so well. But I'd honestly like to see more Capcom arcade collections with the games they kept making as arcades died in NA that no one got to play.

The worst and saddest thing is Capcom's best arcade games are licensed properties, so you'll never be able to play stuff like Aliens Vs. Predator unless you get MAME.

It's cool and all, but this is not a collection. This is 1943. If you want the rest of the games, you have to pay up.
Not that 1943 isn't good, but advertising this as a collection sucks.

I was thinking that it would have more games inside but it only comes with one and the others are purchased separately.