Summary
Capcom has been doing well over the last few years because of its tight reveal-to-launch ratio.Resident EvilandMonster Hunterare two great franchises that have been following this track of launching within a year of their announcements. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case with the recently announcedMonster Hunter Wildswhich has a tentative 2025 release window.
Is that going to be a trend going forward? Also, are these the only two franchises that Capcom cares about anymore? There are so many of their classics that fans would love to see come back. If Sega can do it with games likeCrazy TaxiandShinobithen so too can Capcom.
Bionic Commandobegan in the arcades like many Capcom franchises which featuringa cyborg warriorwith a grappling arm. This was in 1987 and there were a few console and portable ports and original games after this. The final game,Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, was released in 2011 as a digital exclusive to platforms like the PS3. That game was 2D and was more in line with how the series began, but Capcom published a more ambitious 3D game in 2009 that tanked hard. That 2009 reboot is probably why confidence in the series floundered and why it has been dead for over a decade.
Almost every major Japanese company in the 80s and 90s has at least one RPG franchise under their belt. Capcom’s wasBreath of Firewhich began in 1993 for the SNES in Japan and a year later for the West. There were two games on SNES which also got ports to the Game Boy Advance, and then two PS1 games. The fifth and final console game wasBreath of Fire: Dragon Quarterin 2003 in North America, a year after Japan. Even though mobile games don’t count and will rarely be mentioned on this list, this franchise is special. See, in 2016 Capcom released the next numbered sequel,Breath of Fire 6, as a free-to-play mobile game. In 2017 it ceased operations which is wild on many levels.
Resident Evilquickly took Capcom to new levels when the first game was released on the PS1 in 1996. It got numerous sequels and spinoffs quickly and has since gone on to be a huge deal for Capcom. They even made attempts to make clones internallylikeDino Crisisin 1999.
Instead of zombies, players fought dinosaurs in a similarResident Evilgameplay style. This game then got a PS1, PS2, and original Xbox sequel which was the last game as of 2003 which wildly took the series into space.
It’s hard to know where to start with this series as the last new game overall,Mega Man 11, was in 2018 and that’s not counting collections or ports.Mega Man Legendsis the internet darling though and has quite a distressing history with Capcom, so let’s begin here. This spinoff series started in 1997 on PS1 in Japan and then it came over here a year later on PS1. It got a spinoff soon after,The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, and then a proper sequel in 2000. It has a notorious cliffhanger ending that fans have been dying to see answered for decades. There was hope for answers whenMega Man Legends 3was announced for the 3DS but it was canceled in 2011.
Okamiwas a legit challengetoThe Legend of Zeldafranchise which proved to be a critical darling when it was released in 2006 on the PS2. Part of the charm was the watercolor art style and the wolf protagonist which helped it stand out from otherZeldaclones. It took a while but it did eventually get a sequel in 2011, in North America, for the DS and it was calledOkamiden. The original game has been ported and remastered more times than one can count but the DS sequel has remained obscure ever since as have plans for a third installment.The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdompaved the way for a slew of copycats to follow and it would be interesting to see a more openOkamisequel in this style.
Onimushais another internal Capcom attempt at making a new horror franchise to rivalResident Evil. This one took place in feudal Japan and centered onsamurai fighting demons. The first game was released in 2001 on the PS2, which was remastered in 2018.
It had a good run for five years with sequels and spinoffs aplenty. The last real game was in 2006, also on PS2, which wasOnimusha: Dawn of Dreams. Besides that game and the 2018 remaster of the original, Capcom did give the rights to have an anime made in 2023 for Netflix. As for games, nothing has been mentioned for quite some time.
Stridertechnically started before there were video games as there was a manga in 1988. That manga then got turned into a Capcom classic series that began in arcades in 1989 which is also when the first NES game was released. There would be a smattering of console games after this up until the PS1 era. Things died off until 2014 which is when the last game, simply titledStrider, was released digitally. The genres differed between sequels slightly as some were pureninja action gameswhile others were Metroidvania adjacent experiences.
Viewtiful Joedebuted in 2003 and quickly got a sequel in 2004. Then, in 2005, there were two spinoffs akaViewtiful Joe: Double TroubleandViewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble. And that’s where things left off, not counting the anime which was also short-lived. It’s amazing that a series could start and end in a few years, but here we are. The things players enjoyed about the two main games were the cel-shaded visuals, combat with slow-mo action, and the silly story straight out of aPower Rangersepisode.
