5 Capcom Franchises That Should Return to Make Gamers Happy

Capcom managed to overcome a dramatic crisis by concentrating its development teams on creating fewer but higher quality games. The strategy worked out for them. Today they have profits and financial results that confirm that the decisions that were made with the Capcom franchises were good. But they have achieved that survival by settling in and not taking risks.

However, there is always hope for classic Capcom franchises. The fans demand that these series return. Some of them, like Dino Crisis, could become big hits again.

Dino Crisis – One of the Capcom franchises that should definitely return

The best thing that could happen is that Capcom announces a new Dino Crisis right at this moment and this article becomes obsolete in its publication. Yes, it has to happen soon. We would be very happy! But Capcom is not sure about it. We are aware that the company remembers the game, because it usually makes references to the franchise, but a new game? Nothing of that at all.

A few days ago, Capcom celebrated the 23th anniversary of the series and even mentioned it on social networks. There are also rumors of the arrival of the first Dino Crisis to the PlayStation Plus classics. But Capcom needs a new Dino Crisis or at least a remake of the original two episodes.

Dino Crisis has one of Capcom’s best heroines

Dino Crisis was inspired by Resident Evil to offer a survival horror with huge dinosaurs. It had it all: good graphics, creepy creatures, a top female lead, and a good storyline. Now that Jurassic World is all the rage, it would be the perfect time for Capcom to develop another dinosaur game. Years ago, Capcom officially said that there would be a new Dino Crisis “If a lot of people wish”. However, it is difficult to know what will happen.

We also have to understand Capcom: the first two games were successful, but then came a light gun shooter, a mobile game and a third installment in the first Xbox that buried the series.

Onimusha – The samurai wants another chance to save the world

There are many players who request the return of the samurai and the onis as one of the most remembered Capcom franchises. It reached such a high popularity in the PlayStation 2 generation, that it is incomprehensible that it has disappeared in that way. But Capcom remastered the first game on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows and sales weren’t spectacular.

They even released in Japan an expensive collector’s edition to get money from fans. That litmus test possibly made Capcom see that now is not the time to bring back Onimusha. But was it really a fair test? It’s hard to believe.

Onimusha featured actors such as Takeshi Kaneshiro and Jean Reno

One thing Capcom always said when it decided to stop the Onimusha franchise and not bring it to PlayStation 3, was that the samurai genre had burned out. And they were right. But nowadays, with the success of games like Ghost of Tsushima and Sekiro, the logic would be for Onimusha to return. One of the problems is that the series has a fantastic trilogy, but an unnumbered fourth installment that was quite disappointing. That’s where the development of the series stopped.

Let’s cross our fingers for Onimusha to come back. In addition to its first three PlayStation 2 games, Game Boy Advance’s Onimusha Tactics (not so much the pachi-slot released on PS2) is highly recommended.

Darkstalkers – The fighting series with terrifying and exotic monsters

The recent Capcom Fighting Collection has given us the chance to once again enjoy playing with Morrigan, Demitri, Lilith and the other characters in this 2D fighting game series with popular Capcom franchises. It’s another game that the people is asking Capcom to bring back immediately.

In recent weeks, loyal Darkstalkers fans have started unofficially organizing to generate big sales of the Capcom Fighting Collection. The idea was: “if the game sells a lot, Capcom will see that there is interest in Darkstalkers and they will make a new installment”. But that plan has gone awry for two reasons. The first: the content of the series (incomprehensible) in this compilation has been censored. An illustration of Morrigan and Lilith has magically disappeared, and some secret endings have also been removed. And the second: Capcom has gone ahead to say that the sales of this compilation will not influence anything in the decision to recover Darkstalkers.

Therefore, the situation does not look good. It may very well be a long time before we see Darkstalkers again. Would the game support the move to 3D as has happened with other Capcom franchises? That is a tricky question. Not all fighting games are in the position of Street Fighter to move to more modern graphics and maintain its gameplay. In particular, you have to remember that Darkstalkers has very cartoony visuals, which may make things difficult. On the other hand, the general public no longer recognizes its characters, except Morrigan, of course, and sales may be reduced.

The return of Samurai Shodown proved that anything is possible, but Capcom would have to work very hard for this fighting game to succeed again. We’d love another Darkstalkers, though come to think of it, maybe the franchise is better off the way it is.

Final Fight – An action legend who still has thousands of fans

We are at a time where every company is releasing 2D beat ’em up games which are getting, by the looks of it, more than decent sales volume. Streets of Rage is back. The Ninja Turtles are back. And it is also the golden age of the Kunio-kun game series, which through spinoffs and compilations has made everyone remember the days of River City Ransom (or Street Gangs or Renegade, depending on the place and time).

What Capcom is doing with Final Fight is painful. We already know that Street Fighter 6 will take place in Metro City, the city of Final Fight. Why not develop a new game now? Most likely, Capcom is setting too high levels of quality and that has led them to decide not to produce games with 2D aesthetics. And, in this context, they sure don’t want to invest in a big budget Final Fight in 3D.

Final Fight would be a great success if it came back keeping the 2D graphics

But the solution should not be to leave the series forgotten. All fans of Haggar, Cody, Guy and company would go crazy (“shut up and take my money” meme level) if a new Final Fight with pixel graphics was presented with a new story, all the characters of the franchise and the presence of some Street Fighter fighters as guests. If Guy and Cody have been in Street Fighter in their own right, it’s obvious that Street Fighter characters can do the same. It would not be the first time that two Capcom franchises have crossed paths with good results.

It is possible that the campaign mode of Street Fighter 6 has some superior nod to Final Fight and that it can be considered a pseudo-sequel to the series of beat ’em up games. We will have to wait to see it.

Disney Games – When Capcom was the king of platform games

We don’t know who to convince at Disney, but a meeting between Mickey Mouse’s company and Capcom agents should help bring the magic back to consoles. How long has it been since Capcom last collaborated with Disney? Does anyone remember how awesome their games were? These games are part of our childhood!

Disney enjoyed one of its best times thanks to its collaboration with Capcom. Games like Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Disney’s Aladdin, the Disney’s Magical Quest game series, DuckTales, the fantastic Goof Troop and various sequels, among others, were born from this joint work. Some of these games have been recently collected or have had remasters. The Disney Afternoon Collection was released digitally, the Aladdin game was made playable on the Game Boy Advance, and DuckTales was also recently brought back.

Disney Games like Aladdin or DuckTales were great games in their time

The last time Capcom and Disney collaborated was on The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, an excellent game that provided a lot of fun. But it shouldn’t be the last game Capcom develops with Disney characters.

Now that Disney has re-licensed its brands, Capcom would do well to once again develop games featuring its characters. And as we said when talking about Final Fight, they don’t have to be 3D titles. Everyone would love a 2D platformer based on Encanto or any other animated movie produced by Disney becoming part of the Capcom franchises again.