Summary
Monster Hunter Wildsis quickly becoming Capcom‘s best-selling game in recent history. There are a lot of people that really love the series and this one is clicking more so than many others, even though there are some debates online whether or not it is too easy. That could be one reason why a lot of people are jumping into the series for the first time though. After all, this similar situation happened withFire Emblem Awakeningon the 3DS after it added a casual mode.
The series exploded after that and now it’s one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises. Capcom has made a lot of great multiplayer games besidesMonster Hunter Wildsand many have not been as successful. Let’s look back at some of them and see whether or not they should make a return in some form or another.
This list includes games either developed or published by Capcom.
Cannon Spikewas released in arcades in 2000, followed by a Sega Dreamcast port in that same year. It was a top-down shooter/brawler that crossed over characters from many Capcom franchises. Several characters fromStreet Fightermade it in like Cammy and Charlie along withMega Man from his titular series.
The roster wasn’t huge, but there were some neat nods to older franchises kind of forgotten by 2000. Players could get into the game alone or with a buddy in co-op, which the difficulty was designed around.
Mega Man Battle & Chasewas a PS1 racer that borrowed heavily from theSuper Mario Kartformula. Famous villains and heroes competed in wacky races with plenty of colorful stages and weapons. It was released only in Japan and Europe initially, which was rare at the time.
Fora karting clone, it’s a pretty solid one to this day with a good roster to fall back on. Some other notable multiplayer games includeWily & Right no RockBoard: That’s Paradise,which was a board game for the NES similar to Monopoly and a soccer game aptly titledMega Man Soccerfor the SNES.
Onimusha: Warlordswas released in 2001, kicking off Capcom’s latest horror franchise. This fighting game spinoff similar toSuper Smash Bros.,Onimusha: Blade Warriors, was released in 2003 in Japan and a year later in the West.
By this point, only the first two main games and one tactical RPG spinoff had been released. It seems wild to launch a fighting game with crossover characters between entries when there wasn’t much to draw on. It was a competent platform fighter on the PS2 but nothing mind-blowing.
There have been a lot of attempts to turnResident Evilinto a multiplayer game. Most of these examples, likeResident Evil: Raccoon CityorUmbrella Corps, are easy to play nowadays thanks to backwards compatibility. That’s not the case withResident Evil: The Mercenaries 3Das it was exclusive to the 3DS.
It launched a few months after the 3DS’ North American release as a multiplayer forward experience devoid of any story. Players could co-op or compete in maps from the series and play as iconicheroes like Jill, Chris, and even Wesker just to name a few. It was impressive for the handheld to run, but that didn’t translate into stellar gameplay.
Steel Battaliongot a lot of press when it launched forthe original Xboxin 2002 because it shipped with an expensive controller to simulate mech battles. There was even an ejection button mounted on the controller. Later, Capcom releasedSteel Battalion: Line of Contactwhich was a multiplayer-only game that used Xbox Live to connect players.
Besides the controller, it was a fairly standard mech game with plenty of weapons and customization options. It’s one of the hardest mech series around, no matter which entry players hopped into, and it is also largely forgotten.
3Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars
An Anime Fighter With Surprises
Capcom excels at fighting games and they are seemingly willing to try anything at least once. Most Capcom fans are familiar with theMarvel vs Capcomseries, but they may not be familiar with another crossover fighter that was exclusive to the Wii, at least for consoles.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Starswas a crossover between Capcom characters and anime characters that were popular in Japan but obscure in the West. This is why the game wasn’t as appealing to some despite the fighting being solid as usual. It even included some rarities at the time likeFrank West fromDead Risingand Mega Man Volnutt fromMega Man Legends.
Onimusha: Blade Warriorswas not theonly platform fighterCapcom released.Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumblespelled the end of that series, which was also short-lived. UnlikeOnimusha: Blade Warriors,Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumblehad more heroes and villains to work with, giving fans a bigger roster.
Also, it launched on two platforms via the GameCube and PSP. Viewtiful Joe burned hot with quite a few spinoffs and entries in just a couple of years, but Capcom hasn’t been back to it since the 2000s, making it a forgotten franchise overall.
The Wii came bundled withWii Sportswhich included a basic golf game among other sports titles. It was a huge hit, so naturally, the race to make competitive games was large, includingWe Love Golf!on the Wii. What makes this entry unique is that it was developed by Camelot, the studio responsible for most Mario-based sports titles includingMario Golf.
The Wii never received aMario Golftitle as this was the substitute, published by Capcom and not Nintendo. Most probably didn’t even know it existed on the Wii as there were so many golf titles. It was easy to slip through the cracks even when a game was developed and published by well-known studios.
