Capcom Franchises That Need To Return

This year’s Game Awards brought a huge amount of exciting announcements. For me, the highlights included the upcoming sequel to Okami as well as a new Onimusha title. This past year also saw the release of a long-awaited Dragon’s Dogma sequel. I have no doubt the return of these forgotten gems is due to the great success of recent Capcom titles like Street Fighter 6, Monster Hunter, and the Resident Evil remakes. I feel we are currently in the midst of a second Capcom golden era where smaller franchises are given room to shine off the profits of the big names.

With that in mind, I have a few suggestions for Capcom franchises that I hope can see a revival in the coming years.

Darkstalkers

This series is always one of the first that people suggest when discussing old Capcom games that need to return, and for good reason. The characters have become integral parts of Capcom’s branding within the Marvel vs. Capcom series, and even the ones that don’t appear are always high on wishlists for prospective newcomers. However, the main reason I think Darkstalkers has a true chance to return is due to the sheer popularity of fighting games right now.

Tekken 8 and Dragon Ball Sparking Zero were two of the biggest games this year, and next year, we’ll see a new entry in the Fatal Fury series along with Virtua Fighter. While there are certainly die-hard fans of both series, I feel neither has seen the success of Capcom fighters, and if they can come back, Darkstalkers can too. Additionally, Capcom recently saw fit to re-release most of the Darkstalkers franchise within the Capcom Fighting Collection which no doubt was to gauge public interest.

Viewtiful Joe

It’s always been insane to me that one of the most creative and original superheroes ever, has only had a few games to shine. Viewtiful Joe is a side-scrolling platformer starring movie-lover, Joe, who transforms into the costumed hero to save his girlfriend using his VFX powers. The series was created by Hideki Kamiya, who also directed Okami and the Wonderful 101 – another criminally underrated game that I felt acted as a secret successor to Viewtiful Joe.

Still, I would love a new game that could expand the universe, perhaps even bringing in some of the characters from Wonderful 101 as costumes or alternate characters. If the success of games like Insomniac’s Spider-Man and even the new Marvel Rivals has shown anything, it’s that people still care about superheroes. I think a new Viewtiful Joe game would perfectly slot into today’s gaming climate with its stylistic and colorful world.

Strider

Again this is another franchise that doesn’t have nearly enough games despite its huge impact. Strider was not only a legendary arcade game, but also a predecessor to all the modern Capcom action titles like Devil May Cry, Onimusha, Bionic Commando, Okami, and more. Like the Darkstalkers cast, Strider Hiryu is another fan favorite from the Marvel vs. Capcom games, and I would love to see Capcom truly expand on his story and world in a fully fleshed-out sequel.

I also feel the action-platforming gameplay of Strider would be received quite well today. Right alongside the myriad of stylized Metroidvanias and Rogue-likes, which have been popularized once more by titles like Hollow Knight and Hades. With the right narrative and some clean gameplay, the series could once again take its rightful place amongst the action game greats.

Revivals are always a great thing to see and these are just a few of the many storied franchises that I hope Capcom will consider revisiting in the near future. In the meantime, I pray that audiences will support the new Okami when it releases so we can keep getting more experimental franchises from the storied publisher.