Capcom

Go directly to list of Capcom games.

HISTORY

Capcom was founded in 1979 with the goal of selling electric game machines in Matsubara, Osaka, Japan under the name I.R.M. Corporation. In 1981 I.R.M. Co. established the subsidiary company JAPAN CAPSULE COMPUTER CO., LTD which would later be abbreviated to Capcom. It wasn’t until 1983 that Capcom would release their first coin-op machine titled Little League. It wouldn’t take long for Capcom to reach past their “capsule” arcade cabinets and venture into the world of home video gaming consoles as evidenced by their 1985 release of their arcade smash hit 1942. 1942 would far surpass their previous arcade efforts and fully established Capcom as a true contender in the gaming industry.

1942

It wouldn’t end there as Capcom was just getting started. In 1986, Capcom ported their uber-popular (and uber-difficult!) arcade game Ghosts ‘n Goblins and their other arcade hit Commando to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The arcade releases wouldn’t end there as Capcom kicked off one of their most famous franchises in 1987 with the release of Street Fighter. Street Fighter marked one of Capcom’s strongest arcade releases to date, but that would soon be forgotten with the release of its sequel in 1991. Closing out the decade, Capcom introduced one of video gaming history’s most famous and recognizable characters with their 1989 release of Mega Man, which was also Capcom’s very first original NES-only title. As you can see, Capcom made a name for themselves in the arcades but the NES was where they established themselves as a worldwide household name.

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The 1980s were really just a kicking-off point for Capcom as the 1990s was where they began to flourish and grow some of the franchises they recently introduced to the public. Capcom was seeing considerable growth in sales and popularity with successful series releases such as the Final Fight series, the Street Fighter series, the Breath of Fire RPG series, and their flagship series: Mega Man. Supporting these massive franchises didn’t mean Capcom couldn’t introduce other great games and franchises along the way. In 1996, PlayStation owners were graced with the massive hit Resident Evil, and non-PlayStation owners could only dream about the potential nightmares they’d have if they could play Capcom’s excellent horror/survival title.

Despite the smash success of Resident Evil, Capcom went back to their bread and butter recipe for success and released great fighting games with the Dark Stalkers series, the Power Stone series (which was far too short if you ask me), and the Star Gladiator/Plasma Sword series. As the ’90s closed out, Capcom was still on the rise mainly due to the wild success of the Mega Man franchise which had already seen 8 main releases on consoles, 7 main releases on handheld machines, and at least 5 spin-offs, all before the Y2K millennium!

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Since the kickoff of the 21st century, Capcom hadn’t given up an inch and instead continued their tradition of developing amazing titles for audiences worldwide. The 2000s saw Capcom continue to support their famous franchises in Mega Man, Street Fighter, and Resident Evil, but now a new world of 3D technology, which was vastly superior to that of the previous generation of gaming, was emerging as the future of gaming. How did Capcom handle these significant changes? Why, with the introduction of new franchises, of course! One of which went against trending 3D polygon based gaming…

In 2001, Capcom introduced Japanese audiences to Gyakuten Saiban, who would later find his way to western audiences under the name Ace Attorney. These visual adventure novels saw Capcom going in a different direction, but sometimes that’s what it takes to reach new audiences and expand your brand. The result was an Ace Attorney franchise that is still seeing releases today! But visual novels were only a small piece of the big puzzle as Capcom also introduced the Devil May Cry franchise in the same year, creating 4 titles over a span of 8 years before passing the rights over to independent developer Ninja Theory. In 2006, Capcom created the first Dead Rising game which saw an exclusive release on the Xbox 360 before the 2nd and 3rd installments made their way to other platforms, much to the pleasure of non-Xbox 360 owners!

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Other notable titles under Capcom’s belt include the duo of Mecha-themed fighting games Armored Warriors and Cyberbots, the 3rd person shooter Lost Planet franchise, Remember Me, Viewtiful Joe, the Sengoku Basara franchise, the 1989 Strider game, the Dreamcast exclusive Canon Spike, the Marvel vs. Capcom fighting series, the Capcom vs. SNK fighting series, the Dino Crisis series, the Monster Hunter series, and so many more. Capcom is also responsible for a series of Disney’s early games including Aladdin, TaleSpin, and DuckTales to name a few.

Apparently, Capcom doesn’t have plans on slowing down any time soon. Capcom has recently been under fire for questionable business decisions regarding some of their most beloved franchises and the use of its characters (anyone remember all the cancellation of Mega Man in Mighty No. 9 and then the Kickstarter project to revive it? Yea…), but that hasn’t stopped Capcom from pressing forward. Capcom has promised a new RPG game in 2016 called Deep Down, as well as the use of Mega Man as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. title for the Wii U and 3DS. Furthermore, Capcom just released the redhot Street Fighter V game that everyone is talkin’ about! Keep going strong Capcom! We know what you’re about today and we’ll never forget the wonders you did yesterday!

 GAMES

Browse list of Nerd Bacon’s reviewed games developed and/or published by Capcom.

Capcom Pad Soldier GS – Hardware Review

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