It’s a great time to be a gamer, especially if you’re a fan of any IP owned by Capcom. One of the very first games I owned was Mega Man 3 on the NES and I still remember jotting down the battleship-like password after spending an afternoon trying to beat Gemini Man. Another Capcom IP, Devil May Cry, just released its 5th entry on Friday and it’s doing pretty well for itself. Devil May Cry 5 (DMC5) is currently sitting at about 87 on Metacritic on average between the 3 available versions that released (PS4, Xbox One and PC). The game is getting great reviews and many fans are considering it a true return to form for the series that’s been dormant without a mainline entry since 2008’s Devil May Cry 4. The game is currently Capcom’s second most successful Steam launch, right after Monster Hunter World, even beating out the recent beloved remake of Resident Evil 2.
With this release, Capcom is book-ending a busy 13-month period full of high profile, critically acclaimed releases, which started back on January 26th, 2018 with Monster Hunter World (MHW) for the PS4 and Xbox One. MHW marked the first time the series found itself on home consoles after being a heavy hitter in the portable handheld game for a few years. Its success was well deserved and a long time coming as they put forth the effort and care required to translate one of their most popular franchises for a completely different market. They didn’t stop there. They released a new mainline entry in the Mega Man franchise which hadn’t received a mainline entry since 2010’s Mega Man 10, remastered Onimusha: Warlords the series had disappeared since 2006’s Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, remade Resident Evil 2 from the ground up for modern consoles, as well as releasing collections for Mega Man X, and Street Fighter, as well as announcing a Phoenix Wright collection. They’ve been busy.
However, they’re not just looking to cash in on our nostalgia. While some of the releases are better than others, the majority were well received and solid entries to dormant franchises we thought that Capcom had long-forgotten. They took the time to listen to their customers and treated these franchises with respect and care. PC gamers alone are being treated to heavily optimized games that run great across a whole range of hardware along with a collection of visual settings that allow them to fine tune the game down to the last miniscule details, which isn’t always the case. The games are critical and financial successes and they’re being met with praise from the community for their efforts.
Although, it’s not hard to remember a time where Capcom was on the complete opposite spectrum of where they are now. For the past few years, games like Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, Resident Evil 6, or Dead Rising 4 were met with lackluster sales, troubled launches, poor reviews, and some games were outright canceled (I’m still super salty about Mega Man Legends 3). Sales expectations were constantly being adjusted and lowered to fit in line with the actual sales numbers. During this period if a game did well, it was the exception, not the norm. With high-ranking executives like Keiji Inafune jumping ship and the shutting down of studios like Capcom Vancouver, at the time it was easy to consider Capcom a fallen giant. Many Capcom fans (myself included) were left wondering, what’s going to happen to our favorite games?
If you’ve played a recent Capcom game you know that the company is currently experiencing a resurgence. As a long-time fan, I’m currently playing through Mega Man 11 for the 2nd time and while not the greatest Mega Man game (looking at you 6), it reminds me of playing Mega Man 3 as a kid. While I did skip MHW, I played Resident Evil 2 Remake and when I wasn’t running from Mr.X I found myself enjoying scavenging for bullets, or trying to take down 1 zombie in a hallway only to have him stand up again 2 minutes later. It was terrifying but it was great. I definitely plan on checking out DMC5 even though I haven’t played a DMC game before, I’ve always been interested and this seems like a good jumping on point. If you’re a newcomer to the series like myself there is a history of Devil May Cry video you can watch from the main menu of the game to bring yourself up to speed with the story. They’ve shown recently that care and effort go along way and I’m glad to see it applied to the release of DMC5 as well. Setting aside recent praise and personal bias I will never buy a Capcom game just because Capcom made it, always wait for reviews and do your research before buying a game.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s famous line from Django Unchained sums it up best:
I’m excited to see what surprise Capcom has for us next.
Save Point: Luna 