Capcom

Monster Hunter Generations was formed from a simple idea: take a few elements from each of the previous Monster Hunter games, slap in a few new tweaks for good measure, and out comes a brand new game.

Darkstalkers was an interesting place for Capcom to continue to experiment with their fighting formula, but it stands out for being far more than just a gimmick to keep the quarters flowing.

Umbrella Corps is a mess from concept to execution. The fan service in the game is surface level to the point where you’d really have to try to care about anything going on. The shooting mechanics are a dizzying array of ideas competing against each other and falling head over heels in a frustrating mess in the process. This game seems like one last ditch attempt to cash in on the story lines and styles that have been established so far, but none of it is worked or smoothed out to make something cohesive. The only thing it really succeeds in is convincing us Umbrella is the worst and most incompetent company anyone could ever have the misfortune of working for.

Virtual reality is supposed to provide an escape from the real world. But what happens when you want to escape virtual reality? Some of the experiences we've had with VR this past week have been tremendous. Resident Evil 7 VR is certainly a kind of experience, but tremendous isn't quite the word we'd use. Terrifying and unsettling are more apt, and its not just because being in a VR headset can be disorienting at times. It's because the horrifying images don't disappear when you look away.

When we talk about weird game design, games that go so far beyond the norm of content or mechanics that they defy normal conventions of player expectation, it’s hard not to think about Suda51.

In 1996, survival horror existed, but it wasn’t exactly widely known that way. Games like Clock Tower, Alone in the Dark, and numerous other takes on the horror genre existed, but even the best-selling games of the type enjoyed a moderate to cult following. Capcom wanted something greater. The company wanted to reinvent the wheel in a way that would appeal broadly to horror fans everywhere. Little did they know how big they were about to hit it. Originally released and known in Japan as Bio Hazard, Resident Evil would hit shelves and turn heads around the world, single-handedly becoming arguably one of the first survival horror blockbusters and creating a franchise that now spans decades.

Devil May Cry is just one of many of the fantastic franchises Capcom was regularly fielding in the last few decades. Its utterly stylish blend of melee combat and gunplay mixed with numerous enemies and over-the-top boss fights have influenced a ton of hack n’ slash action games that would come out around the same time and afterwards. Still, where the original Devil May Cry may have established the formula, it was arguably Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening that brought the series to its apex when it arrived on North American shelves.

As the fifth proper entry in one of gaming's biggest franchises, Street Fighter V had a lot to live up to. Street Fighter I & II helped create the genre of fighting games, and Street Fighter III & IV helped to revitalize them. To live up to its predecessors Street Fighter V needed to be electrifying, and since it came from a huge, triple-A video game company, it should offer an experience both massive in content and potential. What we got instead was the digital embodiment of greed.

After countless quarters eaten and far too many re-releases, we're celebrating the release of the original version of Street Fighter II across arcades in North America. That's right, Street Fighter II has officially turned 25—let that sink in for minute. Sure, Street Fighter II Turbo, Championship Edition, Super, and all the other versions of the game have their own subsequent anniversaries to come as well, but this is the anniversary of the one that matters the most. Let's not act surprised at how many times Capcom re-released Street Fighter IV when the company has been doing this from the get-go. More importantly, let's look at the monumental influence Street Fighter II had, as it basically introduced the fighting game genre to the masses when it started spawning crowds around its arcade cabinets in the '90s.

It's time to look at Dante's dark side as we explore the history of one of Capcom's worst sequels— a sequel that is shunned by so many fans of the franchise, people claim that it's not even Dante starring as the protagonist. In typical sequel fashion, after the original Devil May Cry turned out to be a huge success, Capcom decided to skip on DMC creator and director Hideki Kamiya to head Dante's next adventure. Capcom handed the reins of the series to Hideaki Itsuno, who by that point was known for directing Power Stone 1-2, Rival Schools, Project Justice and more. The series' creator was skipped in order to build the much project on a much grander scale that Kamiya was used to running.