Obscusion B-List: Wait... Capcom Published WHAT!?!

Originally established back on May 30, 1979 as I.R.M. Corporation, the Capcom that we know today (named after a clipped compound of subsidiary Capsule Computers Co., Ltd.) came about in 1983 & ever since then has become one of the biggest names in third-party video game development & publishing, with many iconic franchises in its catalog. That being said, though, Capcom has had its name attached to some games that would make you react like Drew Scanlon did that one time on Giant Bomb & think "Wait... WHAT!?!", and while this can apply to numerous other video game companies (hmmm, maybe a potential recurring concept?) I think Capcom is probably the most interesting/amusing to actually think about, in this regard.

Admittedly, though, this primarily applies to Capcom USA, though Capcom Japan certainly has its own share of "Wait... WHAT!?!" releases (maybe for another time), so let's take a look at some games that Capcom's logo was attached to that you'd normally never expect to see happen.

The idea of Capcom making a game based on Star Wars sounds like a slam dunk idea, yet it never actually came to be. Instead, the closest is supposedly the Star Gladiator duology during the second half of the 90s, with the first game allegedly being pitched originally as a Star Wars fighting game, only for Lucasfilm to steal the idea & poorly attempt making a fighting game of their own politely decline the proposition. However, that doesn't mean that Capcom has never had its name appear on any games based on the iconic space opera franchise, because Capcom USA did manage to get a hold of Star Wars for two games released on the venerable Game Boy... at least for a time, that is.

After making a name for itself on PC, Lucasfilm Games (later LucasArts, & now back to its original name) decided to start making itself known on home console. It started by teaming with JVC to release games on the NES, which resulted in adaptations of Star Wars & The Empire Strikes Back for Nintendo's 8-bit juggernaut in 1991 & 1992, respectively; yes, there was Star Wars for the Famicom by Namco before these, but that was simply a licensing deal. The success of those games then resulted in ports to other hardware, the first of which being the Game Boy, and here's where Capcom USA comes in. Seemingly released only months apart, Game Boy ports of Star Wars & TESB saw release in North America in November of 1992 & January of 1993, respectively, and both featured a white-on-red Capcom logo at the top of their respective covers, which was the way Capcom's name was featured at the time. This only applied to that region, though, as Ubi Soft handled publishing duties over in Europe, and when time came to re-release both games in 1996 Capcom USA was left out of the festivities, with Ubi Soft publishing the new print run for TESB in North America, while Nintendo itself handled re-releasing Star Wars as part of the Players Choice label. Since then, Limited Run Games has also re-released both of these Game Boy ports a third time in 2019, making the fact that Capcom was the original publisher feel all the more bizarre & unbelievable today. Still, even if only for a fleeting moment, Capcom & Star Wars did indeed come together, years before Star Gladiator was even an initial concept in anyone's mind in Japan.

"Big in Japan" is a phrase used for something that's more popular in Japan than in the country it originally came from, and while this franchise isn't a pure example of that phrase, it is definitely much more prevalent & life sustaining in Japan than it ever was in its country of origin. Conceived of by Robert Woodhead (who'd later found AnimEigo) & Andrew C. Greenberg, 1981's Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord would go on to be one of the seminal works of the entire RPG genre of video games, producing eight entries up through 2001 by original publisher Sir-Tech (which Woodhead had also co-founded). However, while Wizardry did find itself a following in English-speaking regions well enough for a time, it really wound up finding its home in Japan. While Sir-Tech itself only ever released a single spin-off entry (1996's Nemesis: The Wizardry Adventure), roughly 40 Wizardry spin-offs have seen release in Japan, most of which on console & handheld, of which only four ever saw release abroad. As for the main series, all but Wizardry 8 have seen numerous ports to various consoles & handhelds in Japan, and some of them even saw release in North America... with Capcom managing to emblazon its name to the last one to ever see release in the region.

While Capcom is exactly synonymous with RPGs, it has occasionally dabbled in the genre, most notably with its Breath of Fire series during the 90s & 00s (let's just ignore the mobile-only sixth game that only came out in Japan in 2016 & only lasted just over a year). However, it should be pointed out that Capcom USA actually didn't publish the very first BoF game for the SNES on its own, with it instead being localized & released in English by SquareSoft on August 10, 1994, in partnership with Capcom USA. This was because Capcom USA didn't have enough experience with text-heavy RPGs like BoF, yet just a few months prior Capcom USA did release an RPG for the Super Nintendo, namely the SNES version of Wizardry V: Heart of the Malestrom in April of 1994. Originally released for PC back in 1988, this was the last game to feature Greenberg on staff (Woodhead had left after IV, the year prior), and while taking place after the third game is more or less a standalone entry, not being a direct part of either the Llylgamyn Trilogy (I-III) or the Dark Savant Trilogy (VI-8). As for why Capcom USA decided to release Wizardry V on its own, but not its own Breath of Fire, I imagine it was simply because this version of the game already had a full English translation from the start, as it was selectable in the original Super Famicom release in Japan by ASCII back in late 1992. All Capcom USA needed to do was change some of the graphics to accommodate Nintendo of America's standards (i.e. tone down some of the more "salacious" female monsters), maybe look over the translation a little, and it was all good to go. Still, it just doesn't quite feel "right" to see Capcom's name attached to Wizardry, especially since straight, old-school dungeon crawlers like that aren't really something its known for. I guess someone over at Capcom USA was just a big fan of the series, & the lack of needing to translate made it appealing.

As mentioned before, this would be the last main line Wizardry game to see release on consoles outside of Japan, while it wouldn't be until late 2001 that we got another Wizardry game of any sort on console. So I guess Capcom USA can claim final dibs...

Someone better create Sofia
as their Street Fighter 6 avatar...

"Pop Quiz, Hotshot! What was Capcom's first 3D fighting game?"

If you answered Star Gladiator (or even Street Fighter EX), then you'd be wrong, though only via a technicality. In terms of games that Capcom developed in-house, the ZN-1 arcade game from July of 1996 that was better than Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi is indeed Capcom's first ever fighting game made using 3D polygons; that can't be denied in any way. However, roughly eight months prior, Capcom released another developer's fighter to arcades, technically making it Capcom's first 3D fighting game, from a certain point of view (OK, seriously, that should be the last Star Wars reference). Founded back in 1992, Tokyo-based developer Tamsoft would release its first original title with 1994's (Battle Arena) Toshinden for the PlayStation on January 1, 1995, just a month after the console launched in Japan. Though both Sega's Virtua Fighter & Namco's Tekken already existed as polygonal fighting games before it, Toshinden's usage of a sidestep would go on to make it the first "true 3D" fighting game, and while the combat itself hasn't aged gracefully (this was only Tamsoft's second game, after all), it still went on to sell over 1 million units in Japan & North America combined, with each region seeing over 500,000+ sold. Naturally, a sequel was put into instant development.

However, Tamsoft & publisher Takara decided to do things different when it came to releasing Toshinden 2. Instead of launching as a console-exclusive, like last time, it was decided to first release the anticipated sequel to arcades utilizing the ZN-1 board, which was essentially a souped-up PS1 that used ROM boards instead of CDs. In fact, the whole "ZN-1" name is actually just what Capcom's version of the board was called (as it went by other names, depending on the company), and Toshinden 2's arcade version would indeed be released by Capcom around the world, starting with Japan on November 24, 1995; that said, it must have been a rather sparse release, as Toshinden 2 cabinets & boards are not exactly common finds. In all honesty, this was kind of a brilliant move by Takara, as Capcom was essentially a fighting game god in arcades during this time, alongside SNK, so getting Toshinden 2 to feature that logo alongside it would be a major get. Today, though, the main thing that makes the arcade original interesting when compared to the later PS1 ports (either the original "vanilla" release or the Japan-exclusive "Plus" update in 1996), or even URA on the Saturn, comes down to the music. Where the console version uses redbook audio for its music, which necessitates restarting the tracks each round (which in turn kind of ruins the experience, as the music is seriously godlike), the arcade version uses QSound (like many of Capcom's arcade games from that era), which not only means that the music plays nonstop for the entire match but they also have a uniquely "90s arcade Capcom" sound to them; I fully recommend checking them out if you're a fan of the redbook arrangements on PS1 or Saturn.

Still, considering how Toshinden's legacy is generally associated with either Tamsoft, Sony, or Takara (or even Playmates Interactive Entertainment, in North America), it's easy to forget that Capcom also played a part in the franchise's history, and it's a part that even has that Capcom feel to it, in at least one way.

The FMV genre is one that had a small boom during the 80s in arcades following Dragon's Lair's success, but it had an even bigger boom during the 90s with the gradual proliferation of the CD-ROM drive, both in PCs and on consoles. That being said, Capcom wasn't a company that really gave that genre a try, for the most part, despite a competitor like Namco finding some decent success with arcade FMV rail shooters, like Galaxian³ & Starblade. It's not as though Capcom never tried its hand at it, though, as there was the Japan-exclusive Street Fighter II Movie for the PS1 & Saturn in 1995/1996, which used footage from the iconic animated feature film, & 1998 gave Japan Super Adventure Rockman, a notoriously bad FMV game that was sold "to the lowest bidder" for development, according to longtime Mega Man producer Keiji Inafune. However, while Capcom Japan went with anime for its attempts at FMV, Capcom USA went on to publish a live-action FMV game that only saw release in North America... and it's honestly one of the most bizarre & ill-fitting games to ever have the iconic Capcom logo attached to it.

Developed by 3Vision Games, 1996's Fox Hunt was actually attached to Capcom from the very start, as then-new Capcom USA president Greg Ballard (formerly of Digital Pictures, of course) made it the very first project he greenlit in his new role, and from a production standpoint it actually had some credentials. It was shot in 16mm instead of video, had Mark Mothersbaugh compose the original music, featured respected actors George Lazenby & Timothy Bottoms in the cast (plus "a special appearance by Rob Lowe"), and the star of the entire thing was some newbie named Andrew Bowen, who has since gone on to have a respectable career in acting, including being the voice of Mortal Kombat's Johnny Cage ever since 2015! However, actually playing the game is just a mess, as it tries to be more than what it really had to be as an FMV game, the humor is all over the place (though seeing Bowen try his hardest to be like mid-90s Jim Carrey can be amusing once in a while), & overall it's just...not...good; even Ballard himself has since regretted approving it, citing a ~$5 million final budget & selling only "132 copies". Capcom even first released this for Windows PC in January, a rarity from the company at the time, while the PS1 port didn't come out until September, well after it had already bombed; Saturn & Mac ports were also in the works, but never happened.

Most shocking of all, though? This wasn't the end of Fox Hunt! After releasing the game & showing it off at Cannes (yes, they actually took it to Cannes), 3Vision were encouraged to cut a trailer & shop it around, which resulted in the company managing to sell the rights to produce a film version of the game, which included filming new scenes (& they even got Gary Coleman to appear in it), and it eventually did see release in various territories around the world... except North America; a pilot for a TV series was also produced, but never got picked up. Yes, you can legitimately buy a Region 2 DVD of Fox Hunt's movie version, and I guess we have Capcom to thank for that?

While not exactly what one would call a "forte", Capcom has occasionally developed & released sports games, though it's a genre that the company has rarely dabbled in since arcades stopped being relevant in the 00s. However, while stuff like soccer, car racing, pro wrestling, golf, & even kart racing all feels more or less within logical reason for Capcom to publish, it was even the publisher of the MotoGP series for a number of years, one thing that feels a bit weird to see published by Capcom would be any sort of extreme sports game... like snowboarding. However, that's indeed what happened in 1999, and it was apparently so nice that Capcom decided to do it twice! Even more amusing is that neither of them were actually developed in-house by Capcom, while one of them wasn't even published by Capcom in Japan. First up is Freestyle Boardin' '99, which came out in North America on February 28, 1999, but actually first came out in Japan back on December 18, 1997 under the name Zap! Snowboarding Trix '98 (which was published by TV Tokyo & Pony Canyon in Japan), as it's actually the sequel to Zap! Snowboarding Trix from February of that same year; in Europe, where it was published by Funsoft, it was called Phat Air: Extreme Snowboarding. Anyway, Zap! Freestyle Phat Air Snowboardin' Trix '98 '99 Extreme was developed by Atelier Double, which would go on to develop the Street Sk8er duology of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater-style skateboarding games (plus Snowboarding for the Simple 2000 Series), and since it predates the Hawkman's iconic series (even for its North American release) it doesn't quite play in the style you'd expect from an extreme sports game like this. For example, you have two different types of jumping (a small ollie & a large jump) each done with a different button, and doing holds & flips aren't quite as intuitive as you'd think it'd be. While it features the usual fare for a game based on the sport, like downhill & big air, it's a game that isn't as pick-up-&-play as you'd think today.

Meanwhile, the same month that Capcom USA released that game with too many titles to its name, February 4 to be exact, Capcom Japan would release its own snowboarding game on the PS1, Tricky Sliders, which would then eventually see release in North America on October 19, 1999 under the name Trick'N Snowboarder, while Europe wouldn't get it until December 29, 2000, a month after the PS2 launched in that region. Developed by Cave (yes, the legendary bullet hell shooter developer actually also developed both racing & extreme sports games early in its life), Trick'N Snowboarder's original Japanese title is actually a direct reference to Cave's prior snowboarding effort, 1997's Steep Slope Sliders for the Saturn, with this essentially being the follow-up to that; Capcom even distributed the 1998 arcade release for Steep Slope Sliders. In comparison to Atelier Double's game, Cave's effort here feels much more in line with what the genre would be defined as, despite also predating what Neversoft would go with. One button for jumping, one for holds performed with a corresponding d-pad direction, & another button for backflipping, during which you can also perform holds. Even compared to Steep Slope Sliders, which is very simplistic but fun, Trick'N Snowboarder has aged somewhat more gracefully (if still rather simple in execution), and the inclusion of an actual Scenario/Story Mode is a nice touch & a bit ahead of its time. Cave would only make one more sports game, 2001's Yanya Caballista: City Skater for PS2 (which used a wild twin-analog-stick control scheme you could snap a "fingerboard" onto), before focusing almost exclusively on shooters, with only a handful of exceptions since then.

I'll just end by bringing up that these weren't even the only snowboarding games that Capcom ever released, as in 2000 Capcom released Snowboard Heaven for the PS2 as a Japan-exclusive, though in that case it actually was developed in-house. However, that looks to be the end of Capcom's foray into snowboarding games.

Probably one of the more interesting publishers for the Game Boy Color, essentially the massively successful 1998-2003 stopgap between the extremely aged Game Boy & the proper successor Game Boy Advance, would have to be Capcom. Whether it was the Pokémon-meets-Billiards style gameplay of Metal Walker, the impossible port of Street Fighter Alpha by Crawfish Interactive, ports of arcade classics Ghosts 'n Goblins & 1942 by Digital Eclipse, 8-bit re-imaginings via Mega Man Xtreme 1 & 2, the unique (& non-canon) survival horror RPG Resident Evil Gaiden by M4, or being the first supporter of future indie franchises Shantae & Toki Tori by publishing their GBC originals, plus a few Japan-only releases, Capcom's catalog on the handheld is one of the more varied ones. However, the crown jewel of them all would easily be Digital Eclipse's conversion of arcade laserdisc classic Dragon's Lair, released on January 15, 2001 in North America, followed by Europe on August 24. I actually already covered this release in a prior Obscusion B-List back in 2017, but it seriously is that impressive & also deserves recognition for just being pure "Wait... Capcom published this?!".

There was a prior Game Boy version of Dragon's Lair back in 1991, subtitled The Legend, but that's nothing more than a reskinned port of ZX Spectrum game Roller Coaster from 1985. No, this is a full on recreation of the arcade original, only now drawn using pixel art instead of the Don Bluth-directed animation it became legendary for. Programmed by Cathryn Mataga (creator of the 1982 PC game Shamus) & drawn by nine different artists, Digital Eclipse somehow managed to recreate most of the scenes from the arcade original, though not every single scene got included, and that's likely just because there simply wasn't enough space left to fit all of them; I mean, there isn't much in terms of sound, & especially music, so DE certainly crammed the cart full. Because of that, a perfect playthrough of the GBC version only totals a little over 9 minutes, instead of the 11 minutes of the arcade, but that's still damn impressive, in all honesty; plus, let's face facts, you won't beat Dragon's Lair on your first go. What I can only wonder, though, is how exactly this entire thing came to be. I imagine this was Digital Eclipse's idea, but how did they come up with it? When did Capcom get involved? HOW did Capcom get involved?!

In all honesty, Dragon's Lair does feel a little like a game that I could see Capcom publishing, in some fashion. Dirk the Daring rescuing Princess Daphne from Singe the Dragon isn't all that far off from Arthur rescuing Princess Prin-Prin from Astaroth (in fact, I now want to see a crossover between Dragon's Lair & Ghosts 'n Goblins; it makes too much sense), and while Don Bluth & Gary Goldman's animation style is notably different from most Japanese artists, seeing the Capcom logo on that cover up above just kind of feels "right", way more so than any other game I've mentioned in this list.

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As I said at the start, this list wound up being focused mainly on Capcom USA, minus Toshinden 2 & Tricky Sliders, but the same is true of Capcom Japan, especially during the 00s, when it acted as the Japanese publisher for various Western-developed games, and maybe one day I'll take a look at some of those examples; also, I'm sure I can find examples relating to other video game publishers, too. The main reason Capcom come into mind for this list is because the Capcom that exists today more or less doesn't venture into the occasional "Wait... WHAT!?!" release like it used to, and I just wanted to take a look at some of those examples & compile them together.

Star Wars (Game Boy) © 1991 Lucasfilm Games

The Empire Strikes Back (Game Boy) © 1992 Lucasfilm Games

Wizardry V: Heart of the Malestrom (SNES) © Sir-tech Software

Battle Arena Toshinden 2 (Arcade) © Takara Co., Ltd. 1995, Programmed by © Tamsoft 1995

Fox Hunt © Capcom Co., Ltd. 1996 © Capcom USA Inc. 1996

Freestyle Boardin' '99 © Capcom Co., Ltd. 1999 © 1999 TV Tokyo/Pony Canyon

Trick'N Snowboarder © Capcom Co., Ltd. 1999, Programmed by © Cave Co., Ltd. 1999

Dragon's Lair (GBC) © 2000 Capcom © 1983-2000 Bluth Group, Ltd.