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Old Favorites And New Faces From Capcom

DATE: -0/5-/2004
COMPANY: Capcom
PRODUCT:

Capcom had a strong showing this year. There were plenty of new games with old faces, and plenty of new games with brand new faces.

The guy with the most new games is the old blue bomber, Mega Man. Okay, technically there were several different Mega Men, but you knew what I meant. Mega Man Battle Network 4 Red Sun and Blue Moon sound the return of the evil Dr. Wily. Lan and Mega Man will make sure to put a stop to him, this time as 6th graders. Zero also returns, and rather quickly if I may say so, in Mega Man Zero 3. For fans of the series, you'll be pleased to hear it looks like this one will answer some of the questions raised at the end of Mega Man Zero 2, and right from the first stage. At the end of the demo stage alone I was graced with the appearance of three surprising characters.

My personal favorite, Mega Man X, has two new games, Mega Man X8 and Mega Man X Command Mission. Now I'm very forgiving of my Mega Man games, but I was pretty disappointed in Mega Man X7. Mega Man X8 looks pretty similar, but thankfully they seemed to have polished all the rough edges, and we can hopefully look forward to a much better experience. Mega Man X Command Mission is the first Mega Man X RPG. That will always sound weird, a Mega Man RPG. The game plays just as weird, and I wasn't able to quite figure out all the intricacies of the battle system without a manual, but it was fun anyway. Even the original Mega Man will make an appearance, though not in a new game. Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the PlayStation 2 and Gamecube contains upgrades of all 8 of Mega Man's adventures plus Mega Man Power Battle 1 and 2 that most of you have probably never seen. There will also be a version for Gameboy Advance that will have 5 Mega Man adventures for fans to play through.

Let no one say Mega Man isn't still going strong, but that's not the only old favorite coming back. Everyone's favorite 2D fighting series is still around in Street Fighter Anniversary Collection. It features Hyper Street Fighter II, which is a blend of five Street Fighter II games in one. Anniversary Collection will also feature Street Fighter III: Third Strike. A welcome surprise, characters from Street Fighter II & III, Dark Stalkers, Red Earth, and Street Fighter Alpha will be able to brawl, each in their game's own unique fighting styles, in Capcom Fighting Jam.

While Street Fighter always seemed scared of getting that third sequel, the Onimusha series has no such issues, Onimusha 3 Demon Siege is just around the corner, and features the voice, and face, of actor Jean Reno. Dante is following suit in his own third game, though this one is a prequel, Devil May Cry 3.

Sadly, while I cannot continue this trend of the number three, we also have two other great sequels to talk about. First of all we have the highly anticipated Resident Evil 4. Gone are the days of Umbrella and their zombies and instead we seem to have living folks who appear demon possessed. In this gem, "pseudo-zombies" react depending on which specific body part of theirs is attacked. It's a beautiful thing to watch. Capcom also announced Resident Evil Outbreak File #2.

PlayStation 2 owners can now rejoice at their own chance to get viewtiful, with Viewtiful Joe for PlayStation 2. But that's not all, both PlayStation 2 and Gamecube owners will soon be able to return to Joe's twisted world in Viewtiful Joe 2.

Rounding out Capcom's lineup we have Way of the Samurai 2, Crimson Tears, Monster Hunter, Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Under the Skin, Disney's Aladdin, Shadow of Rome, and Killer 7.

GameVortex :: PSIllustrated :: TeamPS2