Capcom Five

The Capcom Five, as originally announced, represented an unprecedented level of third-party developer support for Nintendo GameCube.

The Capcom Five is a set of five video games unveiled by Capcom in late 2002 and subsequently published beginning in March 2003. At a time when Nintendo's GameCube console failed to capture market share, Capcom announced five new GameCube titles with the apparent goal of boosting hardware sales and showing off third-party developer support. Capcom USA followed up with confirmation that they would be exclusive to the GameCube. The five games were P.N.03, a futuristic third-person shooter; Viewtiful Joe, a side-scrolling action-platformer; Dead Phoenix, a shoot 'em up; Resident Evil 4, a survival horror third-person shooter; and Killer7, an action-adventure game with first-person shooter elements. Though not directly related to each other, they were all overseen by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and, excepting Killer7, developed by Capcom's Production Studio 4. Capcom USA later clarified that only Resident Evil 4 was intended to be exclusive; the initial announcement was due to a miscommunication with their parent company.

Of the five games, Dead Phoenix was canceled and only P.N.03 retained its status as a GameCube exclusive, though selling and reviewing poorly. Viewtiful Joe and Killer7 sold modestly but gained a significant cult following, the latter launching the career of creator Suda51. Resident Evil 4 was the runaway success of the five, though its GameCube sales were undercut by the announcement of a Sony PlayStation 2 port to be released later that year. Viewtiful Joe also saw a PlayStation 2 version with expanded features and Killer7 debuted on multiple platforms simultaneously. The Capcom Five case, particularly the loss of GameCube exclusivity for Resident Evil 4, was said to have soured Nintendo–Capcom relations for years to come. The series also represents another episode in Nintendo's ongoing quest for third-party developer support on a home console.

Background

During the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super Nintendo (SNES) eras, Nintendo and Capcom enjoyed a close relationship, with Mega Man being one of the NES' most prominent franchises.^[1] This closeness was partially due to Nintendo's monopoly of the video game console market, which allowed the company to force third-party developers to release exclusive content according to Nintendo's schedule.^[2] Sega's Mega Drive would force Nintendo to relax some of its restrictions on third parties with respect to the SNES. However, relations with third-party developers reached a turning point when Nintendo decided to retain a proprietary cartridge-based format for the Nintendo 64, in the face of Sony's disc-based PlayStation.^[3] Because of increased manufacturing costs and severely limited cartridge memory capacity, many third parties including Capcom moved to the PlayStation to start new franchises, such as Resident Evil.^[1] On this new platform, developers could create bigger games while avoiding the restriction of ordering proprietary cartridges through Nintendo, which could lead to under- or over-stocking inventory.^[3] This third party abandonment allowed the PlayStation to steal Nintendo's top spot.^[1]

"For the growth of the gaming industry. For GameCube. These words describe our initial thoughts. In an industry where you create to amuse and entertain, do you sense a crisis about the industry’s continuing regression of excitement and new stimulation? We believe that the regression of excitement is solely the fault and responsibility of we creators. By the same token, we believe it is also our mission and responsibility to create something that is 'worth seeing' for the user. In a market that has become prosaic with character dependant games and sequel games, we would like to take this opportunity to announce five new and exciting games for GameCube."

—Capcom's website^[4]

With the GameCube, Nintendo tried to reclaim third-party developers and catch up to Sony's PlayStation 2 by including disc-based media and powerful system hardware.^[5] However, in the first year since launch, Nintendo had only sold 4.7 million consoles.^[6] In this climate of flagging sales, Capcom held a surprise press conference in Japan in November 2002, announcing five new titles for the GameCube: P.N.03, Viewtiful Joe, Dead Phoenix, Resident Evil 4, and Killer7.^[7] Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami would supervise all five games, which would be developed in-house by Capcom's Production Studio 4.^[4] The lone exception was Killer7, to be produced at Grasshopper Manufacture, with Mikami as co-writer alongside director Suda51. When pressed for comment on console exclusivity, a Capcom USA representative confirmed the claim,^[8] generating the perception that Capcom was hoping to boost the GameCube's sales and reputation.^[1] A statement on their website echoed this support for GameCube.^[4] However, they soon issued a correction clarifying that only Resident Evil 4 would definitely be exclusive, the earlier announcement resulting from a miscommunication with the parent company.^[9]

Release and reception

P.N.03

P.N.03 is a science fiction-themed third-person shooter, the first of the five to be released in Japan on March 27, 2003. The game features a dexterous protagonist named Vanessa Z. Schneider battling an army of maverick robots. The game earned the name Jaguar during development due to Vanessa's fluid motions and agility.^[10] Acting as director, Mikami added defensive and evasive maneuvers in order to differentiate it from Devil May Cry.^[11] Upon release, the game had underwhelming sales figures, selling only 10,000 copies in Japan and 13,000 in North America.^[12] Reviewers criticized the game's short length and sluggish controls, with an average score of 63 out of 100 on Metacritic.^[13] Mikami was unsatisfied with the finished product, stating he had hoped to put "a lot more" time into its development.^[14] P.N.03 would turn out to be the only game of the five to remain a GameCube exclusive.^[1]

Viewtiful Joe

Viewtiful Joe is a 2.5D side-scrolling action-platformer, the second game released on June 26, 2003. The title character is a parody of tokusatsu superheroes, trying to save his girlfriend, who has been trapped in "Movieland" by a group of supervillains known as Jadow. In order to complete his quest, Joe must use his Viewtiful Effects Powers, which are based on camera tricks and special effects used in films.^[15] These include "Slow", which simulates bullet time; "Mach Speed", allowing Joe to attack all enemies with his afterimages; and "Zoom In", which triggers a camera close-up and unlocks special attacks. Internally, Capcom treated the game as a "staff-focused project" with the goal of increasing the skills of director Hideki Kamiya.^[16] The game achieved a Metacritic score of 93^[17] and won GameCube Game of the Year awards from numerous publications including IGN, GMR, and USA Today.^[18][19][20] The game sold out its initial shipment of 100,000 to achieve a lifetime total of 275,000 units.^[21][22] Producer Atsushi Inaba considered the game a success, achieving their goals of training staff, keeping a small budget, and selling well.^[16] However, these numbers were lower than Capcom expected, prompting the publisher to port Viewtiful Joe to PlayStation 2 in 2004, with expanded features.^[23][24] This PlayStation 2 version ultimately sold 46,000 copies with a slightly lower Metacritic score of 90 due to lack of progressive scan and slowdown difficulties from the porting process.^[22][25]

Dead Phoenix

A winged man fights a large demon in one of the few screenshots of Dead Phoenix.

Dead Phoenix was to be a 3D shoot 'em up featuring a winged man named Phoenix.^[7][26][27] Based on trailer footage, IGN compared the gameplay to Panzer Dragoon.^[28] Players would take control of a winged man as he flies around shooting massively larger enemies, with the aid of allies on foot.^[29][26] Capcom's announcement described the setting as a mythical floating city, full of demons and dragons.^[7] Game Informer announced that a Japanese release was planned in mid-2003.^[27] The game was believe to be canceled, but Capcom stated at a press conference prior to the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that it was still in development.^[30] IGN speculated that the game may have been retooled as a new Kid Icarus title, based on Nintendo's recent trend of licensing properties to third parties.^[31] After failing to appear at E3 that year, however, it was canceled in August 2003.^[32][33]

Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4, a survival horror third-person shooter, premiered on January 11, 2005, in North America, with a Japanese release on January 27. Players take on the role of Leon S. Kennedy, a United States Secret Service agent who has been ordered to rescue the daughter of the President of the United States from a cult in rural hispanophone Europe. The cult has been using a mind-controlling parasite to turn local villagers into violent drones. The game went through numerous changes during its long development, with the team creating and discarding four older revisions before settling on the final product.^[34] Among those was a version directed by Hideki Kamiya which would be turned into the first Devil May Cry game.^[35][36] Taking over directorial duties, Mikami made the fifth and final version very different compared to previous Resident Evil games, with an over-the-shoulder perspective and an increased emphasis on action and combat.^[37] Resident Evil 4 was the only member of the five to remain confirmed as a GameCube exclusive; Mikami claimed that he would "cut off his own head" (a colloquialism for quitting his job) if it were to be released on another platform.^[38] However, just two months before the game's January 2005 release, Capcom announced a PlayStation 2 port to be released nine months after the GameCube version in response to pressure from users and shareholders.^[39] This surprise announcement undercut the title's GameCube sales, which totaled 1.6 million, compared to the sales of the PlayStation 2 version, which exceeded 2 million.^[4][40] Despite these corporate conflicts, the game received an overwhelmingly positive critical response with Metacritic scores of 96 for both versions.^[41][42] It went on to sweep many Game of the Year awards for 2005 and is consistently listed among the greatest games of all time.^{[43][44][45][46]}

Killer7

Killer7, released on June 9, 2005, is an action-adventure game with first-person shooter elements and an unconventional "on rails" control scheme. Unlike other members of the five, Killer7 was developed at Grasshopper Manufacture under the direction of Suda51. Players control the members of an elite group of assassins who are actually physical manifestations of a god-like being named Harman Smith. The game restricts the player's movement to specific branching paths through the environment and can only attack while stationary in first-person view. This stripped-down control scheme was implemented as a deconstruction of how gamers play.^[47] Gameplay was not finalized until late in development since Suda51 concentrated most resources on story and visual work.^[48] This back-loading of development resulted in several delays, the last of which was due to an artistic desire to release the game on July 7 (7/7) in North America.^[49] Killer7 debuted as a multi-console release, the only one of the five to do so, to polarized reviews. Some reviewers praised the game for its complex noir plot involving an political conflict between Japan and the US, while others panned it as confusing and incomprehensible.^[50] Likewise, the control scheme had both critics and proponents, the latter comparing it to Myst, Snatcher, and other "old-school" adventure games.^[48] Despite this mixed reception yielding a 74 Metacritic score, Killer7 was honored by many video game publications in their year-end awards.^[50] Common nominations included "Best Story", "Best Artistic Design", and "Most Innovative Design".^[51][52] However, the central theme was a recognition of Killer7's status as a cult game with limited appeal.^[48] IGN named it "Best Game No One Played" and Kristan Reed of Eurogamer called it "a concept game, an arthouse game, a simple game, an often beautiful game, but most certainly never an everyman's game".^[53][54] This sentiment is reflected in its sales numbers, moving only 16,000 copies its first month in North America for the GameCube version.^[55]

Legacy

The Capcom Five announcement came at a time when Nintendo had been struggling with its new console, with the apparent goal of supporting the fledgling system. However, with each successive game's release, Capcom realized the GameCube's improfitability and ported the games one by one to Sony's PlayStation 2.^[23] These ports were generally inferior in quality, with many reviewers noting slowdown issues and lower resolution graphics.^[22][48][56] Ultimately, only four games were released and only one would remain exclusive to GameCube.^[1] This lone GameCube exclusive was P.N.03 and not Resident Evil 4 as Capcom had repeatedly emphasized in press releases. The whole incident was a blow to GameCube owners and Nintendo fans who had seen the Capcom Five as a promise of things to come for the faltering console.^[1] Luke Plunkett of Kotaku noted that despite best intentions, Capcom's five even at their full potential could not have made up for the GameCube's failings in that generation's console wars.^[1]

Through this event, Capcom had learned a few lessons which it would apply in the coming years. The first they learned over the course of the five's release, namely to focus on multi-platform releases and avoid GameCube where possible. Second, they discovered that they needed to streamline development. Prior to the five, Capcom had announced expected losses of US$103 million for fiscal year 2002, largely due to poor sales and extended development times, and ultimately posted over US$163 million in losses.^[4][57] Resident Evil 4 was a particularly notable example, beginning development in 1999 and going through four discarded versions by the time of its 2005 release.^[58] The third lesson was to focus on old franchises rather than create new ones; Resident Evil 4 was the only unmitigated commercial success of the five and also the only game based on an existing property. To wit, Viewtiful Joe 2 was started shortly after the release of Viewtiful Joe and completed just a year later.^[59] However, the brisk schedule meant that the team was not given time to implement all the features they had wanted including a cooperative gameplay mode.^[60] Viewtiful Joe 2 debuted on both GameCube and PlayStation 2 in order to reach a wider audience and maximize profitability.

To facilitate Viewtiful Joe 2's development, Capcom spun out Clover Studio, formed from members of "Team Viewtiful", as a semi-autonomous production studio with a focus on developing new intellectual properties (IPs).^[61] The separation was also in part due to Resident Evil 4's PlayStation 2 release, which caused significant tensions between the Capcom and Mikami who had touted the game's exclusivity.^[62] Clover Studio was able to produce two more games in the Viewtiful Joe series, which serve as side-stories, and commissioned an anime adaptation which was produced by Group TAC. Clover's next big project was Ōkami, a "brand-focused project" fitting with Capcom's goal for Clover to develop new IPs.^[16] Despite being a critical success, it failed to live up to Capcom's sales expectations, with Clover's next project God Hand doing even worse.^[22] Compounding this problem, Clover's developers still felt stifled under the weight of Capcom's corporate management, who were reluctant or actively opposed to risky new ideas.^[61][63] Inevitably, Capcom shut down Clover Studio in late 2006, following the resignations of Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, and Shinji Mikami.^[64] They would go on to found Platinum Games with members of their old studio.^[63] In 2008, they announced the "Platinum Three", referring to MadWorld, Infinite Space, and Bayonetta, which would attempt to carry on the Capcom Five's ambitious and creative original spirit.^[65] These resignations were part of a series of high-profile departures from Capcom, including Yoshiki Okamoto in 2003 and Keiji Inafune in 2010.^[66] Inafune complained of similar problems as Inaba, Kamiya, and Mikami, namely that Capcom management had a rule dictating that at least 70-80% of all new projects must be sequels of existing properties, with the actual number being very close to 100% at any given time.^[67]

Outside of Capcom, Killer7 served as a turning point for Suda51 and his studio, Grasshopper Manufacture, effectively launching his career. With Capcom as publisher, Killer7 was Suda51's first game to be released outside Japan. While its sales were not up to Capcom's standards, the game's cult success encouraged Suda51 to remake some of his older Japan-only games, The Silver Case and Flower, Sun, and Rain, for Western release.^[47][68] It also allowed his next major title, No More Heroes, to be released to both critical and commercial success.^[69][70][71] The game also cemented Suda51's status as an auteur video game director.^[72][73] Suda51 would later work with Shinji Mikami again on Shadows of the Damned.^[74]

Despite the relative failure of the project as a whole, the individual games of the Capcom Five had a lasting impact on game design. After experimenting with action gameplay in P.N.03, Mikami was able to apply his experience to Resident Evil 4 with "The Mercenaries", an arcade-style monster-slaying minigame whose objective is to score points through combos within a time limit.^[75] On the other hand, Adam Sorice of Nintendojo has suggested that P.N.03's stereotypical portrayal of women had unfortunate implications for gender equality in gaming.^[76] He also suggested that the commercial failure of P.N.03 has made Capcom reluctant to feature strong female protagonists in their games. With Resident Evil 4, beyond its critical success, the game has become one of the most influential games of the decade.^[77] Its "over-the-shoulder" perspective has inspired third-person shooters and action games as diverse as Gears of War and Batman: Arkham Asylum.^[77] Leon's precision-aiming laser sight has also found its way into Dead Space and Grand Theft Auto, as an alternative to "lock-on" targeting.^[78] On a broader scale, Resident Evil 4 deconstructed the survival horror conventions the first Resident Evil games established.^[79] With its increased emphasis on action and combat, some reviewers accused the game of abandoning the genre's essence.^[80] Following Resident Evil 4's lead, many "horror" games in the next few years would shift toward more combat-heavy gameplay, including Silent Hill: Homecoming and Alone in the Dark.^[80][81]

For Nintendo, Capcom's reversal on GameCube exclusivity, particularly with Resident Evil 4, was a betrayal that soured relations between the two companies for several years. After this early pulling of Capcom support, the GameCube went on to sell 22 million units, less than the Nintendo 64's 33 million units and a far cry from the PlayStation 2's 150 million units.^[82][83] Though Resident Evil 4 was eventually ported to Nintendo Wii in 2007, it also received a high-definition re-release for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011.^[84][85] Nintendo opted not to include a character from Capcom in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a direct result of Capcom's breaking of exclusivity, despite featuring characters from rival third parties Konami and Sega.^[86] With the Wii, Nintendo has been commercially successful in spite of its continued lack of third-party developer support.^[87] The Wii had mostly relied on first-party titles to move systems until 2009 when in-house development could not keep up with demand for new material, causing sales to drop and prompting a shift toward more aggressive third party campaigning.^[88] With the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo has attempted to recruit outside developers early on to avoid a repeat of what happened with the Wii and reclaim the third party support it enjoyed in the 8- and 16-bit eras.^[89]

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