Capcom
Capcom Co., Ltd. | |||
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Type | Public | ||
Founded | May 30, 1979 | ||
Headquarters | Osaka | ||
Key people | Kenzo Tsujimoto Haruhiro Tsujimoto Hiroshi Tobisawa Katsuhiko Ichii | ||
Industry | Video Games | ||
Products | Various Video Games | ||
Employees | 3,332 (2023) | ||
Website | Capcom Co., Ltd. | ||
Article on Wikipedia | Capcom |
Capcom (株式会社カプコン) is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. Originally established on May 30th, 1979 as I.R.M. Corporation, the goal of the company was to make and sell electric game machines for arcades. In May of 1981, I.R.M. would form the subsidiary Capsule Computer Co. for the same purposes. In September of that year, I.R.M renamed to Sanbi Co. and Capsule Computer was renamed to Capcom in June of 1983. These companies would release their first arcade machine July of 1983 with Little League, and their first proper video game, Vulgus would release in May of 1984. Soon after would be a string of successful arcade games, including 1942, Commando, and Ghosts'n Goblins, all of which would get well received home console ports. 1987 would see the release of both Street Fighter in the arcades and Mega Man on consoles, both of which eventually becoming among the most recognizable franchises of their day. On January of 1989, Sanbi and Capcom would officially merge with the Sanbi name being retired. This new Capcom would continue to thrive throughout the 1990's and into the 2000's with landmarks titles like Final Fight, Street Fighter II, Resident Evil, Onimusha, Devil May Cry, Ace Attorney, Monster Hunter and Dead Rising. Capcom would also collaborate with several other companies to make crossover titles, such as Marvel, SNK, Namco, Sega, and Tatsunoko. They also produced several licensed video games, such as those based on the animated properties from Disney, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, Spawn, the Heavy Metal magazine, Domino's Pizza's The Noid, Dungeons & Dragons, Area 88, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Sweet Home. Currently headquartered in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan, Capcom has grown into a multinational company with subsidiaries and branches in East Asia, North America, and Europe.
Aside from video games, Capcom has invested in various other media. These include feature films, both animated and live action, as well as animated series and comics based on their famous properties. Several theatrical productions and stage shows have also appeared over the years. Capcom has collaborated with museums and Onsen hot springs to be themed after their games, as well as owning and operating the Capcom Cafe in Japan.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
Though no content from Capcom original properties is present in this game, Toon Link's red, blue and purple costumes are based on the respective Links from The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, a Capcom developed game. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, which Capcom also developed, is present in the game via three stickers: Ezlo, Zelda holding a Small Shield (referred to as "Young Zelda"), and a Small Shield (erroneously referred to as "Hylian Shield").
In Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]
One of Capcom's flagship characters, Mega Man from the Mega Man series, appears as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4, along with the main characters from the successor series making cameos in his Final Smash, Mega Legends. Elec Man, a boss from the first Mega Man game, was added as an Assist Trophy. Ryu of the Street Fighter series was made available as DLC in June 2015, making Capcom the first third party company to have multiple playable fighters (later followed by Sega in the same installment with Bayonetta being made available in February 2016 in addition to Sonic the Hedgehog, who is included in the base game). Costumes based on the Hunter and Rathalos armor from the Monster Hunter series later appeared as DLC for Mii Swordfighters. The stages Wily Castle from the Mega Man series and Suzaku Castle from the Street Fighter series appear.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
Mega Man and Ryu, of the Mega Man and Street Fighter series respectively, both return from Super Smash Bros. 4 in the base roster, in addition to the inclusion of Ken as Ryu's Echo Fighter. Their respective stages Wily Castle and Suzaku Castle both return as well. Rathalos, a recurring monster from the Monster Hunter series, appears as a Boss and an Assist Trophy. Zero from the Mega Man X series was also added as a new Assist Trophy along with the Wily Capsule from Mega Man 7, however Elec Man has been removed. Guile, from the Street Fighter series, appears as an Assist Trophy as well, using the infamous "down-backing" technique from Street Fighter II. Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy, Albert Wesker and Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil series appear as spirits released in a post-launch Spirit Board event. All of the previous Mii costumes returned as downloadable content, along with a new hat based on Felyne from Monster Hunter, a Mii Swordfighter outfit based on Arthur from Ghosts 'n Goblins, and a Mii Swordfighter outfit based on Dante from Devil May Cry.
Ezlo from The Minish Cap reappears as a spirit. Additionally, content from Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, as well as Four Swords, debuts with spirits of Din, Nayru, Ricky, Dimitri, and Moosh for the former two, and Vaati for the lattermost.
Trivia[edit]
- Capcom has the most Assist Trophies of all third-party companies with five: Elec Man, Zero, Wily Capsule, Guile, and Rathalos. Additionally, with both Rathalos and the Yellow Devil, it is the only third-party company with multiple bosses.
- Capcom has the most spirits in Ultimate of any third-party company, and is the only one with master spirits.
- Capcom also has the most Mii Costumes of all third-party companies, at 17—8 outfits and 9 headgears.
- Excluding Creatures Inc. and the defunct APE Inc., Capcom is the only company that is listed multiple times on the copyrights screen for Smash 4 and Ultimate, particularly "Capcom Co. Ltd." and "Capcom U.S.A. Inc.". The reason is that Capcom U.S.A. Inc. specifically held the IP rights to Street Fighter brand during the release of both games.
- Starting in April of 2021, Street Fighter content started being copyrighted by "Capcom Co. Ltd." instead of its U.S.A. counterpart, though the copyright screen for Ultimate remains unchanged.
Companies involved in the Super Smash Bros. series | |
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First- and second-party | Nintendo (Monolith Soft · Retro Studios) · HAL Laboratory · Game Freak · Creatures · Intelligent Systems · Rare Ltd. · Sora Ltd. |
Third-party | Konami · Sega (Atlus) · PlatinumGames · Capcom · Bandai Namco · Square Enix · Microsoft (Rare Ltd. · Mojang Studios) · SNK · Disney |
Other related | Game Arts · Hatena · Havok · Paon DP · Tri-Crescendo · List of companies with minor representation |