Capcom Co., Ltd. (株式会社カプコン) is a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Over the years since its creation, Capcom has become a multinational enterprise with subsidiaries all over the world, and has created several multi-million selling and genre-defining franchises such as Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Devil May Cry.
Capcom is the primary owner of the Strider IP, seemingly sharing ownership with manga studio Moto Kikaku due to its work in the initial three-way project. Capcom was the one who approached Moto Kikaku in order to start the project, and is credited for "Original Concept" in the manga.
History[]
The two original companies which spawned Capcom's current branch were I.R.M Corporation and its subsidiary Japan Capsule Computers Co., Ltd., both funded by Kenzo Tsujimoto in 1979[1]. The two were devoted mainly in the manufacture and distribution of electronic game machines[1]. In 1981 the company was rebranded “Sambi Co., LTD.”, in 1983 "Capcom Co., Ltd" was first established as an affiliate company; and in January 1989, Sambi and Capcom merged into what's currently the main Japanese branch[1]. Capcom stems from a compound formed by the first letters in "Capsule Computers", named as such in reference to the arcade machines the company sold originally, in an attempt to set themselves apart from personal computers, which were raising in popularity at the time.[2]
Capcom's very first product was the 1983 coin-op game Little League, and their first Arcade game was 1984's shoot'em up, Vulgus[1]. Over the following years, Capcom released a number of popular Arcade games, including Ghosts 'n Goblins, 1942 and Commando. Street Fighter became Capcom's first major hit with its 2nd installment, Street Fighter II, released in 1991. It popularized the fighting game genre and became a multimedia franchise expanding across several comic books, movies and animated series.
Currently, Capcom has created over 70 titles that have sold over one million units[3] and expanded several of its franchises into other media, including animation, movies and comic books.
Development Teams[]
Here's a list of internal teams at Capcom that were involved in the creation of Strider games.
First Planning Room[]
The First Planning Room[4] (第1企画室) was one of the three internal development teams at Capcom during the late 80's, headed by Tokuro Fujiwara. The 2nd and 3rd Planning Rooms were headed by Takashi Nishiyama and Yoshiki Okamoto, respectively.[5]
Kouichi Yotsui worked as part of this team under Fujiwara, initially as a an object/background artist[5]. Around 1988, Capcom's head of development Akio Sakai secured a deal with Moto Kikaku to create a three-way project in the form of a manga, an Arcade game and a console game. The First Planning Room was in charge of developing the Arcade side of the project, with Fujiwara chosing Yotsui to lead the project partially due to his past experience with the CPS-1 board and his negotiation skills.
All three teams were disbanded in the latter half of 1988, when Capcom reorganized its workforce into two development departments focused on Arcade and home console games development respectively.[6]
Some of the games developed by the First Planning Room include:
- The Speed Rumbler (1986, Arcade)
- Commando (1986, Arcade/NES)
- Bionic Commando (1987/88, Arcade/NES)
- Higemaru Makaijima (1987, NES/MSX)
- Tiger Road (1987, Arcade)
- Ghouls 'n Ghosts (1988, Arcade)
- Strider (1989, Arcade)
Alph Lyla[]
Alph Lyla (アルフ・ライラ), originally known as Alph Lyla wa Lyla (アルフ・ライラ・ワ・ライラ), was Capcom's internal sound team during the late 80's and early 90's. The name derives from the original title of the "One Thousand and One Nights" collection of stories, which can be seen written in Arabic in the logo featured on their soundtrack covers. Initially consisting of only four female composers (Junko Tamiya, Harumi Fujita, Tamayo Kawamoto and Manami Matsumae)[7], Alph Lyla was responsible for developing the score for most of Capcom's CPS-1 catalogue, most notably Street Fighter II, as well as several home console games.
Junko Tamiya and Harumi Fujita worked on Strider for the CPS-1 and NES console respectively, and the full team worked together on two remixed themes for the official OST release of the Arcade version.[7]
Production Studio 1[]
Production Studio 1 (第一制作部) was one of the many numbered internal development teams at Capcom during the late 90's and 2000's. Also called "Arcade Development"[8], the team focused in the development of fighting games primarily.
Production Studio 1 was put in charge of developing Strider 2 for the ZN-2 Arcade board[8]. The team faced many complications during the development of the title, eventually leading to Atsushi Tomita, main director of the Vs. series at the time, to join the staff midway during production[8]. Through his determination, the team managed to finish the game in spite of delays and even the possibility of cancelation.[8]
Some of the games developed by Production Studio 1 include:
- Pocket Fighter (1997, Arcade)
- Street Fighter 2nd Impact -GIANT ATTACK- (1997, Arcade)
- Rival Schools (1997, Arcade)
- Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998, Arcade)
- Star Gladietor 2: Nightmar of Blistein (1998, Arcade)
- Street Fighter Alpha 3 (1998, Arcade)
- Tech Romancer (1998, Arcade)
- Street Fighter III 3rd Strike (1999, Arcade)
- Strider 2 (1999, Arcade)
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000, Arcade)
- CAPCOM VS. SNK MILLENNIUM FIGHT 2000 (2000, Arcade/Dreamcast)
- Project Justice (2000, Arcade/Dreamcast)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Federation vs. Zeon (2001, Arcade)
- CAPCOM VS. SNK 2 MILLIONAIRE FIGHTING 2001 (2001, Arcade/Dreamcast/PlayStation 2)
- Auto Modellista (2002, PlayStation 2)
- Devil May Cry 2 (2003, PlayStation 2)
- Gotcha Force (GameCube, 2003)
- Monster Hunter (2004, PlayStation 2)
Osaka studio[]
Capcom's Osaka studio assisted Double Helix Games during the development of the 2014 Strider. One of the key reason Capcom selected Double Helix was for their ability to work closely with their Osaka studio, which handled many of the character designs (under direction of Strider 2 enemy designer Sho Sakai) and consulted on the game's design.[9]
External Links[]
- Capcom article at Wikipedia.
- Capcom article at the Capcom Database.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Capcom (September 2009). "History" (English). Capcom's official site. Accessed September 29, 2016
- ↑ Capcom (2009). "Name Origin" (Japanese). Capcom's official site. Accessed September 29, 2016
- ↑ Capcom (2009). "Platinum Titles" (English). Capcom's official site. Accessed September 29, 2016.
- ↑ Capcom (March 1989, Arcade). Strider (English). Ending Staff Roll
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Tane, Kiyofume (February 2009). "The Father of Strider Who Made the Game World Explode: Kouichi Yotsui Discography". Gameside (16). Translated by Gaijin Punch for Gamengai. Accessed September 29, 2016.
- ↑ Staff (2003). "The Man Who Made Ghosts’n Goblins" (Japanese). Continue (12). Translated by GlitterBerri. Accessed September 29, 2016
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Alph Lyla wa Lyla (May 21, 1989). Strider Hiryû -G.S.M. CAPCOM 2-. [CD]. Pony Canyon, D25B-1001. Liner Notes, pg. 1-2.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Yamamoto, Setsuo; Yoneda, Etsuko (January 21, 2000). Strider Hiryû 2 Official Soundtrack. [CD]. Suleputer, CPCA-1035. Liner Notes, pg. 4-5.
- ↑ Gillbert, Henry (July 22, 2013). "Strider isn't a reboot, it's a retelling". gamesradar.com. Accessed September 29, 2016