Capcom

History

Capcom was founded in 1979 as an electronic game manufacturer known as Japan Capsule Computers. The current name is a combination of the first three letters of Capsule Computers.

The company's first title was a side scrolling shooter named Vulgus. Early games were mostly of the same style and genre, including the popular 1942 game.

In 1987 a former Konami employee, Yoshiki Okamoto, joined Capcom and created one of their most well-known franchises -- the Street Fighter Games. This series went on to spawn numerous sequels, prequels and updated versions and is largely credited for popularizing the fighting game genre.

Also in 1987, the first Mega Man game was released. The side-scrolling game was a huge hit and spawned half a dozen sequels on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) alone, with another half dozen for the Game Boy and many others afterwards. The Mega Man games were simple platformers where players defeated robot bosses and gained their unique powers to use as weapons.

The third mega-hit franchise, Resident Evil, was released by Capcom for the PlayStation One in 1996. The survival-horror game spawned a number of sequels with its gritty and involving gameplay.

Subsidiaries

In addition to their main development teams, Capcom has two subsidiary houses that work on separate titles. Clover Studios and Flagship are development studios that create games to be published by Capcom.

Clover Studios

This independent development studio has been responsible for various incarnations of the Viewtiful Joe series, including the ports for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. The studio has the goal of promoting games with creativity and imagination. The name "clover" comes from "creativity lover".

Flagship

Flagship has worked closely with Nintendo on titles such as The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and the Legend of Zelda: Oracle games for the Game Boy Color.

Other Notable Games

• Bionic Commando (NES and Game Boy)
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (plus a sequel for the NES)
• DuckTales (plus sequel for the NES)
• Final Fight (NES and Super NES)
• Gargoyle's Quest series (multiple platforms)
• Ghosts 'n Goblins (also Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts) (several systems)
• Little Nemo (NES)
• Mega Man (sequels on NES, Game Boy, SNES, and PlayStation)
• Mega Man X Series (multiple)
• Mega Man Zero (series for the Game Boy Advance)
• Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge (series for the Game Boy Advance)
• Mega Man Battle Network (series for the Game Boy Advance)