How Capcom Turned into the Remastering and Remakeing Experts
It’s reasonable to argue that the idea of remastering or recreating a well-known title is similar to the idea of starting from scratch with a new title. Yes, you do have a type of starting point rather than nothing at all for a completely new game, but you still have to contend with the overarching goal of giving gamers a gaming experience that is appealing and captivating for the modern period. Furthermore, there is a well-known risk that remakes are especially susceptible to, and that is when studios over-tinker and pay too much attention to their inner voice, breaking a lot of things that were perfectly fine in the first place and producing a clearly worse final product as a result.
Capcom is one developer, however, that seems to have walked this dangerous tightrope with skill and grace. Over the last twenty years, the Japanese developer/publisher has done an amazing job at remastering, recreating, and re-releasing legendary titles from its back library to a whole new generation of players. Instead of the careless, cheapskate, and lazy remasters we’ve so frequently seen elsewhere, Capcom treats its properties with respect, keeping an eye on the past to preserve the spirit of those games while also keeping an eye on modern expectations of game design.
2005’s Mega Man Maverick Hunter X for the PlayStation Portable
Capcom has a greater risk of underdelivering on high expectations when it comes to remastering or rebuilding its games since its back library boasts so many genuine genre masterpieces that have undoubtedly withstood the test of time. However, in recent years, a mainly excellent run of Resident Evil remakes that have succeeded in capturing the hearts and minds of both series veterans and newbies has shown that the Japanese studio’s remake and remastering prowess is nearly unbeatable.
Speaking of Resident Evil, Capcom’s renowned survival horror masterpiece from 1996 is perhaps where their remastering quest started. The Resident Evil remake, also simply known as “Resident Evil,” was first released in 2002 on Nintendo’s cherished Gamecube console. It completely recreated the game’s visual presentation with brand-new, highly detailed character models and re-rendered backgrounds while retaining the fixed camera perspectives of the PSOne original version.
2019’s Resident Evil 2 on PC
In addition to staying true to the spirit of Capcom’s survival horror masterpiece, the Resident Evil remake from 2002 went above and beyond in terms of design, adding new areas, weapons, and enemies to the player’s inventory and reworking puzzles to create a whole new gaming experience. By faithfully recreating its classic source material and adding new elements that improved rather than diminished the overall offering, the Resident Evil remake succeeded in appealing to both fans of the original and newcomers to the franchise. It is a truly eye-opening example of what a remake of a classic could and should be in the hands of a careful studio.
Soon after, Capcom decided to extend its reach further by remaking their beloved platforming shooter series Mega Man, the best of which, in this humble writer’s opinion, would be Mega Man Maverick Hunter X. Mega Man Maverick Hunter X was an incredibly accurate remake that performed just like its original 1993 game, Mega Man X, keeping to Capcom’s own high standards for remakes. Mega Man Maverick Hunter X debuted in 2005 for Sony’s PSP portable system and included a full graphic makeover in addition to a few quality-of-life enhancements. This made the game appealing to a whole new generation of players.
Strangely, the 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake wouldn’t put Capcom’s skill at masterfully reproducing its games to the test or earn it the recognition it so well earned until many years later. Remaking Resident Evil 2, which is already considered one of the greatest sequels of all time, was no easy task, to say the least, since fans had very high expectations and would not settle for anything less than a superb recreation of one of the greatest survival horror games ever. Capcom proved to be more than capable of handling the challenge, masterfully reimagining the urban horror of the 1998 original with a contemporary visual presentation that completely eschewed the traditional fixed camera perspective in favor of an over-the-shoulder, roaming third-person viewpoint, giving 2019 a legitimate contender for Game of the Year.
2019’s Resident Evil 2 on PC
But things weren’t always easy for the home that Street Fighter constructed. A recreation of Resident Evil 3 was released less than a year later to a notably mixed critical reaction, an effort to quickly cash in on the enormous popularity of its Resident Evil 2 remake. The game itself was a pale shadow of the 1999 original Resident Evil, even if the remake looked the part and featured some stunningly avant-garde graphics that look amazing even now. This was mostly caused by a ton of material that was left out of the remake and a significant decrease in the number of puzzles the player had to complete. Overall, the Resident Evil 3 remake was a rare stain on Capcom’s usually almost flawless remake record. It was a somewhat weak and badly handled attempt, particularly in light of the very recent great Resident Evil 2 remake.
In 2023, Capcom would start work on its most ambitious and perhaps successful project to date: a complete remake of Resident Evil 4. The project would draw on lessons from both the successful and unsuccessful aspects of the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 remakes. Resident Evil 4 has a unique position in the series canon, maybe more so than any other game in the franchise history. This is partly because it is set in three dimensions and features a very gratifying overhaul of Resident Evil’s relatively awkward controls and related fighting systems. In addition to having a completely new foe that deviates from the typical shamblers and a very vivid location in the most remote and deep-forested parts of rural Spain, Resident Evil 4’s several Game of the Year honors from 2005 were obviously well-earned.
2023’s Resident Evil 4 (PC)
Capcom have exceeded themselves with the Resident Evil 4 remake. Although the lavish audiovisual display of the 2023 remake lived up to our expectations, Capcom took it a step further and made some significant changes to the original 2005 version so that it would be more enjoyable for gamers today. The notorious battle with Krauser, one of the game’s antagonists, is perhaps the finest illustration of this. This fight’s initial 2005 version relied only on a set of QTE (Quick Time Event) sequences, in which the player had to hit certain buttons at certain moments to advance through the scenario. The whole “fight” was really a barely interactive cutscene, and that wasn’t very good.
By relying on new knife combat and parry systems that were specifically designed for the remake, Capcom has instead made the fight a proper scrap with maximum player agency in the Resident Evil 4 remake. This makes the entire encounter feel like a memorable one, rather than a cutscene with knobs on. A wide variety of additional well-considered additions to the original Resident Evil 4 that did not detract from the main gameplay were also included in the remake, including new opponents, side missions, optional stealth portions, and much more.
Okami HD (2017, PC)
And that’s without even talking about some of the more subdued remastering projects that Capcom has been delighting gamers with for the last several decades. Capcom has not only been updating these classic games for a new generation of gamers, as evidenced by the excellent Okami HD, the outrageous Devil May Cry Collection, and even the more recent Monster Hunter Stories titles, but they have also vitally preserved them in ways that I wish other publishers would take into account rather than just letting them fade into obscurity.
In terms of the future, the forthcoming Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster also seems to be a remake in the purest sense of the word; it has a completely redesigned audiovisual presentation along with some quality-of-life improvements that improve Dead Rising’s core gameplay rather than drastically altering it. It’s obvious why Capcom should be regarded as the masters of remasters and remakes since they consistently release incredibly polished works that remain faithful to the originals while also skillfully juggling the need to know what to alter and what to leave mostly unaltered. May it last for a very long time.
