Capcom at E3 2015: Hands-on with Their Upcoming Games

An hour at Capcom's E3 2015 booth is all it took to remind me how bad I am at Capcom games. Well, specifically two: Mega Man and Street Fighter. Unable to wrap my head around their very specific gameplay styles, I struggled not to embarrass myself in front of publicists and developers. In the end, I failed miserably at one and at least did okay in the other. Can you guess which is which? No matter. Here's a rundown of my time with all Capcom's upcoming games, which I played on a PS4:

Mega Man Legacy Collection

Capcom's blue bomber is the latest IP to get the remaster treatment (coincidentally, around the same time as indie competitor Mighty No. 9). There have been a few other collections, but none have looked quite as crisp as this one, although you'll still get all the 8-bit goodness. There's even a cool A/V mode where you make the game look like it's being played on an old TV monitor. Speaking to one of the developers, he told me that the emphasis of Mighty No. 9was more on preserving the classic feel of the original series, which is also the reason why this collection only includes the first six entries — a point of contention with some hardcore fans who have purchased more inclusive collections in the past. 

Full disclosure: I sort of missed classic Mega Man, even the holy Mega Man Xfor SNES, which came out in 1993 when I was two years old. I've had some brief stints with the series since then, but I was always so completely obliterated after a couple days of trying to beat the levels that I never got around to finishing one. Is Mega Man Legacy Collection the compilation that will finally make me play through the series? Unlikely. 

Not only does Mega Man Legacy Collection preserve the graphical quality of the 8-bit sprites, it's also kept the harsh difficulty. I had no luck trying to get through the Bomb Man level in Mega Man. I even broke a bit of a sweat. It makes me wonder if Mega Man Legacy Collection is more of an introductory compilation for the uninitiated or a salute to hardcore fans. I feel like this game is going to send more casual or young gamers running for their lives. Like it did me. 

Still, there's a sense of history here, and if you're a collector or just want to catch up on one of gaming's pivotal series, this is definitely a worth it collection. And the challenge mode and museum (an in-game history of the franchise) add new and fun ways to experience the series. If you need something to play this summer, you could do way worse than this collection. 

Street Fighter V

Ah, if only our very own fighting game expert Gavin Jasper had been the one to see this game in action. Although I only won one match, I can't really fault the game at all. It's so much fun and so beautifully colorful that I spent much of the time in awe of the fresh art design, which almost makes the characters look they're made of futuristic claymation. 

I had the most luck with Ryu, putting together chains of combos that ended with a powerful Hadouken in several instances. But I found Chun-Li to be the fastest fighter in the game. I couldn't keep up with her. Birdie is unbearable to play with, a hulking mess who I found to be too slow, although his strikes were often devastating. 

The V-Gauge and V-Trigger battle system add a whole new element of the game, as they unlock a whole mess of new moves branching out of the original move set that each character has. It's a game-changer for sure, and it'll be interesting to see how pros and casual players adapt to the new system. 

I'd say that this game is a definitely welcome addition to the series, but I'd prefer to wait for Gavin's opinion on that. 

Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster

There isn't much to say about Resident Evil Zero HD Remake except that it does pretty much everything that this year's Resident Evil HD Remakedid. The game is preserved in such a way that you can't really tell it apart from the original version. The biggest difference continues to be the modern control scheme, although you can toggle back to the classic, less intuitive system at your whim. 

In a way, you can't help but think that Capcom is playing it safe with these games, banking on titles that everyone already knows are great classics. Although I'm excited to jump into Bravo Team's adventure in the Arklay Mountains, I'm a little worried that I'm going to get a bit tired of these remasters. A Capcom representative told me that the publisher is definitely aware of the library of great games that they have at their disposal and that their remaster campaign is an on-going project. After all, there's a reason why three of the four games on this last are just remasters of old games. And the other is a sequel...

Will I want to play Resident Evil 2 HD Remaster and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis HD Remaster? And how soon until Resident Evil 4 comes to current-gen consoles? I'd rather see Capcom work on a thousand new things than even one rehashed classic. 

Still, I was excited about the few sections of Resident Evil Zero I played, all of which took place in the introductory train cars full of zombie. The claustrophobic feel immediately came back to me. There really hadn't been such cramped spaces in this series until Zero. 

The greatest selling point of this title is that it's finally coming to platforms not owned by Nintendo. If you never owned a GameCube back in the day, this is the perfect time to nab this prequel.

Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition

We finish off with another remaster, which follows by less than four months another Devil May Cry remaster. You see where I'm going with this? Seeing Monster Hunter X, another NEW title, would have put me a little more at ease at the booth, but it was unfortunately no where to be seen. 

Luckily, Devil May Cry 4 is the only installment in the series that I've placed, and although I didn't finish it, I enjoyed the gameplay a bit. The Special Edition version looks and plays great, even adding some new characters to the mix, including Vergil, who you can use through the entire story mode. 

The hack and slash controls even feel more responsive this time around, which is a great thing since the original was already so well-designed. This is a fine addition to current-gen consoles if you haven't tried a Devil May Cry game before, although the story might get a bit confusing. There's also a challenge mode that is a lot of fun to play if you first take the time to unlock it by finishing the story mode. But again, this is another remaster and not a innovative new Capcom entry into the industry. 

John Saavedra is an assistant editor at Den of Geek US. Chat with him on Twitter! Or check out all his work at his website.