Stefan's weekly rant

Capcom's got a new 3D game coming out called "Capcom's Fighting ALL Stars", and I think it's absolutely ridiculous! Again, I wonder how Capcom can continue to be SO incredibly stupid?!

The first thing I thought when I saw this new game was that the characters in it are anything but Capcom's stars! As it stands right now, the cast includes the same old Ryu & Chun Li (of course >_<), Charlie Nash, Alex, Batsu, Akira, Strider Hiryu, Haggar, Poison, and three new characters: D.D., Ingrid, and Rook.

Ryu is not a star, he never has been, and he never will be. No matter how much Capcom hypes him, and how cheap and easy to play they make him, he's nothing. As I've said a million times, he's one of the most unoriginal and boring characters ever created. Ryu is only around because Capcom forces it, and scrubs only play him because he's easy to win with.

Chun Li is a big star, I'll admit that. She's got lots of fans, but without Capcom's constant hype, fans would have grown tired of her a long time ago. I think the majority of Chun Li fans are just jumping on the bandwagon created by Capcom, but there's not much real love or dedication. Nevertheless, she's a star, and as much as I bitch about her being in the game, I'd bitch just as much if she wasn't.

Charlie Nash is one of my favorite Street Fighter characters, but I really wouldn't consider him to be a star. He has one action figure, and I've seen him in a few comics, but for the most part, fans don't cosplay as Charlie, and there really aren't any of the posters, comics, fanarts, models, or other things that a 'star' character would have.

Alex was originally supposed to be the star of Street Fighter 3, but hardly anybody noticed him. I think he was kinda cool too, but he's nothing special, and his game absolutely sucked. Again, he has no major fan support.

Batsu from Rival Schools is the generic 'Ryu' character of that game, and he's nothing special either. Although RS is a great series, Batsu has even almost zero fan support. I've seen him in some comics, but never in cosplay, toys, posters, fanart, etc.

Akira is kinda popular, but she's far from being one of Capcom's "Stars". Rival Schools has a really dedicated fan base, but it's kind of a cult following. Akira might be the most popular character from the series, but in the video game world, she's not a star. Ask a person who hasn't played RS, or a person who's just played it casually, and they've probably never heard of her (they all think Akira is a movie!).

Strider has been the star of his own games for a long time, and he's been in some of the Capcom 'versus' games. I guess having his own games for so many years makes him a star, but how popular is he really? I don't think he's very popular. Again... no cosplay, fanart, comics, models, etc. I know there are bigger stars, but I'm basically okay with Strider in the game.

Haggar is an old character from the Final Fight series, and he hasn't done anything important in almost a decade! Hardly anybody remembers him. If the FF series needed a representative, then how about Cody or Guy? They've at least been active in games. Guy is hardly a star, but I know a lotta people at least like playing him.

Poison is another old character from the Final Fight series. I doubt that most people even know her. She was one of the bad guys that you beat up along the way. And recently, she had a side-role as Hugo's manager in the SF3 series. But again, she's a pretty cool character, but... SHE IS NOT A STAR!

Then you've got 3 new characters. From what I've seen so far, there's nothing at all outstanding about Rook and D.D. Ingrid is kinda cute, but have you noticed that she's basically a modified Chun Li? Look at her hair... it's just like Chun Li's except the color is different, and it isn't all stuffed into her buns. And look at her outfit... it's basically like Chun Li's except that it's a lighter blue, and she's got a full skirt and long sleeves. She's even got the same dark tights as Chun Li, but her legs aren't as fat. Ingrid isn't much of a 'new' character... she's Chun Li on a diet with bleached hair and a modified outfit! Click here to see for yourself.

The game isn't out yet, so we don't know all the characters that are gonna be in there, but what we know so far is VERY disappointing. I'm wondering if Capcom's real stars are gonna make it into the game...

All personal bias aside, Delta Red Cammy is easily one of the most popular characters Capcom has ever had. Even after all this time, she's still got a HUGE fan base, new toys, models, comics, etc. Delta Red Cammy the epitome of a star. Cammy's stardom is almost entirely thanks to her fans (most of whom don't even know about CammyFan.com), and who deserves to be in the game more than that?

What about the cast of Darkstalkers?! That game hasn't been seen in 5 years, and it's still one of Capcom's most popular series. Morrigan, Lilith, Lei Lei, Felicia, Demitri, Gallon, and most of the other characters are all most famous than Batsu, Haggar, and most of the other scrubs in the game. Like Delta Red Cammy, Darkstalkers is still wildly popular with fans, and yet Capcom seems to be actively trying to ignore that. WHY?! Is Capcom really trying to not give the fans what they want? It sure seems like it...

Even Sakura, who I think is totally lame (see Nov 12, '01 rant for details) is a much bigger star than almost anybody on the current roster. And for another SF character, how about Vega (aka M Bison)? He's popular, and he's the guy who pretty much makes the SF storyline possible.

Anyhow, from what I've seen so far, this game is gonna totally suck. Sure the graphics are awesome, and the gameplay might be good too, but if the characters aren't the ones fans know and love, then how interested are people really gonna be? With a mish-mash of characters like that, I'm sure there's gonna be no compelling storyline either, and that's not gonna help spur the interest of all the fans who really help take games and characters to the next level of popularity. Take SF3 and SFEX as the perfect examples of games with bad characters and no storylines. I predict that Capcom's Fighting All Stars is gonna get stuck right in the trash next to the Street Fighter 3 and the Street Fighter EX series.

Capcom keeps making the same stupid mistakes. It doesn't take a genius to see what's wrong. I'm no genius and I'm not special in any way, but I can see what the fans like, and I know the history... I just use some simple logic based on common sense. Capcom's got some of the best talent in pretty much every area, and they could make some absolutely amazing fighting games, but they just don't seem to wanna use that talent. Maybe this new failure will finally make the fools at Capcom realize how wrong they've been.

Or maybe they'll surprise us all and add Cammy, Morrigan, and all the other stars that deserve to be in the game. In that case, I'll happily admit that I opened my big fat stupid mouth too soon! ^_^