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Salnax on 01 December 2020
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I was recently pondering about which developers and publishers have released well-received games for Nintendo platforms since the Famicom first started getting third party support in 1984. Lots of names came up time after time, such as Square/Enix/Squenix, Ubisoft, Level 5, and even SEGA. But overall, looking back at all of Nintendo's major platforms, I can't think of any company whose total output on Nintendo platforms is rivaled by any other than Nintendo themselves.

Let's review this platform by platform:

  • NES - Capcom releases dozens of games on the NES, many of which are exclusives. Loads of them are critically acclaimed, either at the time or in retrospect, including the Mega Man series, their Disney licensed games, Sweet Home, etc. Several of their NES games sell over a million units, including Mega Man 2, Ghosts n Goblins, and Ducktales.
  • GB - Capcom releases less Game Boy titles, and they are generally inferior versions of NES titles, but games such as Mega Man V and Ducktales 2 are well regarded.
  • SNES - Capcom is probably the third party biggest supporter of the SNES besides Squaresoft, thanks in large part to the success of Street Fighter II. Street Fighter II: World Warrior is the most successful 3rd party game on a Nintendo console until the Just Dance craze on the Wii, and between its various versions, Street Fighter II sells about 12.5 million copies on the SNES. This is in addition to more million-sellers from Capcom, including Aladdin, Final Fight, Mega Man X, Super Ghouls n Ghosts, etc.
  • N64 - (Capcom releases a couple of ports. This is honestly their weak point in their history of supporting Nintendo.)
  • GBC - Capcom support is not quite up to the standards of the SNES, but they release games like Mega Man Xtreme and publish games like Toki Tori and Shantae.
  • GBA - A major revival for Capcom supporting Nintendo. The two flagship Mega Man series for the system are Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Zero, which end up with ten GBA games between them. Note that the Battle Network series includes some of the Mega Man series's biggest commercial hits. Additionally, there are plenty of ports of classic retro games, as well as the Japan-only Ace Attorney series.
  • GC - Capcom is one of the biggest supporters of the GameCube, with lots of exclusive or timed-exclusives. The biggest hits are Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Remake, and Resident Evil 0, which are all million-sellers on the underselling GameCube. Other notable hits include Viewtiful Joe and Killer7.
  • DS - Nintendo released less major hits on the DS, but there were plenty of acclaimed Capcom games on the system. Titles included Ace Attorney ports and new entries, Okamiden, Ghost Trick, and some more obscure Mega Man titles.
  • Wii - Not as strong as SNES and GameCube support, but still solid. Capcom releases the third entry in their growing Monster Hunter series as a Wii exclusive. In addition to polished ports of games like Okami and Resident Evil 4, there are also new successful spinoffs for Resident Evil. Other critically remarkable games included Zack & Wiki and Tatsunoko vs Capcom. They also support the Wii Virtual Console, with eventually 28 available titles in North America for various platforms.
  • 3DS - People jokingly referred to the 3DS as the Capcom 3DS based on the amount of support they were giving the platform at points. Highlights include releasing the best-reviewed launch title for the system in Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition; not only porting over Monster Hunter 3 but launching Monster Hunter 4 and Generations as 3DS exclusives; releasing both updated versions of their Monster Hunter games as well as spinoffs on the 3DS; continuing the Ace Attorney series on the 3DS, despite the series being increasingly brought to other platforms; continued support for the Virtual Console; and releasing two Resident Evil titles in the first year of the 3DS's lifespan, one of which was actually pretty good.
  • Wii U - Considering how third party support for the Wii U was similar to that of the N64, I think Capcom porting over 3DS titles like Monster Hunter and Resident Evil while occasionally releasing digital exclusives like Ducktales Remastered and Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara is practically a minor victory.
  • Switch - In addition to the upcoming Monster Hunter Rise and Stories 2, Capcom has already released countless older games in collections and HD makeovers, along with releasing games like Mega Man 11.

Overall, out of the 12 platforms mentioned above, Capcom is a major contributor on 5 of them, a more modest contributor on 5, and only an effective non-entity on the N64 and Wii U. Lots of third parties have been major contributors on one or two Nintendo platforms, but can you name any other that has THIS many high points and THIS few low points?



Love and tolerate.