Over the years, Capcom has established its authority as one of the leading developers of survival horror games especially with its massively successful franchise,Resident Evil. The series began in 1996, and 23 years later,Resident Evilstill remains as one of the most relevant video game franchises of all time. However, players would remember that Capcom also had another survival horror game that was spawned fromResident Evil’ssuccess. Back in 1999, Capcom releasedDino Crisis, a survival-horror game featuring dinosaurs that became another instant hit for the Japanese developer and even had the makings of reaching the level of success ofResident Evil.
Unfortunately, it has been 16 years since Capcom released aDino Crisisgame, which raises so many questions as to why the franchise that was once thought to be the nextResident Evileffectively died in such a short amount of time. There are so many factors to consider as to whyDino Crisismet an untimely end, but before diving into what went wrong, it is best to look back at the very beginning and understand the series of events that caused the demise ofDino Crisis.
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During the late 90s, Capcom was at the top of its game with the growing popularity ofResident Evil. Prior to the release of the firstDino Crisisgame, Capcom has already been enjoying the commercial success of the firstResident Evilgame and was elbow-deep in developing the second. The success ofResident Evilprompted the studio to recreate the formula on a new IP, and thus,Dino Crisiswas born. Interestingly enough, Capcom wasn’t even hiding the fact thatDino Crisiswas born out ofResident Evilgiven that the box art of the firstDino Crisisgame even mentioned: “From the creators ofResident Evil.” Capcom developer Shinji Mikami, the man behindResident Evil, even directed and produced the firstDino Crisisgame.
During the release ofDino Crisisback in 1999, Capcom has already produced the first twoResident Evilgames and its latest survival-horror title that is focused on dinosaurs quickly became an instant hit.Dino Crisiswas often referred to by gamers as “Resident Evilbut with dinosaurs”, which wasn’t a bad thing given thatDino Crisisdid borrow the formula that madeResident Evilpopular, which is an interesting story, an amazing cast of characters, the survival horror mechanic, and fixed camera angles.Dino Crisiseven made technological advancementsthat the first threeResident Evilgames did not have, a fully-rendered 3D environment, which is a massive leap fromResident Evil’spre-rendered backgrounds.
Of course, the success ofDino Crisispushed Capcom to develop a sequel immediately. One year after the release of the first game, Capcom launchedDino Crisis 2,and this is where things started to get shaky. While the game was positively received by fans and was a commercial success,Dino Crisis 2sold less than its predecessor. The sequel also made a brave departure from the survival horror formula that madeDino Crisissuccessful and transitioned into a fast-paced action-adventure game. Despite this,Dino Crisis 2was still a beloved title in the franchise given that it was set in the same universe and followed the story of the first game’s heroine, Regina, and introduced Dylan, who became the sequel’s primary protagonist.
A couple of years later, Capcom releasedDino Stalker,which is a spin-off title that was part of the Gun Survivor series. Being a spin-off title,Dino Stalkerdidn’t contribute much to the franchise’s overall plot and did not move the story forward, which is why someDino Crisisfans decided to skip the game altogether and wait for the sequel toDino Crisis 2. In 2003, Capcom finally releasedDino Crisis 3,and this is where things went downhill for the once-beloved franchise.
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Just like with its predecessor,Dino Crisis 3made a massive departure from the games that precede it, but this time around, the game took things too far. ForDino Crisis 3, Capcom made the decision to scrap the entire storyline and cast of characters that were established in the first twoDino Crisisgames. This led to an outrage among longtime fans of the franchise, especially after the heartbreaking cliffhanger ending ofDino Crisis 2.Was Regina able to go back in time to save Dylan? No one knows the answer to that becauseDino Crisis 3was set in the year 2548, which is 538 years after the events ofDino Crisis 2.
To make matters worse,Dino Crisis 3was released exclusively on the Xbox, which isolated most fans of theDino Crisisfranchise given that all of the previous games were released to the original PlayStation, and mostDino Crisis playershad transitioned to the PlayStation 2. Given this, the game was received poorly by both fans and critics due to the unwarranted reboot of the franchise and several issues with the game’s mechanics, especially with the camera system with some branding the game having “the worst camera ever.” Since then, Capcom shelved theDino Crisisfranchise, whichremains dormant until today.
While bothDino CrisisandResident Evilhad a similar beginning,Dino Crisisfailed to remain consistent with what it wants to be and introduced massive changes to the franchise in such a short amount of time. Sure,Resident Evilalso had its identity crisis with staying true to its survival horror roots in a handful of games, but the franchise remained consistent with its core essence, which is the threat of bioterrorism, the destruction it creates, and the people committed to fighting against it.Resident Evilalso had more established lore and a cast of characters that have since become icons in the video game industry.
So after 16 years of remaining dormant, will we ever see anotherDino Crisisgame? As of the moment, no one knows. However, back in 2017, Capcom tweeted that “if a lot of people wish” for it, the studio is more than willing to remake the firstDino Crisisgame.Given the continued success of the remakes of the first twoResident Evilgameswith the third one in active development, it is not unlikely for Capcom to give the same treatment to theDino Crisisfranchise. Who knows, maybe this would be the perfect opportunity for the studio to redeem what was once considered as the nextResident Evil,and giveDino Crisisits proper place in the video game industry
As of right now, Capcom hasn’t revealed an update on whether it has already given the go-ahead for aDino Crisisremake or remaster, but there is now a glimmer of hope for theDino Crisisfranchise given thatCapcom has renewed the trademark for the dinosaur survival horror series. Of course, the studio is probably just renewing the trademark to protect its property, though Capcom did say in the past that it wanted to leverage its existing library of games with remakes and remasters. The company is currently seeing a lot of success with the renaissance of classicResident Evilgames, so maybe the studio is now planning to reviveDino Crisisafter all.
