Capcom has seen great success in its remakes for several years, particularly those from theResident Evilfranchise. Of course, this is hardly surprising sinceResident Evilremains one of Capcom’s biggest video game franchises. However, Capcom fans have also been asking for the studio to remake some of its other IPs, most notably theDino Crisisfranchise, which has been dormant for nearly two decades.
During its launch in 1999,Dino Crisiscaught the interest of survival horror fans, especially after the massive success of theResident Evilfranchise. For a time, many thought that Capcom was able to replicateResident Evil’ssuccess in a new franchise, but fans soon lost interest inDino Crisisafter the release of the third game. GivenDino Crisisis often consideredResident Evilbut with dinosaurs, why wasn’t it able to replicateResident Evil’s success?
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Dino Crisis 3
It is no secret that the release ofDino Crisis 3in 2003 sawthe downfall of what was once thought to be the nextResident Evil. However, it is worth remembering that Capcom implemented massive changes inDino Crisis 3’sstory and setting that basically neglected everything that the first twoDino Crisisgames started. The firstDino Crisisgame was set in 2009, the second in 2020, and the third in 2548. Given this massive time jump, none of the characters from the first two games ever made it toDino Crisis 3, and the story and cliffhanger inDino Crisis 2was never resolved.
Instead,Dino Crisis 3introduced an entirely new cast of characters and transferred its setting to space. Not to mention, the dinosaurs inDino Crisis 3were in no way similar to traditional ones featured in the first two games. While some connections to its predecessors exist in terms of concept,Dino Crisis 3was seen as an entirely separate game, which was received poorly by fans. In contrast,theResident Evilfranchise was able to keep a consistent storyline, and all mainline games in the series are connected via the plot and the characters.
The Hype for Dinosaur Games Isn’t as Strong as Zombie Games
Another major reason whyDino Crisiscould not replicateResident Evil’ssuccess is that dinosaur video games aren’t as popular as zombie games. It is worth noting that whileResident Evilisn’t a full-fledged zombie game, given that the franchise has since departed from traditional zombies, it was able to evolve its enemies alongsidethe viruses and parasites that continue to drive the story forward.
Additionally, it is worth knowing that while the success of the firstResident Evilgame had a great effect on the reception ofDino Crisis. The popularity of dinosaur movies at the time, such asJurassic ParkandThe Lost World: Jurassic Park, were also major contributors to its success. Unfortunately, even dinosaur movies lost their vigor in the early 2000s.Jurassic Park 3received lukewarm reviews that began the long hiatus of the movie franchise, which was only restarted with 2015’sJurassic World.
Dino Crisis Dumped Survival Horror For Action
WhenDino Crisiswas first released, Capcom was applauded for implementing theResident Evilformula on a new IP. In many ways,the firstDino Crisisgame is very similar to the classic titles in theResident Evilfranchise, which is not bad because survival horror games were all the rage during the late ’90s. However, when Capcom releasedDino Crisis 2, the franchise shifted drastically from survival horror to action shooter. While the second game did receive some success, it was at this point that the franchise lost its survival horror audience.
It is worth noting that theResident Evilfranchise also suffered from the same fate at some point in its history.Starting withResident Evil 4, the franchise began to lean more towards action-horror rather than the survival horror formula that put it into the spotlight in the first place. However, unlikeDino Crisis,Resident Evilwas already a solid franchise when it transitioned to action, which is why it was able to remain relevant and make a huge comeback when it returned to its horror roots, starting with 2017’sResident Evil 7.
In the end, theDino Crisisfranchise is a missed opportunity for Capcom. Ever since the studio released theResident Evil 2remake, fans have been asking for Capcom to revive theDino Crisisfranchise with a remake of the first game. Although Capcom did express some interest in a remake, the demand for it wasn’t as strong compared toResident Evil 2. It is worth noting that there werereports that some developers pitched the revival of theDino Crisisfranchise with a new project. However, it was later revealed that Capcom scrapped the idea, making the possibility of aDino Crisisrevival highly unlikely.
