Dino Crisis, Onimusha not forgotten

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 19 October, 2010

But reboots unlikely for now.

Reboots of Dino Crisis and Onimusha seem at least a long way off – but the cult action franchises have not been forgotten, Capcom has said.

Samurai action series Onimusha is "percolating" within Capcom, while a lack of ideas is hampering a possible Dino Crisis rebirth.

"Onimusha is tricky in particular given how Japanese-focused the franchise has been," Capcom VP of Strategic Planning and Business Development Christian Svensson told IGN.

"When you look at the timing and sales trend of how Onimusha has gone each outing – I won't give you the exact numbers, but let's just say every outing subsequently has been about 60 per cent of the prior - the brand doesn't right now have quite the resilience that you might think.

"While Onimusha 1 and Onimusha 2 are among our more successful titles, Onimusha 3 and Onimusha Dawn of Dreams, not so much," he added.

Indeed. Eurogamer awarded Dawn of Dreams 6/10 in 2006.

"For the time being I think it's in percolate mode, that is to say, it's not forgotten internally, there are discussions that go on, but I don't think anyone has come up with the 'that's it' idea of how to get the game back up to three or four million units," Svensson admitted.

"You may see some things of the brand pop up in the future, I can't say what, but there are certainly discussions about it."

And what of Resident Evil-style dinosaur game Dino Crisis? The last major Dino Crisis game was the third in the series, which released on the original Xbox in 2003. Eurogamer gave it 3/10.

"Dino Crisis 3 I think is where it went off the rails if I recall. Dino Crisis' success really was an out cropping of Resident Evil 1 and 2," Svensson said.

"There are discussions, Dino Crisis comes up from time to time, but there isn't any burning desire from R&D or the business side to light that franchise back up again.

"Until there's an internal champion with something incredible, things just sort of sit there.

"Someone internally may cook up an idea, but we haven't seen the fire from R&D yet and no one's come up with the idea yet."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Steroyd #1 2 years ago

    "Dino Crisis 3 I think is where it went off the rails if I recall. Dino Crisis' success really was an out cropping of Resident Evil 1 and 2," Svensson said.

    So make Dino Crisis 4 an outcropping of Resident Evil 4?

  • Paperghost #2 2 years ago

    We don't want a reboot of DC, we want a bloody resolution to the cliffhanger at the end of part 2.

  • Rico3k #3 2 years ago

    I loved the dino crisis series they should make dc4 and take some inspiration from uncharted, res evil and turok.

  • The_Inquisitor #4 2 years ago

    I don't even remember a Dino Crsis 3. DC was really cool though but so was the all out action of DC2. Onimusha likewise, the first three are so much fun, I just couldn't get into Dawn of Dreams.

    Either series would make for a great excuse to release a new game with the old style gameplay. The new Resi style is great, but I do miss those fixed cameras.

  • Masaroth #5 2 years ago

    Always found the onimusha games enjoyable and would love to see a new one though i hope they dont try to westernize that series. Also how the hell did Dino crisis 3 slip past me, thats the first ive ever heard of it. Was it really that bad a game?

  • Paperghost #6 2 years ago

    "I don't even remember a Dino Crsis 3."

    Dinos. In. Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

  • Zombie-Hamster #7 2 years ago

    I'm surprised that Onimusha 3 didn't sell so well, that was the best of the lot I thought.

    I'd love to see a new Onimusha game, and to me its origins being in Japanese folklore was a lot of the appeal in the first place as it made it different to a lot of other games out there.

  • BillyBrush #8 2 years ago

    Onimusha yes

    Dino crisis no

  • geeza2020 #9 2 years ago

    Dino Crisis just needs a reboot. Start at the beginning at that lab from the first game, update the graphics and sound to be on the same sort of level as Dead Space, chuck in some of the atmosphere from that game as well, and hey presto! Scary Dino game!!

  • andywilkie35 #10 2 years ago

    Fuck sake, as I have repeatedly said in the forum, make a proper Dino Crisis 3, not one in space which was fucking turd, make a proper follow up to Dino 1 and 2! Two of the best games on the PS1 by far

  • Trigga_Tybalt #11 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 15:43:01 23-02-2012

  • BOBBYLUPO #12 2 years ago

    @Trigga_Tybalt - I may be wrong but I recall Dino Crisis 2 looking particularly gorgeous at the time. It's probably aged better than DC1 (and game play wise is like a more action packed Resi).

    Hopefully dinosaurs will be the next space marine / modern combat / zombie games. Can't see Capcom leading the charge though, unless someone tells them that dinosaurs are particularly un-Japanese.

  • drumbaby #13 2 years ago

    Onimusha 3....I must have played that through four times. Loved it more each time, because of its story, atmos, and unlockables. So good.

    But I genuinely fear for the quality of a new Onimusha, firstly because I'm convinced that PS3 gamers would be somehow shortchanged compared to their Xbox brethren, and secondly because I think Capcom have generally gone down the pan as a creator of quality games.

  • mooseti #14 2 years ago

    I remember Dino Crisis 1 being like 'Resident Evil with no pre-rendered backgrounds. Damn it was a long time ago...

    Am I remembering this correctly?

  • mooseti #15 2 years ago

    @drumbaby Agreed, agreed. I can't remember the last time I played a quality Capcom game.

  • Huxamalay #16 2 years ago

    MegaMan10??

  • Huxamalay #17 2 years ago

    Should release Onimusha again on XBL & PSN

  • kimchibaka #18 2 years ago

    "Onimusha is tricky in particular given how Japanese-focused the franchise has been"

    They just don't get the appeal of their own IPs, do they?

  • nuanimal #19 2 years ago

    What the hell is "percolating"?

    That's runined the article for me.

    /Googles...

  • Eraysor #20 2 years ago

    I personally think Dino Crisis 2 is far superior to any of the Resident Evil games, even 4! But then I am insane.

  • kimchibaka #21 2 years ago

    What the hell is "percolating"?

    That's runined the article for me.


    What the hell is is runined?!

    That's runinined the comments section for me :D

  • Redcoat-Mic #22 2 years ago

    Maybe if they stopped the Asian games developer tradition of making the games bleeding ludicrous after a success, because if the original was popular in dark, low fantasy then what they want in a sequel is obviously high fantasy ludicrous time travelling demon space dinosaurs in Paris.

    And it's now a hack and slash.

  • Tad59 #23 2 years ago

    I'd love to see a reboot of Dino Crisis. The last one was just awful! I have absolutely no Idea how they thought Dinosaurs in space is a good idea. However, as much as I would like to see a new one, there's no point pushing it on them. If they don't feel it's the right time and no developers at capcom wants to tackle that game. Then it will be awful if their pushed into making it.