SDCC 2017: Updates Abound At the World Of Capcom Panel

At San Diego Comic-Con’s World of Capcom panel, con attendees were regaled with news from the gaming realms of Monster Hunter, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Street Fighter, Mega Man, and Resident Evil. The panel was basically a “here’s what’s next” showcase and there was a lot of applause when each new title was brought up.

The first on the docket was Monster Hunter: World, launching globally in early 2018. This portion started off with a trailer for the game after which one of the panelists, Tristan Corbett, briefly explained what makes this title stand out. Of course, there will be brand-new monsters to hunt along with old favorites. The game’s ecosystem, with its vegetation and where monsters graze or hunt, is now crucial to survival and hunting strategy. The different environments will affect how the player chooses to hunt. This new title will also feature global online servers as well as drop-in online multiplayer. For more information on Monster Hunter: World, attendees were encouraged to stick around for its dedicated panel coming up after the World of Capcom one (you can read all about it here).

Next up was Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. They opened this section by revealing several new additions to the game’s roster. Joining the already diverse group of fighters are Spiderman, Haggar (Final Fight), Frank West (Dead Rising), Nemesis (Resident Evil), Gamora, and Thanos. They noted that pre-ordering the game will net you exclusive costumes.

The story revolves around the Infinity Stones from the Marvel universe.  The developers felt that it was a good time to return to that plot line because, thanks to current films like Guardians of the Galaxy, more people were aware of their existence. The two villains of the series, Marvel’s Ultron and Capcom’s Sigma, have merged to create the title’s big bad guy, Ultron- Sigma.

Ultron and Sigma aren’t the only things that have combined. Fighting stages are now mash-ups from Marvel and Capcom worlds. One example given was the Xgard stage (seen above), a mix of Thor‘s Asgard and Mega Man‘s Abel City.

Companion comics will also be released, with variant covers. The pairs featured in the comics share personality or background traits. For example, Ryu and Hulk both have anger management issues.

After that, the panel moved on to reveal some updates coming to the already-released Street Fighter V. They unveiled a surprise fighter joining the game, Abigail from Final Fight (yes, that burly dude in the screenshot above is named “Abigail”). This hulking colossus is the largest character in the game to date.

New stages were also announced. The first one shown, the Metro City Bay Area, pairs with Abigail and like the character, originated from Final Fight. The other stage was an oldie-but-goodie, Suzaku Castle.

The panel also announced the release of Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, which will contain games 7 through 10. The collection will include extras, like challenges and online leaderboards. It will launch on August 8 for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

For those who don’t remember much about these titles, the panel gave a brief refresher. Mega Man 7 is 16-bit. Mega Man 8 was the first 32-bit game in the series as well as the first to have voice acting (extremely awkward voice-acting but I digress). Mega Man 10 returns to its 8-bit roots and introduces the character, Bass. Protoman will be playable in both 9 and 10. Mega Man 10 will also feature stages themed to the Killers (Enker, Punk, and Ballad).

The final game discussed was Resident Evil: Revelations. I say “discussed” rather than “shown” because there wasn’t footage of the game. Instead, attendees were treated to a message from the game’s director, Kōshi Nakanishi (seen above).

We were also given a brief synopsis of the game along with a description of some gameplay features. The game takes place between Resident Evil 4 and 5 with players assuming the role of Jill Valentine, who is searching for Chris Redfield. He was taken captive inside an abandoned cruise ship, the Queen Zenobia, by a bioterrorist organization. There will be a traditional story mode as well as a Raid Mode, which features co-op gameplay.

The panel wrapped up with a trivia contest. And there was much rejoicing.