Last week, Capcom revealed the long-awaited port of Onimusha. OK, technically it wasn’t awaited since gamers assumed the company had completely forgotten about the franchise. But, deep down in the minds of anyone who ever heard of the series, there was a faint glimmer of hope that Onimusha, like its main antagonist Oda Nobunaga, would rise from the ashes like an evil, demonic phoenix. Well, that’s exactly what happened. The port wasn’t the Onimusha 4 some hoped for or the remake we at Twinfinite wanted, but it is still more than the franchise has received in half a decade —but why look a gift horse in the mouth? Then again, Capcom is sitting on plenty of other games ripe for a revival, and here’s a small sampling of what Capcom could, nay, should port to modern consoles next.
Asura’s Wrath
Many video games feature an anime aesthetic and art style, but how many actually play out like an anime? Granted, it’s difficult to develop a game that makes players feel like they’re watching a television show. Almost foolhardy, some might say, but Capcom and CyberConnect2 (you know, the guys behind literally every Naruto game in existence) were up to the task, and it is one of the most insane and epic games ever produced, easily surpassing all of PlatinumGames’ library in terms of sheer spectacle.
In Asura’s Wrath, players take control of Asura as he wages war against a pantheon of Buddhist/Hindu inspired demigods (but with a science fiction flavor) and channels his, well, wrath against them in some over the shoulder beat ’em up action. The only aspect of the game more simple than the plot is its control scheme, which is 90% quick-time events. But, don’t get out your pitchforks and torches just yet; these are quick-time events done right, so believe it or not, they organically augment the experience of fighting everything from cannon-wielding mecha-Buddhas to a planet-annihilating finger.
Since almost every anime seems to have its own video game, Capcom should step in and show developers how to properly make a game feel like an anime with a port of Asura’s Wrath. Doing so would be an excellent opportunity for the company to make up for past crimes since we haven’t quite forgiven Capcom for initially locking the final chapter behind a DLC paywall. Just incorporate all the DLC —including the optional fights against Street Fighter’s Ryu and Akuma, in the port— and we’ll call it even.
