Oh, what's that?
Scoliosis Jones
is back with more Smash Bros. speculation? In the middle of an
incredibly...interesting day in the social thread? YOU GOT THAT RIGHT.
I was curious, so I looked into the total series sales for gaming series owned by Capcom. The sales numbers are listed on Capcom Japan's official website, which can be found here:
http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/finance/salesdata.html There's a few interesting things to note about this particular webpage, and I'll go over those now.
As of December 2018, Mega Man, as a series, which was the first Capcom series introduced to Smash Bros, has sold roughly $34 million worth throughout the sale of 152 titles. Street Fighter, the second Capcom series introduced to Smash, has sold roughly $42 million worth throughout the sale of 91 titles. Monster Hunter, the third Capcom series introduced to Smash (without a playable character, though) has made about $53 million across 43 titles. Among series that have not appeared in Smash, but are owned by Capcom, Devil May Cry has had 26 titles and has made $17 million, Okami with 11 titles has made $2.6, Ace Attorney has 26 titles and has made $6.8 million titles...etc.
Resident Evil, however, has made $86 million after 125 titles across the franchise. This is more than both Street Fighter and Mega Man
combined. I'm certainly not one to argue based on sales...I think sales are irrelevant, and have shown to be irrelevant, but I
do think that in some cases, sales can show legacy.
This quote specifically points out Monster Hunter and Resident Evil, two quality series from the company. Neither series has a playable character in Smash, but Monster Hunter
does have their most iconic monster, and effectively their mascot, in the game as a boss, a few tracks of music that has been organized with other misc. music. Resident Evil, as of right now in Smash, has nothing.
Among
all-time gaming sales (which can be found here AND IS CITED:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_game_franchises) , specifically among Japanese gaming franchises (I simply have remained unconvinced that Western characters will be added based on ease of access and complications) Resident Evil places 7th (when you include Mario all under one umbrella). The only series to beat it, among Japanese originating series, are Mario, Pokemon, Wii, Final Fantasy, Sonic The Hedgehog, and The Legend of Zelda. Each of these series are in Smash already with playable characters..
The next closest Japanese created series that is in Smash currently, is Donkey Kong at about $58 million, which is closely followed by Metal Gear. Now, once Erdrick is in and brings in Dragon Quest content,
that will become the series that follows Resident Evil.
Why am I talking about this? Why does it matter? Well, obviously Capcom values Resident Evil as an IP. It's a series that has made incredible amounts of money, and enjoys starpower when it comes to gaming, and various other media forms. Capcom also values Monster Hunter, clearly, as based on the ratio of titles to revenue, it's their current biggest money maker. When it comes to Smash, and for all I know this may not matter, but the most iconic aspect of the Monster Hunter series, the Rathalos, is already in. The Monster Hunter player character is
not what people think of when it comes to Monster Hunter, the monsters are, and Smash already has the most iconic monster. In addition, while this may be seen as flimsy, Monster Hunter has music, but that music is filed into Miscellaneous. That by no means rules out further content, but it just seems...like that's it, at least to me.
All other Capcom series are either quite minor, (Okami hasn't even broken 3 million dollars), or have been soft disconfirmed (see: Devil May Cry and Dante).
If Capcom gets another fighter in Smash, and I feel that by no means is that
unlikely, Resident Evil actually stands an excellent chance to get into Smash to not only represent itself, but as Capcom themselves says, "created the survival horror genre", therefore bringing a new genre to Smash.
Yes, it's another "wall o'text" from Old Man Jones. Maybe you're sick of my hootin and hollerin about Resident Evil. I've seen fans on various sites now defending the idea of the series in Smash, and I think people have, up until now, ignored the possibility. Overall, if Western 3rd party titles are ruled out, and if Capcom gets another DLC pick, Resident Evil stands arguably
the best chance to get a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Thanks for reading!