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Capcom Fighting All-Stars: Code Holder was a 3D fighting game developed by Capcom, planned for release in the Namco System 246 arcade board, as well as being ported to the PlayStation 2.
This would also be the first time Capcom would develop a 3D fighter in-house during the 2000s, before Street Fighter IV.
Development
Capcom vs. SNK 3
Following the release of Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, the developers at first began to work on a potential threequel, before being converted to a 3D crossover. However, the game was cancelled due to SNK facing bankruptcy at the time in 2001. As a result of changes brought on by SNK's financial situation as well as restructuring, a team of roughly 20 staff members left the company to join Capcom. This team decided to repurpose the assets created for Capcom vs. SNK 3 into a new project, such as using the models previously built for the original title, thus became Capcom Fighting All-Stars which was announced on September 2, 2002 on the Japanese digital magazine Impress Game Watch as being in development.[1]
Involvement of SNK
The presence of several of their former staff on the team led SNK to grant Capcom permission to feature one of their characters, Kyo Kusanagi, as a special guest. As explained during an interview between Takayuki Nakayama and former The King of Fighters director Toyohisa Tanabe, the final character who is rather a secret character from Tanabe's old company (SNK) was set to be playable in Capcom Fighting All Stars.[2][3].
While not confirmed, the figure bears a heavy resemblance to both Kyo Kusanagi and K' from the NESTS Chronicles of the KOF franchise. As the character is owned by another party their identity was not revealed, but a silhouette of the artwork was provided and Toyohisa stated the character was a "very well known character" from "[his] old place", hinting that it belonged to SNK, where he worked until the company filled for bankrupcy in 2001.
Cancellation
Between 2002 – 2003 which was developed over one and a half year, its existence was first revealed in late August/early September, with the announcement of a public beta unveiling in September 21, during the 40th Amusement Machine Show (a.k.a. JAMMA) where Capcom held a series of limited location tests for the arcade beta version, revealing some of the playable characters, its plot, mechanics, and even demonstrated some gameplay.
But it was reported that the game received a mixed reception from both players and critics alike: praise went to the character roster, mechanics and 3D backgrounds but the game's animations, character models and lightning were negatively compared to Tekken 4 and Virtual Fighter 4. IGN reported that the arcade version would be released that winter, but they were likely referring to location tests.
Sometime between the game's presentation at JAMMA and February 2003, Capcom would hold location tests in various places, including Japan and United Kingdom. These tests were very negative and performed badly. On February 26th, 2003, the Japanese magazine Dorimaga reported that the game was removed from publishing schedules. Half a year later, in August 2003, Capcom would formally announce the game's cancellation.
Capcom Fighting Evolution
Rumors about the game's cancellation first surfaced in February 2003, but Capcom didn't confirm termination of the project until the following August, through their official website. Finally, the more traditional 2D fighting game that was also under the title Capcom Fighting Jam in Japan, was released in 2004, referred by its Producer Yoshinori Ono as a "salvaged version" of All-Stars that was "thrown into Ono's lap" after another producer left the company half-way through development.
Street Fighter V website
Outside of a few minor details and limited screenshots and footage over the years, very little about the game would be publicly known until 2017, when Capcom published an interview with Tanabe on their website that went into more detail about the game's development and cancellation, along with a pair of articles revealing previously unpublished artwork and screenshots.
Gameplay
Promotional Phamplet detailing gameplay and characters.
Like SNK's KOF: Maximum Impact games, it was designed to translate a 2D fighting game series into 3D, but with original characters. This was done previously in another 3D crossover which is the Street Fighter EX series, which Capcom co-produced with Arika,
The control layout consists of using a joystick to move the character traditionally, along with using five attack buttons:
Movement
- Joystick = Move/Jump/Crouch/Guard
- Use the joystick (or D-pad) to move your character traditionally.
Attacks
- Left Buttons = Weak Punch/Kick (WP/WK)
- Use the yellow color-coded buttons for basic attacks.
- Right Buttons = Strong Punch/Kick (SP/SK)
- Use the red color-coded buttons for stronger attacks.
- Side Button = Side Step (SS)
- Use the white button to evade and move around the opponent.
The gameplay mechanics of All-Stars appears to be comparable to the Killer Instinct series by Rare and Midway. Using a 3-tiered vitality guage with a "Break Point" instead of rounds, if the player lost one tier, a break moment would occur where the defeated character falls down and then recovers to be ready to fight again.
The vitality gauge was linked with the super gauge, called the Progress Super Art Gauge (フログレスS.A.ゲージ), in which Super Arts were handled in three tiers split in several Levels (Lvl. 1, Lvl. 2, & Lvl. 3), for each tier loss of the vitality gauge, a character gains access to an additional higher-level in the Super Combo gauge, losing one allowed use of the Lvl. 2, losing a second time unlocked Lvl. 3 (at full life, a character only has Lvl. 1 super combo moves).
The game also included a special evasion move called Dramatic Counter (ドラマティックカウンター), as a 3D game, there was a dodge system along with Dramatic Counter, a special dodging/swaying counterattack that slowed the game down on successfully activating it, not unlike a V-Shift.
Prior to a match, a player could also perform a gameplay element called the Declaration of Victory, activated by pressing start on the VS screen, where the character would taunt their opponent prior to the match. After doing so, they would instantly lose the entire game if they lost 1 vital gauge instead of the standard 3, but are able to perform their Dramatic Finish and would receive an additional score bonus if they won.
Atypical for Capcom fighting games was the aforementioned individual finisher animation called Dramatic Finish (ドラマティックフィニッシュ), a cinematic finishing move that required a successful Declaration of Victory and a complicated input to pull off for each character, performed at the end of the match against the defeated enemy.
Many parts of the system were later used in Capcom Fighting Evolution for Ingrid's gameplay and Capcom later revisited the concept of 2D fighters in 3D with the more traditional Street Fighter IV and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
Concepts
Characters
Overall, there were 16 planned characters for Capcom Fighting All-Stars, 10 of which would originate from the Street Fighter shared universe (5 from Street Fighter, 2 from Final Fight, 2 from Rival Schools and 1 from Strider) and 1 from a series that may exist within said universe (Darkstalkers). 4 original characters, collectively known as the Code Holders, were to be introduced in this game, one of which would later make a playable appearance in the Street Fighter series (Ingrid). In addition, there was to be a guest character from SNK Corporation.[4]
The last two characters on the select screen weren't shown before the end of development, but their official artworks were published alongside Avel's information in 2016, revealing them to be Akuma from Street Fighter and Demitri Maximoff from Darkstalkers.
The three Code Holders and Death were all original characters:
- D.D. (Code: Ogre). Full name Daisuke Dejima, nicknamed "Crimson Thunder" and identified as "The Goddess of Thunder" (sic) and "Fierce God" in his emblem. Leader of the Code Holders, he's a man clad in a crimson suit with a style focused in powerful, electric-based hits.
- Rook (Code: Fallen Angel), nicknamed "Rebellion Feather" and identified as "Rengoku" and "Fallen Angel" in his emblem. D.D.'s partner, Rook is a blond pale man who fought mostly with kicks, leaving a trail of feathers and light after certain attack.
- Ingrid (Code: Isis), nicknamed "Eternal Ray" and identified as "Eternal Goddess" in her emblem. A young silver-haired girl with sun/light-based techniques. She was recreated as a 2D sprite for Capcom Fighting Evolution with said sprite later being ported to Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX .
- Avel (code: Death), the owner of the atomic bomb "Laughter Sun" and final boss of the game. Before the game's cancellation only a very brief bio and silhouette of his artwork were revealed, with more details and his full artwork published in August 2016 through the official site Capcom Fighters Network. He was also going to be a secret playable character.
The final character selection screen of Capcom Fighting All-Stars with all characters unlocked. The emoji was edited in by Capcom director Takayuki Nakayama in order to preserve the identity of a secret guest character.
Story
The shadow of fear was approaching Metro City.
A terrorist named Avel, under the code name "Death", was running around with an explosive device, threatening to destroy Metro City using a small atomic bomb (anti-proton bomb in the flyer) codenamed as "Laughter Sun". To prevent anyone from stopping the bomb, Death locks the disarm function behind a set of codes.
Faced with this crisis, Metro City Mayor Mike Haggar received a call from the mysterious man who is codenamed as "Death", stating he will blow up the city with the atomic bomb, and he now has 12 hours to find both him and the three deactivation codes, which were held by three individuals known as the "Code Holders", the eponymous Code Holders are humans with special powers.
As a response to save Metro City once again, Haggar contacts several of the Fighting All-Stars and orders them to retrieve the codes, locate and defeat Death and then defuse the bomb. Codes were needed to disarm the bomb and prevent Metro City's destruction.
That is where the Code Holders subtitle of the game comes into play as the game would have centered on those four, and specifically on Ingrid and Death's relationship. The entire gameplay would also have a time limit, and depending of how long the player took to finish the game, the ending would vary.[5]
Legacy
In August 2016, new info and images for the game were added on the Street Fighter V encyclopedia site, including new unreleased posters (some made by Shinkiro, the artist who drawed the promotional arts from Capcom Fighting Evolution and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom) and the full reveal of the final boss Death (who was for many years only seen as a silhouette in one of the game flyers).[6] Takayuki Nakayama has posted various screenshots of the game, including ones of Death, suggesting that the unreleased arcade game still exists within the offices.[7][8]
Ingrid
While the game never received an official release, the idea of Capcom's own characters in a crossover game would be instead used in a 2D fighting game, Capcom Fighting Evolution, released in 2004. One of the original characters slated to debut in All-Stars, Ingrid, would appear in Evolution and later join the Street Fighter series, appearing as a playable character in Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX and Street Fighter 6. D.D. and Rook would also make cameo appearances alongside Ingrid in the 2013 Rhythm RPG Otoranger.
Gallery
Posters
Character Artwork
Story Artwork
Screenshots
Video
Trivia
- Some of Ryu's in-game moves look similar to some of the moves of Paul Phoenix as seen in Tekken 4. Such as the Shoulder Smash, and the Burning Fist.
- Like both Capcom vs. SNK 1 & 2, the game possibly takes place in the present era of the 2000s (most likely 2004), where characters travel through time to be in the story, such as Strider Hiryu being from the future, Alex being in the present, and Nash coming back from the past (due to being deceased).
References
- ↑ https://www.polygon.com/2021/1/7/22214717/capcom-vs-snk-an-oral-history
- ↑ https://game.capcom.com/cfn/sfv/column/132053
- ↑ https://game.capcom.com/cfn/sfv/column/secret.jpg?h=8e14626325d1d427cf919b5457c3fa2a
- ↑ https://game.capcom.com/cfn/sfv/column/132053
- ↑ Street Fighter V: Interview with Toyohisa Tanabe
- ↑ Street Fighter V Treasures: Fighting All-Stars Materials
- ↑ https://x.com/takaNakayama/status/1422864033426776066
- ↑ https://x.com/takaNakayama/status/1425428084065406978
External Links
- Capcom Fighting All-Stars at Final Fight Online
- Capcom Fighting All-Stars page from the Fighters Frontline (Japanese)
- Capcom Database article