What you need to know
- Capcom and Square Enix have announced several new games during June 2024's Nintendo Direct event.
- One of the titles Capcom announced was MARVEL vs. CAPCOM Fighting Collection Arcade Classics, a bundle featuring several of Capcom's Marvel Vs. Capcom series. However, it will be coming to every platform except Xbox.
- Square Enix meanwhile has announced that its upcoming Dragon Quest III HD-2D remake will be coming to Xbox on November 14, 2024, and that Fantasian Neo Dimension will be coming to Xbox during Winter 2024.
- UPDATE: It seems that Capcom's MT Framework engine is at least partially to blame for the spate of omissions. Details below.
On June 18, 2024, Nintendo hosted its latest Nintendo Direct event and it was packed with earth-shattering announcements from Zelda finally getting her own game with Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom to Metroid 4 becoming a reality with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
During the event, Capcom and Square Enix appeared to show off a few products they have lined up for the Nintendo Switch, although only some of them will be coming to Xbox.
UPDATE (June 18, 2024): We saw a suggestion from Jawmuncher on Twitter (X) that Capcom's MT Framework engine is to blame for the recent spate of Xbox omissions. Our sources indicate that this is correct. Right now, Capcom has no pipeline for porting older MT Framework titles to Xbox's modern ERA system, which makes it more expensive to deliver the same titles than it would porting them to PlayStation 4, Switch, or PC. Perhaps Microsoft could step in to lend a hand here? We can only hope.
Original article:
Capcom announced two collection bundles featuring based on two of their popular franchises. The first one is the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, a bundle of remastered Ace Attorney Investigation games where the player assumes the role Miles Edgeworth, a prosecutor, and arch-rival of the series' protagonist, Phoenix Wright.
The other is Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection Arcade Classics, a monolith collection of Capcom's legendary Marvel Vs. Capcom fighting game series, now included with training modes, one-button super options, display filters, and more.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection will be coming to all home consoles and PCs on September 6, 2024. Unfortunately for Xbox fans, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection Arcade Classics will be launching on all platforms except for Xbox sometime later in 2024.
This is a disappointing blow for Capcom fans as the Marvel Vs. Capcom series was fairly popular on previous Xbox console generations with titles like Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite. I'd imagine those fans had been waiting for a long time to play the earlier Marvel Vs. Capcom titles on Xbox Series X|S, especially Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, which is considered by many to be one of the greatest fighting games of all time.
Hate to see it.Taking @XboxGamePass deals for @Kunitsu_Gami and @exoprimal along with other Capcom games. And yet still getting skipped here plus Mega Man Battle Network Collection and Monster Hunter Stories.@BondSarah_Bond @XboxP3 @AusXbox @CapcomUSA_ @Xbox https://t.co/mbr4tbZpTu pic.twitter.com/SHDc8wvdyoJune 18, 2024
I was hype af until I saw there is no Xbox version, why not???A game like Marvel VS Capcom should be on as many platforms as possible. Previous Capcom collections has always been on Xbox too, why is this different? https://t.co/Eed0MdUNYT pic.twitter.com/OdDXqoTfy9June 18, 2024
Fans on Twitter (X) are already calling Capcom out for making yet another missed opportunity to port some of its most-requested titles to Xbox consoles, as it missed golden opportunities to port much-requested titles like the Mega Man Battle Network Collection, Monster Hunter Stories, and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.
Meanwhile, Square Enix continues to uphold its promise of bringing more of its titles to Xbox and PC by showing off a new trailer for the highly-anticipated HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest 3 and a new title called FANTASIAN Neo Dimension.
Dragon Quest 3 is widely regarded as one of the greatest JRPGs of all time and the upcoming remake is dead set to improve upon everything that made the original classic great by implementing gorgeous HD-2D presentation, polishing out the original game's rough edges, and refining combat system. Judging from our preview of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D at Summer Game Fest, it seems to be already making good on that goal and beyond.
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D is set to launch on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PC via Steam, and Nintendo Switch on November 14, 2024. On top of that, Square Enix has also announced that they already started development on HD-2D remakes for the original Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest 2.
The second major title Square Enix announced at Nintendo Direct is FANTASIAN Neo Dimension. This game is an enhanced console port of FANTASIAN, a mobile JRPG game released in 2021 by Mistwalker. This game is notable for being produced and written by the 'father' of the Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and has a soundtrack composed by Final Fantasy's legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu.
The plot revolves around Leo, an amnesiac researcher traveling the Queendom of Vibra in search of his missing father and memories. Along his journey, Leo will meet a host of intriguing characters that accompany him, battle insidious foes in turn-based combat, and become embroiled in an epic adventure where he must save the Queendom from being destroyed by a bio-mechanical infection called Mechteria.
FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is slated to come on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam during the Winter season of 2024.
For Xbox, it seems like one step forward, one step back
Marvel Vs. Capcom fans have my utmost sympathies with this disappointing announcement of classic Marvel Vs. Capcom games skipping Xbox consoles as I too feel your pain. Between this and the Monster Hunter Stories series not coming to Xbox, my hopes of seeing classic Monster Hunter titles like Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Capcom's Dino Crisis series being ported to Xbox consoles are growing dimmer by the day. It's incredibly frustrating to see, given how Xbox finally started to turn a corner with publishers like Square Enix and Sega's ATLUS arm for games like Dragon Quest and Persona — now Capcom is giving Xbox users the cold shoulder, unless they get that $$$ from Xbox Game Pass with titles like Kunitsu-gami and Exoprimal.
Either way, I cannot wait to play the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake on Xbox as I played the original game a long time ago and it was an amazing adventure that made me fall in love with the Dragon Quest. Additionally, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension looks intriguing to me as it reminds me of experimental, underground JRPGs released on the Xbox 360 like Mistwalker's criminally underrated Lost Odyssey. I wish I could count on Capcom to bring Monster Hunter Stories 1 and 2 to Xbox some day ... alas.
With upcoming Xbox titles like these and many more upcoming Xbox JRPGs such as Visions of Mana, Atlus' Metaphor Re:Fantazio, 2024 is looking to be a great year for Xbox JRPG fans regardless, even if Capcom doesn't want to play ball. Sigh.
