BADCP - GPOW Tribute

Peace Through Strength

DATE:
25 YEARS AGO

GPOW 25TH
A N N I V E R S A R Y



PLAYSTATION 4	BAD	DRAGON'S CROWN PRO


			Acquiring Vanillaware (or contracting them) to do work specifically on games in the same genre as Dragon's Crown would allow Capcom to reclaim their place as king of the genre. Dragon's Crown and its Pro release draw more attention to Vanillaware's potential of a 2-D developer in the future than to the beauty in the masterpiece we are seeing now. Yes, Dragon's Crown was a masterpiece, and its Pro release even moreso (although it was lacking in additions). If their work in Dragon's Crown is any indication, then Vanillaware is in for a bright future, as are we. The only one missing from this equation is Capcom. When will they wake up and see that Vanillaware would be an excellent source for production of 2-D content designed to bring back lapsed fans? Will they ever see? If so, then how long will it take them? Will it be too late?

They could have done something, though. Perhaps the reason for some of their failures, Capcom listens to the media. It's actually not good at all, and it doesn't help anyone at all (cancellations don't make money). However, it's the sad truth, and it's the industry. That said, why didn't big media tell Capcom to publish Dragon's Crown? The game reached a decent audience published under Atlus for the PlayStation 3, and Dragon's Crown Pro has been reaching an even bigger audience on the larger install base of the PlayStation 4, but imagine how much bigger those audiences would have been if it was published by Capcom. Nothing against Atlus in the slightest. Atlus is great, and us fans thank them for stepping in where Capcom failed to deliver. But, how could Capcom not see the promise in this IP? They can see the promise in re-re-releases of ugly SFIII - 3rd Strike every generation, but Dragon's Crown isn't good-enough for even a digital release? Sad times.

	11
	ELDER KNIGHT
	This guy destroys.

	12
	ANGELS
	Or are these little guys called cherubs?

	13
	SHATTERED
	Skeletons everywhere!

	14
	MULTIPLE
	Throwbacks to old Capcom D&D games.

	15
	THE BRIDGE
	Knights of the Round?

Dragon's Crown Pro keeps the same publisher, but still manages to reach a wider audience through the PlayStation 4's all-encompassing install base. Some consider this alone enough to justify the "Pro" moniker added to the title, despite the lack of content (which we'll get to later). This is true, since both consumers and developers embraced the PlayStation 4 hardware a lot more than the PlayStation 3 hardware. I had played Dragon's Crown previously, but not nearly as much as Headquarters. So, when we picked up our pre-orders and fired Dragon's Crown Pro up, we got to talking about version differences. With Sony's history of securing additions, I really wanted to know about what was added to Dragon's Crown Pro, so I asked him about it. To my surprise, Headquarters stated that there were no new characters or stages added to Dragon's Crown Pro. Stunned, I questioned it (even though I knew he was certainly correct) and he confirmed in somber.

	16
	BEAUTY
	The busty Sorceress glides along the glistening water.

Headquarters played it a lot, so any added characters and/or stages wouldn't have escaped him. Was there really no scrapped content that could have been in the game? I imagine it looks mind-blowing in 4K, but hue changes or background changes would have been appreciated. Again, were there really no unused assets from Dragon's Crown (or any other Vanillaware game) that could have been used as a thanks to fans in Dragon's Crown Pro? Surely, with such incredible talent at their disposal, they must be some sort of content that was cut in the meticulous planning of their games. Characters from Muramasa or Odinsphere could have been in! I'm sure that there are plenty of things from Odinshpere that I am unfamiliar with, but fans could easily cite as being a perfect fit. There were possibilities for these cool things to be in Dragon's Crown Pro, but they seem to have been ignored. Such a shame, considering how cool it could have been for fans.

	17
	4-PLAYER
	Rowdy, chaotic fun just like Capcom's old D&D games.

	18
	REMINDERS
	Some bosses are throwbacks to King of Dragons.

	19
	JUST KEEP ON...
	...Roland, Roland, Roland.

	20
	SILKY SMOOTH
	Gallery artwork from cinematics.

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