Surprisingly, Capcom even added Regina (Dino Crisis), and Sigma (MegaMan X), who had never made cameos in other games before that. For those interested (Headquarters), Chuck Greene and his daughter also made an appearance. Of course my two favorites were Haggar and Captain Commando! Unfortuantely, this wonderful idea was marred by the design misstep of making them all "cosplay" versions of existing characters, and that is virtually its only flaw. It was damn-near perfect! Super Ultra Dead Rising 3' Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha fell short of being 100% perfection, but boy did it come close, and it seems like Capcom saw that. With that knowledge of what fans actually do want, they brought it back for Dead Rising 4 in the form of Capcom Heroes. Built on the foundation of the monstrous, sprawling Dead Rising 4, Capcom Heroes fundamentally changes Dead Rising 4, making the experience faster and more streamlined like older Capcom brawlers. First of all, Frank no longer picks up the plethora of weapons strewn throughout the game. Instead, each of his forms are equipped with a default set of unique weapons integrated into his moves. Default Frank West comes stocked with a sledgehammer, frying pan, circular saw, sword, and a Queen Bee. The first three weapons are each a hit of his basic 3-Hit combo with the Attack button (he no longer uses his fists), the sword is his jumping attack, the Queen Bee is his grenade, and his last attack is the standard kick. For his two-button (Jump + Kick) Special Attack, he actually uses his camera as a stun move. For better or for worse, this change to the gameplay does away with making combo weapons.

While seemingly unrelated, these new items are all actually part of the ecosystem in Capcom Heroes that separates it from the standard Dead Rising 4. Capcom arcade machines contain the different costumes Frank West can change into, and the costumes depend on how many Stars have been collected. Moves can be unlocked for each costume by beating Hero Training Exercise Portals. There are also alternate dark versions of each costume that are unlocked by completing the Hero Training Exercise Portals. The Hero Training Exercise Portals are timed, and range from just beating enemies, to hilarious errands that involve collecting gas cans in a clown car. This could make the game more enjoyable for those who thought DR4 was boring. Capcom Treasures are found neatly tucked-away in secret spots all around town, and are worth 500. Posters are a neat homage to Capcom's past side-scrolling fighters, and the only redeeming part of the photography feature.

I wish they would have taken out the picture aspect in Capcom Heroes, though. Dead Rising 4 was fundamentally simplified in Capcom Heroes, so why not omit photography? It slows down a pace made faster by every other change made, and Capcom marketed it with the nostalgic simplicity of old games in mind. To make it work with the parts where Frank must use his camera to progress, they could have just made the scenes automatically play out. Locked camera angles throughout the game would have been fitting to the retro side-scrolling fighter source material, too. Locked platforming camera angles for side-scrolling parts in Nier: Automata (which I played a lot alongside this game) were really fun and immersive. In that game, the camera switches between free-roam and platforming viewpoints seamlessly. Having already been done in Super Ultra Dead Rising 3' Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha, it could have easily been done in Capcom Heroes.

Capcom Heroes may have been added to the XBox One version, but its quiet release was an obvious afterthought proven as such by the official trailer made for its PlayStation 4 debut (along with the media released alongside it). The trailer was made specifically for the PlayStation 4 debut of Capcom Heroes as a part of Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package. Capcom Heroes was marketed later for both, but was clearly marketed in the beginning for PS4, hence why many were surprised it had an XBO release in any form, at all. The color themes of the shapes during Frank's character transformations might even be proof of this, as well. Looking deeper, Capcom Heroes was very fitting for Dead Rising 4 - Frank's Big Package simply because it fits Sony's overall vision for the PlayStation 4 hardware primarily for the single-player experience. The more I play both versions, the more I see this disparity between the two.

When compared, many see the PlayStation 4 as being geared toward single-player experiences, and the XBox One as being geared toward multi-player experiences. This perception shows how Capcom should have marketed Dead Rising 4 according to this data, which was ultimately based on the strengths of each machine. The XBox One should have gotten the original, multi-player version of Dead Rising 4 just as it did, but without any further content after that (Frank Rising, Mini Golf, Capcom Heroes). The PlayStation 4 should have still gotten Dead Rising 4: Frank's Big Package later with the added content (Frank Rising, Mini Golf, and Capcom Heroes), but without multi-player. This divide and conquer strategy would have given the development team more time to focus and prioritize individual parts for each machine while possibly making each more polished for fans upon release. This strategy could be why development was less-complicated decades ago.