Game maker Capcom has created some of the most memorable and likable characters in video game history, many of which have starred in several comic books, cartoons, and even Hollywood movies! If you’re a Capcom fan like me, then you’ll want to check out the 30th Anniversary Capcom Character Encyclopedia. It’s a hardcover book with 200 of Capcom’s most famous (and not so famous) heroes and villains. Everyone from Ada Wong and Amaterasu, to Zack & Wiki and Zero! Each page features a character with artwork, a bio, and other interesting tidbits. Let’s take a look at a few of the pages and see some of my favorite characters!

But first, here’s a closer shot of the front of the book.

And here is the back. All the characters on the cover can be found inside the pages.

On this page we see my favorite Street Fighter character, Cammy. But on the other page is a lesser known game: Buster Bros. (or Pang! in Japan). One bit of information that they didn’t put in that page that I think is true is that Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) did the artwork for the arcade version of Buster Bros. If not, it sure does look like it if you’ve played that game!

I was happy to see Amaterasu in the book, but I was even more thrilled to see that puppy Chibiterasu in the sequel made it in, too. That was my Game of the Year back in 2011.

I was especially impressed that they put the alien from Under The Skin in here. He was from a little known PS2 game that was actually pretty fun. It even had some Resident Evil cameos in it (which the book mentions). On the other page has one of my nitpicky problems with the book. They list spaceships and airplanes in the games as characters, like these from Exed Exes. I don’t know if I would consider them as characters, especially since that caused some characters to be omitted from the book, like Rush the robodog. But that’s just a nitpicky complaint.

And of course, Mega Man is in the book, as is a bunch of other characters from all the Mega Man series. I was also glad to see lots of characters from Phoenix Wright games show up in the book, too!

Here’s another page with a rare character that I’m glad to see made it in the book. Momotaro from Pirate Ship Higemaru is one of my favorite classic Capcom arcade games, even though it was the first to be never released in the US. Later they released it on classic collections, and I like it because it plays similar to Pengo. Lots of cool info on the game in the book, too! I gushed about it in my review of Capcom Arcade Cabinet a while back. On the other page is fan favorite Morrigan. I’m not a big fan of her, but I do like her green hair.

I was also impressed with the inclusion of another character in this book. The guy on the right is from a little known Capcom action-puzzler on the PSOne called One Piece Mansion (no relation to the popular anime). This was a unique game where you had to arrange tenants in an apartment to make everyone’s living arrangements suitable and happy. It kind of reminded me of a fast paced version of the card game from FF9. Oh yeah, on the other page you have Poison. I like her (?) pink hair and hat, but otherwise, I’m not much of a fan either.

Yay! Servebots made it into the book! I love those little guys. Sakura’s on the other page, but who cares? We’ve got Servebots! (I’ve probably just made many a Sakura fan very angry right now)

And finally, I was happy to see that even Zack & Wiki made it into the book. This was a fantastic early Wii game, and it’s a shame it kind of got forgotten.

And that’s all the pages I’m going to show you in this book. Just buy it and see the rest. Other stuff I was impressed with in the book is the extensive research they did for Captain Commando. They even gave him a mention as being the astronaut in the NES version of Section Z. I also liked their explanation on why both the hero in Commando and The Speed Rumbler were both named Super Joe. Even Ghost Trick characters made it in the book! It’s sad that some characters got omitted, like Rush from Mega Man, but overall this is a fantastic book for Capcom fans. As you can tell by some of these pages, some of Capcom’s female characters are a bit suggestive, and some of the characters can be found in M rated games, so it may not be suitable for younger kids. But otherwise, this is an awesome book. In the comments section, let me know what are your favorite Capcom characters, and I’ll see if they made it in the encyclopedia. –Cary

Tags: Misc