Capcom has been responsible for some of the biggest franchises in the video game industry. They’ve contributed to many different genres of titles, but they’ve done considerable work towards the legitimization of the survival horror niche of games.
Resident Evil is the big survival horror franchise from Capcom that everybody talks about, but Dino Crisis marks an interesting direction for the company. It swaps zombies for dinosaurs and the series should have gone on to gain just as much acclaim as the Resident Evil games. Dino Crisis has been dormant for years, but the games have a compelling history that’s deeper than people realize.
10 It Started As A Game About Realistic Jungle Dangers
It's always fascinating to see how video games can shift in development, sometimes in gradual ways and at other points the whole title will get overhauled. The latter is the case with Dino Crisis, which initially started as a game set in the jungle where natural dangers like snakes and gorillas were the enemies. Once Shinji Mikami was added to the development team, he came up with the idea to replace these elements with dinosaurs and the title could really take off and become more horror-centric.
9 It Wanted To Launch A New Brand Of "Panic Horror"
Shinji Mikami helped revolutionize the survival horror genre in significant ways, so it's not surprising that he wanted to try and push things further and take a slightly different direction of the Resident Evil games. Due to the faster and more intelligent nature of the game's dinosaurs and how it features more consistent scares than the slower zombies of Resident Evil, Mikami designated Dino Crisis to be "panic horror" instead of survival horror. It's a genre he wanted to do more with this more aggressive take on horror, but unfortunately, the death of Dino Crisis slowed this down.
8 Triceratops And Other Dinosaurs Were Also Supposed To Appear In The First Game
The original Dino Crisis does a good job of featuring an array of well-known dinosaurs to help add some variety to this prehistoric threat. The dominant enemy are the many velociraptors that are encountered, but there are also pteranodon, therizinosaurus, and, of course, the tyrannosaurus that make Regina’s mission much more difficult.
However, there were also plans to include a triceratops and an ankylosaurus as other forms of enemies, but they were cut from development early on. It’d be interesting to see what Mikami would have done with them in this game.
7 The Tyrannosaurus Model In The First Game Is Made Up Of 500 Polygons
Shinji Mikami was very particular that Dino Crisis looked as good as possible in order to get the most out of the game's scares. Resident Evil 2 really pushed the PlayStation to its limits, but Dino Crisis created a whole new engine to help things look as realistic as possible. An extreme example of this is seen with the Tyrannosaurus, which is the game's end boss and biggest threat. Its model is made up of 500 polygons, a true feat for the time, to help the monster look as genuine as possible.
6 The Series Main Story Gets Resolved In The Gun Survivor Series
It would make sense that those that are looking to get resolution to Regina and Dylan's story from Dino Crisis 2 would turn to Dino Crisis 3 for answers. Instead, the Xbox sequel is more of a reboot with a new cast. That being said, There's technically another Dino Crisis title in the form of Capcom's Gun Survivor 3: Dino Stalker. The light gun rail shooter series typically features the Resident Evil series, but Dino Stalker turns to Dino Crisis and manages to provide resolution to the characters' stories, all while people were waiting for Dino Crisis 3.
5 Regina Has Appeared In Several Games Outside Of Dino Crisis
Curiously, even though the Dino Crisis franchise may currently be extinct, the series' main protagonist, Regina (which is in fact an alias code name), has actually appeared in a number of other Capcom titles and been honored in some nice ways.
It's appreciated that both Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and Dead Rising 3 feature Regina outfits as extra costumes for characters. She has a more significant presence in the crossover RPG series, Namco x Capcom, where there was even an action figure for her that was released, yet through this separate franchise.
4 Dino Crisis 3 Was Originally About A World Overrun By Dinosaurs
Dino Crisis 3 is a lofty game that's set in space and hundreds of years in the future, but the original plan was for something much more in line with the original games. The initial plan was for a game that features an underground bunker where humans have to live in fear as the world above the ground is ruled by dinosaurs. However, after the events of 9/11, Capcom wanted to shift gears from a game that contains a major city in ruin. Shinji Higuchi and Makoto Kamiya came onto the production and the sequel's vision slowly shifted.
3 It Spawned A Comic Adaptation
It's not unusual for there to be crossover between video games, comics, and anime, with there often being stories that will get reinterpreted against all these different forms of media. Dino Crisis had reached a high enough level of popularity that the first game was adapted into a six-issue comic series from Hong Kong. The comic takes minor liberties with the material, but it's otherwise a satisfying adaptation of the first chapter of Regina's story. It’s a fun way to experience the events of the first game, especially for those that have never had a chance to play it.
2 The Games Are Inspired By Lost World, Aliens, And Certain Anime
In an effort to create a different aesthetic with the Dino Crisis games, Shinji Mikami looked towards The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Aliens for many of the cues on Dino Crisis. In addition to this frightening action films working as inspiration for the game's premise and story, the dialogue was re-written after looking at the manga, Cyber Blue, in an effort to give Regina and company more personality as protagonists. Curiously, during the development of Dino Crisis 3, storyboard editor Shinji Higuchi looked to the anime film, Sayonara Jupiter! for the idea of a space station that transforms.
1 It Has A Mobile Spin-Off
Fans have been hungry for a new Dino Crisis title or a remake along the lines of what's been done with the Resident Evil franchise. However, there's an extra Dino Crisis game that a lot of people don't even know exists. Released in tandem with the Xbox's Dino Crisis 3, Dino Crisis: Dungeon in Chaos is a first-person shooter mobile game from 2003. It centers around Third Energy and rampaging dinosaurs but is light on story. Unfortunately, the game didn't do much to revive interest in the series and it's a step away from its horror roots.