Capcom’s Cannon Spike: A Historic Crossover, Now Lost To History

Capcom’s Cannon Spike: A Historic Crossover, Now Lost To History

Cammy on Rollerblades/Buff Arthur for President 2028.

OK, so that dek line is mislead. Neither Cammy nor Arthur can run for President of the United States, as they are both British. And fictional. But, if they’re not precisely suited for greatness in the arena of American politics, they do at least deserve a port to modern consoles—if not a full-on new game. These two classic Capcom characters were once part of an incredibly wild and sadly overlooked internal crossover that feels like a fever dream by today’s standards. And if there’s one thing we need more of today, it’s fever dreams. 

Appropriately enough, Cannon Spike was an arcade game that was only ever ported to the Dreamcast. It felt right at home alongside Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, and Power Stone, three other Capcom games that began life as exclusives for Sega’s doomed masterpiece of a console, too beautiful for this world. Code Veronica and MvC2 eventually made their way to PlayStation (and other places!), and Power Stone finally reached modern systems via Capcom Fighting Game Collection 2. But, likely because it belonged to an increasingly niche genre, Cannon Spike still hasn’t made that leap.

Once upon a time, top-down shooters were big business in arcades, and they could usually find a decent audience at home, too. It was probably during their heyday that Capcom got the idea to take two Street Fighter characters (Cammy and Charlie), have them team up with a new mecha version of Arthur from Ghosts N’ Goblins, a totally redesigned version of a dude from their cult classic Three Wonders, a reworked (and legally distinct) version of Linn Kurosawa from Aliens. Vs. Predator, Mega Man, and B.B. Hood from Darkstalkers, then stick them in a 2D co-op shooter. What’s the worst that could happen, right? 

Well, unfortunately, just about everything. By the time the game saw the light of day, sales of 2D games had begun to decline… as had the audience for anything Dreamcast-related. Worse still, Capcom’s whole entire division was starting to crumble, as arcade divisions were—bad news for a game that was created as a tribute to that side of the publisher’s portfolio on so many levels. And, to be fair, the game’s execution doesn’t quite live up to its incredible concept. Other than a fight or two against a new version of Vega who looks like Marilyn Manson, not many of the bosses and enemies were all that memorable. There were also Resident Evil-style zombies in it for some reason—likely as an attempt to up the Capcom-cross appeal, which was a new and special concept back then.

They really don’t make them like this anymore, which is exactly why Cannon Spike is the kind of game we’d love to see re-released. And we’re not just being selfish. Plenty of top-down shooters, from Hotline Miami to Shakedown Hawaii, do great these days… much better than 25 years ago, in fact. We’d bet dollars to donuts that if Cannon Spike had released today as a $15 download instead of a $60 retail title back in the year 2000, it could have become a whole franchise. 

So pardon us while we go cancel our Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders and dream of a world where Cannon Spike 6, featuring playable  Albert Wesker and Dr. Albert Wily running amuck in a Zenny-drenched world of debauchery, is on the eve of release instead.