I recently swung by Capcom's hotel suite at San Diego Comic-Con 2012 to get an exclusive interview regarding the upcoming Lost Planet prequel, Lost Planet 3. That however didn't stop me from sneaking in a question regarding E.X. Troopers, the cel-shaded spinoff of the Lost Planet franchise which has had fans of Capcom's colorful 80s/90s ascetic abuzz. Unfortunately, Lost Planet 3 producer Andrew Szymanski had no promises to make about a North American release.
"E.X. Troopers has not officially been announced for any territory but Japan" Szymanski emphasized. "It technically isn't considered part of the Lost Planet franchise. It's kind of a spin-off."
"It's not canon?" I prompted, to which Szymanski backpeddled a bit.
"Well, it's a sidestory, spin-off slash influenced by, not directly a part of, sort of deal. Really, the impetus for that was the multiplayer in Lost Planet 2 was very much almost like this party game, like a party game shooter. Capcom felt very strongly after Lost Planet 2 that we needed to avoid the confusion caused by mixing this party game style fast, frenetic, wild, funky gameplay, with this really serious realistic art style. So we've more or less split those off."
In short, E.X. Troopers isn't something Capcom USA seems too interested in talking about, as the focus of the conversation was definitely steered back to Lost Planet 3 as quickly as possible. Still, we'll be crossing our fingers in the hopes that this unique anime-style adventure makes its way stateside!
