The Capcom Five are five video games that were unveiled by Capcom in late 2002 and published from March 2003. At a time when Nintendo's GameCube console had failed to capture market share, Capcom announced five new GameCube titles with the apparent goal of boosting hardware sales and demonstrating third-party developer support. Capcom USA followed up with confirmation that they would be exclusive to the GameCube. The five games were P.N.03, a futuristic third-person shooter; Viewtiful Joe, a side-scrolling action-platformer; Dead Phoenix, a shoot 'em up; Resident Evil 4, a survival horror third-person shooter; and Killer7, an action-adventure game with first-person shooter elements. Though not directly related to each other, they were all overseen by Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami and, except Killer7, developed by Capcom's Production Studio 4. Capcom USA later clarified that only Resident Evil 4 was intended to be exclusive; the initial announcement was due to a miscommunication with their parent company.

Of the five games, Dead Phoenix was canceled and only P.N.03 remained a GameCube exclusive. P.N.03 received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure, but is now considered a "cult classic". Both Viewtiful Joe and Killer7 sold modestly, the former despite critical acclaim and the latter owing to polarized reviews. Killer7 gained a significant cult following, effectively launching the career of director Suda51. Resident Evil 4 was the runaway success of the five, though its GameCube sales were undercut by the announcement of a PlayStation 2 port to be released later in 2005. Viewtiful Joe also saw a PlayStation 2 version with expanded features, and Killer7 debuted on multiple platforms simultaneously. Since the release of the Nintendo 64, Nintendo struggled to attract third-party developers like Capcom to produce games for its systems. Industry analysts see the Capcom Five case, particularly the loss of GameCube exclusivity for Resident Evil 4, as a major blow to Nintendo–Capcom relations and is emblematic of Nintendo's failure to attract third-party support during the GameCube era.

During the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super NES (SNES) eras, Nintendo and Capcom enjoyed a close relationship, with Mega Man as one of the NES' most prominent series. This closeness was partially due to Nintendo's monopoly of the video game console market, which allowed the company to compel third-party developers to release exclusive content according to Nintendo's schedule. Sega's rival Genesis system forced Nintendo to relax some of its restrictions on third parties with respect to the SNES. However, relations with third-party developers reached a turning point when Nintendo decided to retain a proprietary cartridge-based format for the Nintendo 64, in the face of Sony's disc-based PlayStation. Due to increased manufacturing costs and severely limited cartridge memory capacity, many third parties—Capcom included—moved to the PlayStation to start new series, such as Resident Evil. On this new platform, developers could create bigger games while avoiding the restriction of ordering expensive proprietary cartridges through Nintendo, which could lead to under- or overstocking inventory that might eat into profits. This third-party abandonment allowed the PlayStation to outsell the Nintendo 64 during that console generation.

"For the growth of the gaming industry. For GameCube. These words describe our initial thoughts. In an industry where you create to amuse and entertain, do you sense a crisis about the industry's continuing regression of excitement and new stimulation?
"We believe that the regression of excitement is solely the fault and responsibility of we creators. By the same token, we believe it is also our mission and responsibility to create something that is 'worth seeing' for the user.
"In a market that has become prosaic with character dependent games and sequel games, we would like to take this opportunity to announce five new and exciting games for GameCube."

With the GameCube, Nintendo tried to reclaim third-party developers and catch up to Sony's PlayStation 2 by featuring disc-based media and powerful system hardware. However, within the first year of launch, Nintendo sold only 4.7 million consoles. In this climate of flagging sales, Capcom held a surprise press conference in Japan in November 2002, announcing five new titles for the GameCube: P.N.03, Viewtiful Joe, Dead Phoenix, Resident Evil 4, and Killer7. The games would be developed in-house by Capcom's Production Studio 4 with Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami as supervisor. The lone exception was Killer7, to be produced at Grasshopper Manufacture, with Mikami as co-writer alongside director Suda51. When pressed for comment on console exclusivity, a Capcom USA representative confirmed the claim, generating the perception that Capcom was hoping to boost the GameCube's sales and reputation. A statement on their website echoed this support for GameCube. However, Capcom USA soon rescinded their confirmation, blaming it on a miscommunication with the parent company. They clarified that only Resident Evil 4 would definitely be exclusive.

P.N.03 is a science fiction-themed third-person shooter, released in Japan on March 27, 2003. The game features a dexterous protagonist named Vanessa Z. Schneider who battles an army of maverick robots. The game earned the name Jaguar during development due to Vanessa's fluid motions and agility. Acting as director, Mikami attempted to differentiate it from Devil May Cry by adding defensive and evasive maneuvers. This desire, combined with the limited development time, also led to the replacement of Vanessa's guns with energy bolts. Upon its release, many reviewers criticized the game's short length and controls, although others praised the game as an old-school high-score arcade shooter that requires mastery and patience through multiple replays. Some contemporary critics were aware of the nicheness of P.N.03; Daniel Etherington from BBC Technology News summarized that "[P.N.03] probably will not have mass-market appeal despite its quality" as "a hectic shoot-em-up with a fiddly control system, appearing only on GameCube...but there is the definite possibility of cult appeal". It received an average score of 63 out of 100 on Metacritic. Mikami was unsatisfied with the finished product, stating he had hoped to put "a lot more" time into its development. Despite its commercial failure, reviewers have called P.N.03 a "cult classic". P.N.03 was the only game of the five that remained a GameCube exclusive.

Viewtiful Joe is a 2.5D side-scrolling action-platformer, debuted in Japan on June 26, 2003. The title character is a parody of tokusatsu superheroes and is trying to save his girlfriend, who has been trapped in "Movieland" by a group of supervillains known as Jadow. To complete his quest, Joe must use his Viewtiful Effects Powers, which are based on camera tricks and special effects used in films. These include "Slow", which simulates bullet time; "Mach Speed", allowing Joe to attack all enemies with his afterimages; and "Zoom In", which triggers a camera close-up and unlocks special attacks. Internally, Capcom treated the game as a "staff-focused project" with the goal of increasing the skills of director Hideki Kamiya. The game achieved a Metacritic score of 93 and won GameCube Game of the Year awards from numerous publications including IGN, GMR, and USA Today. The game sold out its initial shipment of 100,000 to achieve a lifetime total of 275,000 units. Producer Atsushi Inaba considered the game a success, achieving his goals of training staff, keeping a small budget, and selling well. However, these numbers were lower than Capcom expected, prompting the publisher to port Viewtiful Joe to PlayStation 2 in 2004, with expanded features. This version sold 46,000 copies with a slightly lower Metacritic score of 90 owing to the lack of progressive scan and frame rate slowdown generated by the porting process.

Dead Phoenix was going to be a 3D shoot 'em up featuring a winged man named Phoenix. Based on trailer footage, IGN compared the gameplay to Panzer Dragoon. Players would take control of a winged man as he flies around shooting massive enemies, with the aid of allies on foot. Capcom's announcement described the setting as a mythical floating city, full of monsters and dragons. Game Informer announced that a Japanese release was planned for mid-2003. The game was believed to be canceled by May 2003, but Capcom stated at a press conference prior to the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that it was still in development. IGN speculated that the game may have been retooled as a new Kid Icarus title, based on Nintendo's trend in the early 2000s of licensing properties to third parties. It was canceled in August 2003 after failing to appear at E3.