Resident Evil 2
Encyclopedia
Resident Evil 2, known as in Japan, is a survival horror video game originally released for the PlayStation in 1998. Developed by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...

 as the second installment in the Resident Evil series, its story takes place two months after the events of the first game, Resident Evil
Resident Evil (video game)
Resident Evil, known as in Japan, is a survival horror video game by Capcom. The first installment in the Resident Evil series, it was originally released in 1996 for the PlayStation and was subsequently ported to the Sega Saturn and PC. In 2002, a remake of the game was released for the Nintendo...

. It is set in Raccoon City, a Midwestern American mountain community whose residents have been transformed into zombies by the T-virus, a biological weapon developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. In their escape from the city, the two protagonists, Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, encounter other survivors, and are confronted by William Birkin, the mutated creator of the even more powerful G-virus, a variation of the T-Virus.

The gameplay of Resident Evil 2 focuses on exploration, puzzle solving and combat, and features typical survival horror elements such as limited saves and ammunition. The game's main difference from its predecessor is the "Zapping System", which provides each playable character with unique storylines and obstacles. Developed by a team of 40 to 50 people over the course of one year and nine months, Resident Evil 2 was directed by Hideki Kamiya
Hideki Kamiya
is a video game designer formerly employed by Capcom and Clover Studio. He is currently working with former Clover Studio members at Platinum Games.- Career :...

 and produced by Shinji Mikami
Shinji Mikami
is a Japanese video game designer best known for creating the seminal survival horror series Resident Evil. He also contributed to some of Capcom's most popular post-32-bit era franchises, including Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry, and Ace Attorney, where he served as an executive producer...

. The initial version of the game, commonly referred to as Resident Evil 1.5, differed drastically from the released product and was scrapped at a development stage of 60–80 percent, after being deemed "dull and boring" by the producer. The resulting redesign introduced different settings and a more cinematic story presentation, supported by a soundtrack that employs "desperation" as an underlying theme.

Resident Evil 2 was well received by critics, who praised its atmosphere, setting, graphics and audio. Its controls, voice acting and inventory system were criticized, however, and certain reviewers disliked its puzzles. The game has become a million-seller, and is the franchise's most successful title on a single platform. Years after its first release, Resident Evil 2 was included in several lists of the 100 best games. Following its initial success on the PlayStation, it was ported to Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

, Dreamcast and Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...

, and was released as a modified 2.5D
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...

 version for the Game.com
Game.com
The Game.com is a handheld game console released by Tiger Electronics in September 1997. It featured many new ideas for handheld consoles and was aimed at an older target audience, sporting PDA-style features and functions such as a touch screen and stylus...

 handheld. The story of Resident Evil 2 was retold and built upon in several later games, and has been adapted into a variety of licensed works.

Gameplay

As a survival horror title, Resident Evil 2 features the same basic gameplay mechanics as its predecessor, Resident Evil
Resident Evil (video game)
Resident Evil, known as in Japan, is a survival horror video game by Capcom. The first installment in the Resident Evil series, it was originally released in 1996 for the PlayStation and was subsequently ported to the Sega Saturn and PC. In 2002, a remake of the game was released for the Nintendo...

. The player explores a fictional city while solving puzzles and fighting monsters. The game's two protagonists may be equipped with firearms, but limited ammunition adds a tactical element to weapon use. On the status screen, the player can check the condition of the protagonists, use medicine to heal their wounds, and assign weapons. The characters' current health can also be determined by their posture and movement speed. For example, a character will hold their stomach in pain if wounded, and will limp slowly if on the verge of death. The protagonists may carry a limited number of items, and must store others in boxes placed throughout the game world, where they may later be retrieved. Each protagonist is joined by a support partner during the course of the story. These characters accompany the player in certain scenes, and occasionally become playable. Certain rooms contain typewriters that the player may use to save
Saved game
A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped...

 the game. However, each save expends one of a limited number of ink ribbons, which the player must collect in the game world. The graphics of Resident Evil 2 are composed of real-time generated
Real-time computer graphics
Real-time computer graphics is the subfield of computer graphics focused on producing and analyzing images in real time. The term is most often used in reference to interactive 3D computer graphics, typically using a GPU, with video games the most noticeable users...

 – and thus movable – polygonal
Polygon (computer graphics)
Polygons are used in computer graphics to compose images that are three-dimensional in appearance. Usually triangular, polygons arise when an object's surface is modeled, vertices are selected, and the object is rendered in a wire frame model. This is quicker to display than a shaded model; thus...

 character and item models
3D modeling
In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface of object via specialized software. The product is called a 3D model...

, superimposed over pre-rendered
Pre-rendered
Pre-rendering is the process in which video footage is not rendered in real-time by the hardware that is outputing or playing back the video. Instead, the video is a recording of a footage that was previously rendered on a different equipment...

 backgrounds that are viewed from fixed camera angles.

The main addition over the preceding game is the "Zapping System": Resident Evil 2 confronts each of the two playable characters with different puzzles and storylines in their respective scenarios. After finishing the "A" scenario with one protagonist, a "B" scenario, in which the events are depicted from the other character's perspective (meaning while this was going on, this was happening to the other character), is unlocked. The player has the option of starting the "A" scenario with either of the two protagonists, resulting in a total of four different scenarios. Actions taken during the first playthrough affect the second. For example, the availability of certain items may be altered. After each game, the player receives a ranking based on the total time taken to complete the scenario, and on the number of saves and special healing items used. Depending on the player's accomplishments, bonus weapons and costumes may be unlocked as a reward. The game contains three stand-alone minigame
Minigame
A minigame is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game...

s: "The 4th Survivor", "The Tofu Survivor" and "Extreme Battle". These feature an extended cast of characters, and provide goals such as surviving with no items to pick up.

Plot

The game is set two months after the events of the first Resident Evil, in the Midwestern American
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

 mountain community of Raccoon City. Nearly all of its citizens have been transformed into zombies by an outbreak of the T-virus, a new type of biological weapon secretly developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. The game's two protagonists are Leon S. Kennedy
Leon S. Kennedy
is a player character appearing in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games. Leon is a protagonist in Resident Evil 2 and the main protagonist of Resident Evil 4. During the events of RE2, Leon is a new police officer who arrives in Raccoon City late for his first day on the job,...

, a rookie police officer on his first day in the local force, and Claire Redfield
Claire Redfield
is a player character appearing in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games.Claire is the younger sister of Chris Redfield, the protagonist of the first Resident Evil game...

, a college student looking for her brother Chris
Chris Redfield
is a fictional character from Capcom's Resident Evil series.Chris is one of the two main protagonists in the first Resident Evil game, the other being Jill Valentine. Redfield returned as a playable character in Resident Evil Code: Veronica, where he must search for, and ultimately rescue, his...

. Having just arrived in the city, Leon and Claire make their way to the Raccoon Police Department, seeking protection from the mutated population. There, they discover that most of the policemen have been killed already, and that Chris has left town to investigate the Umbrella headquarters in Europe. With no remaining motivation to stay, the two protagonists split up to look for other survivors and flee the city. While searching for an escape route, Claire meets a little girl named Sherry, who is on the run from an unknown creature, and Leon encounters Ada Wong
Ada Wong
is a game character in the Resident Evil series. The film version of Ada appears in Resident Evil: Retribution, where she is played by Li Bingbing.-Creation and development:...

, who claims to be looking for her boyfriend John, an Umbrella researcher.
It is revealed that Leon's superior officer, Raccoon City police chief Brian Irons, had been bribed by Umbrella to hide evidence of the company's experiments in the outskirts of the city. He also concealed their development of the new G-virus, an agent capable of mutating a human into the ultimate bioweapon. Irons tries to murder Claire, but is killed by a G-virus mutant in the police department. Thereupon, Claire and Sherry escape through the sewers and become separated. After splitting up with Leon, Ada comes upon Sherry, and picks up a golden pendant the girl loses while running away. Further into the sewers, Ada reluctantly teams up with Leon again, after he insists on his duty to protect her. They encounter a middle-aged woman who fires at Ada, but Leon dives between them and takes a bullet himself. Ada ignores the unconscious Leon and follows the woman, who reveals herself to be Sherry's mother Annette and the wife of William Birkin, the Umbrella scientist who created the G-virus. In an attempt to protect his life's work from special agents sent by the Umbrella headquarters, he injected himself with the virus, which turned him into the malformed creature that is now chasing Sherry. Annette recognizes her daughter's pendant and attempts to take it from Ada. A fight ensues, during which Annette is thrown over a railing. Ada learns that the golden locket contains a sample of the G-virus, and later – taken over by her emotions – returns to Leon, tending to his bullet wound.

Meanwhile, Claire is reunited with Sherry, and discovers that the mutated Birkin has implanted his daughter with an embryo to produce offspring. Leon, Ada, Claire and Sherry advance through an abandoned factory connected to Umbrella's secret underground research facility. An attack by Birkin leaves Ada heavily wounded, and Leon explores the laboratory to find something to treat her wounds. He is interrupted by a psychotic Annette, who explains to him that Ada's relationship with John was only a means of getting information about Umbrella: Ada is a spy sent to steal the G-virus for an unknown organization. Just as Annette is about to shoot Leon, a Tyrant
Tyrant (Resident Evil)
The Tyrant is the code name of a series of boss characters in the Resident Evil video game series. Tyrants, biologically engineered supersoldiers created and used by the sinister Umbrella Corporation, make appearances as boss characters in most of Resident Evil games and the desire to create an...

 monster appears and she is forced to retreat. Ada returns to save Leon, and defeats the Tyrant seemingly at the cost of her own life. Meanwhile, Annette tries to escape with another sample of the G-virus, but is fatally wounded by her mutated husband. However, before she dies, she tells Claire how to create a vaccine that will stop the mutations caused by the embryo within Sherry. After preparing the cure, Leon and Claire reunite at an emergency escape train, and inject Sherry with the vaccine, which saves her life. Birkin – now mutated into a large agglomeration of flesh and teeth – follows them, but is destroyed when a self-destruct system causes the train to explode. After escaping from the city with Sherry, Leon intends to take down Umbrella, while Claire continues to search for her brother. Ada is implied to have survived and to have made away with the G-virus in the pendant. The minigame "The 4th Survivor" depicts the successful G-virus retrieval mission of Hunk, one of the special agents sent by Umbrella. "The Tofu Survivor" and "Extreme Battle" are stand-alone missions that are unconnected to the plot of the game.

Initial version

Development of Resident Evil 2 began one month after the completion of its predecessor in early 1996, and the first footage of the game was shown at the V Jump Festival '96 in July. This early build, later dubbed Resident Evil 1.5 by producer Shinji Mikami
Shinji Mikami
is a Japanese video game designer best known for creating the seminal survival horror series Resident Evil. He also contributed to some of Capcom's most popular post-32-bit era franchises, including Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry, and Ace Attorney, where he served as an executive producer...

, differed drastically from the released version in its scenario, presentation and gameplay mechanics. Its plot followed the same basic outline as that of Resident Evil 2, and featured a zombie outbreak in Raccoon City two months after the events of the first game. In this version of the story, however, Umbrella had already been closed down as a consequence of their illegal experiments. The development team sought to retain the level of fear from the original game, and thus introduced to the narrative two new characters who lacked experience with terrifying situations: Leon S. Kennedy, largely identical to his persona in the final build, and Elza Walker, a college student and motorcycle racer vacationing in Raccoon City, her hometown. Unlike the final version, the story paths of Leon and Elza did not cross, and each playable character had two support partners instead of just one. Leon received help from fellow police officer Marvin Branagh and a researcher named Linda – an early version of Ada – while Elza was aided by Sherry Birkin and a man named John, who appeared in Resident Evil 2 as gun shop owner Robert Kendo.

Real-world influences had an impact on several character designs by artists Isao Ohishi and Ryoji Shimogama. For example, Ohishi based Leon on his bloodhound
Bloodhound
The Bloodhound is a large breed of dog which, while originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, was later bred specifically to track human beings. It is a scenthound, tracking by smell, as opposed to a sighthound, which tracks using vision. It is famed for its ability to discern human odors even...

, and Annette Birkin was modeled after actress Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....

. The police department in which Resident Evil 1.5 began had a more modern and realistic design, and was smaller than the final building seen in Resident Evil 2. There were more encounters with surviving policemen, such as a superior officer of Leon called Roy. The number of polygons used for enemy models was far lower than in the released version. This allowed many zombies to appear on the screen, a method of invoking fear in the player that recurred throughout Resident Evil 1.5. Furthermore, the game employed dynamic music
Dynamic music
Dynamic music is a concept used in many video games, whereby specific events cause the background music to change. Its first uses in major video games were Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge and Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. It has since been used in such games as Mushroom Men and Guitar Hero...

, and frequently applied alterations to the pre-rendered backgrounds in response to events during the gameplay. The playable characters could be equipped with gear, such as protective clothes that enhanced their defense and enabled them to carry more items. The characters' polygonal models were altered by costume changes and by damage received from enemies.

Redesign

The development was carried out by a 40- to 50-person group that would later be part of Capcom Production Studio 4. Director Hideki Kamiya
Hideki Kamiya
is a video game designer formerly employed by Capcom and Clover Studio. He is currently working with former Clover Studio members at Platinum Games.- Career :...

 led the team, which was composed of newer Capcom employees and over half of the staff from the original Resident Evil. In the initial stages of development, producer Mikami often had creative disagreements with Kamiya, and tried to influence the team with his own direction. He eventually stepped back to an overseeing role as producer, and only demanded to be shown the current build once a month. Believing the game's assets to be good individually, but not yet satisfactory as a whole, Mikami expected that everything would coalesce in the three months leading up to the projected May 1997 release date. Shortly thereafter, however, Resident Evil 1.5 was scrapped at a development stage of 60–80 percent. Mikami later explained that the game would not have reached the desired quality in the aforementioned period, and especially frowned upon the gameplay and locations for being "dull and boring".

The story of Resident Evil 1.5, with which Mikami planned to end the series, was criticized by supervisor Yoshiki Okamoto
Yoshiki Okamoto
Yoshiki Okamoto , sometimes credited as Kihaji Okamoto, is a video game designer credited with producing many popular titles for Konami, including Gyruss and Time Pilot, and Capcom, including Final Fight and Street Fighter II...

, who found it to be too conclusive to allow for future installments. Instead, Okamoto proposed the creation of a fictional universe that would turn Resident Evil into a metaseries – similar to the Gundam
Gundam
The is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots called "Mobile Suits" ; usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam....

 and James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 franchises – in which self-contained stories with common elements could be told. During a period in which the team made no progress rewriting the scenario, Okamoto was introduced to professional screenwriter Noboru Sugimura
Noboru Sugimura
was a Japanese television and video game writer best known for his work on the Metal Hero, Super Sentai, Resident Evil and Onimusha series....

, who was enthusiastic about the first game's story. Sugimura was initially consulted on a trial basis, but Okamoto was impressed by the ease with which the writer came up with solutions to the problems that plagued the script, and soon asked him to compose the entire scenario for Resident Evil 2. One fundamental modification to the story was the reworking of Elza Walker into Claire Redfield, in order to introduce a connection to the plot of the first game. To fulfill Capcom's sales plan of two million copies, director Kamiya tried to attract new customers with a more ostentatious and Hollywood-like
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 story presentation. As Okamoto did not want to simply enforce the new direction, he had Sugimura discuss the plot revisions with Mikami and the development staff. The planners redesigned the game from the ground up to fit the changes, and the programmers and other remaining members of the team were sent to work on Resident Evil Director's Cut, which was shipped with a playable preview disc of the new Resident Evil 2 version in order to promote the sequel and to apologize to the players for its belated release.

Only a few assets from Resident Evil 1.5 could be recycled, as the principal locations in the final build were made to look more extravagant and artistic, based on photographs taken of the interiors of Western-style buildings in Japanese cities. These environments were created with a software program called O2, and each background took two to three weeks to render. The maximum number of zombies displayed on the screen at one time was limited to seven, making it possible to use 450 polygons for the comparatively detailed models of Leon and Claire. The protagonists, instead of being given visible wounds, were made to limp slowly upon receiving heavy damage. Apart from the graphics, one of the most important new features was the "Zapping System", which was partly inspired by Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film and the second installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson...

, a time travel-themed film sequel that offers a different perspective on the story of the original film
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...

. The voice-overs by the all-Canadian cast of Resident Evil 2 were recorded before the actual cutscene
Cutscene
A cutscene is a sequence in a video game over which the player has no or only limited control, breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, strengthen the main character's development, introduces enemy characters, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue, and clues...

s were completed, with each of the actors selected from a roster of ten people per role. Thereafter, the full-motion videos (FMVs) were created by filming stop motion animations
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

 of action figures, which were then rendered to completed pictures with computer graphics (CG) tools. Ada's movie model could not be finished in time. Thus, she is the only main character not to appear in a pre-rendered cutscene.

Several changes had to be made between the regional releases of Resident Evil 2. The North American version contains more violent "game over" screens, which were removed from the Japanese Biohazard 2. Resident Evil 2 was also made more difficult than its Japanese equivalent to prevent rentals from affecting U.S. sales.

Re-releases and ports

After its initial release for the PlayStation in January 1998, Resident Evil 2 was reissued and ported to other systems, often gaining new features in the process. The first re-release was the Dual Shock Ver., which incorporated support for the vibration and analog control functions of the PlayStation's DualShock
DualShock
The DualShock is a line of vibration-feedback gamepads by Sony for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. The DualShock was introduced in Japan in late 1997, and launched in the North American market in May 1998...

 controller. Other additions include a new unlockable minigame called "Extreme Battle", and a "Rookie" mode that enables the player to start the main story with a powerful weapon that features infinite ammunition. The Japanese release of the Dual Shock Ver. contained a "U.S.A. Version" mode based on the difficulty level of Resident Evil 2s Western versions.

The Dual Shock Ver. served as the basis for the majority of ports, such as the Windows 9x
Windows 9x
Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems produced since 1995, which were based on the original and later modified Windows 95 kernel...

-based PC-CD release, which was titled Resident Evil 2 Platinum in North America. Aside from retaining all previously added features, the PC version can be run in higher resolutions
Display resolution
The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...

. A "Data Gallery" was added to the main menu, allowing the player to view movies, rough sketches, illustrations and 3D models. In February 2006, a Japan-exclusive, Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

-compatible PC-DVD re-release was published. Developed by Sourcenext, it included high-quality FMVs encoded at a resolution of 640×480 pixels. The Dreamcast version keeps the additions from the original PC release, runs at 60 frames per second during gameplay, and incorporates real-time display of the character's condition on the Visual Memory Unit peripheral. The Japanese edition of the Dreamcast port was given the subtitle Value Plus and came with a playable demo of Resident Evil Code: Veronica
Resident Evil Code: Veronica
Resident Evil Code: Veronica, released in Japan as , is the fourth installment in Capcom's Resident Evil survival horror series, originally released for the Dreamcast in 2000...

. An unmodified port of the Dual Shock Ver. was released for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...

. The initial PlayStation version was re-released on the Japanese PlayStation Network in 2007, while the service's North American counterpart received the Dual Shock Ver. two years later.

The Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

 version of Resident Evil 2 differs most from the other releases. Over the course of twelve months and with a budget of $1 million, Resident Evil 2 was ported to the console by a staff of about 20 employees from Capcom Production Studio 3, Angel Studios
Rockstar San Diego
Rockstar San Diego is one of the development studios under the Rockstar Games umbrella. The studio pioneered open world racing games with the Midtown Madness and the award-winning Midnight Club series. It is also responsible for the "Red Dead" series of western games...

 and Factor 5
Factor 5
Factor 5 GmbH is an independent software and video game developer. The company was originally co-founded by five former Rainbow Arts employees in 1987 in Cologne, Germany, which served as the inspiration behind the studio's name....

. This version offers features that were not included on any other system, such as alternate costumes, the ability to adjust the degree of violence and to change the blood color, a randomizer to place items differently during each playthrough, and a more responsive first-person control scheme. Additionally, the port features 16 new in-game documents known as the "Ex Files", written by Tetsuro Oyama. Hidden throughout the four scenarios, they reveal new information about the series' lore and connect the story of Resident Evil 2 to those of the other installments. The Nintendo 64 version adjusts its display resolution depending on the number of polygonal models currently on screen, and supports the console's Expansion Pak accessory for a maximum resolution of 640×480 during gameplay. Other visual enhancements include smoother character animations and sharper, perspective-corrected textures for the 3D models. The music of the Nintendo 64 version utilizes Dolby Surround
Dolby Surround
Dolby Surround was the earliest consumer version of Dolby's multichannel analog film sound decoding format Dolby Stereo introduced to the public in 1982 during the time home video recording formats were introducing Stereo and HiFi capability...

, and was converted by Chris Hülsbeck
Chris Hülsbeck
Chris Hülsbeck is a video game music composer from Germany.He has written soundtracks for more than 70 titles, the latest being Star Wars: Rebel Strike for Nintendo GameCube. Many of his scores for the Commodore 64 are regarded as classics among enthusiasts today, most notably The Great Giana...

, Rudolf Stember and Thomas Engel. The team reworked the sound set
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

 from the ground up to provide each instrument with a higher sample rate than on the PlayStation, thus resulting in higher-quality music. Some features from the other enhanced ports based on the Dual Shock Ver. do not appear in the Nintendo 64 version, such as the "Extreme Battle" minigame.

A port of Resident Evil 2 for the Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...

 was developed internally at Capcom for a time, but technical difficulties led to its cancellation in October 1998. Tiger Electronics
Tiger Electronics
Tiger Electronics is an American toy manufacturer, best known for its handheld LCD games, the Furby, and Giga Pets. When Tiger was an independent company, Tiger Electronics Inc., its headquarters were in Vernon Hills, Illinois....

 released a sprite
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...

-based 2.5D
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...

 version for their Game.com
Game.com
The Game.com is a handheld game console released by Tiger Electronics in September 1997. It featured many new ideas for handheld consoles and was aimed at an older target audience, sporting PDA-style features and functions such as a touch screen and stylus...

 handheld in late 1998. It included only Leon's story path, and removed several of the original game's core features.

Music

The music for Resident Evil 2 was composed by Masami Ueda, Shusaku Uchiyama and Shun Nishigaki. The compositions were meant to convey "desperation" as their underlying theme. In his role as lead composer, Ueda provided the motifs, while Uchiyama was responsible for the horror-themed music used for the investigation and movie scenes. The main theme of the score, a versatile three-note motif, is utilized several times throughout the course of the story, being included in compositions such as "Prologue", "Raccoon City" and "The Third Malformation Of G". Various musical styles, ranging from ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

 horror music to industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...

 pieces, are used to represent the different environments of the game. For example, the streets of Raccoon City are emphasized with militaristic percussion-based music, while the police department features ominous piano underscores. Key events of the story are supported with orchestral and cinematic compositions – a move that was inspired by blockbuster films
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...

.

Two albums containing music from the game were released in January and August 1998, respectively. The first, Biohazard 2 Original Soundtrack, is the main release and includes most of the significant compositions. The second, Biohazard 2 Complete Track, largely encompasses less prevalent themes, but offers an orchestral medley and a second CD with sound effects and voice collections, as well as an interview with the sound staff. Biohazard 2 Original Soundtrack received an identical European CD titled Resident Evil 2 Original Soundtrack. In the North American album of the same name, the opening theme "The Beginning Of Story" is split up into four individual tracks. Five orchestral arrangements of the game's music were included on the Bio Hazard Orchestra Album, a recording of a live concert performed by the New Japan Philharmonic
New Japan Philharmonic
The is a symphony orchestra based in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1972 with Seiji Ozawa as honorary conductor laureate. The Philharmonic's primary concert venue is the Sumida Triphony Hall. Since 2003, its music director is Christian Arming....

. Disc jockey Piston Nishizawa created electronic remixes for several of the compositions, which were later released as the album Biohazard 2 Remix: Metamorphoses.

Reception

With 4.96 million copies sold, the PlayStation version of Resident Evil 2 was a commercial success, and is the franchise's best selling game on a single platform. Another 810,000 copies of the Dual Shock Ver. were shipped by March 1999. Resident Evil 2 was well received by critics. Its original PlayStation release holds average scores of 92.57 percent at GameRankings and 89 out of 100 points at Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

. It has been held in high regard in the years following its initial release, and was named the 4th best game on the PlayStation by Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...

. Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...

, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

, Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...

 and Official UK PlayStation Magazine included Resident Evil 2 in their lists of the 100 best games; it came in 62nd, 58th, 34th and 6th place, respectively. In 2011, GameTrailers
GameTrailers
GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...

 ranked it 4th on a list of the games that most needed remakes. The majority of reviews praised Resident Evil 2 for its atmosphere, setting, graphics and audio, but criticized its controls, voice acting and certain gameplay elements.

Design and presentation

IGNs Ricardo Sanchez
Ricardo Sanchez (video games)
Ricardo Sanchez is a writer, producer and game industry executive.Sanchez is currently writing the Resident Evil comic book series for Wildstorm and wrote a promotional comic book for NCSoft's Aion MMO.-Career:...

 thought that the game's atmosphere was "dead on", and claimed that "[the] graphics, sound effects, music and level design all work together to create a spooky, horror-filled world". Ryan Mac Donald of GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

 shared the opinion, and found the game to be "like a product out of Hollywood". He believed that it was "more an interactive, cinematic experience than a video game". Writing for ComputerAndVideoGames.com
ComputerAndVideoGames.com
ComputerAndVideoGames.com is the web-based successor to Computer and Video Games magazine, the world's oldest specialist gaming publication.- History :Launched in August 1999, CVG is one of the UK and Europe’s leading gaming web sites...

, Paul Mallinson considered the game's atmosphere, story and film-like presentation its most outstanding features. Although he found its plot to be "far-fetched", he noted that it was ultimately "kept down to earth by clever scripting and gritty storytelling". GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...

 staff writer Mike Weigand called the narrative "engrossing and dramatic", and the dialogue "well-written" and "spell-binding". Sanchez, GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...

s Brian Davis and Eurogamer.nets Martin Taylor praised the "Zapping System" for adding to the story and increasing the replay value
Replay value
Replay value or replayability is a term found in combination with video games, but it may be also used to describe other kinds of games, movies, music, or theater plays. In video games, the term replay value is used to describe the entertainment value of playing a game more than once...

. Mac Donald thought that the idea of actions in the first scenario affecting the second was "cool in concept", but underutilized in the game.

Resident Evil 2 was also praised for its graphics, which many critics felt were a substantial improvement upon those of the first installment. Sanchez and Weigand thought that the pre-rendered backgrounds were an impressive leap ahead of those in the original Resident Evil, thanks to their increased detail and interactivity. Mac Donald praised the model animations for having reached "true realism", and commended the game's use of body language as a means of seamlessly communicating the condition of the protagonists' health. Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....

s Shawn Sackenheim awarded its graphics the highest possible score, as he found the backgrounds to be "rendered to perfection", the cutscenes "a work of art" and the animation "fluid and eerie". The audio was well received by critics. Weigand cited it as an "excellent accompaniment to the visuals". Sanchez went as far as to say that Resident Evil 2 "may have the best sound design yet for a console game". Sackenheim described the music and sound effects as "spot on perfect", and called the soundtrack "perfectly composed", while Mac Donald likened the game's use of audio to that of classic horror films.

A common point of criticism was the inventory system, which Sanchez called "a pain". He frowned upon the player's need to retrieve objects from item boxes, and Mac Donald criticized the system for being unrealistic, as the boxes are "[magically]" interconnected and all items take the same amount of space when being carried, regardless of their size. Furthermore, Mallinson and Mac Donald disapproved of certain puzzles, which they believed were out of place in a police station setting. Sanchez thought that the puzzles were paced better than in the first game, but also found them less interesting and too easy for experienced players. Sackenheim noted the game's brevity in his review, and remarked that the individual scenarios are not different enough to hold the interest of casual players until the end of the game. He found the controls to be "easy to pick up and play", while Sanchez thought that aiming weapons was difficult. Certain reviewers panned the voice acting, calling it "cheesy", "terrible" and "barbaric".

Later versions

With the exception of the game's critically acclaimed Nintendo 64 port, most later releases of Resident Evil 2 have received slightly lower scores than the PlayStation version. Weigand advised players who already owned Resident Evil 2 to rent the Dual Shock Ver. for the "Extreme Battle" minigame, and recommended that newcomers buy the updated edition instead of the original release. The Windows port was praised for its additional content, but criticized for not allowing the player to save at will, and for lacking updated backgrounds to fit the higher in-game resolution. The Nintendo 64 version was widely commended for the technical achievement of fitting a two-disc game on a single 512-Mbit cartridge. However, Taylor criticized the game for retaining scenes from the PlayStation version that were used to conceal loading times – a technical disadvantage of optical discs that cartridges do not share. A GamePro writer under the pseudonym "The Freshman" was impressed with the enhanced graphics of the Nintendo 64 port, but was disappointed by its heavily compressed CG FMVs. GameSpots Joe Fielder found the compression to be forgivable given the cartridge format, and noted that the new exclusive features made up for the lack of the "Extreme Battle" mode. IGN reviewer Matt Casamassina
Matt Casamassina
Matt Casamassina is a video game journalist who worked for IGN until April 23, 2010. In his time at the site, he was the author of many reviews and previews of Nintendo games. He resides in Los Angeles, California, is married and has two daughters, Zoe and Fiona Jade, and a son named Rocco Archer...

 applauded the implementation of Dolby Surround support, and called the Nintendo 64 release the "best version of the game".

The clearer sound effects of the Dreamcast port were received well by Game Revolution
Game Revolution
Game Revolution or GR is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshots, and videos...

s Shawn Sparks, who also remarked that the character models look slightly sharper. However, Steve Key of ComputerAndVideoGames.com disliked the Dreamcast release's low-resolution backgrounds, which he thought made the characters stand out too much from the environments, and thus lessened the game's atmosphere. GameSpot staff writer James Mielke did not believe that the Dreamcast port was "an essential purchase", but still called it a "great game" and, thanks to its low retail price, an attractive offer. The Nintendo GameCube release was heavily criticized for its high price and dated graphics. However, "Four-Eyed Dragon" of GamePro noted that it offered the best in-game visuals of any version of the game. Davis and 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....

s Mark MacDonald were disappointed by the port's lack of features that were included in the Nintendo 64 release. Peer Schneider
Peer Schneider
Peer Schneider is one of the founders of videogames and entertainment website IGN. He is currently Senior Vice President of Content & Publisher at IGN Entertainment...

 of IGN found the 2.5D version for the Game.com to be frustrating and only "partially faithful" to the original release of Resident Evil 2. Although he felt that its graphics and sound effects managed to recreate the original game's atmosphere to a certain extent, he thought that its controls were too "sluggish" to allow for an enjoyable experience.

Adaptations and sequels

The story of Resident Evil 2 was the basis for several licensed works and later games. Ted Adams and Kris Oprisko
Kris Oprisko
Kris Oprisko is an author who worked for Wildstorm from 1995–1999, and was one of the four founders of Idea and Design Works, LLC/IDW Publishing, where he continues to work. He has written many books such as the original Metal Gear Solid series, Case Files, the CSI series, and more...

 loosely adapted it into the comics "Raccoon City – R.I.P." and "A New Chapter of Evil", which were released in the first and second issues of Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine in March and June 1998. The 60-issue Cantonese manhua
Manhua
Manhua are Chinese comics originally produced in China. Possibly due to their greater degree of artistic freedom of expression and closer international ties with Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been the places of publication of most manhua thus far, often including Chinese translations of...

 Shēnghuà Wēijī 2 (lit. "Biological Crisis 2") was published weekly from February 1998 to April 1999. A romantic comedy retelling of the game's story, centered on Leon, Claire and Ada, was released as the Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

ese two-issue comic Èlíng Gǔbǎo II (lit. "Demon Castle II"). Resident Evil: City of the Dead, a 1999 book written by author S. D. Perry
S. D. Perry
Stephani Danelle Perry is a novelist living in Portland, Oregon. She is the daughter of writer Steve Perry.S. D...

, is a more direct adaptation of the narrative, and was the third release in her series of Resident Evil novelizations.

The mobile game
Mobile game
A mobile game is a video game played on a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet computer or portable media player. This does not include games played on handheld video game systems such as Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable....

 Resident Evil: Uprising contains a condensed version of the Resident Evil 2 story, adapted by Megan Swaine. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, known as in Japan, is an on-rails shooter video game for the Wii developed by Capcom and Cavia. The game was released on November 17, 2009 in North America. It was released in Europe on November 27, 2009 bundled with the Wii Zapper accessory.-Plot:The game's...

, an on-rails shooter released for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

 in 2009, includes a scenario named "Memories of a Lost City", which reimagines the original Resident Evil 2 plot while retaining key scenes from the game's four scenarios. Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5, known in Japan as , is a survival horror third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series, and was released on March 5, 2009 in Japan and on March 13, 2009 in North America and Europe...

 producer Jun Takeuchi
Jun Takeuchi
is a Japanese video game director and producer. He graduated from the Division of Graphics at the Sozosha College of Design and joined the game development company Capcom in 1991. He served as the producer for Onimusha 3 and Lost Planet and chief producer for Resident Evil 5...

, who had previously worked on the series as weapons designer and graphics animator, alluded to the possibility of a full-fledged remake of Resident Evil 2.

The story arcs introduced in Resident Evil 2 were continued in drama albums and later game releases. Kyoko Sagiyama, Junichi Miyashita, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Noboru Sugimura, Hirohisa Soda and Kishiko Miyagi – screenwriters employed by Capcom's former scenario subsidiary Flagship – created two radio dramas called Chiisana Tōbōsha Sherry (lit. "Sherry, the Little Runaway") and Ikiteita Onna Spy Ada (lit. "Ada, the Female Spy, is Alive"). The dramas were broadcast on Radio Osaka in early 1999, and later released by publisher Suleputer
Suleputer
Suleputer is a record label the Japanese game development company Capcom uses for its releases. Its name derives from the full name of Capcom: " ".-Discography:*Biohazard 2 ReMIX ~met@morPhoses~...

 as two separate CDs with the common title Biohazard 2 Drama Album. Chiisana Tōbōsha Sherry begins shortly after the events of the game. Sherry is separated from Claire while fleeing from Umbrella soldiers sent to kill all witnesses of the viral outbreak. Raccoon City is burned down by the U.S. Government and Umbrella in an attempt to cover up the disaster. Sherry seeks refuge in the neighboring town of Stone Ville, and later escapes to Canada with the help of a girl named Meg, who vows to help her reunite with Claire.

Ikiteita Onna Spy Ada is set a few days after Resident Evil 2, and deals with Ada's mission to retrieve Sherry's pendant with the G-virus sample, which is said to be in the possession of Hunk in the backstory of the drama album. Ada intercepts the delivery of the locket in France, and kills Hunk and his men. As a consequence of an accidental T-virus leak in Loire Village, the destination of the delivery, Ada is forced to retreat to an old castle. Along with a unit of the French Air Force
French Air Force
The French Air Force , literally Army of the Air) is the air force of the French Armed Forces. It was formed in 1909 as the Service Aéronautique, a service arm of the French Army, then was made an independent military arm in 1933...

sent to burn down the village, she encounters Christine Henry, the Umbrella facility director who gave Hunk the order to deliver the G-virus to France. Jacob, the leader of the airborne unit, is revealed to be Christine's co-conspirator. However, he plans to keep the G-virus sample for himself, and shoots her. Philippe, another member of the unit, convinces Ada to give him the pendant, after which he injects himself with the G-virus to give himself the power to stop Jacob. Ada escapes and realizes her feelings for Leon, deciding to quit the spy business and return to him. The two drama albums are not acknowledged in later series releases. The characters' story arcs are continued differently: Sherry is taken into custody by the U.S. Government immediately after the events of Resident Evil 2, and Ada keeps the pendant with the G-virus and resumes her activities as a spy. Hunk successfully delivers a separate G-virus sample to Umbrella.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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