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For those of you that read my last (which was also my first) topic, you already have an idea of what to expect from this one. Here goes another in-depth analysis of how the Resident Evil series has been handled by Capcom every time a released game gets old and a new one is in the works.
After creating the first chapter in the series and then remaking it as a sequel (see my previous topic to see what I mean by this), Capcom proceeded to make a third game, which would eventually be called Resident Evil CODE: Veronica. The cancellation of the original version of the second chapter, later called Resident Evil 1.5, meant this third game would be the first original chapter since the first one.
A New Genesis
Before getting to the title, there is some background to check.
This third chapter turned out to be even more ambitious than Resident Evil 1.5, to the point of anticipating the next generation of gaming hardware by landing on the Sega Dreamcast, a future-generation console that would be released in Japan ten months after the American release of Resident Evil 2 on PlayStation. Fortunately, the issues that in the past years lead to cancellation of the original Resident Evil 2 did not happen again, but something different took their place. During the development of CODE: Veronica and how ambitious it was as a project, the development team realized the game would still take much more time than expected to reach completion and release. The time period between the release of the second chapter and the final scheduled release of the third created a very wide gap between the two titles. With the excellent reception of Resident Evil 2 by both critics and gamers alike and the fact that a loyally following Resident Evil fanbase was already formed, Capcom could not allow itself to offer nothing until the end of the development of CODE: Veronica. This was not the first time this happened to both the company and the franchise itself. The cancellation of what became Resident Evil 1.5 plus the time it took to redevelop the final Resident Evil 2 created a gap of the same proportions. How did Capcom solve the problem back then? Creating an improved version of the first chapter with all-new extra features, a third difficulty setting AND a demo of the highly expected Resident Evil 2. It was called Resident Evil Director’s Cut, which only saw the light of day on the PlayStation. The demo of Resident Evil 2 allowed Capcom to achieve what it wanted, aside from the fact of obtaining an additional profit from an already released game with changes made out of a minimum investment, it allowed the company TO BUY MORE TIME for the development of the final Resident Evil 2, managing to cool down the considerable anticipation of the public.
Once again, Capcom needed to buy more time for the completion of CODE: Veronica. The company did not repeat the formula of releasing a Director’s Cut version of Resident Evil 2 despite the fact that it practically did exist in the form of Resident Evil 2 Dual Shock for PlayStation, which had a third difficulty setting and second all-new battle mode to be unlocked after beating the game. Then came an even more packed version of the game in the form of Resident Evil 2 PC, with a fourth difficulty level and art galleries. Releasing a demo of the upcoming title couldn’t happen as it was being made in a console that would not be released in the United States and Europe until October 1999. This time Capcom found a solution that went further than just creating a new and improved version of an existing game or a demo of the upcoming one, something to make them more worthy of the gamers’ hard-earned money. That was a whole new chapter placed between Resident Evil 2 and CODE: Veronica, which was called Resident Evil 3 Nemesis and taking the series once again to the PlayStation.
Project Limitations
a Sandwiched Storyline and Existing Platform
Capcom’s studio that was behind the first two released games and the cancelled one was already working on CODE: Veronica. If Capcom was to develop an additional title of the series at the same time it would have to be done by a different studio within the company. This would mark not just the innovations but also differences between Nemesis, the upcoming CODE: Veronica and the previous Resident Evil 1 and 2. Also, there was an element of limitation of this game, the storyline. It was chosen to take place one day before the events of Resident Evil 2 and end one day after the same events. To keep the series well balanced and inconsistencies to a minimum in relation to the previous chapters (and upcoming CODE: Veronica), Resident Evil 3 Nemesis had a shorter and not as profound storyline than its immediate predecessor, of which some series fans felt disappointed. The events in Resident Evil 2 limited the amount of possible ideas for the storyline and conclusion of its immediate successor.
To secure both a faster development and a lower investment in the product, Capcom made Nemesis on exactly the same graphic engine as the previous installment instead of starting from a scratch. The final product showed what that graphic engine was capable of, with superb visuals in all aspects, in both 2D and 3D. However, it showed the same limitations as the second game in the series, with extremely small external areas for a game that was no longer centered on single large location like the first two chapters. This compromised level design, and created totally unreal aspects such as the one-lane wide streets. As a parameter, Alone in the Dark The New Nightmare, another pre-redendered background-based survival horror game of the same period on the same console THAT HAD AN ALL-NEW graphic engine showcased areas that were two or three times larger than those in Resident Evil 3 Nemesis and with even better graphics. In my opinion, this would have been great for an open city-based game like Resident Evil 3 Nemesis turned out to be.
Originality? No Such Luck
This is where we get back to the title of this post.
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis is one of the most innovative games in the series up to the present day, it does not fare as well in terms of originality. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis showed a wide array of features that added a lot to the gameplay experience and were never seen before in the first two chapters and substantially refreshed the formula of the series, but at least half of them were seen in the cancelled prototype of the original second chapter. The similarities between both games are present in all aspects and are more than noticeable.
The original Resident Evil had a single weapon of every type, Resident Evil 1.5 originally had two weapons of a single type with different stopping power, two handguns per character and two shotguns for both. This was changed for Resident Evil 2, with a single weapon of one type, but with the possibility of customizing it into a different more powerful weapon of its kind as it happens in Leon’s scenarios. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis changed this by practically reverting to the same configuration Resident Evil 1.5 originally had as there are two different handguns and two different shotguns available for Jill with different effectiveness and characteristics. What was truly innovative in the weapons department of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis was the possibility of customizing ammunition, as well as some new weapon types like the Mine Thrower and the freeze rounds for the grenade launcher. One of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis’s innovations was the possibility of using background objects defensively, such as oil drums. This wasn’t present in Resident Evil 1.5, but this title had hand grenades that can be considered an equivalent. The possibility of making ammunition out of gun powder and the reloading tool or combining it with the grenade rounds was not a creation of this title. Resident Evil 1.5 had empty grenade launcher shells that could be combined with a specific material to create a particular shell type, based in the player’s choices and game progress circumstances for the effects of strategy or the amount and type of available materials.
What is even more similar than this in Resident Evil 3 Nemesis to Resident Evil 1.5 is the combination of gun powder types, which in the cancelled title is not gun powder but medicine types using herbs, which means this was originally a health item instead of a weapons one. We still don’t know what these were used for, but we do know that character could get his clothes stained of blood and other monster fluids which would lead the character to become infected. This might be the reason why these medicinal items are present. Similarly, Jill gets infected by the virus by Nemesis and Carlos has to obtain the elements to create a cure. In regards to health items, Resident Evil 1.5 had at least two types of first aid sprays while Resident Evil 3 Nemesis innovated in the first aid box, which allowed the character to carry three sprays in single item slot. The character being able to become infected was also implemented in Resident Evil Outbreak.
After weapon and health items, the similarities between Resident Evil 1.5 and 3 Nemesis continue. Moving to the enemies and bosses, on the later there is an enemy that stalks the player with a weapon, which is considered the foundation of the Nemesis in third title. Regarding the Nemesis, the way it screams “S.T.A.R.S.” seems to also have originated from Resident Evil 1.5 in the form of the original William Birkin “G” malformation, which screamed “Sherry”. Moving to the basic enemies, the similarities between the zombies of Resident Evil 1.5 and Resident Evil 3 Nemesis are staggering. In both games there are lots of different textures of them, there are running ones, and up to ten on screen. The spider-like monster with human legs in Resident Evil 1.5 (allegedly called Chimera Type-2) is relatively similar to the Drain Demon and Brain Sucker monsters of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis, all three of them spit acid and can poison the characters. One final similarity resides in the ending of the game, as in both Resident Evil 3 Nemesis and Resident Evil 1.5 end with Raccoon City being wiped of the map, which was an alleged reason why the original second chapter was scraped, which in the end did NOT end the series.
Tiny aspects also show some similarity, such as that famous screenshot of Elza Walker standing on top of a crate to be able to reach a lever in a corridor, just like in happens in Resident Evil 3 Nemesis at the Raccoon Press building while trying to unlock the shutters to the stairs.
Final Product
By 1999 Resident Evil was already starting to show age. New chapters in the series would have to be more innovative and original to keep the franchise fresh and the formula from getting old. The developers of the game showed how tied their hands were, as they had limited time frame to develop Nemesis before its release would get close to the one of CODE: Veronica. All this along with the dates in which the storyline took place, the already existing graphic engine and console in which the game was prepared for forced the development team to obtain new ideas from any possible source. As we have seen, the main source of ideas for Resident Evil 3 Nemesis was Resident Evil 1.5. Regarding how welcome most of the new features of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis were, it is highly questionable if Resident Evil 1.5 was a game not worth playing or not good enough to be released as Capcom considered at the time.
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis was not the only game in which innovative and original Resident Evil 1.5 features have resurfaced. The possibility of becoming infected by the virus was present in Resident Evil Outbreak. The possibility of obtaining different body armor types to lower the impact of enemy attacks was used in Resident Evil Gaiden. The possibility of using a Sony PlayStation-like machine as a save point in Resident Evil 1.5 was present in the Resident Evil Remake with the Nintendo GameCube-like machine used to obtain the pass codes in the lab. These are just a few examples.
Veredict
We cannot really pass judgment on the possibility that Resident Evil 3 Nemesis might be a remake of Resident Evil 1.5 since we still haven’t played the latter. The fact is that Resident Evil 3 is the game that as the highest amount of Resident Evil 1.5 features since 1999. It is clear that Capcom had a short time to develop a game that was intended to be better than the previous installments in all aspects possible, they had time and storyline limitations and they had to get ideas from any source possible, and there was a high amount of unused material present in Resident Evil 1.5. The final result of what Resident Evil 3 Nemesis turned out to be among both fans of the series, general gamers and critics really puts a doubt in the reasons why Resident Evil 1.5 was cancelled.
Thanks to everyone that had spent the time reading these posts and have the interest in doing so, I hope you find it interesting and worth discussing.
After creating the first chapter in the series and then remaking it as a sequel (see my previous topic to see what I mean by this), Capcom proceeded to make a third game, which would eventually be called Resident Evil CODE: Veronica. The cancellation of the original version of the second chapter, later called Resident Evil 1.5, meant this third game would be the first original chapter since the first one.
A New Genesis
Before getting to the title, there is some background to check.
This third chapter turned out to be even more ambitious than Resident Evil 1.5, to the point of anticipating the next generation of gaming hardware by landing on the Sega Dreamcast, a future-generation console that would be released in Japan ten months after the American release of Resident Evil 2 on PlayStation. Fortunately, the issues that in the past years lead to cancellation of the original Resident Evil 2 did not happen again, but something different took their place. During the development of CODE: Veronica and how ambitious it was as a project, the development team realized the game would still take much more time than expected to reach completion and release. The time period between the release of the second chapter and the final scheduled release of the third created a very wide gap between the two titles. With the excellent reception of Resident Evil 2 by both critics and gamers alike and the fact that a loyally following Resident Evil fanbase was already formed, Capcom could not allow itself to offer nothing until the end of the development of CODE: Veronica. This was not the first time this happened to both the company and the franchise itself. The cancellation of what became Resident Evil 1.5 plus the time it took to redevelop the final Resident Evil 2 created a gap of the same proportions. How did Capcom solve the problem back then? Creating an improved version of the first chapter with all-new extra features, a third difficulty setting AND a demo of the highly expected Resident Evil 2. It was called Resident Evil Director’s Cut, which only saw the light of day on the PlayStation. The demo of Resident Evil 2 allowed Capcom to achieve what it wanted, aside from the fact of obtaining an additional profit from an already released game with changes made out of a minimum investment, it allowed the company TO BUY MORE TIME for the development of the final Resident Evil 2, managing to cool down the considerable anticipation of the public.
Once again, Capcom needed to buy more time for the completion of CODE: Veronica. The company did not repeat the formula of releasing a Director’s Cut version of Resident Evil 2 despite the fact that it practically did exist in the form of Resident Evil 2 Dual Shock for PlayStation, which had a third difficulty setting and second all-new battle mode to be unlocked after beating the game. Then came an even more packed version of the game in the form of Resident Evil 2 PC, with a fourth difficulty level and art galleries. Releasing a demo of the upcoming title couldn’t happen as it was being made in a console that would not be released in the United States and Europe until October 1999. This time Capcom found a solution that went further than just creating a new and improved version of an existing game or a demo of the upcoming one, something to make them more worthy of the gamers’ hard-earned money. That was a whole new chapter placed between Resident Evil 2 and CODE: Veronica, which was called Resident Evil 3 Nemesis and taking the series once again to the PlayStation.
Project Limitations
a Sandwiched Storyline and Existing Platform
Capcom’s studio that was behind the first two released games and the cancelled one was already working on CODE: Veronica. If Capcom was to develop an additional title of the series at the same time it would have to be done by a different studio within the company. This would mark not just the innovations but also differences between Nemesis, the upcoming CODE: Veronica and the previous Resident Evil 1 and 2. Also, there was an element of limitation of this game, the storyline. It was chosen to take place one day before the events of Resident Evil 2 and end one day after the same events. To keep the series well balanced and inconsistencies to a minimum in relation to the previous chapters (and upcoming CODE: Veronica), Resident Evil 3 Nemesis had a shorter and not as profound storyline than its immediate predecessor, of which some series fans felt disappointed. The events in Resident Evil 2 limited the amount of possible ideas for the storyline and conclusion of its immediate successor.
To secure both a faster development and a lower investment in the product, Capcom made Nemesis on exactly the same graphic engine as the previous installment instead of starting from a scratch. The final product showed what that graphic engine was capable of, with superb visuals in all aspects, in both 2D and 3D. However, it showed the same limitations as the second game in the series, with extremely small external areas for a game that was no longer centered on single large location like the first two chapters. This compromised level design, and created totally unreal aspects such as the one-lane wide streets. As a parameter, Alone in the Dark The New Nightmare, another pre-redendered background-based survival horror game of the same period on the same console THAT HAD AN ALL-NEW graphic engine showcased areas that were two or three times larger than those in Resident Evil 3 Nemesis and with even better graphics. In my opinion, this would have been great for an open city-based game like Resident Evil 3 Nemesis turned out to be.
Originality? No Such Luck
This is where we get back to the title of this post.
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis is one of the most innovative games in the series up to the present day, it does not fare as well in terms of originality. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis showed a wide array of features that added a lot to the gameplay experience and were never seen before in the first two chapters and substantially refreshed the formula of the series, but at least half of them were seen in the cancelled prototype of the original second chapter. The similarities between both games are present in all aspects and are more than noticeable.
The original Resident Evil had a single weapon of every type, Resident Evil 1.5 originally had two weapons of a single type with different stopping power, two handguns per character and two shotguns for both. This was changed for Resident Evil 2, with a single weapon of one type, but with the possibility of customizing it into a different more powerful weapon of its kind as it happens in Leon’s scenarios. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis changed this by practically reverting to the same configuration Resident Evil 1.5 originally had as there are two different handguns and two different shotguns available for Jill with different effectiveness and characteristics. What was truly innovative in the weapons department of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis was the possibility of customizing ammunition, as well as some new weapon types like the Mine Thrower and the freeze rounds for the grenade launcher. One of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis’s innovations was the possibility of using background objects defensively, such as oil drums. This wasn’t present in Resident Evil 1.5, but this title had hand grenades that can be considered an equivalent. The possibility of making ammunition out of gun powder and the reloading tool or combining it with the grenade rounds was not a creation of this title. Resident Evil 1.5 had empty grenade launcher shells that could be combined with a specific material to create a particular shell type, based in the player’s choices and game progress circumstances for the effects of strategy or the amount and type of available materials.
What is even more similar than this in Resident Evil 3 Nemesis to Resident Evil 1.5 is the combination of gun powder types, which in the cancelled title is not gun powder but medicine types using herbs, which means this was originally a health item instead of a weapons one. We still don’t know what these were used for, but we do know that character could get his clothes stained of blood and other monster fluids which would lead the character to become infected. This might be the reason why these medicinal items are present. Similarly, Jill gets infected by the virus by Nemesis and Carlos has to obtain the elements to create a cure. In regards to health items, Resident Evil 1.5 had at least two types of first aid sprays while Resident Evil 3 Nemesis innovated in the first aid box, which allowed the character to carry three sprays in single item slot. The character being able to become infected was also implemented in Resident Evil Outbreak.
After weapon and health items, the similarities between Resident Evil 1.5 and 3 Nemesis continue. Moving to the enemies and bosses, on the later there is an enemy that stalks the player with a weapon, which is considered the foundation of the Nemesis in third title. Regarding the Nemesis, the way it screams “S.T.A.R.S.” seems to also have originated from Resident Evil 1.5 in the form of the original William Birkin “G” malformation, which screamed “Sherry”. Moving to the basic enemies, the similarities between the zombies of Resident Evil 1.5 and Resident Evil 3 Nemesis are staggering. In both games there are lots of different textures of them, there are running ones, and up to ten on screen. The spider-like monster with human legs in Resident Evil 1.5 (allegedly called Chimera Type-2) is relatively similar to the Drain Demon and Brain Sucker monsters of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis, all three of them spit acid and can poison the characters. One final similarity resides in the ending of the game, as in both Resident Evil 3 Nemesis and Resident Evil 1.5 end with Raccoon City being wiped of the map, which was an alleged reason why the original second chapter was scraped, which in the end did NOT end the series.
Tiny aspects also show some similarity, such as that famous screenshot of Elza Walker standing on top of a crate to be able to reach a lever in a corridor, just like in happens in Resident Evil 3 Nemesis at the Raccoon Press building while trying to unlock the shutters to the stairs.
Final Product
By 1999 Resident Evil was already starting to show age. New chapters in the series would have to be more innovative and original to keep the franchise fresh and the formula from getting old. The developers of the game showed how tied their hands were, as they had limited time frame to develop Nemesis before its release would get close to the one of CODE: Veronica. All this along with the dates in which the storyline took place, the already existing graphic engine and console in which the game was prepared for forced the development team to obtain new ideas from any possible source. As we have seen, the main source of ideas for Resident Evil 3 Nemesis was Resident Evil 1.5. Regarding how welcome most of the new features of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis were, it is highly questionable if Resident Evil 1.5 was a game not worth playing or not good enough to be released as Capcom considered at the time.
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis was not the only game in which innovative and original Resident Evil 1.5 features have resurfaced. The possibility of becoming infected by the virus was present in Resident Evil Outbreak. The possibility of obtaining different body armor types to lower the impact of enemy attacks was used in Resident Evil Gaiden. The possibility of using a Sony PlayStation-like machine as a save point in Resident Evil 1.5 was present in the Resident Evil Remake with the Nintendo GameCube-like machine used to obtain the pass codes in the lab. These are just a few examples.
Veredict
We cannot really pass judgment on the possibility that Resident Evil 3 Nemesis might be a remake of Resident Evil 1.5 since we still haven’t played the latter. The fact is that Resident Evil 3 is the game that as the highest amount of Resident Evil 1.5 features since 1999. It is clear that Capcom had a short time to develop a game that was intended to be better than the previous installments in all aspects possible, they had time and storyline limitations and they had to get ideas from any source possible, and there was a high amount of unused material present in Resident Evil 1.5. The final result of what Resident Evil 3 Nemesis turned out to be among both fans of the series, general gamers and critics really puts a doubt in the reasons why Resident Evil 1.5 was cancelled.
Thanks to everyone that had spent the time reading these posts and have the interest in doing so, I hope you find it interesting and worth discussing.
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