Biohazard 2 Beta 2 Unlocked Debug Menu?

[Ridley W. Hayes]

Yeah, I noticed the bear too but I was doubting if there were two versions of the Torture Room on the beta disc. Good observation though! =)

About the N64 version of RE2. I'm not entirely aware of what is the process when porting a game to a different platform, but as far as I know, it's necessary for the studio to handle all the assets for the game, which might include some unfinished or not-final backgrounds. It's something that also happened with both RE3's PC port -where although small, there are differences between the bg's- and RE3's DreamCast port -where they left some isometric views of some rooms with dev's jargon all over them-. I tend to think that most of the differences pass just unnoticed given that they're so damn small and so damn few.

That particular.. thing on the N64 background looks similar to the heater? box on the West Office of the RPD, the one that used to be at the right side of the room on the beta1 instead of at the back as in retail. Well, at least to me.

[Upaluppa]

Torture Room Comparison Shots

Good detective work! I had considered starting a comparison of the backgrounds shown, but it required me to make my way through the retail game again which I haven't got round to doing just yet. This certainly changes my opinions on things, good work.

Sorry, I couldn't upload them earlier because I was defragmenting my external hard drive with all the Resident Evil stuff on it...

BH2 Final:

No bear, no tiger...

BH2 IGN Beta:

Same as in the final build...
(You won't believe how long it took me to get this half of a second long scene captured into a picture)

BH2 Beta 2:

The only build we know of which features these poor animals in all their cold, stuffed cruelty...

BH2 Trial Edition:

A "prototype" bear is already there. The tiger was probably just not planned yet. (This room is in an incredibly early state in this build)

I really wonder why they decided to remove the bear (and the tiger on the wall) in the first place.
Brian Irons was obsessed with his hunting hobby. He even started hunting down his fellow police officers (and the majors daughter) when he lost his mind completely during the city outbreak.

Those stuffed animals set the mood for this room quite well (and they reflect Irons' wicked mind perfectly), if you ask me!

By the way, I know it's unrelated but this here is also interesting:

Left - Final PSX Version; Right - Final N64 Version
(Take a close look at the pipe construct on the lower path)

I never knew that they changed some backgrounds for the N64 release.
I just noticed this while looking through my old Resi2 background collection which happened to also include a set of N64 BGS.

Makes me think that I should give my dust collecting RE2 N64 cartridge another playthrough sometime soon!
The randomizer mode is great! Makes this old game feel somewhat fresh again after spending ages with nothing but the PSX version!

The Trial Edition had a placeholder graphic for a stuffed bear in Chief Irons' torture chamber and Beta 2 had the bear model itself.

The IGN build does not have the bear, just like the final, released versions.
Of course it's not a definite proof but this makes it quite likely that the IGN build is even more complete than Beta 2.

Good detective work! I had considered starting a comparison of the backgrounds shown, but it required me to make my way through the retail game again which I haven't got round to doing just yet. This certainly changes my opinions on things, good work.

[Upaluppa]

We can't know if IGN's build is from a previous or later date than the Trial either.

The Trial Edition had a placeholder graphic for a stuffed bear in Chief Irons' torture chamber and Beta 2 had the bear model itself.

The IGN build does not have the bear, just like the final, released versions.
Of course it's not a definite proof but this makes it quite likely that the IGN build is even more complete than Beta 2.

The control thing could be due to them being told how the thing was and then unintentionally distort the information by attempting to give more weight to their pics saying they got to play it.

That's exactly what I think they did.
They just commented on the pictures by using whatever they've heard from Capcom about the story/gameplay for reference.

Do you think it's worth trying to get in touch with the reviewer who did RE2 for IGN? If he's able to tell us if the game he reviewed was the same exact game which is imaged on their site, it would certainly help placing it somewhere in the timeline of it's development.

[Ridley W. Hayes]

@ geluda: Of course, the disc could have been in the office for some time. But my point was that I doubt they'd just hold onto some pictures and footage for weeks given the hype RE2 was getting so close to the release date. They could've also made copies of the disc and send the original back to the publisher for all I know, or never send it back at all. We can't know if IGN's build is from a previous or later date than the Trial either. But everything points to the later being the most logical thing.

@ Upa: There are at least one UK mag that also got a hold of that same pictures. They didn't have to necessarily came from a press kit. Some mags appeared to be somewhat friendly with media and shared footage and what not between them. It's also something that happened with some RE1 build, which for all I know, a UK magazine got the playable disc and after they made their review they sent the pics to a Spaniard magazine for publishing. The control thing could be due to them being told how the thing was and then unintentionally distort the information by attempting to give more weight to their pics saying they got to play it. Could be something else entirely too.

[Upaluppa]

What about the PSM build of 1.5?
Isn't it possible that it was also a preview disc intended for the gaming press?

I am curious because so many gaming magazines (especially in Germany, it seems) back then had pictures of exactly that build in their articles!

One of those mags (I have the scans somewhere, I'll try to find them again!) actually claimed that they got to play this build.
This seems unlikely tough because they said that the aiming control worked quite differently compared to RE1 (And the final RE2).

According to them you were able to start shooting at enemies immediately without having to press any aim button (R2, that is) first.
But I have never read/heard of this anywhere else, so I doubt it is true...

Many magazines also showed identical pictures, so it is more likely that they just got some kind of "press kit" with footage and info to use for their previews from Capcom instead of a playable disc.

Still it would be cool tough, if I'd stumble upon 1.5 by asking some folks working for the local gaming press.
Nowadays game magazines always make it clear whether they took their own footage for their articles or if they got the footage from the developers press database but back then a lot of trickery/rumors and simply false claims were done in order to keep things interesting for their readers.

[Darkmoon]

Plus it's not usually that hard to make copies and return the origional...at least, so I assume. It can't be any harder than the standard stuff on the disc, after all, and that wasn't hard to get through.

[Alzaire]

To be honest, I've heard a lot of stories from knowledgeable people about how back in those days, while they were enforced sometimes (probably depending on company and/or title), most of the time journalists rarely returned any of their early preview discs/carts even if they were supposed to and nobody cared. I'd guess mostly because back 15+ years ago the internet wasn't really as big as it is now or accessible and not many people really considered the possibilities of major leaks. This is why every once in a while you might hear of old journalists or a big collector that has old journalist friends that find or have boxes of old preview builds for games. That's how most of these things find their way into the wild.

You know reviewers have a certain time to review the thing? The disc could not have been lying around for whatever time they wanted before doing the actual review. They have to send it back before certain date. It's also highly unlikely they making the review just to publish it months later. RE2 was a very hyped game and any info about it was generally published right away.

@ drunkdog: What about that mag?

What about when these discs end up in the hands of collectors? I didn't really mean to say that they got it and kept it, that's not what I was getting at, what I meant was they got the build and did whatever they needed to do with it, i.e. capture footage and take pictures, and had that lying around the office somewhere... Most games are already completed a month before release, this is the point where the games get pressed and sent out to retailers in preperation for sale to the public. By the time January 1998 rolls around the game only had twenty or so more days till release, at this point I really can't see a company getting anything other than a retail (or near to retail) copy for reviewing purposes. I think it would be safe to assume that IGN had access to earlier builds throughout it's development, but I really doubt they'd be given a debug build that late in development when the game is practically on the shelves.

We'll never know though, untill the day comes when we can look at the exe and see for our selves exactly when it was compiled...

[Ridley W. Hayes]

Exactly, which is why I think IGN getting given a build of anything other than the retail build at the time of one month before the games release is not likely to happen. Imo the Claire build would probably have been lying around the IGN office long before January 2nd 1998, and quite some time before the shared beta was compiled. I still believe the Claire build is earlier based on what I've been told and seen.

You know reviewers have a certain time to review the thing? The disc could not have been lying around for whatever time they wanted before doing the actual review. They have to send it back before certain date. It's also highly unlikely they making the review just to publish it months later. RE2 was a very hyped game and any info about it was generally published right away.

@ drunkdog: What about that mag?

For Preview versions, it can simply be that they dont have time to test the game without the debug options. Removing them can cause unintended bugs. While they are normally tested out for retail, obviously no one wants to spend time removing stuff and having to test it over and over again. Plus, press people generally are not allowed to mention those things, and sign confidentiality agreements against leaks and other information.

For reviews, it depends on who is reviewing it. Unless you are a big name, the likelihood of you getting anything but a final, retail copy (even with a different label) is quite low. Ive reviewed a few games sent to me by companies, and they've all been retail versions, because Im just some no name guy.

Exactly, which is why I think IGN getting given a build of anything other than the retail build at the time of one month before the games release is not likely to happen. Imo the Claire build would probably have been lying around the IGN office long before January 2nd 1998, and quite some time before the shared beta was compiled. I still believe the Claire build is earlier based on what I've been told and seen.

[Borman]

For Preview versions, it can simply be that they dont have time to test the game without the debug options. Removing them can cause unintended bugs. While they are normally tested out for retail, obviously no one wants to spend time removing stuff and having to test it over and over again. Plus, press people generally are not allowed to mention those things, and sign confidentiality agreements against leaks and other information.

For reviews, it depends on who is reviewing it. Unless you are a big name, the likelihood of you getting anything but a final, retail copy (even with a different label) is quite low. Ive reviewed a few games sent to me by companies, and they've all been retail versions, because Im just some no name guy.

[Upaluppa]

Borman, it will sounds a little bit crazy but why some preview/review builds are having so many of debug options (which are mostly useless for review), some builds having no debug or debug options and some got some reviwer-useful features like "infinity health" "room jump"? Is it depends on how much lazy devs were? I mean that it takes a time to delete folders unfinished rooms&delete some stages,fix bugs(like with bh 1 alphas).
And what do you think - bh 2 beta 2 was confedential "testers only" WIP or review build?

How should Borman be able to answer questions only the developers themselves could be able to give an answer to?
It's not like every single prototype in videogame history came with a documentation telling you what exactly made the devs do what they did with that build.

Same goes for the purpose the Beta 2 build.
We really have no way of knowing for sure what it was used for.
I have heard stories about a journalist for the game press being responsible for the leak but you can't believe anything you hear on the internet these days...

Edit:
Sorry if this was a little rude of me...
I really just think that nobody here can answer these questions for sure because we don't know much about this behind the scenes stuff either.

Professional game developers are never revealing much about their work, let alone even acknowledging leaked in-house builds.
You can't simply shoot an e-mail to Capcom, asking them what the BH2 Beta 2 build was created for, if you know what I mean.

A leak of their property shines bad light on the company's image. They always try to cover such events without much of a public drama.