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Shinji Mikami, Hideki Kamiya and others open up about the difficult development of Resident Evil 2

Dusk Golem

Dusk Golem

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https://www.polygon.com/2019/1/21/18187446/resident-evil-2-history-capcom-hideki-kamiya

Today is the 21st anniversary of the original release of Resident Evil 2, and at the end of this week releases the remake of this game. Alex Aniel, who many more may know from his online username cvxfreak , has been writing a book on the development and details of all the Resident Evil games (titled "An Itchy, Tasty History of Resident Evil: 1994-2006"), with Volume 1 (covering the releases of the original Resident Evil up until Resident Evil 4) later this year, but for the game's 21st anniversary and the upcoming remake, he's released an excerpt about the development of Resident Evil 2, including interviews with a lot of the people who were central figures for the game.

There is a LOT in the article (and even much more in the book as this isn't even the entirety of the RE2 section), but here's a few notable bits:

Of course, Kamiya's creative talents went beyond just naming characters, and Mikami soon took notice of his potential. Over drinks one night in mid-1994, Mikami told Kamiya, "You're the dark horse of the new recruits. You're either going to fail spectacularly, or you're going to be a huge success." While Kamiya admits he was fairly boisterous in his 20s, his colleagues universally describe him as diligent, thoughtful, and hardworking, traits that Mikami saw as vital to successfully leading a project. When it came time to choose a director for Resident Evil 2, Mikami called Kamiya into a meeting in spring 1996 to formalize the decision, much like Fujiwara had done to Mikami nearly three years earlier. Kamiya, for reasons even he himself claims not to understand to this day, was now the director of Resident Evil 2.
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However, Mikami chose him to direct Resident Evil 2, which meant that Kamiya needed to get over his distaste for horror, or else hand off the responsibility to someone who could. For the next two years, Kamiya would do his best to put on a brave face.

Unable to ever completely set aside his fear of horror, Kamiya decided that Resident Evil 2, while adhering to much of the core gameplay framework of its predecessor, would be more action-oriented. This direction was a reflection of his own preference for Hollywood action films. The original Resident Evil, as an early PlayStation title, neutered the combat abilities of its protagonists, resulting in a slow-paced action experience. With minor additions like automatic weapons and faster and more numerous enemies, Resident Evil 2 would largely abide by the original's framework. But instead of an isolated mansion in the woods, the game would take place among the streets of Raccoon City. This meant more zombies on screen — as many as seven, in fact, which is more than double the maximum of three seen in the original. The sequel would star a new cast across two scenarios, including characters like officers Leon S. Kennedy and Marvin Branagh, civilians Ada Wong and Robert Kendo, young motorcyclist Elza Walker, and a teenage Sherry Birkin (most of their names were different earlier in production). Kamiya came up with unique and expansive scenarios for both Leon and Elza, much like the ones that set Jill and Chris apart in the original. Wanting Resident Evil 2 to stand on its own, Kamiya decided that the game would have few direct connections to the story of the original game, although they take place in the same universe.
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As it neared completion, Resident Evil 2 now had to pass inspection by Yoshiki Okamoto, just like the original in late 1995. Resident Evil had actually been in rough shape when he took over for Tokuro Fujiwara as its executive producer, but Okamoto turned out to be even more dissatisfied with the status of Resident Evil 2. Notably, the visual premise, with its overly bright neon-lit environments and emphasis on Hollywood action elements, seemed to run contrary to an authentic horror experience. Simply put, the game was not very scary. There were also a plethora of other personnel issues impeding on the project, which Mikami attributed in a 1998 interview in the book Research on Biohazard 2 -final edition- to the high number of young, relatively inexperienced developers on the team.

The story also proved to be a more tremendous hurdle than anyone could have expected. Okamoto felt the plot and writing were particularly subpar and uninteresting, with the game as a whole lacking originality. The Resident Evil series was Capcom's first game in which the plot was an important part of the universe. The Mega Man, Street Fighter, and Ghosts 'n Goblins series all had simple stories with little dialogue. For those games, the stories might as well not be there. The team's goals for Resident Evil 2 were thus unprecedented in Capcom history. Kamiya had taken charge of the story after Iwao left, carefully trying to work within Iwao's framework while injecting his own style. However, Kamiya's lack of real experience in scenario writing was evident. In its present state, Resident Evil 2 was nowhere close to becoming the Aliens that Capcom originally set out to create.
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Kamiya decided to incorporate the concept of two overlapping story arcs, an idea he actually came up with during the end of the first game's development, when it was too late to implement into that game. Kamiya admits that there are repetitive elements shared across all scenarios, such as both characters having to open the same doors with the same key, but he also notes that obsessing over making the game too realistic would have made it less entertaining.
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One accident during development was how Resident Evil 2 became a game shipped across two CDs. In the final game, disc 1 contains Leon's scenario, while disc 2 features Claire's. It was technologically possible to have all of the final data for Resident Evil 2 fit on a single 700 MB CD, just like the original. This was what Capcom had planned to do initially. However, the team ultimately miscalculated the game's final audio data size algorithm, which no one noticed until it was too late to change. Mikami recalls learning of the issue from Yasuhiro Anpo, a software engineer. Anpo called Mikami, who was working on a different floor from the rest of the team. "Anpo told me there was a problem. But before he could explain, I actually hung up on him!" Mikami laughs. "Anpo eventually came over to my desk, where he told me that Resident Evil 2 would require two discs instead of just one." Mikami remembers gasping in surprise. As producer, he was responsible for keeping the game within budget. This would surely force a recalculation. Capcom management was not at all pleased with the development. It would result in higher manufacturing and shipping costs due to the thicker double-disc jewel case required. However, given that Resident Evil 2 was already behind schedule at this point, rather than give the team time to reprogram the audio algorithms, Capcom conceded and allowed the game to ship on two discs. Kamiya, in a January 2018 tweet reflecting on the game's 20th anniversary, attributed the move to his youth and recklessness, but it certainly left its mark for years to come. Even though the team never initially conceptualized Resident Evil 2as a two-disc game, it did have a positive net effect: it made the game seem even larger, and therefore better, than the single-disc original in the eyes of the average consumer who knew nothing of the game's technical composition.
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From a distance, Kamiya might look like a grumpy, unapproachable celebrity. Even I was slightly nervous before meeting him for an interview in October 2017, apprehensive at the thought of bothering him for asking about something he may have answered countless times before. However, in real life, Kamiya is the complete opposite of his Twitter personality. He is very friendly, open, and hospitable. The Kamiya that most people witness on Twitter is, by his own admission, a character. His Twitter persona is an alter ego befitting a WWE actor. "When I post on Twitter, I talk as if I'm having drinks with someone at a bar. I'm not interested in maintaining a veil of formality like I do at work," Kamiya explains.
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There is a LOT more in the article (it is an excerpt from an upcoming book), I purposefully skipped over a lot, but with today being RE2's 21st anniversary, this is an excellent way to learn some about the original game's development, and definitely worth the read.
 

Deleted member 1102

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Just finished this a couple of minutes ago; fantastic read from to start to finish that really leaves me hungering for more. Can't wait to buy the book when it comes out.
 
Kadzork

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Sounds like a perfect storm that created the best entry in the series and one of the greatest games of all time.

Thank you for bringing this book to my attention - will be grabbing a copy as soon as possible.
 
HPH

HPH

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This was a wonderful read! One of the most interesting chapters in Capcom's history with so many awesome details from legends like Mikami and Kamiya... i'll post a more detailed post later, but thank you so much for this cvxfreak !
 

Deleted member 10629

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As Matthewmatosis said, people who have played Kamiya's games can infer he is a softie at heart. Shitposting on Twitter is something he does in his lunch break.
 

FormatCompatible

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TheManWhoSoldVG said:
When we going hear what happened during Devil May Cry 2 development tho?
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They never (at least to my knowledge) gave out the name of the original director, at this point I highly doubt they would do so to respect his privacy. And honestly that's for the better, the answer is clear: different team from the original which means different sensibilities, no time and/or interest to get to grips with what made the first one good, listening too much to surveys to what people wanted to change from the first one (make the guns stronger), Itsuno came to the project 4 months before completion to try and salvage it.


As for the book this is a buy for me, can't wait to read the rest.
 
Pyro

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I read the book version of Polygon's Oral History of FFVII last year (it was amazing) and I will now also get this. Thanks for posting OP!
 
Pariah

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Thank you for the excerpts, and to cvxfreak for his passionate work. It's going to be a great week for RE fans around the world.
 
SofNascimento

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Well, that was a good read.

I didn't know RE1.5 was seen as such a failure by the developers. For me it was something that was simply not good enough, but from the article I gathered that if was ever released it would have been a disaster. I'm also surprised how the A/B system was a late decision, and this quote feels relevant to RE2make: "but he also notes that obsessing over making the game too realistic would have made it less entertaining."

One last surprise: RE2 didn't have to be in 2 CDs. But the author himself notes how this actually helped. It did give a sense of a huge game bigger than its predecessor in everyway, even in the number of disks.
 
browinie

browinie

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Oct 26, 2017
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Very insightful read, thanks for sharing. When is this book due?

Also this is very reassuring:

However, in real life, Kamiya is the complete opposite of his Twitter personality. He is very friendly, open, and hospitable. The Kamiya that most people witness on Twitter is, by his own admission, a character. His Twitter persona is an alter ego befitting a WWE actor. "When I post on Twitter, I talk as if I'm having drinks with someone at a bar. I'm not interested in maintaining a veil of formality like I do at work
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KtotheRoc

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What a great read. Should be an interesting book.

I definitely hope we can get more behind the scenes stories from other seminal releases.

RIP Noboru Sugimura.
 
Lukar

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That was a really good read. Definitely getting the book once it's out.

TheManWhoSoldVG said:
When we going hear what happened during Devil May Cry 2 development tho?
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I honestly hope we never know who worked on it originally. In the modern age, if the original director got outed, they'd probably get a ton of hate messages online, and their life would be miserable. Some things are better left unknown.
 
Shy

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hQTMSE4.gif

Break a leg cvxfreak. 👍❤️

If you don't mind me asking cvxfreak will the RE2 section of your book, talk about the Gamefan piracy story ? I love that one.
 
ThatMeanScene

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I saw this shared on Twitter an hour ago and loved reading every bit of it. I had no idea cvxfreak was writing a book on Resident Evil history so it came as a surprise to me. I can't wait for the volumes to come out so I can learn more about the behind the scenes history. Very well written and I can't wait to read more!
 
J_ToSaveTheDay

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Great excerpt and echoing sentiment that I want to read the full book later. RE has the highest level of consistency on delivering good times for me out of any game franchise I've played shy of Legend of Zelda and Super Mario.
 
Sadist

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Oh man when this book is out I need it.

I remember during the Iwata Asks days that there was an interview with Kamiya about his first job as a director and that he was stumped that Mikami chose him. Kamiya felt he was being watched by everyone during lunch hehe.

A whole book on Resident Evil, I'd be up for that. There is so much to tell.
 
Plasma

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Really good read that, looking forward to the full book. Any chance of an audiobook version?
 
ZeroDS

ZeroDS

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Had no idea Kamiya didn't like horror!

Great read, looking forward to the full release
 
THE GUY

THE GUY

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Kamiya moonlights as a WWE pro wrestler on the internet.

Anyway, thanks for sharing.
 
Elodes

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That was a fantastic and very informative read. Thanks for sharing, Dusk Golem ! I'd love to read more pieces on videogame development history that go as in-depth as this one does.
 
J_ToSaveTheDay

J_ToSaveTheDay

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ZeroDS said:
Had no idea Kamiya didn't like horror!

Great read, looking forward to the full release
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Yeah, I share a similar sentiment toward horror personally so I thought reading about the quirk in Kamiya was interesting. I only have a few exceptions across media, and Resident Evil is one of them... But generally I absolutely hate horror narratives.
 
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