The Long History of Resident Evil (Part 2)

Quickly after its success Resident Evil was to have a spin-off. Not much is known; all what is really known is that it was based in the mansion, and was about killer plants. Thank god that one didn’t get further than the drawing board. Quickly though it was realised that the sequel would have to be based in the near-by city of Raccoon.

Like the original Resident Evil 2 went through several changes. The character of Leon for example went through several stages of looks and rank of police officer.

Claire Redfield didn’t exist and instead a foxy blond character – a student of Raccoon University was on the scene called Eliza Walker. The most notable thing though that Raccoon City was actually a city and not a small mid-western town. There were also several character changes, for example Robert Kendo the gun owner was a supporting character similar to Barry Burton, and so was Marvin Branagh. Ada was also a scientist, but one can only assume that she had the same connection with John, it wasn’t known if she was a spy. The story was also different. In this edition Umbrella had already been found out, and the board members of Umbrella were being tried: Furious – Ozwell E Spencer decides to unleash the T-Virus in Raccoon City and from there all hell breaks lose.

However when the game was 70% complete and with only a few moths before launch Mikami scrapped the projected and started almost from scratch, he claimed that the game played “too much like the original” and vowed to bring audiences a superior product.

In 1998 he did, and Resident Evil 2 was released a year late, however it was to prove to be one of the most popular titles within the franchise to date. Instead Raccoon was a small town, the characters had been changed, and the layout was far less boring compared to the more repetitive backgrounds of ultra modern life in a big city. The story had changed to Umbrella still working behind the shadows, which made Umbrella more formidable, and gave the possibilities for more sequels. Mikami delivered what he promised, and thanks to a controversial (still to this date) overhaul we have one of the best Resident Evil titles to date.