page_title: Resident Evil 2
section_title: Releases and ports
hierarchical_section_title: Resident Evil 2 / Releases and ports
caption_attribution_description: English: A North American Sega Dreamcast VMU, without cap. The VMU was used for saving data, swapping data with other users, and playing simple games on its screen.
context_page_description: Resident Evil 2 is a survival horror game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation in 1998. The player controls Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon City after its citizens are transformed into zombies by a biological weapon two months after the events of the original Resident Evil. The gameplay focuses on exploration, puzzles, and combat; the main difference from its predecessor are the branching paths, with each player character having unique storylines and obstacles.
  Resident Evil 2 was directed by Hideki Kamiya, produced by Shinji Mikami—director of the first Resident Evil—and developed by a team of around 50 over 21 months. The initial version of the game, commonly referred to as Resident Evil 1.5, differed drastically and was canceled when it was around two-thirds complete after Mikami decided it was inadequate. The final design introduced a more cinematic presentation.
context_section_description: 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 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 2's Western versions.
  The Dual Shock Ver. served as the basis for the majority of ports, such as the Windows 9x-based PC-CD version Resident Evil 2 Platinum. Aside from retaining all previously added features, the PC version can be run in higher resolutions. 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-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, 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. An unmodified port of the Dual Shock Ver. was released for the GameCube. 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 version of Resident Evil 2 differs most from the other releases as its one of the very few games released for the console to have FMVs, overcoming the limited storage space on the cartridge. The PlayStation version with two CD-ROMs of up to 700 MB per disc, was faithfully replicated (with unique enhancements) on a 64 MB Nintendo 64 Game Pak. Audio and video assets had to be more aggressively and creatively compressed, using novel techniques that shift the burden more toward the console's high real-time processing power. Over the course of twelve months and with a budget of $1 million, Resident Evil 2 was ported to the console by a team led by nine full-time and one part-time personnel from Angel Studios. Further help was provided by ten staff from Capcom Production Studio 3 and Factor 5. 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, including some that hadn't even been released yet at the time. 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 Nintendo 64 version is the only one to use surround sound, with the soundtrack converted to Dolby Surround by Chris Hülsbeck, Rudolf Stember and Thomas Engel. The team reworked the sound set 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. In 2018, Eu
caption: A port of Resident Evil 2 to the Dreamcast added support for the console's Visual Memory Unit, enabling the peripheral to display the current condition of the player's character.
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