Rare five mins of Resident Evil Zero on N64

[Enigmatism415]

Don't get me wrong, if this thing sees the light of day I'll certainly want to get my paws on it for the hell of it I'm just happy to have a superior Gamecube version.

BH1.5, as we all know too well, is pretty far removed from BH2, so it would be like playing a (nearly) entirely new "old" game. Even if the final beta of BH1.5 did turn out to be inferior to the final BH2, or even the worst game in the series, I'm sure we would all have an incredible time playing it just the same.

[biohazard_star]

They could very well have been working on several areas at the same time, we just never got to see them. Game development isn't exactly a very linear process, from what I can tell. Curator's 1.5 itself has rooms from every area of the game, but apparently with a lot of other rooms missing in-between.

[Code_R]

Yes, but like RE 1.5 since it was never released the mythos behind it will never die.

[Enigmatism415]

I have to agree with ShaneMurphy.

Not only does the N64 version likely only include the train section of the game, but most importantly, the story and areas are pretty much identical to the Gamecube version. Thus, having the N64 version would add absolutely nothing except nostalgia for the N64 game engine. It seems to me that they already had the entire game planned, and simply chose to continue on a different console / engine.

An analogy might be a composer who composes a five-minute piece on notation-paper to be played on the piano. The composer then records the first minute of the five-minute piece with a piano, but then decides that the piece is better suited for the pipe organ, since it has vastly more sounds available. The composer then scraps this minute-long piano recording, and records the entire five-minute piece on the pipe organ. He then releases this pipe organ recording to the public and forgets about the piano recording. If his fans like the piece, the only thing they'd gain by having the piano "beta" leaked is a small section of the same piece rendered with a different instrument. This may be enjoyable for those who like the sound of a piano for its own sake, but for true fans of the piece, having one (more intricate) realization of the same idea is equally satisfying.

[Gemini]

It would still be nice seeing this kind of modding project, at least in my humble opinion. Think of it like one of those de-make projects you can see pretty much everywhere in hacking communities these days.

[shanemurphy]

Because we got a released RE Zero that most likely would have been miles better then the N64 version, also because RE Zero N64 was not so different to the original plan and I believe the Gamecube was already far along in production which showed the possibilities of Zero on the next Nintendo console.

[Gemini]

Am I the only one who finds funny how this game clearly runs on the RE2 N64 engine and still nobody tried making some sort of mod based on this with RE2 PC? :p Also, I love the RE2 zombies with grey skin, makes them appear totally out of place on that train.

[imacwesker]

Vixtro, I thought that please-REboot phrasing was extremely rude. Specially because all the informations he is looking for are freely available online; but instead of doing some research himself, he just went after me - that's the feeling I had, at least. You may see it in a different way, and you're entitled to your opinion. Now, I don't want to derail this topic any further, so that's all I am going to say on the subject.

[Vixtro]

imacwesker, I'd first like to say I have allot of respect for you because of all you have done for the community, but...

On a side note, I really don't like your attitude, please_REboot. It is good to be curious but you don't need to second doubt everything, especially when the informations you are looking for are openly available.

I find that a bit rude to say about please_REboot when there was simply just confusion in the communication going on.

It was obvious what please_REboot was talking about, I don't understand how it ended up getting interpreted differently..... It was not a question of completeness of the game in planning stages, but completeness of the game in an actual playable form. Plans and artwork alone do not prove how much in-game work was finished.

[Rombie]

Gelada - when Zero was axed in the N64 and moved to Dolphin one would have agreed that the change in new investment didn't seem worthwhile. I still make my statement saying for sure people had numbers of N64 consoles sitting around but a game launched in late 2000, and as I said I doubt it would have made it until 2001 anyway, That doesn't say they will go out and still buy games for it.

Dino Crisis 2 is a great example. The PS1 had massive installed numbers and the original game sold well. The sequel is a solid title. So much so elements of it inspired parts of RE4. But it came our in 2000 and was entirely overlooked.

Going back on the investment in to new hardware when Capcom came out in late 01 and showed that the platform was now getting six titles (Zero, REmake, 4 as "exclusives" plus ports of 2, 3 and CV) people kinda relaxed on that point of investment because why would they not if they're putting the whole main franchise on the thing.

Zero suffered more on the GameCube the way Darkside Chronicles on the Wii did. Critically considered similar to the previous title but not enough change to really drive sales. Zero has the added issue in hindsight that when you look at how good the REmake just is you find that Zero just doesn't cut it.

[doriantoki]

I don't agree that it felt half assed. It certainly felt like a "complete" game. And regardless of the length or content, like REmake, it was absolutely gorgeous, and chock full of amazing atmosphere. So it succeeded in that regard.

I agree that it was basically one missed opportunity after another. I mean, here's your chance to really flesh out the Bravo team, and make the player care about them and get to know them, especially considering what happens to them later, but there was absolutely no focus on Rebecca or her team mates. That would have been an excellent tie-in with REmake. So in that regard, I agree that the story felt somewhat shoe-horned in. To be honest, I think it made 0 (ha, pardon the pun) sense for Rebecca to be the main character. It should have been another Bravo team member. She acts like she's never seen a monster in REmake (and the original RE), yet here she is in 0 fighting things that are arguably more heinous than anything in the original game and she's screaming and running scared shitless. It would have been more interesting if another Bravo member was the main character (Billy could still have existed), and Rebecca played a minor role or needed to be rescued at some point. I guess if that was the case, however, the main character would have potentially died by end game? In general though, Rebecca is such a terrible and unrealistic character. 18 years old, no combat training, somehow assigned to a special tactics and rescue squad. Wut? I won't get started on that, though.

We certainly didn't NEED Markus. The exposition in REmake was interesting, and added to the backstory of the mansion. The exposition in 0 was ... pointless, really.

[Wrathborne]

The N64 build or RE0 in general?

Zero in General was really awful to me. Missed opportunity for an interesting story that instead felt like 'filler' more than anything.
They had a lot of interesting monsters ideas and stuff that really fell flat in my opinion. The Giant scorpion and Centipede bosses were over really fast and the pacing of the game just sucked because it felt like you rushed through everything.
In the first game you got to enjoy the atmosphere in the mansion, the guardhouse, and the lab.

In this game you just fly through most of the settings, even the mansion training facility where you spend most of the game doesn't have much to explore or do.

If this was an N64game, then the length and everything would have made more sense, but it wasn't. There just wasn't much to do in the game other than running around killing zombies and hiding from the zombie monkeys.

In the original game you always had something to do, Find keys, fight monsters, find weapons, puzzles, defeat bosses, small sub quests involving NPC's and of course the files that provided the background on what was really happening in the mansion and it was a large enough area to explore that you got to have some fun on the way.

Even though Zero had all the same ideas, it was a much smaller game that you didn't really get to explore much of, the AI partner killed any real danger you encounter(minus a few boss fights), all the files in the game didnt really add much to the story, most of the puzzles were incredibly easy, there weren't really any subquests in the game(being that its a much smaller story and there are only really 3 characters that have any real effect on it, thats understandable..well kind of. Bravo Team as a whole was just a 3-4 scene cameo, Wesker and Birkins addition to the story didnt add much either) the whole game felt like some kind of half co-op DLC.

The biggest disappointment was that the villain of the game, was a nothing character. Markus was just a crazy leech guy scientist who didn't have anything to his character other than wanting revenge on Umbrella and just when he goes megalomaniac, the queen leech takes over and he's gone.

It just felt so half assed as a whole and its like they tried to minimize the story as much as possible. They could have done so many other things that would have made the game able to stand on it own two feet, instead it was a half assed prequel that was completely unsatisfying as a whole.

I think RE0 would have done better as a game in winter 2000 than it would have done in winter 2002, although that's a hard judgement to make. As a survival horror genre it was more suited to that generarion and I think the power of the N64 could have delivered some great results. While ultimately the NGC provided the power and the much needed storage space for a more rich and complete game, the N64 was already an established system in many peoples homes and was at a reasonably low price at the end of its life. Buying a cheap N64 for an expensive cart is better for the customer than buying a brand new full price NGC for a cheap DVD. I just think it would have been better for the N64 to go out with a bang with a quality RE exclusive than the NGC to flop along with a pretty RE title.

[Rombie]

^ I think thats still harder to say. Zero would have arrived in the twilight of the consoles lifespan, it's unlikely it would have released until 2001 based on it's development length. Peg the fact it would have been released in a time where the DC was quite strong and PS2 was picking up steam, there is no way of telling how it would have gone. Much like RE2 it's likely it would have benefited from the RAM upgrade as well which limited it's appeal and raised it's already expected higher cart cost (based on the memory needed). These are all the obvious reasons into why the game was canned on the N64 in the first place anyway.

It's hard to also correspond the change on sales focus to just the "lowered" Gamecube sales. Much like I've said time and time again, you need time and place context on that. Remake and Zero both sold to expectations at time of release, the former more so than the latter. Capcom has simply move the marker on expected sales in this generation based on other hit franchises more so than they have changed it based on previous sales of their own.

Also historically exclusivity is less about company and more about producers. The producer or exec producers tend to make the calls on the wheelin and dealin of the that sort of thing, which is why Mikami arm-wrestled the franchise along with everything else he had a hand to Nintendo in 2001-2002 for the next couple of years. Capcom upper management generally want a full return to their shareholders, which means the old school producers always used to target multiplatform releases (and re-releases) where they could (I can find a few interviews from 1999 with Okamoto for example which discusses that Capcom didn't want to put all it's eggs in one basket). It was Okamoto's departure from Capcom that probably allowed Mikami's Nintendo wrangling in the first place. Mikami's outlandish statements got him in somewhat trouble because he said Biohazard 4 would be a GC exclusive or he'd cut off his own head (or commit hari-kari or something) which he further joked about when Tango launched. And likewise Capcom retroactively overthrew his decisions after Bio4 launched to massive success and basically put heaps of those "Nintendo" games on other platforms.

Interestingly this generation has provided the answer for everyone. The game comes out to multiplatform, exclusive content provides the difference... it is the new way everyone gets their way. :/

[doriantoki]

Of course it would have been a greater commercial success. Ironically, it was greed that locked Remake and 0 onto the GC since Capcom signed an exclusivity contract with Nintendo. They got huge bucks, I am sure, but it really was a terribly dumb move on their part. It seemed to, at least in part, affect the direction the series would take, as in Capcom's eyes, classic survival horror = lower sales (what do you expect when your latest entries are on a terrible Nintendo exclusive console). Once RE4 went multi-platform, that's when the big bucks started coming in. Funny enough, Capcom seems to be really fond of these exclusivity contracts, the latest being the SFxT Vita and DLC fiasco.