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Summary
Plot
Gameplay
Development
Marketing
Reception
Credits
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Translation errors
Further notes

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was developed by Capcom's R&D Division 2, which had done Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 before it, and would soon after be reconstituted as Production Studio 4.[1]

Development outline[]

With Resident Evil 2 a success, Capcom was quick to take advantage and began development of a number of new titles by the end of the year. By Summer 1998, Capcom was working on Resident Evil 0 for the Nintendo 64 and with Nextech in Resident Evil CODE:Veronica for the Dreamcast. A third game, "BIOHAZARD 3", was being produced by Hideki Kamiya for the PlayStation, intended to be Capcom's next big game. However, when Sony announced their new PlayStation 2 in the Summer, the game was scrapped and the dev team - Team Little Devil - obtained a PlayStation 2 SDK to start anew some months later.[1] Kamiya became the director, and the storyline of HUNK on a cruise ship was replaced with Oswell E. Spencer's G-Virus infected son exploring the family castle and Umbrella HQ.[1]

During development of Resident Evil 2's DualShock Ver., there was a degree of interest in a future game that would serve as standalone expansion on the game to add another storyline.[2] Work on this game officially began in October 1998,[citation needed] with Shinji Mikami as producer of a smaller-budget PlayStation title, which had the working titles of both "BIOHAZARD GAIDEN" and "BIOHAZARD 1.9/2.1".[1][2] Development began with a team of twenty.[3] With Resident Evil 2 writer Noboru Sugimura busy with other games, the story-writing was handled in-house. Kazuhiro Aoyama was hired on as director, having also worked on the previous game.[citation needed] With a number of artists having left Capcom due to negative experiences making Resident Evil 2, Aoyama and Kamiya's projects relied heavily on newly recruited talent, a problem that also affected Jun Takeuchi's Onimusha.[4]

Mikami had a number of ideas he wanted for the project to be based around. Rather than be in the style of Resident Evil 2, he wanted the game to be more "indie" and play in its own manner different from the other titles in the series.[2] The initial proposal was for the player to explore a large city environment that would be scarred by the outbreak with burning buildings and distant screams.[2] Enemies would be triggered to enter the map in unpredictable ways to frighten the player rather than simply already be there.[2] Further, he wanted the protagonist to pass out between the events of Resident Evil 2 (hence the title 1.9/2.1 being either side of the number 2),[5][6] and for the city to change due to continuing disaster. The player would have to recover their lost items in an altered map populated by stronger enemies, which Mikami felt would stop players getting too used to the game halfway through.[2]

In early 1999, production supervisor Yoshiki Okamoto began making changes to game development in light of the events of game development as a whole. With BIOHAZARD 0 and CODE:Veronica being exclusives and Kamiya's game delayed until 2001, he was worried Resident Evil would become an unprofitable brand due to this gap in the PlayStation market.[1] Okamoto demanded three changes to "BIOHAZARD 1.9+2.1" in light of this. Firstly, the game was to be retitled "BIOHAZARD 3", with Kamiya's project becoming "BIOHAZARD 4".[2][7][8] Second, he rejected the "indie" concept and insisted that gameplay be similar in style to the existing games.[2] Third, two whole months were cut from the planned development schedule.[9] In re-defining the game as a major title in its own right, making gameplay more recognisable to existing fans and having it release five months before the PlayStation 2's release, Okamoto felt the game was guaranteed to reach at least one million units sold without ruining the quality of Kamiya's project.[1][2] These changes drew the ire of Mikami, who saw it as executive meddling and following three days of renegotiation, he quit Capcom, though this was overturned soon after.[2] Following Okamoto's changes, the development team expanded,[1] growing from twenty to forty or fifty people from the initial 20.[3][10]

Script[]

The game's story was intended as a standalone expansion to the Resident Evil 2 story, rather than an entirely new setting in itself. Initially toying with a new cast of characters, Shinji Mikami and Kazuhiro Aoyama agreed to go with an established character and made Jill Valentine the protagonist.[1] Valentine had until that time been planned as the protagonist of CODE:Veronica until being replaced by Claire Redfield.

Due to Flagship being busy, writing was done in-house by Yasuhisa Kawamura, who had only recently been hired by Capcom months earlier and,[5][8] aside from editing the Dino Crisis script, only had the Battle Angel Alita novel, "Gunnm" to his credit.[1][8] Based on Mikami's initial proposal of a Resident Evil 2 tie-in, Kawamura's story revolved heavily on the internal make-up of Umbrella and its relationship with Dr. William Birkin, as well as introducing a rivalry between Umbrella USA and Umbrella Europe.[1] Lifting ideas from Flagship's drama albums, Kawamura decided to include the Raccoon General Hospital, which would be desperately working on a t-Virus vaccine while falling to the Zombies, an idea conceived of in "Doomed Raccoon City Vol.2". The idea of the virus spreading by contaminated drinking water was established in "Doomed Raccoon City Vol.1". Finally, the idea of Zombies being mistaken for dead and buried, then rising out of their graves in the cemetery, was taken from "Doomed Raccoon City Vol.3". When the protagonist became Jill Valentine, the Nemesis-T Type's mission to hunt her down was conceived of, and it was also during this time that Kawamura added in Raccoon City's destruction itself rather than Jill escaping some time before. Though it was destroyed by napalm in "The Little Runaway, Sherry", Kawamura wanted a more climactic end and conceived of a top-secret thermobaric weapon fired at the city, killing 100,000 people. This idea was inspired to some degree by Neon Genesis Evangelion, a manga he admired which had the idea of a powerful non-nuclear weapon.

Not all ideas remained in the game intact, with several ideas being dropped during the drafting stage and some even abandoned during Okamoto's expansion phase. This includes several additional subplots involving stranded UBCS mercenaries, and a controversial opening sequence where Jill Valentine was to have a nightmare where she shoots herself in the head with her sidearm. The scene was dropped by Aoyama, who was repulsed by the concept.[11]

While Flagship was ultimately in charge of the series' storyline and Kawamura tasked with supplying script and storyboards to eliminate contradictions during monthly project head meetings,[5] the relationship between the two was amicable and, even with the change to Raccoon's destruction, no orders for change were made.[1]

Designs[]

It was toyed with at one point for the player to be able to control a zombified Brad Vickers, tying into his appearance in Resident Evil 2. However, because the game was only intended to be a low-cost side-story, it was decided that the production lacked enough funding to build it.[1]

At some point in the development of the game, the Chimera and Neptune - two B.O.W.s that appeared in the original Resident Evil - went through the planning phases, though were eventually dropped.[12] Another rejected noteworthy enemy is the Zombie Wildcat.

Announcement[]

E3 1999[]

A playable version of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was available at E3 1999. At the time, the dodging feature had not been completed, and it was absent from the demo.[13]

E3_1999_Event_-_Preview_of_the_games

E3 1999 Event - Preview of the games

A little glimpse of an early version of Resident Evil 3 during E3 1999.

Resident_Evil_3_-_E3_1999_Beta_(Compilation)_バイオハザード3、E3_1999のベータ版

Resident Evil 3 - E3 1999 Beta (Compilation) バイオハザード3、E3 1999のベータ版

Preview of the E3 1999 Version of the game.

Differences in the E3 1999 early versions of the game include:

  • The game apparently had a different slideshow Opening to the final game, early images depict S.T.A.R.S. Members Jill, Barry, Chris, Rebecca, and Brad arriving on the Heliport of the Raccoon Police Station directly after the mansion incident and in one image Jill is seen arguing with Chief Irons with other S.T.A.R.S. Members beside her, in the last image Jill is seen wearing a white coat while dressed in casual outfit, the image would fade from a healthy and normal Raccoon City into a destroyed one.
  • A chain puzzle, set in downtown was removed from the released game, the player would place the chain in place of the fire hose to be able to take the hose along (otherwise the ladder would remain tucked up), the area was slightly altered where there was no crate in front of the Kendo van and the door was opened with the downtown map placed inside it. in the final game, a crate was placed in front and the van's door was closed, the map is now pinned on the wall.
  • Early status profile picture of Jill and inventory icons for handgun and others can be seen which were completely replaced in the final version.
  • Dodge features were not present in early builds (E3).
  • Different early models of Jill can be found in the final game, were meant to be used for character select like Mercenaries (PLXXCH.PLD), several other characters like Brad, Dario and Tofu are leftover in the game as PLD Files (Player Data), can be played with using hacks or mods. Possibly suggesting that they were initially intended to be playable.
  • Several items in the final game were also left unused, given the name "BOTU" Just like the chain, where it was actually named "Chain" in the E3 Version.

TGS 1999[]

TGS 99 image - RE3

Biohazard: Last Escape at TGS '99

"Biohazard: Last Escape" was featured in the March 1999 Tokyo Game Show. Unfortunately for journalists and gamers-alike, only a video demo was available - not gameplay.[14] It was in April that Capcom confirmed specific parts of the plot - namely that it would involve an "unlikely hero" (confirmed in-game to be Carlos Oliveira) and be set both the day before and after Resident Evil 2's story. It was confirmed by Capcom that the game would, indeed, be available on the PlayStation console.[15]

When Dino Crisis was released in Japan in July, Capcom managed to run out of units for there and had to manufacture a second shipment. Expecting high-sales in the United States, the western shipments of the game included a brief demo of Resident Evil: Nemesis.[16] Three months before the initial release - making it around late June - the name was changed to officially have the number '3' in its name, which project supervisor Yoshiki Okamoto later explained as a means of keeping the titles of the first three games on the PlayStation console consistent.[5][6]

In September and October, Famitsu Magazine and IGN published enemy attack stats for the game, along with move-sets, along with releasing a number of screenshots relating to the individual enemies.[17] Later in mid-October, Capcom declared its intention to spend $20 million on advertising campaigns for the PlayStation versions of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and Dino Crisis, as well as the Nintendo 64 port of Resident Evil 2.[18] In November, Capcom confirmed that the US-version of the game was being shipped earlier than initially-expected, ready to be bought in stores as early as November 10 or 11. As journalists, IGN had managed to get their hands on a copy early, which they used under scrutiny with a "chipped" PlayStation.[19]

RE3 NEMESIS PROMO AD POSTER

Promotional Advertisement poster for the game, Notice G-Virus instead of T-Virus.

Sources[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Yasuhisa Kawamura Interview (Project Umbrella).. Project Umbrella. Retrieved on 2013-06-24.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Director's Hazard.
  3. 3.0 3.1 インタビュー (Japanese). Capcom. Archived from the original on 2002-02-23. Retrieved on 2012-08-22.
  4. @PG_kamiya (10 May 2017). 最近しみじみ思い返した事…バイオ2完成後当時の待遇に不満を持った背景スタッフがほぼ全員辞めてバイオ3や鬼武者など予定してた業務計画に大きく支障を来したんだけど急遽スタッフ募集をかけて編成を整え最終的には品質を維持して立て直した…ホメオスタシス…企業は生き物なんだなぁと感じた….
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Crispin Boyer (August 1999). "Resident Evil Everything". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis Media Inc.) (121): 115–122. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 (in Japanese) Another Side of Biohazard. World Photo Press Co., Ltd.. 22 March 2001. ISBN 4-8465-2307-1. 
  7. @PG_kamiya (29 September 2013). 最初はバイオ3だったけどバイオ1.9(仮称)チームの作品がバイオ3にナンバリングされることになったのでウチがバイオ4になってそれがDMCになった…RT @izumi69s dmc1がbio4の開発中に出れたゲームで記憶していです。しかし他の人からdmc1がbio3の開発中に出たと.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Yasuhisa Kawamura and the Resident Evil that never was.. Euro Gamer (2015-01-18). Retrieved on 2015-09-24. “Meet the man who tried to make Capcom's survival horror even scarier, and failed.”
  9. Project Umbrella interview with Akira Kokushoh: ""I joined the BIO3 project in February 1999 and it was time to begin a summary of the project. I wasn't involved with FLAGSHIP's BIOs. There was a BIO which was no longer BIO and became Devil May Cry. Since the development schedule was shortened by two months, the hospital section of BIO3 became small due to the schedule shortage."".
  10. "Interview with Shinji Mikami". Official PlayStation 2 Magazine-UK (Future Publishing Limited) (4). February 2001. 
  11. @yas_kawamura (Feb 6, 2023). 小説の書き出し。26歳の頃の俺はとんがり方を間違えているところがいい。バイオ3も冒頭で絶望したジルがサムライエッジで自らこめかみを撃ち抜く悪夢から目覚めるところから書き始めたらディレクターに激おこられイラストでベッドに腰掛け銃を眺めるにとどめた。三上さんは喜んでた。 (Japanese).
  12. Kawamura, Yasushi. インタビュー (Japanese). Capcom. Retrieved on 2012-08-22. “前作までは開発途中で没になった生物兵器は登場します。ネプチューンやキメラがその例です。”
  13. "Resident Evil 3 Nemesis", GameSpot, August 6, 1999. Retrieved on 2012-10-26. 
  14. Walker, Trey. "TGS, Spring 1999: Show Disappointments", IGN, 3 March 1999. Retrieved on 2012-07-23. 
  15. "Capcom Confirms Resident Evil Nemesis", IGN, 8 April 1999. Retrieved on 2012-07-23. 
  16. "Dino Crisis Sells Out in Japan", IGN, 14 July 1999. Retrieved on 2012-07-23. 
  17. "The Monsters of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis", IGN, 1 October 1999. Retrieved on 2012-07-23. 
  18. "Capcom Reveals $20 Million Marketing Campaign", IGN, 14 October 1999. Retrieved on 2012-07-23. 
  19. "Resident Evil 3 Ships Early!", IGN, 5 November 1999. Retrieved on 2012-07-23. 
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