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Nineteen years ago this month, Capcom made the "Pure Vanilla Build", which is the basis of most fan mods of BIOHAZARD 1.5.

History lesson[]

According to interviews, Producer Shinji Mikami instructed Director Hideki Kamiya to present him ROMs of BIOHAZARD 2 at the end of the first week of each month so he could review progress. In November of 1996, Mikami played this build and found it to be appalling.[1][2] Due to Kamiya's inexperience with directing, he allowed the equally-inexperienced developers to make whatever they wanted. In doing so, the developers would frequently change their ideas and restart development; one example of this is the sewers, the backgrounds of which were almost entirely nonexistent in ROMs due to the map design team's constant changes.

Mikami initially believed the game could be fixed in the few months remaining before the March 1997 release date. The period following proved to be highly stressful for Kamiya, who began suffering from gastritis.[3] Development continued for a time as Supervisor Yoshiki Okamoto brought in the television writer Noboru Sugimura to examine the script itself. Eventually, Kamiya; Mikami; Okamoto and Sugimura reached a consensus that the game needed an overwhelming overhaul.In November of 1996, Mikami played this build and found it to be appalling. Due to Kamiya's inexperience with directing, he allowed the equally-inexperienced developers to make whatever they wanted. In doing so, the developers would frequently change their ideas and restart development; one example of this is the sewers, the backgrounds of which were almost entirely nonexistent in ROMs due to the map design team's constant changes.

A copy of the ROM was sent to Capcom USA for the purpose of either gameshow content or for distribution to journalists. A Capcom USA worker obtained the November build and kept it in his private collection. Some years later, around 2006 or '07 the game found its way to an auction (either the USA employee's collection or one from a private collector he sold it to) with a number of other rare game builds. It was quickly bought by a collector (known only as "The Curator" on public forums) who recognised its importance to the Resident Evil modding and collecting community. For a number of years he would tease fans with footage of the game alongside a $10,000+ price tag. Eventually, by 2011 a collective of modders were able to purchase it for $8-9,000.

Rather than release the data immediately, it was decided by a number of the members that they should instead patch the game to make it playable. Forming as "IGAS Restoration", they began developing the "Magic Zombie Door Build" (MZD for short), creating new content to fill in gaps. After this point, rising tensions grew between people aware of the project. When someone made an attempt to sell a copy for his own gain, IGAS was forced to go public with their game to counter it.

Further tensions grew when IGAS was accused of stealing scripts from modders who were refused help offers for the mod. As members began pulling out of the project, a copy of the unmodified version wound up on eBay, purchased for $2500. The contents finally made its way to the public in September 2013.

Sources[]

  1. RESEARCH ON BIOHAZARD 2 final edition.
  2. SurvivHor translation of [1.
  3. SurvivHor translation.

STAGE 1[]

"STAGE 1" is the file directory for the Raccoon City Police Department.

Office B[]

Office B was to play a role in the game as the site where Roy is killed.

Lobby[]

The Lobby was the starting point for Elza Walker.

LOBBY ROUKA[]

OFFICE A[]

SOTO B[]

SOTO A[]

SIRYOUSITU MAE[]

The debug name is derived from siryousitu mae (資料室前?), which means "[in front of] library".

SHOCHO ROOM[]

HELI PORT MAE[]

OKUJYOU[]

The debug name is derived from okujyou (屋上?), meaning "Rooftop".

B1 ROUKA[]

The debug name is derived from B1廊下 (B1 rouka?), meaning "B1 corridor".

SHOOTING RANGE[]

11A BUKI SOUKO[]

11B CHIKA CYUU B[]

11C CHIKA CYUU A[]

B2 ROUKA[]

The debug name is derived from B2 rouka (B2廊下?), meaning "B2 corridor".

BOIRA SHITSU[]

Can't be explored in-game. Background files not finished.

SHITAI OKIBA[]

RYUUCHI SYO[]

DOKUBOU 1[]

Can't be explored in-game, but background files were finished.

DOKUBOU 2[]

Can't be explored in-game, but background files were finished.

DOKUBOU 3[]

Can't be explored in-game, but background files were finished.

DOKUBOU 4[]

Can't be explored in-game, but background files were finished.

DOKUBOU 5[]

Can't be explored in-game, but background files were finished.

STAGE 2[]

200 L TSUURO[]

201 ZONBIE TSUURO[]

203 L TSUURO 2[]

207 KUMO TSUURO[]

208 WANI BOSS ENT[]

209 WANI BOSS BEYA[]

20B L TSUURO[]

STAGE 3[]

STAGE 4[]

STAGE 5[]

STAGE 6[]

UNTENSHITSU[]

604[]

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