Game:

Resident Evil Zero (2002)

Duration: 15:25

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Gameplay Performed by: TrevorDFox

Resident Evil Zero, known in Japan as Biohazard Zero, is a survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom. It is the fifth major installment in the Resident Evil series and was originally released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002. It serves as a prequel to Resident Evil (2002), covering the ordeals experienced in the Arklay Mountains by the special police force, S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team. The story follows officer Rebecca Chambers and convicted criminal Billy Coen as they explore an abandoned training facility for employees of the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. The gameplay remains similar to other entries in the Resident Evil series, but includes a unique "partner zapping" system. The player controls both Rebecca and Billy, switching control between them at will in order to solve puzzles and take advantage of their unique abilities.

Development for Resident Evil Zero began originally on the Nintendo 64 in 1998. The partner system was created in order to take advantage of the short load times only possible with the capabilities of the N64 Game Pak. The cartridge format also provided limitations, as the storage capacity was significantly less than that of a CD-ROM. The team had to approach the game's design differently from previous series entries to conserve storage space. Resident Evil Zero was designed to be more difficult than previous Resident Evil titles. Inspired by Sweet Home (1989), the team removed the item storage boxes present in earlier games and introduced a new item-dropping feature. Development slowed down when the team began to encounter memory storage issues, and so production was moved to the newly announced Nintendo GameCube. The game had to be completely rebuilt, with only the concept and story carried over.

Resident Evil Zero received generally positive reviews upon release. Critics praised the graphics and audio for building a haunting atmosphere. Opinions on the new partner and item systems were mixed. Some found the changes were an improvement and added new layers of strategy, however, others believed the changes were cumbersome or non-innovative. The controls were panned for being outdated and Capcom was criticized for not evolving the series' traditional control scheme. The title was ported to the Wii in 2008. These re-releases received mixed reviews due to lack of improvements made to the original. Resident Evil Zero is commercially successful, having sold over 2.5 million copies across all platforms.

On May 26, 2015, Capcom announced that a remastered version of the game was in development, titled Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster. The success of the high-definition remaster of Resident Evil inspired producer Tsukasa Takenaka to provide the same treatment to that game's prequel. Takenaka recognized that many Resident Evil fans preferred the old style of gameplay pre-Resident Evil 4, and so he reasoned that the HD remasters were to provide that same gameplay experience on modern hardware. The remaster was produced by Tsukasa Takenaka and the team was made up of many members from the original team, including director Koji Oda. Takenaka was glad Oda was on board, as this ensured Oda's original vision of the game would not be tarnished. Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster was released on January 19, 2016. A retail compilation called Resident Evil Origins Collection that includes Resident Evil HD Remaster and Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster was released on January 22, 2016.

For the remaster, Capcom used the original 2002 models and textures from their archives. To Takenaka's surprise, the models and textures were actually designed in a very high quality, and then downscaled for the original release. This meant that some assets had to be redone, as items that were intentionally blurry or illegible in the original were now much more clear and did not make sense in context, such as posters or signs in the environment. The models and textures were re-touched, and then the backgrounds were re-captured. Some backgrounds in the original also featured video effects such as fire. In the remaster, these videos were transitioned into 3D effects. Additional modes were added as well, including an easy mode and Wesker mode. In Wesker mode, the player controls Albert Wesker instead of Billy, and can move quickly and use special attacks. Other improvements include an upgrade to 5.1 surround sound, video options for both the original 4:3 ratio or a new 16:9 option, as well as more control styles including a modern non-tank-like control scheme. Overall, Takenaka felt that putting together the remaster for Resident Evil Zero was more difficult than that of Resident Evil, largely due to the companion function.

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