K: Hiroyuki Kobayashi -Producer of Resident Evil re-birth-
--: Interviewer (Unknown)
--What is the future of Resident Evil for GameCube?
K: 1,0,2,3,CV and 4
M: And 2,3 and CV are just ports from other console, so I will worn everybody "Don't buy it, if you already have it."
K: Looks, story and game system, everything is the same.
-- What is the reason for releasing all of the Resident Evil series ports on GameCube again?
M: Some of the users will play RE-make for the first time, and for those users, it is hard to understand all of the Resident Evil story., so I thought this is the best way.
K: I wanted that the users can ply all of the Resident Evil on GameCube.
M: Also, I think life time of GameCube is longer than another console, so I think people still can play Resident Evil 5 on GameCube.
K: -------Well, that is "IF we EVER release Resident Evil 5". But if we release "After 4" I am thinking about on GameCube too.
M: Another reason is GameCube is the only console able to play just game. I think, for users, it is hard to concentrate on playing games if you can watch DVD's on the console.
--I understand, by the way, why did you remake Resident Evil this time?
M: First reason is simple, I thought it is hard for users to play original Resident Evil one more time with the same graphics.
K: Original Resident Evil released 6 years ago.
M: I didn't want people to be judgmental of the graphics before they realize the charm of Resident Evil. So, we fixed the graphics and people can enjoy the world of Resident Evil easier.
--If that was the reason, why didn't you change only the graphics?
K: In the beginning of the development stage, we planned almost no change in the game, only graphics.
M: Die-hard Resident Evil fan would buy re-make with only new graphics, but I think it is not fun to play, in the beginning, I thought only small change but finally, we made a lot of changes.
K: Last fall, we made a lot of changes on the mansion, made new graphics and everything. even changed strategy. But still Resident Evil was Resident Evil.
At that time, Shinji had one more idea to change....
M: First, I thought make all enemies invisible, but people said that would make the game completely different. I was in a dilemma, if I change a lot, people would say "This is not Resident Evil" or if I don't, people say "repeating same". So, I had an idea it is on the very limit of allowable change that if dead enemy will come back, it will be a thrill.
K: "This time, the zombie will come back." That is our biggest sales point.
M: If you want to make them not come back, *****************
K: We can't tell you how, but there are 2 ways.
--What kind of point did you emphasize your craftsmanship?
M: "The real feelings". Graphics, atmosphere, character motion and especially effects, blood and weapons, expression of fire and water..... in all those things, I think we created the sense of presence in the game that people can enjoy.
K: For the game to make people feel that you can actually touch things, was one of our concepts. Another is "THE FEAR" we are getting back to the starting point of RE. This time, we wanted to present "The ultimate FEAR".
M: Simply, game itself is good too. We purposely left some old game kind of taste, might be hard for some of the users.
K: You have to think to play Resident Evil.
When you play, you always have to think about what needs to be done. For some on the people, it maybe hard to play.
M: If, the person doesn't want to think, maybe also doesn't play Resident Evil too. Well, I have to say, that kind of person shouldn't buy RE-make........ just joke...
--I know, you even have to think about which item to take from the item-box.
K: I think RE-make is easier because we made "Standard item section", and also defense item are separated from other items slot, so you can take more.
M: In the beginning I wasn't going to separate all those.
--NO!!
K: I know what you mean, but we were serious about that.
M: Resident Evil is basically a "enjoy the hard time" game. If you can't enjoy it, shouldn't play Resident Evil. ----ok joke again....
M: I strongly think I don't have to make a game that everybody loves, think about taste, some people like bitter taste, and some not, Resident Evil is a game like that.
The concept was "Make the very very bitter taste beer".
--I remember, a long time ago, there were a lot of games I couldn't beat.
M: People think they "Should beat every game on the market" but long time ago, it was not like that. A game's value is not whether or not it's easy to beat, I think a game is suppose to be like a Road Race, but some people started to feel like "Why do I have to jump?" or "Why do I have to run?" maybe it is just new generation thing, but I think some of the games should make the users feel like "I tried hard, so I beat the game".
K: Times have changed, so in RE-make, we asked users what kind of game play style you have. Climb up the mountain or walking.
--That is the level chose part.
K: NO. It is not level. We are asking the game play style.
Published date: Apr 5th 2002
Published by: Capcom
Original Japanese text all rights reserved by Capcom and related publishers.
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