Resident Evil 2 was originally a game with the PlayStation in mind. It came on two discs, with heavy usage of large textures and full motion video. So it’s a marvel that Angel Studios, with help from multiple Capcom teams and Factor 5 (who did wonders with the N64 and GameCube hardware), got the massive 2-CD PS1 game onto a single 64MB Nintendo 64 cartridge.

Of course, as a result of this, the Nintendo 64 version isn’t the ideal way to play Resident Evil 2. It does have a couple of exclusive things that weren’t included in later versions: extra written story files to find (which links to RE3, Code Veronica, and Zero) and a randomiser (which alters the location of objects), but for the most part, it’s heavily compressed port of the original.

That said, it’s still Resident Evil 2, and it’s still a really good version of the game. It’s a classic survival horror game, and I’m absolutely atrocious at it. I read up about the difficulties (as some games I’ve played remove a lot of content on easy), and saw comments about how it’s very easy on normal – yet playing on easy, I died a lot and struggled to find enough ammo.

There seems to be a lot of useless extra routes in the game. For example, the burning helicopter on the roof of the police building. You go on a long search and find a valve, using a load of ammo on zombies, then use the valve to put out a fire, getting…a box of handgun ammo, less than what I’d used up. I’m not sure if I missed anything else there, so I found it a bit odd.

But for what it does, it does it very well. The pre-rendered backgrounds look great, and the tank controls aren’t too bad due to the camera angles. The controls are nice and simple, with the analogue stick alone letting you swap between walking and running. There’s a lot of hunting for objects and finding where they go, and the story and characters are very interesting.

Resident Evil 2 is a really good game, but the N64 version is not one that you should choose to play. It’s fascinating, due to how much of a challenge it was to make it possible, so it’s an amazing game in terms of that, but you’re better off with the GameCube version.

Fun

But not even hammy acting can dampen the thrill of Resident Evil 2’s many shocks and scares. Your enemies are genuinely frightening – zombies which make sudden lunges as you sprint past, cockroaches which envelop and kill you if you pause for a second, dogs which won’t run unless you do – and they’re topped off by some of the most hair-raising moments in gaming history.

Mark Green, N64 Magazine #36. Review Score: 90%

Remake or remaster?

The game has had a complete remake and a few different versions of the original, but a new “Resident Evil 2 classic” combining features of different versions (and higher quality backgrounds) would be really nice. The GameCube version is considered to be the best accessible version, although there’s a newer Japan-only PC port that has mods for making it English.

Official ways to get the game.

The classic version of Resident Evil 2 is available on GoG, based on an older PC version (not the better Japanese port). It lacks the additional stuff from the N64 version.