For Hideki Kamiya, this was the first game that he directed. On Twitter, he wrote about the development history in huge detail…

Hopefully, we don’t have to introduce Hideki Kamiya to you: aside from Resident Evil 2, we can thank him for Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Bayonetta, and The Wonderful 101 köthető a nevéhez (as well as Scalebound, which was wiped off the table by Microsoft). Quotation incoming from Twitter:

„Thanks for the messages celebrating RE2’s 20th anniversary, everyone! Resident Evil 2 was the first game I got to direct, so it holds a special place in my memories. I was only 25 at the time and had very little experience, so I was so preoccupied with being a director I didn’t really get to enjoy the job. I also made many wrong decisions, and I’m sure you all know we even had to start from scratch at one point (the canned version later became known as Resident Evil 1.5).

Fortunately, Mikami and the scenario writer Noboru Sugimura, as well as many other staff members, came to my rescue, so we were able to wrap up the project safely before unleashing it on the world. Sugimura was old enough to be my dad, and when he looked at Resident Evil 1.5 in the early stages of development, he was the one who advised me to start over, and he gave us all the courage actually to do so. After that, he and I were pretty much cooped up in a meeting room for several weeks straight, yelling at each other from time to time (all the time?), and going out for drinks after work (and yelling some more) before finally wrapping up the script.

I had no sense or knowledge of script writing whatsoever, so I just used my youthful vigor to push through, and Sugimura was never afraid to come at me head-first, which was a huge help. I learned a great many things from him, and I would go on to utilize his teachings when writing the scripts for Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, and Okami as well. Unfortunately, Sugimura passed away just as I was working on Okami. To this day, I still wonder what he would’ve told me if he’d had a chance to play that game.

I have so many memories of Resident Evil 2… It also marked the first time at Capcom for recording English voiceover overseas, so we were figuring stuff out as we went along. It was my first time going abroad for work. I vividly remember on the first day we arrived at the studio in Canada, our interpreter suddenly said “I’ve got a stomachache, so I’m going back to the hotel,” so I basically had to direct the voice recording session with gestures and broken English… During the session, I added Claire’s line “Chris, I have to find you” without getting Sugimura’s approval, and since he was already writing the story for Code: Veronica, he yelled at me because he had to change the script just because of that line.

I think it was also the first time Capcom worked with an external CG production company, and I remember having many meetings with Mr. Sasaki from Imagica, creating the in-game cutscenes using motion capture technology, which was still pretty unusual at the time.

Because I was so young, I wasn’t afraid to do anything, so I set some big goals for myself, recklessly introducing the “zapping system,” [in short, changing characters’ supporting cast, their route, and so forth – the editor] which suddenly forced us to put the game on two discs instead of one in the final stage of development.

To escape from the stress of work, I started drinking brandy on the rocks every night, arriving at the office with a hangover the next day, and sleeping in an empty meeting room during lunch break. Ah, how young I was! All of these memories are irreplaceable treasures to me. There is no greater honor for me than seeing how much all of you still love RE2 to this day. I’ll keep working hard so I can bring you many more games of the same caliber!”

We don’t think we have to add anything to this, other than „Thank you!”

Source: Twitter

Thanks for the messages celebrating RE2’s 20th anniversary, everyone! (1/16)

— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) 2018. január 24.