RE2 was released on January 21, 1998 in North America. It sold nearly five million copies, becoming one of the best selling PS1 games. It held a Guinness World Record for “Highest Grossing Survival Horror Game” at the time.

Resident Evil 2 was originally almost entirely different as it would have been the infamous Resident Evil 1.5, which was about sixty to eighty percent complete before being scrapped. Elza Walker, a college motorcyclist, was the original second protagonist before being replaced by Claire Redfield.

Claire was created specifically to tie her to Chris Redfield, adding emotional continuity between RE1 and RE2.

The reason RE 1.5 was scrapped was that it “lacked fun and personality,” according to director Hideki Kamiya.

Shinji Mikami oversaw RE2 more closely after the cancellation of RE 1.5, acting as a “supervisor director.”

The final version was completed in only about one year.

Ada Wong originally had a completely different design, dressed in a long trench coat before the iconic red dress was chosen much later.

The Zapping System, also known as the A and B scenarios, was created to reflect two perspectives happening simultaneously.

Items you discard or use in one scenario can affect the other character’s scenario, which was rare for games at the time.

Mr. X only appears in Claire B and Leon B, not their A stories.

The four scenario system is technically canon, but the developers said Leon A and Claire B is the closest to the “true” timeline.

The G Virus mutation system for William Birkin was inspired by metamorphosis in insects.

The game features Fourth Survivor, an unlockable mode starring Hunk, the professional Umbrella operative. There is also Tofu Survivor, originally added to test hitboxes but left in for humor.

Marvin Branagh, the injured police officer, was once meant to accompany Leon through parts of the game.

Claire’s jacket symbol, “Made in Heaven,” references a jacket worn by Chris in the Director’s Cut of RE1.

Sherry Birkin is the youngest major playable character in classic RE, at twelve years old.

Zombies in RE2 are more varied in clothing, body types, and animations than in RE1.

Lickers are blind and hunt by sound, and you can technically walk past some without alerting them.

The alligator boss was partially inspired by urban legends of sewer alligators.

The Nintendo 64 port is considered one of the most technically impressive ports ever. The N64 version added multiple new story files that were not in the PS1 original.

It was also released later on Dreamcast, GameCube, and Windows.

The Game.com version from Tiger Electronics is often considered the worst Resident Evil port ever.