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Resident Evil 1.5; my favorite video game that technically never released

VGEsoterica

Member
Sure the gaming world is chock full of cancelled games and lots of those have been dumped and preserved for everyone to experience and enjoy but for my money the fact that we can experience and enjoy Resident Evil 1.5 means it's my favorite cancelled game that I've actually gotten to play.

Don't get me wrong...I am 100% ok with the fact Capcom cancelled Resident Evil 1.5 and restarted development from scratch for the RE 2 we all know and love but I still remember gaming magazines previewing RE 1.5 AS RE 2 as that's how close to complete the game actually was. Supposedly Capcom was 85% done with the game before it's ultimate cancellation. I guess it does prove that it's never too late to realize you might have made a "mistake" and fix it. (Unless you are CD Projekt Red with Cyberpunk 2077 that is lol)

but from a nostalgia perspective and an impressiveness perspective (RE. 1.5 has been patched up to be basically crash free and completable) Resident Evil 1.5 is hands down my favorite game that never technically released.

I am curious what others favorite cancelled games that you can actually play are?
 

kunonabi

Member
People keep telling me I wouldn't actually like 1.5 if I played the completed product but I know for a fact I didn't like the RE2 we got and every time Capcom has implemented 1.5 elements and mechanics it's resulted in something I've liked way more.
 
I played the beta. It was….different than the resident evil 2 that released. What ever happened to that group that was going to complete the 70% build? I think his name was MrBZork?
 
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SpiceRacz

Member
Damn. I remember seeing this version in EGM and other magazines back in the day.

It got an eventual release, but I thought Starfox 2 was pretty cool. The Resident Evil port on Gameboy Color is also worth mentioning. The idea of porting the PS1 game to GBC is insane.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
I liked the environments better. Looked like a more modern, sterile, procedural police station. I wanted to play it SO BAD when i was a kid.
I love RE 2 and the weird ornate PD but yes this looks like an actual police station. Cold, sterile...all business. Great setting for a horror game.

But if I had to pick one to work in...totally going RE 2 LOL
 

VGEsoterica

Member
Damn. I remember seeing this version in EGM and other magazines back in the day.

It got an eventual release, but I thought Starfox 2 was pretty cool. The Resident Evil port on Gameboy Color is also worth mentioning. The idea of porting the PS1 game to GBC is insane.
If only Capcom would release a mini console (like they did with the arcade stick) and finish 1.5 for it. It would sell like wild
 

JMarcell

Member
RE 1.5 had some good ideas that were discarded and CAPCOM missed the chance to use it on the 2019's RE2 remake. In some ways 1.5 was better than 2.
 

Ellery

Member
Love the OG tank controls fixed camera angles pre rendered background Resident Evil games way too much.

Would pay 60$ straight up full price for exactly what RE "1.5" was supposed to be (fully finished version done by the team that started it obviously)
 

Beer Baelly

Al Pachinko, Konami President
married with children GIF by hero0fwar
 

Neff

Member
It's shockingly dull to play. It's like they forgot everything which made the original good. The rooms lack uniqueness and a sense of visual storytelling, the camera angles lack drama and logic, the objectives were designed in accordance with a bland, grounded setting as opposed to the outlandish and eccentric original, and so on.

It's not a total DMC2-level disaster. The moonlight-bathed modern RPD is neat visually (which Dino Crisis would later pull off well). It at least has the spark of creativity trying to get out, and that same spark resulted in one of the greatest games of all time being made from 1.5's ashes, and in record time at that. It's an interesting snapshot of a work in progress and what might have been, but thank god it wasn't.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
It's shockingly dull to play. It's like they forgot everything which made the original good. The rooms lack uniqueness and a sense of visual storytelling, the camera angles lack drama and logic, the objectives were designed in accordance with a bland, grounded setting as opposed to the outlandish and eccentric original, and so on.

It's not a total DMC2-level disaster. The moonlight-bathed modern RPD is neat visually (which Dino Crisis would later pull off well). It at least has the spark of creativity trying to get out, and that same spark resulted in one of the greatest games of all time being made from 1.5's ashes, and in record time at that. It's an interesting snapshot of a work in progress and what might have been, but thank god it wasn't.
I mean I am into the aesthetic. It’s dark and grimy and muted. Like I’d expect a police station to be.

Not saying it would have better than RE 2 though
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Yea, it's crazy impressive what that guy has managed to do. I think it's just a solo operation too with fans helping to pinpoint bugs.

I haven't played the 2020 Christmas update but I have the version prior-to on my PSP. Put a decent chunk of time in it. Really cool how the guy has pieced together an actual game.
 
The legend of RE1.5 is still incomplete! There's still the 80% build out there somewhere...would love to try that out one day! As with anything playable from the RE3.5 collective, and maybe even RE4.5....bring on that unreleased RE content!
 

ZoukGalaxy

Member
That it exists. Its like a 50%ish complete Resident Evil 2 that was cancelled and preserved/released in parts to the community. This was what Resident Evil 2 was originally
Is there something special about gameplay or/and story that make it so particular ? (genuine question)
 

VGEsoterica

Member
The legend of RE1.5 is still incomplete! There's still the 80% build out there somewhere...would love to try that out one day! As with anything playable from the RE3.5 collective, and maybe even RE4.5....bring on that unreleased RE content!
Another hoarded treasure. I don’t get the mentality behind that. Dump it. Let people play it. That’s where the fun is at!

Owning something and letting it languish doing nothing just seems pointless
 

kunonabi

Member
pull a Nintendo like when they popped Starfox II on the SNES Mini. Capcom should just tidy up what exists (unless they lost it) and do something fun with it. Fans would love it, it would sell...win win!
Honestly releasing an Outbreak collection with 1.5 and file #3 as "lost" content would be the coolest thing Capcom has done in years if they did it.
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
I think it's amazing that they were able to make such a good game with RE2, after having canned a version of it. Same happend with RE4...

One of the best games ever made emerged about a year or so later.
 
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Splatterhouse Bottlerocket full beta.

It's basically another game, im in contact with a guy (search splatterhouse dulledblade) who has this beta for more than 9 years...He replies me in every 2 years...!
He was solding the full beta plus an xbox 360 jtag on the Assemble page, but got issued by Namco, maybe that's why he don't want to negotiate yet...

I WILL play this version, no matter what. If you have it, i beg you to contact me!



 

alf717

Member
Resident Evil 1.5 is the game that got me interested in rare and obscure gaming. I got to play the first game with my buddies back when it released and we loved it. When I found out through a GameFan magazine that Capcom was working on a sequel I was so excited. I remember those images and my mind would wonder and all I could think of was what the next game would be like. I always wanted to play this version of Resident Evil back when I was in high school. It was a weird obsession. The Playstation we got for Christmas of 97' has an image of Leon in the jail cells area with a bunch of zombie hands reaching out at him. When Resident Evil 2 released. I couldn't' stop thinking about that room I missed. So I set out to find what was the deal with that missing room. Armed with motivation and a 56K modem I stumbled across other people that had the same question as me. Eventually the Bioflames website was created and here is were I would hang out, mostly lurking, but hopeful that more information would come along about this game. That site when it was still working had some never before seen images of the game. I believe the owner had a correspondence with someone that most likely had access to a later build. Sadly this was about as close to new Resident Evil 1.5 info we would get for years. It was a ugly journey just to get what we have now but I am still hoping that someday we can play a later build that was closer to before its cancellation.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
Resident Evil 1.5 is the game that got me interested in rare and obscure gaming. I got to play the first game with my buddies back when it released and we loved it. When I found out through a GameFan magazine that Capcom was working on a sequel I was so excited. I remember those images and my mind would wonder and all I could think of was what the next game would be like. I always wanted to play this version of Resident Evil back when I was in high school. It was a weird obsession. The Playstation we got for Christmas of 97' has an image of Leon in the jail cells area with a bunch of zombie hands reaching out at him. When Resident Evil 2 released. I couldn't' stop thinking about that room I missed. So I set out to find what was the deal with that missing room. Armed with motivation and a 56K modem I stumbled across other people that had the same question as me. Eventually the Bioflames website was created and here is were I would hang out, mostly lurking, but hopeful that more information would come along about this game. That site when it was still working had some never before seen images of the game. I believe the owner had a correspondence with someone that most likely had access to a later build. Sadly this was about as close to new Resident Evil 1.5 info we would get for years. It was a ugly journey just to get what we have now but I am still hoping that someday we can play a later build that was closer to before its cancellation.
I think 1.5 got a lot of people interested in the beta scene to be honest.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member

New update to the MartinBiohazard's 1.5 release. Update just released (01/29/2022)

"This time it will not be necessary to patch the original MZD to be able to play, I have decided to share this update in its real format (bin/cue), since after all there is not a big difference and it is more comfortable for everyone. You should only apply patches to the mentioned file (.bin) if you want to play extra content"

 
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IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


BIOHAZARD 1.5 is an internal name for a Resident Evil 2 prototype which was abandoned in early 1997. As the game was approaching its March 1997 release date, the developers were dissatisfied with the resulting product. Rather than releasing a game they were unhappy with, the developers took the risk of cancelling the game and developing the game again from scratch. Many of the aesthetics and sceneries were omitted including Elza Walker and many other characters and enemies were scrapped; however, some of the characters remained more or less similar to their official appearance, e.g. Leon and Sherry
 
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