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Resident evil fans will probably know a fair bit about Resident evil 1.5. The game that almost was Resident evil 2. The game was 80% complete and had a release date and everything, until Capcom decided to scrap it all and start from scratch – resulting in a year long delay. Some original ideas were kept, but most of 1.5 went through some drastic changes: The overall setting and many of the locations were kept the same but went through cosmetic changes, the main playable character of Elza Walker was ditched entirely in favour of Claire Redfield, the character models had their detail lessened to allow for more zombies on screen and a couple of the boss battles were removed. Check out this video of the game in its scrapped glory.

The lack of door opening animations should’ve rolled over into the final game! Why’d Capcom leave those in?! Resident evil 1.5 looks pretty crap to me. The graphics in this version were supposedly superior to Resident evil 2, but I can’t see it myself. I think Resident evil 2 was a much better looking game. The rendered environments were much more detailed. Everything in 1.5 looks too blue, too clean and untouched.

I think Capcom made the right decision to scrap the game and start from scratch. The end result was a fantastic game and a stand out in the series. Resident evil 2 is my personal favourite Resident evil game and I rank it as the best of the bunch. As brilliant as Resident evil 4 is, there’s something about game number 2. It featured the best intro and ending, was essentially 2 (or even 4) games in one and it was the most plot driven of them all. I still live in the vain hope that Capcom re-make it as they did the original for the GameCube. I even would’ve settled for a Resident evil 2 scenario in Umbrella chronicles, but Capcom dashed those hopes and dreams of mine without a second thought.

It’s a shame that so much went into 1.5 for it to just be scrapped. Capcom could probably release it via Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo’s online stores and milk it. I personally wouldn’t pay to download and play it, but I’m sure an army of Resi fans would. These same gamers went about bought Gun survivor and Outbreak. I’m sure they’d snap up a bit of gaming nostalgia and a collectors item.

[PlayStation museum via Kotaku]