Resident Evil 1.5

Resident Evil 1.5
Gameplay screenshot of Resident Evil 1.5, showing protagonist Elza Walker and a more modern Raccoon Police Station.
Developer(s)	Capcom
Director(s)	Hideki Kamiya
Producer(s)	Shinji Mikami
Series	Resident Evil
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Genre(s)	Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Resident Evil 1.5 is the unofficial name given to a scrapped prototype version of the 1998 survival horror game Resident Evil 2. It was under development by Capcom for the PlayStation, and was directed by Hideki Kamiya and produced by Shinji Mikami. Beginning development a month after the completion of Resident Evil in early 1996, the game was drastically different than the completed version of Resident Evil 2. It featured police officer, Leon S. Kennedy, and biker, Elza Walker, rather than Claire Redfield, as the playable characters. It ultimately reached 60-80% completion before development was restarted nearly from scratch.

With builds rumored to be circulating since the 1990s, Resident Evil 1.5 became the focus of dedicated fans and video game preservationists to obtain and release a copy to the public. Purchased by a small group of fans in 2011 from a video game collector and kept private, a half-finished version was leaked online in 2013. While a more complete version of the game is theorized to be possessed by Capcom, it has never been shared in any capacity. Despite this, the game's existence has been referenced by Capcom, who included Elza's motorcycle suit as an unlockable costume for Claire in Resident Evil 2's remake.^[1]

Resident Evil 1.5 played in a fairly similar manner to the eventual Resident Evil 2, but had some differences in its mechanics. It featured less puzzles, and a more standard keycard system to unlock areas. Vials of medicine replaced the series' traditional healing herbs, and players were able to equip two tiers of upgraded armor, an RPD bulletproof vest and high-tech Umbrella Corporation body armor, represented visually on their character model. Rather than a character limping when injured, their clothing would gradually become more damaged.^[2]

The story of Resident Evil 1.5 was split into two scenarios with two player characters that both took place during a zombie outbreak in Raccoon City, similar to Resident Evil 2, though, in 1.5, they never overlapped. While the actions of one character affected the environment of the other, they did not physically meet each other. They would have their own NPCs (non-player characters) who helped them escape, who despite being featured in the final game, were significantly different in 1.5.^[2]

• Leon S. Kennedy - A veteran police officer and protagonist who was already on the roof of the Raccoon Police Station, attempting to defend it from undead. He was carried over into the final game as a rookie, entering town at the start of the game.^[2]

• Elza Walker - A blonde motorcyclist, college student and protagonist who simply arrived at the police station after crashing her bike into its front entrance. Elza was replaced by Claire Redfield in the final game. Despite having similar traits as Claire, she was not related to any existing characters.^[2]

• Marvin Branagh - A police officer who was Leon's sidekick in 1.5, surviving through most if not all of the game. He perishes from a zombie infection partway through Resident Evil 2.^[2]

• Linda - An Umbrella Corporation researcher sent to retrieve the G-Virus, who was trapped in a burning police van until she was rescued by Leon. Linda was carried over in Resident Evil 2 as a spy named Ada Wong.^[2][3]

• John - A fellow civilian found in an RPD prison cell and Elza's sidekick, whose role was later divided between Robert Kendo, owner of the gun store, and Ben Bertolucci, a reporter, in the finished game.^[2]

• Sherry Birkin - A lone little girl found by Elza, who was also featured in Resident Evil 2 with a similar role.^[2]

• Roy - An RPD officer who helps Elza and John escape. He later became zombified. Roy was removed from the finished game.^[2]

Characters who appeared in both routes included Chief Brian Irons, who was initially a helpful and professional supporting character rather than insane and villainous, and Sherry's parents, Annette and William Birkin, who was without most of his transformations.^[2]

While the story of 1.5 generally resembled its final incarnation, some aspects were different. Umbrella Corporation, rather than escaping any serious responsibility for the events of Resident Evil, is instead closed down entirely based on the testimony of the surviving members of STARS. As the developers had assumed the first game would not be a massive success, it was intended to be the conclusion of the series and put all unanswered questions to rest. The T-Virus is spread throughout Raccoon City by escaped creatures from Umbrella's underground labs. After fighting through the police station, which looked more modern, as the idea to depict it as a former museum had not yet materialized, both characters then travel into the sewers in search of Umbrella's secret lab, ending up being forced to fight William Birkin. As much of the story text, as well as the game's FMVs (full motion videos), are missing from leaked builds, it is difficult to piece together specific details.^[2]

Resident Evil 2 was originally scheduled for a May 1997 release date, with Shinji Mikami as producer and Hideki Kamiya as director. Features that were being experimented with included a large amount of zombies on screen, made possible via lower polygon counts, and the ability of monsters to mutate over time. Both the game's pre-rendered backgrounds, and the outfits of the main characters, could be altered based on story events, and what the characters equipped. However, as the 1.5 version approached release and was 60-80% completed, no one at Capcom was satisfied by it, with Mikami stating in a later 1998 interview that "no one element was specifically boring, just everything as a whole", adding in a different interview that the game "was no fun". The Raccoon Police Station, initially heavily inspired by the 1976 film Assault on Precinct 13, was seen as visually uninteresting compared to Spencer Mansion, and was redesigned based on photographic references that the team was "told off" for taking. Additionally, the low polygon counts caused the zombies to not be scary enough, despite their large number. The team did not enjoy the lack of a link to the previous game, bringing in Noboru Sugimura, then a professional script writer, as a consultant. He advised them to restart development to remedy the issues.^[4]

The game's first delay, announced in February 1997, pushed the release date back to August as the game was reworked into what eventually became Resident Evil 2.^[4] The delay allowed developers to improve the game's core code, which was later described by data miners as having "poorly optimized" aspects.^[5] In the meantime, various builds of 1.5 were used to promote the game at demos and trade shows. While the last public appearance of 1.5 is widely considered to be at the April 1997 Tokyo Game Show, Hyper PlayStation Remix, a Japanese gaming magazine, seemingly had access to content from the 1.5 version as late as December 1997. Adding to the confusion amongst fans, as well as the legendary status of the game, a promotional video from the 1997 E3 used footage spliced together from both 1.5 and an initial build of 2, causing fans to believe a third version existed. Resident Evil: Director's Cut was released to fill the gap caused by the delay, and included clips of cut content, such as a burning factory and a fight with zombie apes and a Spider Hybrid monster. Some beta versions of Resident Evil 2 contained 1.5 backgrounds and assets hidden within their code, and became red herrings when fans later tried to rebuild the lost game.^[4]

While never distributed by Capcom in an official capacity, leaked development builds of the game were rumored to have been in circulation as early as the late 1990s, prompting numerous hoaxes and claims that fans possessed a copy in order to flaunt it as a status symbol.^[4] In 2001, a playable copy of the game appeared on eBay, but it is unclear whether it was purchased, and it never reached the public.^[4] A partially-complete demo version, dubbed the "40 percent build", or "raw build", was obtained by a video game collector nicknamed "The Curator", and purchased by a group of fans in 2011 for USD $8000. Rather than releasing it directly to the public, they formed Team IGAS (I Got A Shotgun) in order to mod improvements into the game, while searching for more advanced builds that may have existed. The withholding of the game, in addition to purported harassment and sabotage towards other rival modders, angered part of the community. Screenshots of the game began to leak in 2012, and a playable but "broken" version of the IGAS build was leaked in February 2013.^[6] Eventually, a different fan, author Richard Mandel, discovered an alternate build for sale on eBay, purchasing it and releasing it unmodified in June 2013.^[1]

Progress on recreating the game is still ongoing, with various patches being released.^[4]

Capcom included a nod to 1.5 in the deluxe edition of the remake of Resident Evil 2, adding a costume for Claire that was designed based on the original concept art for Elza Walker, the character she later replaced.^[7]