Resident Evil 2 on the N64 #1
Even though I already played this game once (Leon-Claire) on my PSP, I still wanted to own the N64 cartridge and do my Claire-Leon playthrough on the N64.
The PSX version comes with two discs, labeled Leon and Claire, and has the cool feature that you choose the character by choosing the disc you start the game on. I won't go into detail on how the routes work here, but you play both routes per playthrough of the game and they affect each other.
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Resident Evil 2 on the N64 #2
Two CDs have ~2*650MB of storage. The total game files won't add up to 1300MB, of course, since the levels and textures are mostly the same, but the voices and cutscenes are different for each route. That means the team tasked with putting RE2 on one N64 cart (two would've been too expensive) had to somehow make it fit on 64MB, the largest available size. Few games needed that size and almost no games had prerendered cutscenes on the N64.
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Resident Evil 2 on the N64 #3
Through clever use of compression (and by taking hits to video and audio quality), the team managed to squeeze RE2 onto one cartridge, which would be impressive on its own. However, the developers also decided to make the N64 version use higher resolution backgrounds and dynamically render the the foreground scene at a higher resolution, up to 512x384 pixels, when it is ran on a console with the memory expansion pak inserted (4MB extra to the built-in 4MB)
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Resident Evil 2 on the N64 #4
A number of games support the expansion pak to render at higher resolutions, but most suffer from performance hits. RE2 is probably the first game to use dynamic resolutions to prioritize performance. The models also look better than on the PSX due to smoother animations and better texture mapping, since the N64 had better 3D hardware.
The sequenced music is in Dolby Surround and uses a higher sample rate. It may play too slow on PAL though, not sure.
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Resident Evil 2 on the N64 #5
To conclude, the N64 also includes an extra mode that shuffles the non-essential items around to mix things up for veteran players, and 16 so-called EX files hidden throughout the four scenarios that include new lore. It also includes the option to change blood color and adjust the game's violence levels.
Thanks for reading my post about RE2 on the N64. Next week, I'm gonna talk about RE2 on the Tiger Game.com (not really, the only thing I can say is it sucks)