History VideoGame / ResidentEvil2

* WhiteGangBangers: Leon's other alternate outfit is this in spades.

* BrutalBonusLevel: After completing the game with a high ranking, players can unlock the [=4th=] Survivor scenario. This level shows how a single Umbrella operative, HUNK, escaped the city with the G-Virus. HUNK starts in the sewers and has to make it to the helipad. He begins with a sizable arsenal and two mixed herbs, but nearly every room is full of enemies. There are no saves and no item pickups, so every bullet counts. Even though it's extremely short, taking anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes to beat, it packs in a huge amount of difficulty. To take things to the extreme, the player can later unlock a different version of the same scenario where the character is a giant block of tofu named [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Tofu]] – armed only with a knife.

** Extreme Battle mode gives you one blue herb in your starting inventory, and that's it; you'll never find any more of them as pickups and all three stages are chock-full of poisonous Ivy and Spider enemies. Mercifully, each stage also has one infinite-use blue herb growing tray somewhere near its central "hub", just so that getting poisoned more than once won't completely and utterly screw you. You also don't need to keep all four Antiviral Bombs in your inventory to win, and are free to dump them off in an item box as you find them.

* BackingAwaySlowly: Leon and Claire both back away from Mr. X whenever he drops down in front of them. It's also how Sherry's introduced, backing away from a zombie before fleeing.

** The UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 port has an exclusive randomizer mode that randomizes ammo and herb types every playthrough.

*** One of the files mentions how Ozwell E. Spencer discovered the mother virus and research into it was passed on to James Marcus before he was fired and it was passed onto William Birkin instead.

* SillinessSwitch: Tofu is a freaking walking block of tofu, wearing a beret, that mutters in Japanese and wields a knife. In the middle of a zombie infested SurvivalHorror game.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: This game is the closest the series comes to averting it, and it's still not great. The flamethrower's main use is for the Ivies which populate the labs, as they are otherwise extremely resilient to even the upgraded magnum, and it can take them down with one hit. However, its range is just outside their striking distance, and well within their acid spit range, a projectile attack which is also poisonous if you gassed the labs as Claire. It also only has 9 seconds of fuel, meaning you better be sure you are going to hit what you are aiming at. It also has much less damage against anything other than Ivies as well.

*** One of the files mentions how Ozwell E. Spencer discovered the mother virus and research into it was passed on to James Marcus before he was fired and it was passed into William Birkin instead.

''Resident Evil 2'' is the second game in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' franchise. It was originally released for the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}} in 1998. After the unexpected success of the original ''VideoGame/{{Resident Evil|1}}'', Creator/{{Capcom}} immediately set up a team to work on a sequel and turn ''Resident Evil'' into an annual franchise. The company initially scheduled the sequel for a Spring 1997 release, but the original version of the game, dubbed ''Resident Evil 1.5'', disappointed the developers. Rather than release a game that didn't satisfy their expectations, the team went back to the drawing board and delayed the game's release by a whole year. The gamble paid off, as ''Resident Evil 2'' would go on to become one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed Capcom games in history. True to its nature, Capcom re-released the game across various other platforms: The [=PS1=], a [=DualShock=] support re-release months after the original release, the PC, the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}}, the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast, and even the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo GameCube}}.

A [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of ''Resident Evil 2'' was released for PC, UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 4}} and UsefulNotes/XboxOne on January 25, 2019. For details, please see ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake''. It also has a [[FanGame fan-made prequel]] in the form of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilDuringTheStorm.'' Along with the first entry in the series, ''Film/ResidentEvilWelcomeToRaccoonCity'' uses this game as partial source material.

* BackingAwaySlowly: If Claire and Sherry loitered around in an area for a while and then moved on, Sherry would often preface catching up with Claire by backing away from whatever was the source of the idleness, then turning around and running. It's also how she's introduced, backing away from a zombie before fleeing.

%%* SayMyName:
%%** "ADA, WAIT!"
%%** "Sherry! Sherry!"
%%** "ADAAAAAAAA!"
%%** "Leon!"
%%** "Claire!"

** Though this time around auto aim was included from the very beginning (though you still have to switch to the control scheme that has it), movement is still rather clunky compared to later games, as RE2 lacks 180 degree turns (being introduced in the [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis next game]]) and requiring a button press to go up and down stairs.

* MamaBear: Claire serves as this to Sherry.

* SayMyName:
** "ADA, WAIT!"
** "Sherry! Sherry!"
** "ADAAAAAAAA!"
** "Leon!"
** "Claire!"

* CameraAbuse: Certain locations within the game will allow you to shoot bullet holes into the camera for some reason.

** This remains the only game in the entire franchise in which Ada wears shoes instead of heels.
** Weapons that take up two inventory slots were first introduced here (Submachine Gun, Spark Shot, Gatling Gun, and Rocket Launcher). Their two slot gimmick zigzagged have since ''Resident Evil 3'' ditched it, while ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica Code: Veronica]]'' brought it back and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' took it a step further by having all items take up different amount of blocks in your inventory. All games after that went back to single slot items until ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'' reintroduced it again.

* AdjustableCensorship: This is featured in the Nintendo 64 version.

* EasyModeMockery: Mildly; none of the content unlocked by completing the game with a good score (the Infinite Ammo weapons, Hunk & Tofu) or the Special Key to access the Extra Costumes is available on Rookie Difficulty. Unlike Rookie mode, all Easy does is start you off with 120 extra handgun bullets, so it's really quite a disincentive.

* ChewingTheScenery: Irons in his last scene.

* EasyModeMockery: Mildly; none of the content unlocked by completing the game with a good score (the Infinite Ammo weapons, Hunk & Tofu) or the Special Key to access the Extra Costumes is available on Easy Difficulty. Unlike Rookie mode, all Easy does is start you off with 120 extra handgun bullets, so it's really quite a disincentive.

** The 1999 PC port of the game received an updated re-release in 2006, but it never ended up ported outside of Japan. The PC port by [=SourceNext=], which came on a single DVD (as opposed to two CD-[=ROMs=]), combined both Leon's and Claire's games into one (like the Nintendo 64 and GameCube ports), fixed many of the compatibility issues that Windows XP or higher had with the original PC release, and showed all of the CG cutscenes at full uncompressed quality.

* PsychosexualHorror: When playing as Claire Redfield, you get a fax on the machines at the police station warning that Police Chief Brian Irons was once implicated in the rape of a classmate in college. He is found with the body of the Mayor's daughter, lamenting that she will soon putrify and turn into a zombie, then mutters something about taxidermy being a hobby of his. Then he attacks Claire, who is only saved when he's attacked by the G-Virus monster.

* RoadCone: Future games make it clear that the Claire A/Leon B route is effectively the canon route, compared to the Leon A/Claire B route, which only the novelization and CD dramas took.