History VideoGame / ResidentEvil2

On the evening of September 29th, 1998 -- two months the Mansion Incident -- Leon Kennedy (a rookie cop late for his first assignment as a member of Raccoon City's police department) and Claire Redfield (the younger sister of missing [=STARS=] team member Chris Redfield) arrive in Raccoon City, only to discover it has a big problem: a T-Virus outbreak has spread throughout Raccoon City, leaving what few survivors remain in a living nightmare. Leon and Claire band together to fight their way through hordes of undead and bio-engineered creatures before eventually finding [[MegaCorp Umbrella Corporation's]] secret underground lab -- and learning exactly how Raccoon City's ZombieApocalypse happened.

''[=RE2=]'' has two different "routes", depending on which character a player chooses first; this choice determines which side of the story is seen and results in numerous smaller changes, such as which room a particular boss is fought in, on both routes.

The second game in Capcom's ResidentEvil franchise, '''''Resident Evil 2''''' was originally released for the {{PlayStation}} in 1998. After the unexpected success of the first ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', Capcom immediately set up a team to work on a sequel in hopes of turning it into a yearly franchise. Initially scheduled for a Spring 1997 release, the original version of ''Resident Evil 2'' (now dubbed ''Resident Evil 1.5'') was not living up to the developers' expectations and rather than risk releasing a game they were unsatisfied with, they restarted game's development from scratch, delaying the game's release by a whole year. This ultimately proved to be the best course of action, as ''Resident Evil 2'' would go on to become one of the best-selling and most critically-acclaimed Capcom games of all time. The game was re-released for the [=PS1=] with Dual Shock support months after its original release and was later ported to other platforms such as the PC, Nintendo64, {{Dreamcast}} and {{GameCube}}.

On the evening of September 29th, 1998 -- two months and five days after [[ResidentEvil1 the Mansion Incident]] -- Leon Kennedy (a rookie cop late for his first assignment as a member of Raccoon City's police department) and Claire Redfield (the younger sister of missing [=STARS=] team member Chris Redfield) arrive in Raccoon City, only to discover it has a big problem: a T-Virus outbreak has spread throughout Raccoon City, leaving what few survivors remain in a living nightmare. Leon and Claire band together to fight their way through hordes of undead and bio-engineered creatures before eventually finding [[MegaCorp Umbrella Corporation's]] secret underground lab -- and learning exactly how Raccoon City's ZombieApocalypse happened.

'''''Resident Evil 2''''' is the second chapter in Capcom's ''ResidentEvil'' franchise.

** Compared to the first game, there's a lot of ammo laying around. A LOT. How much, you ask? If you played aggressively, and killed nearly everything you came across, you'd end the game playing as Leon with over 150 handgun bullets left over, 40-50 shotgun shells[[labelnote:info]]And that's only because it will likely see the most use[[/labelnote]], and '''60''' magnum rounds[[labelnote:info]]each of which, remember, is a OneHitKill on anything short of a boss[[/labelnote]] burning a hole in your pocket. This can lead to a very short final boss fight and crying once you realized that you've wasted your time chipping away at bosses for nothing. This game gave rise to the legend that Leon would be the perfect companion in a hostage crisis. Ammunition would start breaking through the ceiling to rain down on him.
** Claire isn't far behind: by the same standards, you can finish the A scenario with 180 bolts, 100 bullets and at least 20 grenade launcher shells of all kinds.
** This is also the first game in the series that has automatic weapons in its arsenal (a gatling gun and an MAC11, to be specific), but you need to beat the game in a certain period of time [[labelnote:*]]Beat either "B" scenario in under 3 hours with an A or B rank for the MAC-11; do the same thing for the gatling gun, except in under 2 and a half hours[[/labelnote]] in order to get them. There's also customized shotgun and handgun models.[[hottip:*:In the first game, only three kinds of guns are available: a Beretta handgun, a Remington shotgun, and a Colt Python magnum. There's also Chris' flamethrower (which is pretty useless) and Jill's grenade launcher (whose ammo was very rare; there's only ''two'' sets of acid rounds available in the whole game]].
** There's some justification in this; whereas the first game was set in an abandoned mansion in the woods with low resources, Claire and Leon have an entire town and a ''sewer'' to explore. Two other locals include a police station and a gun shop - both reasonable sources of gun ammo.

** Compared to the first game, there's a lot of ammo laying around. A LOT. How much, you ask? If you played aggressively, and killed nearly everything you came across, you'd end the game playing as Leon with over 150 handgun bullets left over, 40-50 shotgun shells[[hottip:*:And that's only because it will likely see the most use]], and '''60''' magnum rounds[[hottip:*:each of which, remember, is a OneHitKill on anything short of a boss]] burning a hole in your pocket. This can lead to a very short final boss fight and crying once you realized that you've wasted your time chipping away at bosses for nothing. This game gave rise to the legend that Leon would be the perfect companion in a hostage crisis. Ammunition would start breaking through the ceiling to rain down on him.

** This is also the first game in the series that has automatic weapons in its arsenal (a gatling gun and an MAC11, to be specific), but you need to beat the game in a certain period of time [[hottip:*:Beat either "B" scenario in under 3 hours with an A or B rank for the MAC11; do the same thing for the gatling gun, except in under 2 and a half hours]] in order to get them. There's also customized shotgun and handgun models.[[hottip:*:In the first game, only three kinds of guns are available: a Beretta handgun, a Remington shotgun, and a Colt Python magnum. There's also Chris' flamethrower (which is pretty useless) and Jill's grenade launcher (whose ammo was very rare; there's only ''two'' sets of acid rounds available in the whole game]].

** This is also the first game in the series that has semi-automatic weapons in its arsenal (a gatling gun and an MAC11, to be specific), but you need to beat the game in a certain period of time [[hottip:*:Beat either "B" scenario in under 3 hours with an A or B rank for the MAC11; do the same thing for the gatling gun, except in under 2 and a half hours]] in order to get them. There's also customized shotgun and handgun models.[[hottip:*:In the first game, only three kinds of guns are available: a Beretta handgun, a Remington shotgun, and a Colt Python magnum. There's also Chris' flamethrower (which is pretty useless) and Jill's grenade launcher (whose ammo was very rare; there's only ''two'' sets of acid rounds available in the whole game]].

** This is also the first game in the series that has semi-automatic weapons in its arsenal (a gatling gun and an MAC11, to be specific), but you need to beat the game in a certain period of time {{hottip:*Beat either "B" scenario in under 3 hours with an A or B rank for the MAC11; do the same thing for the gatling gun, except in under 2 and a half hours]] in order to get them. There's also customized shotgun and handgun models.[[hottip:*In the first game, only three kinds of guns are available: a Beretta handgun, a Remington shotgun, and a Colt Python magnum. There's also Chris' flamethrower (which is pretty useless) and Jill's grenade launcher (whose ammo was very rare; there's only ''two'' sets of acid rounds available in the whole game]].

** There's some justification in this; whereas the first game was set in an abandoned mansion in the woods with low resources, Claire and Leon have an entire town and a ''sewer'' to explore, including a police station.

** Actually, there was another one, albeit not really an item. The player can choose to use the Anti-B.O.W. sprinklers in the lab during the first scenario to weaken the enemies along their pathway. However, if they do so, then the Ivy enemies would be stronger and poisonous in the second scenario; as a note found in the lab basement in the note confirms that the enemies build up an anti-body against the Anti-B.O.W. gas.

** There's some justification in this; whereas the first game was set in an abandoned mansion in the woods with low resources, Claire and Leon have an entire town and a ''sewere'' to explore, including a police station.

** Hell, it does no damage to enemies. The only use that it has is playing the "Leon being hurt" sound clip.

** This is especially egregious when you remember that the idea that one of the ''advertised selling points'' was that you would have to be careful which character took what items, because they wouldn't be there for the other character. Aside from the submachine gun and sidepack, no such choices need to be made.

* ClippedWingAngel: Birkin's fourth form is a LightningBruiser capable of outrunning the player and killing them in about three bites if he's in the right mood. His fifth form is a gigantic blob that moves very slowly and can only attack at melee range.

* ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive: Leon tries persuading Ben, who is in jail, with, "Look, if you wanna live, then you're gonna have to leave with me," when Ben thinks he's safe from monsters, unaware that Leon is "[[SoleSurvivor the only cop left alive]]" in the police department.

** In the first ''{{Resident Evil}}'', players can find a file written by a researcher named John who uses his girlfriend's name as the password of a nearby computer - Ada. In ''2'', Ada Wong tells Leon that she's looking for her boyfriend John.

* GasMaskMooks: Hunk's hit team.

** This is especially egregious when you remember that the idea that one of the ''advertised selling points'' was that you would have to be careful which character took what items, because they wouldn't be there for the other character. Aside from the submachine gun and inventory pack, no such choices need to be made.

* DirtyCop: Police Chief Irons is this to the core, as well as a psychotic lunatic with several known cases of DomesticAbuse and was charged with rape in his college days. Not only is he taking regular bribes for Umbrella and working to cover their hides, but when the outbreak finally occurs he goes mad and deliberately screws up the efforts of the R.P.D. to try and save people to the extent of murdering some of the survivors himself. And when the mayor sent his daughter to the police station believing it would be safe, Irons uses the cover of the outbreak to kidnap, rape, and murder her.

* HideYourChildren: Averted with Sherry, who can be killed by zombies or Cerberus hounds. Played mostly straight with the fact that you hardly ever find any zombified children.

* LetsSplitUpGang: Unlike ResidentEvil1, in which they separated on purpose, Leon and Claire are initially separated against their will by a big explosion. Still played straight as early on in each scenario they run into each other again, and promptly decide to split up and search for survivors.

* [[PinkGirlBlueBoy Red Girl, Blue Boy]]: The colors most notable in Leon and Claire are blue and red respectively.

* SayMyName: '''''ADA, WAIT!'''''

* EasterEgg: Wesker's desk seems to have nothing but clutter, but if you search it ''[[GuideDangIt fifty times]]'', you'll find a roll of film. Develop it to get a photograph of Rebecca in a basketball uniform... which looks like a [[SpecialEffectFailure conspicuous photoshop]] of her head over a stock photo...

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: The Brad Vickers zombie, who only appears if the player reaches the police station without picking any item, possesses a locker key that allows the player to change his or her character's outfit. Unlike other games in the series, there's no need to finish the game first to change clothes.

* PreMortemOneLiner: Leon and Claire were the first ones to have this against the Tyrant.

* DirtyCop: Police Chief Irons is this to the core, as well as a psychotic lunatic with several known cases of DomesticAbuse and was charged with rape in his college days. Not only is he taking regular bribes for Umbrella and working to cover their hides, but when the outbreak finally occurs he goes mad and deliberately screws up the efforts of the R.C.P.D. to try and save people to the extent of murdering some of the survivors himself. And when the mayor sent his daughter to the police station believing it would be safe, Irons uses the cover of the outbreak to kidnap, rape, and murder her.

** Leon, a rookie police officer, and Claire Redfield, who can handle firearms just as well as he can despite being a college student.
** S.D. Perry's novelization of ResidentEvil2, the [=RE5=] viral campaign, and ''[[ResidentEvilDarksideChronicles The Darkside Chronicles]]'' attempts to HandWave this by saying that Chris taught his sister some skills for self-defense.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Sherry. She gets mentioned a few more times after ''[=RE2=]'' (namely in the epilogues in ''[=RE3=]'' and in ''Wesker's Report''), but isn't actually seen again.
** Sherry's going to be in {{Resident Evil 6}}, apparently. She's going to be the support character for the third protagonist. And she's a [[HospitalHottie medical expert, and quite hot]].

** One of the extra files in the [=N64=] version namedrops Hunk's boss "Christine Henri", who is actually an antagonist from a Japanese-only ''Biohazard'' audio drama which starred Ada Wong. Since none of the drama [=CDs=] were released outside Japan, many players had no idea who Henri was supposed to be.