Anyone who’s played the remake of Resident Evil 2 by now has no doubt shared tales of their close encounters with Mr. X with friends and the world at large. Hey, any survival horror fan with a Facebook account can attest to having seen countless videos showcasing peoples’ run-ins with the sharply dressed Tyrant.
Depending on which character you play as, that affects how often you encounter him during your gameplay experience. If you’re Leon Kennedy, then Mr. X hounds you off and on for the entire game, effectively serving as the final boss (or second to last, if we’re talking about the 2nd Run). But if you choose Claire Redfield, he’s killed by the William Birkin creature during a cutscene around the story’s halfway point.
Because of this, there’s been some debate within the Resident Evil community as to how many Tyrants are running around Raccoon City. Some think there are two, one stalking Leon, and one following Claire. Heck, some reckon there’s even three, saying one died during the parking garage scene involving Leon, Ada and an exploding vehicle, with another taking his place later in the story.
Thankfully, director Kazunori Kadoi cleared up everything during an interview with PC Gamer recently, saying:
“There’s only one Tyrant. When designing the game, we wanted whichever scenario the player is currently in to be representative of the main story arc. You could say that each scenario could be considered a parallel world, which is why you see Tyrant appear multiple times.”
There you have it: there’s only one Mr. X in the acclaimed remake. It’s just that his death varies depending on which adventure you choose. I just wish there were more coherency between the A and B scenarios as there had been in the 1998 original. Really, I can’t be the only one mystified by how Mr. X and Annette Birkin have two completely different death scenes when you go the A/B route. I’m guessing Capcom incorporated the 2nd Run element late in the development process and didn’t bother with fleshing out the script, but who knows?
In any case, if you’d like there to be more than one Mr. X in Resident Evil 2, know that there are mods out there that’ll allow you to encounter as many as ten Tyrants at once. That, my friends, is what I’d call one bad day.