To its credit, the remake of Resident Evil 2 has managed to captivate the survival horror community in short order. Not only have fans cooked up their own mods and speedrunners have begun having a field day with the game, but there’s already the Ghost Survivors DLC available for extra consumption.
At first, I’d assume that The Ghost Survivors would detail the experiences of the highlighted characters as they, too, attempted to survive untold terror in Raccoon City. Instead, each section turned out to be “what if?” scenarios that played out like a glorified Raid Mode. Actually, they were sort of more in line with “The 4th Survivor,” which you can play upon completion of the 2nd Run.
But if braving waves of enemies is right up your alley, then today’s discussion may interest you.
If you’ve been keeping up with news pertaining to Resident Evil 2, then perhaps you heard about how data-miners have actually unearthed a Chris Redfield character model buried deep within the game’s contents. This has forced some to believe the former STARS member will be included in future DLC, but others aren’t so sure because he’s wearing his threads from RE 7.
As it turns out, looking to Resident Evil 2‘s past may be the best way to predict its future. It’s my suspicion that “Extreme Battle Mode” may be given a modern update and implemented as DLC somewhere down the road. After all, our first helping of supplemental content came less than a month after the main game hit shelves, so it’s very possible Capcom will put out something else before 2019 expires.
For those unfamiliar, “Extreme Battle Mode” was added to the original Resident Evil 2 when it was re-released as a Dual Shock Edition on Playstation 1. Subsequently, it was also included in the PC, Dreamcast and Gamecube ports, but not on Nintendo 64’s.
Basically, your objective was to work through the game backwards, with the ultimate goal of finding four bomb parts in the Police Station. Along the way, you’d face an onslaught of foes and, as you progressed through three difficulty settings, you’d stand the chance of being confronted by two Mr. X Tyrants at once – or even one of William Birkin’s latter mutations. Oh yeah, you were also given the option of playing as one of four characters: Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Ada Wong and, you guessed it, Chris Redfield.
Those who fondly remember this scenario know how Chris’ model for 1996’s RE 1 was utilized, so that makes me think no extra effort was used in crafting him for the Resident Evil 2 remake and Capcom is just going with his most recent attire yet again. But in the meantime, let us know in the comments section below if you’d be down for revisiting “Extreme Battle Mode.”
