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Resident Evil 5 ran on 3DS, inspired Resi: Revelations - Capcom

Capcom managed to get Resident Evil 5 running on Nintendo 3DS while it was developing survival game Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. The feat would then go on to inspire Resident Evil: Revelations. The studio has discussed the process in Nintendo's latest instalment of 'Iwata Asks'.

In the roundtable, Iwata and the Resident Evil: Revelations team discussed the nature of fear in games, and both sides agreed that making a scary game isn't easy

Capcom's Koshi Nakanishi explained, "Sometimes we think, 'Huh? Is that part really that scary?' So we do in-house testing as well, and when I see someone playing with the palms of their hands all sweaty, I think, 'You're super scared!'

"But fear, even as far as emotions go, is difficult. Resident Evil surprises you, somewhat like a haunted mansion, but even though they are seeing the same thing, there are people who get scared and people who don't."

The concept of Resident Evil: Revelations was born when Capcom managed to get Resident Evil 5 running on Nintendo's handheld, during development of spin-off The Mercenaries 3D.

Nakanishi said of the process, "What kicked off Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D was we needed to actually run a game on a Nintendo 3DS system, so we took Resident Evil 5 and ran it on a Nintendo 3DS, and the impact it made was more than we had imagined."

Masachicka Kawata added, "Then we thought, "We can make this into a product." The difficulties of moving this forwards as its own project aside, there was reason to make it just in terms of experience. In regards to the controls, we were able to make changes to Mercenaries and finish Revealations looking at the players' feedback.

"And by making Mercenaries first, I feel like we were able to determine the capabilities of Nintendo 3DS. In terms of it being a developmental challenge, I would say that Mercenaries is the one that's really pushing it hardware-wise."

Nakanisho concluded, "The Resident Evil: Revelations team had experienced making Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, so they were on their second lap of development, allowing them to make it smoothly. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D made use of know-how from Resident Evil: Revelations, and Resident Evil: Revelations drew on feedback from Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, so I feel like we were able to interact with the players."

Is this an impressive feat? Did you enjoy Resident Evil: Revelations? Let us know what you think below.

Thanks Polygon.

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In this article

Resident Evil 5

PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Switch

Resident Evil Revelations

PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii U, PC, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch

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Dave Cook

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Dave worked on VG247 for an extended period manging much of the site's news output. As well as his experience in games media, he writes for comics, and now specializes in books about gaming history.

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