Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster was something a surprise reveal from Capcom, the game wasn’t quite the hard-hitting IP and it wasn’t that long ago that we reunited with Frank West to investigate the latest in pharmaceutical and governmental happenings in Willamette, right? It was 2017, but still. Besides, that game fumbled harder than a zombie sprinting into a wall.
One of the biggest oddities I’ve seen come out of DRDR is its instance on being called a “remaster,” now I guess I’m more strict when it comes to what I call a remaster, but this, well this isn’t it. A remaster in my eyes is no more than a graphical and audial upgrade. Perhaps some have issue with T.J. Rotolo not reprising his role, something that didn’t seem to even be on the table for some reason, but frankly, my bigger issue isn’t quite that, but the implications of some changes made to characters, thus the core of the game.
Character Changes
As part of the main story, you must face off against a psychopath named Larry Chiang, an overweight Asian (most likely Taiwanese) butcher who’s driven mad to keep his seemingly esteemed reputation by serving clients “fresh” meat (AKA living humans) rather than “spoiled” meat (AKA zombies). In the supposed “remaster,” Larry is no longer Taiwanese, instead he’s replaced by some white guy with a baseball cap.
Now, we can ruffle the feathers of why it is they chose to change his race, stemming most likely to wanting to make him a “little less racist” and probably to avoid Mainland China’s wrath. Nonetheless, it seems disingenuous to plaster this as a remaster when they’re touching the character designs.
Even The Director
It isn’t even just fans awaiting the release — myself included — of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster who noticed Capcom’s less-than-transparent use of the term “remaster,” which like it or not still has a better connotation than something like a “remake.” Even director Ryosuku Mirai addressed it, basically saying with the amount of work put into it, it’s not that big of a deal to call it a remake.
“Well, actually it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call this game a remake considering the amount of work that we put into it…”
Why Do This?
If I had to guess, Capcom’s trying to capture the people who enjoyed the original while also casting a wider net to find a new audience. That said, we all know what happens when games get remade and changes to characters happen, I don’t think Dead Rising will be rising from the dead after this the same way as it did when it first released.
It was a fresh game from Capcom that, at the time, had a strong track record. Now, people see the corporateness of the Japanese game dev and it doesn’t have nearly the same record as it did before. Am I still interested in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster? Sure, but I still think it’s better name would be Dead Rising Deluxe Remake.
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GWare is a gaming industry reporter with over five years of experience and a massive supporter of ethical game preservation efforts.