Capcom changed Nemesis for the Resident Evil 3 remake to reference Resident Evil 4

Capcom has revealed it changed the way Nemesis works for the Resident Evil 3 remake in order for it to reference Resident Evil 4.

THERE MAY BE RESIDENT EVIL 3 AND RESIDENT EVIL 4 SPOILERS AHEAD.

In a PlayStation Blog post to announce Nemesis' arrival in multiplayer experience Resident Evil Resistance, the Resident Evil 3 remake development team explained why the new Nemesis can infect zombies with parasites - something it could not do in the 1999 PSone original.

It turns out, Capcom gave remake Nemesis this power in order for it to make sense in the context of the Ganado in Resident Evil 4.

"This was implemented as a means of differentiating Nemesis from Tyrant in Resident Evil 2," Capcom said. "We wanted Nemesis to come across as an even more formidable opponent, so we started considering alternate abilities aside from its heavy weapon artillery.

"We inevitably decided on this final ability due to the presence of Ganado in Resident Evil 4. Ganado are humanoid enemies that are created through being infected with the Plagas parasite, the original basis for NE-α. When the Plagas activates, it spawns from the neck of its host in the form of a tentacle. NE-α was created to imitate this parasitic quality. We wanted NE-α infected enemies to be visually similar to the Plagas-infected Ganados as a means for fans to piece together how Nemesis fits within the whole Resident Evil franchise."

Intriguing! So, where does Nemesis now fit into evil corporation Umbrella's overall plans at the time of Resident Evil 3?

According to Capcom, Umbrella's bioweapon research was split between Europe and America. The European branch handled project Nemesis, while the American branch handled T-virus research in tandem.

"The Nemesis project was to artificially create the Plagas parasite (first introduced in Resident Evil 4), thus giving birth to NE-α. The idea was to find an appropriate live host that could contain NE-α, which in turn would physically change and transform its host into a bioweapon. However, the reality was no host could contain the power of NE-α, nor was there any means of regulating it. As a result, the project was inevitably put on ice."

That's quite the revelation, and certainly amounts to a retcon given in the original Resident Evil 4, the Plagas was completely unrelated to the series and Umbrella was thought to be out of commission. (This is also one of the reasons some feel Resident Evil 4 is the odd one out of the series, story wise.)

In the original Resident Evil 4, the Plagas are arthropods thought to have existed on Earth for hundreds of years, and were worshipped in isolated parts of their native Spain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A nobleman called Salazar sealed they Plagas below his castle, but of course they escaped, leading to the events of the seminal GameCube horror adventure.

But now, we're told the Nemesis project was an attempt by Umbrella to artificially create the Plagas parasite, and the Plagas parasite was the original basis for NE-α, which explains why these guys are knocking about the Resident Evil 3 remake:

Of course, Capcom's decision to tweak the series lore so Resident Evil 3 remake links to Resident Evil 4 makes perfect sense when you consider the developer is working on a Resident Evil 4 remake. Back in April, VGC reported Capcom is remaking Resident Evil 4, with a release set for 2022.

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