Hideki Kamiya, developer of the original Resident Evil and game director of Resident Evil 2, said on X that the first Resident Evil suffered from a series of problems caused by the cancellation of another Capcom project.
This song was included in Resident Evil after the cancellation of another project that was planned as a joint venture between Capcom and Toshiba EMI. The whole team was in shock when we heard the demo.
Kamiya is referring to "Yume de owarasenai…" ("I won't let it end in a dream…") by Fumitaka Fuchigami, the ending song of the Japanese version of the game, which was originally created for the canceled project. The song was replaced in all other versions, including Director’s Cut.
But the problems were not limited to music. Kamiya noted that the canceled game had a contract with V Jump magazine, which provided for exclusive early coverage of the project. These conditions were applied to Resident Evil, and articles about the game appeared in a magazine aimed at junior high school students.
Resident Evil was an adult game, and V Jump was a magazine for children, so we couldn't get the information to our audience. We were unable to publish any articles in Famitsu, the most popular gaming magazine of the time... And that's what started the chain of failures.
Despite all the difficulties, the game has evolved into one of the most famous horror franchises, and the final song now evokes nostalgia among Japanese players who played on PlayStation at the time of release.
