Resident Evil 3’s Nemesis Was Designed to Have a Resident Evil 4 Connection

Capcom offered some insights into its Nemesis design found in Resident Evil 3 and confirmed an interesting detail that connects the relentless antagonist to the events of Resident Evil 4. The connection’s explanation was shared in a PlayStation Blog post where the team discussed Nemesis’ arrival in Resident Evil: Resistance as well as the monster’s reworked appearance in the new game. It covered a new power that Resident Evil 3 players will have already seen Nemesis use – though those who haven’t played yet may be spoiled by the details – and likely shows that Capcom is planning ahead for its rumored Resident Evil 4 remake plans.

Nemesis has a new power in the remake of Resident Evil 3 that allows the creature to infect other zombies and transform them into more powerful specimens. The first time Nemesis does this is accompanied with a dramatic cutscene, but you’ll find those infected enemies spaced throughout the rest of the game after your first encounter.

If you’ve played Resident Evil 4, this probably looks quite familiar to the Plagas-infected enemies who had tentacles and other appendages sprout from their neck after blowing their heads off. The similarities between the two enemy types was intentional, Capcom said.

“We inevitably decided on this final ability due to the presence of Ganado in Resident Evil 4,” Capcom said. “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.”

Capcom added that the whole point of the Nemesis project that birthed the monster was to “artificially create the Plagas parasite” which it again said was first introduced in Resident Evil 4. You’ll see references to these sorts of facts by playing through Resident Evil 3 and finding the documents littered throughout the levels, though Capcom’s PlayStation Blog interview is a succinct way of tying everything together.

In one of the most unsurprising rumors of all time given the success of the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 remakes, Capcom is supposedly working on a Resident Evil 4 remake. Building up the Resident Evil backstory to pave the way for Resident Evil 4 is probably what Capcom has in mind with this connection, but that remake is still some time away since it’s rumored to release in 2021.