‘Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D’ has No Save Data Reset Option
A curious image of the English version of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D‘s instruction booklet has been floating around game news sites indicating that save data in the game cannot be reset. You’ll only have one save file, and, since the game autosaves, only one chance to play through the game. The Japanese version of the game, which has been out since June 2nd, also does not have a save data reset option, and as such you can already find used Japanese copies of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D going for as little as $6.
The following image from a Japanese gaming blog shows how stores in Japan warn potential buyers of the lack of a save reset option by posting a notice right by the game on the shelf. A direct translation of the sign would be: “(caution): Due to the fact that you cannot delete your Biohazard (Resident Evil) 3DS save file, we will buy back used copies for ¥500 (subject to stock changes).” This image was posted on June 6th, just 4 days after the game was released in Japan.
Potential buyers greeted by a sign telling them the store will buy back the game for only $6 just after its release may be dissuaded from buying it altogether.
While Capcom is clearly trying to dissuade gamers from buying used copies of the game by making it impossible to have the full experience of playing through on a new save file, they’re also limiting the experience of those who choose to purchase the game new. Cleared the game and want to give it another go from scratch? You’re 5 hours in and your significant other wants to try the game on their own save file? Not happening in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D.
Capcom has had quite the history of over-protectiveness regarding their games. When PSN was down for almost a month following the hacking attacks that took them offline on April 20th, two of Capcom’s PSN games, Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2 and the Final Fight and Magic Sword game pack, were both rendered completely unplayable, even offline. This is because of the DRM, or “digital right’s management,” system, which requires an online “check-in” before play, even for game with no online component. The online check is to confirm that the account running the game is the same as the one playing it, which is an attempt to combat “PSN sharing,” or the sharing of the downloaded file between multiple consoles. Of course, this means that if someone else in your household wants to play the game, they’ll have to play it under the account that originally downloaded it and not their own.
This is an obvious attempt to prevent piracy that, like the decision to not include a save data reset option, can be infuriating for consumers who actually go out and purchase the game legitimately. Capcom needs to find tactics to combat game piracy and used game purchases that do not have such negative impacts on consumers who buy the game new. By not including the option to reset save game data, Capcom may have in fact decreased potential sales of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. Are the used game sales that might be avoided worth the unhappy fans and dissatisfied players?
Anne will tell you whether or not you’re missing out when it comes to those pesky Japan-only releases. When she isn’t researching gender and sexuality in Japanese popular culture, she’s playing the quirkiest games she can get her hands on. Region locking is the bane of her existence.
I’m all for companies trying to counter act the used game sales, but this is just another example of these companies trying to control things a bit to much. Taking action in this way is just going to drive both your sales and your rep into the ground. IMO.
“Taking action in this way is going to drive both your sales and your rep into the ground.”
Couldn’t have said it better!
Well said.This is really disappointing. I was looking forward to this game and now I am most likely going to pass on it. This move is as irritating as Capcom’s need to gouge us needlessly with Street Fighter updates and micro transactions.
Epic fail, Capcom. File this under the “maybe if we hide our flag in a locked box, nobody can desecrate it because nobody even knows what it looks like” line of thinking put forth by the comedic geniuses on Mr. Show.
It is a great way to prevent secondary sales of the game… because nobody will want to play it in the first place.
Also, you have to love it when a company puts the greed of unquantifiable “lost sales” of used copies ahead of its desire to make a game that players love. You know what a good hedge against reselling is? REPLAYABILITY.
I don’t really understand. What happens when you finish the game? It can’t just be a “dead” cartridge, right? And there’s no “new game” option that just overwrites your old file? This is just really confusing.
I suppose you don’t technically “finish” the game as it’s driven mainly by high scores and unlocks. But no, there is no “new game” option and in my experience half the appeal of the game is progressing through the levels, improving your performance, and unlocking characters/weapons/skills/etc. Someone who buys the cartridge used will just inherit whatever progress/unlocks the prior gamer had, with no option of starting from scratch.