Dead Rising 2/WMG

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Oh, screw it, let's just say it, WE'RE ALL THINKING IT, Phenotrans is a division of Umbrella Corporation.

Because, c'mon. They're both sort of Pharmaceutical companies, they both have a thing for zombies, and hell, it's Capcom. Let's just pretend they're in the same universe. Then we can spring for Leon/Frank co-op.

Off the Record will be a fictional story, written by Frank.

Since he already published a book about Willamette, it seems natural.

  • This seems to be supported by a few things in the story, mainly that the odds are drastically altered to make Frank look cooler. For example, he has to fight an army of Phenotrans troopers and a giant robot.
  • This also explains why Chuck is both the sidekick and a psycho at the same time, Chuck could be reading the book.

The roles of Dead Rising 2 characters in Off the Record.

  • Katey’s dead and this will turn Chuck into a psychopath. Frank has to fight him instead of Leon.
    • Kinda unlikely, since Chuck is the co-op player.
    • Probably confirmed. One of the leaked OTR achievements is called "Out With the Old", and the achievements is Chuck Greene with more facial hair. Description is "Defeat the motorcycle-riding psychopath." Chuck's a motocross champ.
    • However, one could consider this to be a situation which is needed for co-op gameplay. If Chuck could be a rescueable psycho, this could explain the co-op mode. Besides, wouldn't it be weird (or awesome) to have co-op Chuck fight Psycho Chuck? And besides, Katey could be a survivor that Frank and Chuck could save, right?
      • Confirmed by this video. Spoiler-haters and Chuck Greene fans should probably avoid clicking the link, though. You've been warned.
  • The Twins are survivors. After Frank saves them they will fall in love with him. Because Frank West is so badass, even lesbians want him.
    • Jossed. They're psychopaths again, according to the OTR achievement "Save the Girl", featuring the Twins in the achievement icon. The description is "Rescue a damsel in distress from the Twin Terrors."
  • Sullivan is just a security guard who wants sit to it out until rescue arrives.
  • There’s a picture that shows Brandon handing over something to TK. So perhaps in this story C.U.R.E. is indeed behind the outbreak and Stacey is the Big Bad. Instead of her Otis will be the Mission Control.
    • Chuck and Katey will likely not be anywhere near Fortune city (the co-op is just a game gimmick).
      • Possibly jossed. In the leaked achievements, one of them is called "Out With the Old" (probably referring to him replacing Frank in Dead Rising 2), and the achievement icon is Chuck Greene with more facial hair. The description states "Defeat the motorcycle-riding psychopath." Remember how he's a Motocross champion?
    • Stacey will probably have the same role, but this could reveal that Brandon had been intended to have involvement all along, he just snapped before we found out his part.
      • That might change. Stacey might be a Big Bad, as one of the leaked achievements is called "True Colors", featuring Stacey's face. The description is "Defeat the mastermind of the Fortune City incident."
    • Confirmed by Word of God: Chuck is a psychopath that can be fought. He also doubles (for some reason) as Frank's partner in co-op mode. Stacey is also the Big Bad, replacing Sullivan.

Tammy actually is a mermaid.

  • Claiming that she was just naked under her costume was just a cover so she wouldn't have to reveal her true nature. This is also why she asks if she can borrow a shirt, but never asks for pants.

Dead Rising 3 will have us playing a Scientist.

Or at least someone with great knowledge of science and chemical mixing. So in addition to the combo cards, we'll also have the option of combining all kinds of stuff like the mixed juices and even things like lighter fluid, to create things like a stink that will make zombies tear apart another that was hit.


Off the Record will be canon.

When looking at the DLC page for the game on xbox live it mentions being in a new part of Fortune City. So it simply takes place in a part of Fortune City that is not accessible in DR2 and explains how Frank came to be there to meet Chuck.

  • Jossed. The developers have already stated this story is pure non-canon fan pandering, plus Frank ends up fighting (and killing) most of the same psychos Chuck does in the canon game.

Leon Bell is the man whom released the Zombies in the Fortune City Arena.

Lets think about these things, the man whom released the Zombies that TIR had was wearing a Motocross tracksuit and a Helmut covering his face as he used an explosive to blast the gate open. Notice on how after the Slicecycle game ended in the Beginning of the game Leon wasn't seen at all? How do we know that Leon kept his Motocross outfit on but was wearing a Helmut that covered his face and grabbed the explosive he was given and head over to the Zombies? (After all consider on how after when the Slicecycle game was over Leon would have a decent amount of time to do that.) What are the motives you ask? Simple for starters he would have a far larger amount of Zombies (and people) to kill for more points and since he hates Chuck Greene with a passion he would love the chance to have even more people hate him. Phenotrans would use Leon as a pawn by giving secret access to an explosive he would use to release the Zombies.

Marion isn't actually crippled.

It's all just some kind of Xanatos Gambit to gain sympathy for her condition.

The reason Chuck is spared after Frank defeats him in Off the Record is...

  • He's cool, despite he is a psychopath in that game.
  • The fans loved Chuck so much.
  • He's just that tough. He's Chuck Greene, after all.

Off the Record is All Just a Dream for Frank.

Have you noticed Frank is in his couch watching TV of how he is bankrupted? Somehow, he fell asleep while watching TV; therefore, all the characters he'll meet are aspects of himself.

  • Himself: Self.
  • Sullivan: Id.
  • Stacey: Ego.
  • Chuck: Super Ego.
  • Rebecca: Anima.
  • TK: Shadow Archetype

This is supported by the giant robot plot, and the fact that allmost all of the story is told through Franks eyes, there is nothing the player knows that he doesn't.

In the alternate timeline of Off the Record, Stacey went through a similar point of divergence as Chuck Greene.

Namely, several years earlier her sister didn't commit suicide by stopping her Zombrex dosages, but rather continued being dependent on the drug. As a result, Stacey was never driven to join C.U.R.E. in earnest, but rather ended up being recruited by Phenotrans and ultimately selling her soul to them to provide her sister with the steady supply of Zombrex needed for her to live. Her commitment to Phenotrans may have been half-hearted at first, but after participating in several outbreak missions and causing so many deaths she became hardened and developed her new, more cruel and sadistic Baroness personality. Concurrently, having "Agent S" in their employ meant that they never needed to recruit Sullivan, who remained just a regular ex-military Fortune City security guard.

Alternatively, Stacey has always been Agent S

And the original game is simply a case of Phenotrans going through a case of Right Hand Versus Left Hand, possibly combined with Stacey undergoing a case of Becoming the Mask and going through a Heel Face Turn due to her time spent bonding with Chuck and Katey, who reminds her of her Dead Little Sister. It certainly opens up interesting possibilities for the character (Ada Wong, anyone?). At least, Chuck had better hope that's the case, or else Katey is royally screwed (although the reveal that Phenotrans has been suppressing a genuine cure for the zombie virus to profit from continued sales of Zombrex might be enough to force a Heel Face Turn out of her anyway, at least if her Well-Intentioned Extremist speech was sincere).

  • There's not much in the original Dead Rising 2 that would contradict Stacey being Agent S, especially given her statement in Off the Record that the other conspirators were unaware of her true identity, other than possibly the fact that it's rather unlikely she would have taken TK's crap and let herself get captured and almost fed to zombies if she was really a Dark Action Girl secret agent.

Chuck's boss fight theories

Right now, I'm not going to bother marking spoilers anymore, so bear with me. Since the fact that Chuck being a Psychopath is a bit off for me, here are some theories as to how the boss fight came to be.

  • Katey's simply missing.
    • Here's how it goes: the outbreak happens just like in Dead Rising 2. Chuck goes and fights his way to his room to make sure that Katey's safe. For her own safety, Katey takes off and leaves her headphones and bag behind. Chuck goes psycho; attacks Frank. When Frank (and a doppelganger of Chuck for reasons unknown) hands him his ass on a silver platter, Chuck notices Katey in the distance and runs to her, hence the reason why he disappears when Frank turns around. Also kinda provides a plausible reason for co-op Chuck at least after the battle.
  • Co-op Chuck is what's left of his sanity.
    • To some extent, it only works in perspective of his boss fight, but here goes. Chuck is sane when the outbreak happens, but doesn't go to the safehouse. He leaves Katey somewhere "safe" while he looks for Zombrex and meets Frank along the way (which he doesn't find, since Frank probably took it). He returns to Katey, sees her turn into a zombie (or get killed by zombies), goes psycho. He takes the doll as a replacement and fights Frank (the reason Frank doesn't remember him is that he looks different, reason why Chuck doesn't remember Frank is because he's drunk off his ass). When Frank beats him, Chuck regains his sanity and escapes. So to put it bluntly, co-op Chuck is regular Chuck before his boss fight, co-op Chuck during his boss fight is whatever is left of sane, old Chuck (probably beating some sense into himself), and co-op Chuck after the fight is Chuck regaining his sanity.
  • Psycho Chuck is actually a Secret Test of Character.
    • Katey isn't dead and Chuck manages to keep her somewhere relatively safe. He meets Frank and is repulsed by his selfish attitude, goes "psycho" and fights Frank (see reason no. 2 for the reasons why Frank and Chuck don't notice each other). Frank earns his respect and Chuck goes back to normal and helps him.
  • Co-op Chuck is from the original timeline of DR2 and wants to help Frank.
    • He's a time traveler. All arguments are invalid.
  • Although none of those explain why Chuck is shotgunning whiskey by the bottle and looks like he's been out of it for much longer than the length of the outbreak (unless you go with the theory that Off the Record is either a dream of Frank's or a nightmare of Chuck's while the two of them fly off to the Phenotrans facility).
    • While Chuck in Off The Record can be a drunk-ass dad, it doesn't necessarily mean that he wasn't a bad dad to Katey. Plus, one could say that he lost Katey during Case Zero, hence, Drunk-Off-His-Ass-Chuck.

Off the Record is either a dream of Frank's or a nightmare of Chuck's (or both, possibly a shared dream) while the two of them fly off to the Phenotrans facility together.

The story has certain wish-fulfillment aspects for Frank (he's the hero again, unlike Chuck he goes through the game without the stigma of being framed for mass murder, and he manages to save Rebecca from her unfortunate fate), while also playing on some unconcious fears of Chuck's (Katey's dead, Chuck's gone insane from the grief, and Stacey, the woman Chuck entrusted Katey with in the real world, turns out to be secretly evil.)

The practical, real-world reason that Stacey loses her ponytail hair is that they didn't want her to look too much like Scarlett from G.I. Joe during the final boss fight.

Because, c'mon, picture original Stacey in that suit and how can you not think "we are sooooo gonna get sued."

Psychopath ideas for future installments

  • A boxer who's taken too many hits to the head. He goes after the protagonist while babbling about his mom's cooking and his vacation to Florida.
  • A genuine sociopath. He looks normal, but there's clearly something off about him...besides the fact that he's trying to kill you.
  • A psychotic teacher who keeps his students (or people to function as students) in class. After dying, he'd do a similar Jump Scare to Slappy and Steve, saying "CLASS DISMISSED! POP QUIZ ON WEDNESDAY!".
  • A Mad Scientist who rockets around on a jetpack and attacks with a Laser Sword. He can dish out the hurt, but he can't really take it.
  • An Ax Crazy former baseball player who attacks you with a modified baseball bat. His attacks are slow, but he can take a beating.
  • A group of corrupted assassins/mercenaries who just attacks both zombies and survivors, all for the lulz.
  • A deranged maniac who enjoys using live humans as zombie bait, hanging their hands on a rope and pulling them down for the zombies to munch on. He goes berserk when he sees the main character trying to free the survivors. He is fast and is armed with a Power Fist.
  • Another cult/more looters/a cult of looters.
  • A slasher film fanatic who enacts his psychotic fantasy in a movie theater. Would carry a chainsaw, but he appears to be wearing a striped sweater, a longcoat, and a hockey mask. Fairly stealthy, but his failing is that he never shuts up.
  • A Frank West impersonator.
    • Or a Chuck Greene impersonator. The two could work together as a Duel Boss.
  • A wrestler who went off the deep end as he saw his co-workers and loved ones eaten alive by the undead. He holds several survivors hostage as his "audience". The main character will fight him in a ring. Obviously he attacks the main character using various wrestling moves.
  • A nurse/doctor who went crazy after failing to save many survivors from the outbreak. Wields various medical equipment as weapons.
  • A construction worker holding a few survivors in a deathtrap of a construction site. Attacks the player with a cordless drill, a 2 X 4, and a sledgehammer. Throws explosives at you at a range.
  • An ex-special forces sniper who was always a bit unstable, bot got pushed over the edge by the outbreak, causing him to acquire a military grade sniper rifle and board himself up, killing zombies and survivors alike. Armed with a sniper rifle, and can use a variety of powerful hand-to-hand combat moves.
  • A known serial killer who happens to be prowling through the mall so everyone will think that it's the zombies who kill his victims. At close range, uses a machete. At long range, uses a handgun.
  • A Private Military Contractor company that's a very thinly veiled parody of Blackwater, found in employment of various individuals and occasionally doing some looting. Like the Security Guards from Case West, but stronger, with faster reaction times and roughly twice as much health. Most carry Assault Rifles and Flashbang Grenades, though a couple may carry a BFG instead. Also have a helicopter patrolling the mall as an optional boss, only killable with some sort of BFG (a heavy machine gun? Rocket launcher?).
  • More escaped convicts, though with a completely different battle style than the last group.
  • Main plotline boss: A small team of maybe five Arabic-esque terrorists who try to blow up the safehouse. Are a Wolfpack Boss, and each is armed with their own weapon: An AK-47, RPG, machete and pistol, Dragunov sniper, or RPK.
  • An Otaku. His gimmick would be protecting his "girlfriends" (in a Take That to Harem anime), his outfit would be an elaborate cosplay of something out of an RPG, and his weapon? What else but a BFS ?
  • Another member of Adam The Clown's family seeking revenge. Since Frank might not be around, him/her would just go after the protagonist instead.
  • A ninja. Either a crazy martial arts teacher with a bunch of ninja gear lying around his dojo, or a genuine mercenary. Quite fast, leaps around frequently, and doesn't make any noises during combat, but also has relatively low health. Attacks with ninja stars / throwing knives (which deal medium damage and are thrown at a range), smoke bombs (which temporarily stun the player like "Flash Grenades" in Case West), a Sai (only in a leaping attack) and two hand to hand moves: a jump kick and a three punch combo.
  • A tour guide from a historical exhibit on the Gold Rush, who went insane and now actually thinks he's a prospector. He's taken a few people as hostages in the construction store, and attacks with player primarily using a pickaxe.
  • A group of five actors who are stars of a Super Sentai / Power Rangers type series that were filming their show at the time the zombies attacked. Like some of the examples above, after the outbreak they begin to think that they are this team of superheros that they were portraying.
  • A Pro Wrestler, who uses wrestling moves like Frank does, and if it's set in a place that has an arena, he was meant to go to his match when the outbreak hit, and he thinks he's still on his wrestling show so he has a microphone for just rambling psychotically.

Agent S is not the real Stacey Forsythe.

They look noticeably different, have completely different personalities, and why would Agent S wear a wig if not to disguise herself? If she were the original Stacey, people would know her for her short hair.

Plus Stacey`s original design appears in one of the cutscene (when Frank is in the locker room after his appearance on Terror is Reality), so maybe Stacey did not made it much further than that interview before someone else replaced her.

  • On the other hand, Stacey in OTR has the same voice as Stacey in DR2, and even says many of the exact same things she does in Dead Rising 2. Plus, Agent S seems to imply that she was leading C.U.R.E. for Phenotrans for a long time. Also, if she was an entirely different person it'd be pretty noticeable to everyone else. The different appearance from the newscast is most likely a goof due to the programmers re-using a lot of assets from Dead Rising 2, while the wig is most likely to make her look more like a Granola Girl and less like a butch military chick.

Marian will be killed in Dead Rising 3 by one of her workers.

Future Dead Rising protagonists will include...

Future Locations.

  • A very big blimp.

Frank generates an aura that makes allies behave like idiots.

Although, since this is a few years later, it's slightly more tame.

Sullivan was one of the soldiers who was at the Santa Cabeza clean up

Because why not?

We will play as teenaged/adult Katey in a future Dead Rising game.

  • Why not? We've got two games featuring young Katey Greene (one being a prequel when she's 4). Why would the developers create two games centered around protecting this girl if we're not going to eventually play as her as a teen/adult? Chuck's not getting any younger and sooner or later, he won't be around to protect her anymore. She'll have to learn how to fend for herself. Maybe as she grows, she learns the badass skills from her father, so when we finally play as her, she's ready to kick some undead ass.
    • I agree, she should be the next protagonist. It's high-time we had a female one, at least.

Ending S is canon.

Hear me out. After defeating TK above the Ti R arena, Chuck throws TK off the walkway and rescues Stacey and Katey. However, TK is still alive, having barely survived his fall. Eager for revenge, he pursues the three back to the safe house, and is bitten by a zombie along the way. Although Chuck manages to get Stacey and Katey onto the rescue helicopter, he is attacked from behind by TK and the chopper is forced to leave without him. Chuck and TK are forced onto the elevator, when Frank arrives...

  • Possible, except TK getting bit again is optional. People on Zombrex will be turning eventually without further Zombrex use.
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