A Resident Evil 2 speedrun has revealed that there are two Mr. X’s, with the terrifying villain’s ability to teleport seemingly being the result of Capcom duplicating the enemy and inserting him into two different areas of the map. While Capcom undoubtedly only wanted players to encounter one version of Mr. X, a speedrunner has managed to stumble upon both at the same time.
BeastGamingHD encountered both Mr. X’s during an attempted S+ hardcore difficulty speedrun, with the player stating in the video’s description that they heard numerous footsteps coming from the villain. Initially believing it to be a sound bug, they lured Mr. X outside before getting him to chase them up the fire escape.
With both sets of footsteps still audible, BeastGamingHD positioned themselves at a crossroads between two corridors. There, both Mr. X’s appear from different routes, before inevitably stomping towards Claire and attacking her.
Despite the bug ruining BeastGamingHD’s speedrun, they still appreciated the moment: “Thank you Capcom for this wonderful bug and experience,” they wrote. “If only this was an actual thing for Hardcore, then it would be 20/10 fear factor (at least it was for me in this case). RIP speedrun and RIP Mr. X’s.”
The encounter with the Mr. X’s can be viewed below:
How are there two Mr. X’s?
So how is this possible? The prevailing theory is that Capcom included two Mr. X’s in Resident Evil 2, located in different areas of the map. The Mr. X’s are supposed to activate at different times, ensuring that the player will never encounter them both simultaneously. But in this instance, BeastGamingHD found a way to trigger them both at the same time.
It’s unclear how the player achieved this. Mr. X typically chases the player after they’ve completed a certain objective, as we’ve detailed in our guide to escaping the enemy. It seems that whatever BeastGamingHD did in this portion of their Claire playthrough, both Mr. X’s were alerted to her presence and set about pursuing her.
Thus far, this is the only report of both Mr. X’s appearing at the same time. Capcom could patch out this bug before someone else experiences it, but we’re sure that investigative players will be able to unearth the exact science behind it in the meantime.
