Zombies invade a fictional Las Vegas dubbed Fortune City in Dead Rising 2, but the original location was something wildly different. Capcom's Keiji Inafune told Comic-Con attendees today it was previously set in an undead-filled version of Disneyland.
Inafune, executive producer on the game and "Father of Mega Man," said "We thought it would be interesting to take an adult, gory, M-rated game and put it in this children's fantasy world." Fortune City was ultimately chosen as the game's basis, offering some of the same contrast between fun playground and ultraviolent adventure.
"We wanted to do a Disneyland-style amusement park," Inafune added, saying that, like Las Vegas, going to Disney would have been "another fun place we would have like to research."
"That was long before Zombieland came out," Inafune noted, referring to the 2009 zom-com. "In hindsight, it was probably the right decision, we didn't want to look like we were ripping off that movie."
Inafune and Dead Rising 2 producer Shinsuka Ohara noted that the game's combo card mechanic, awarded for crafting weapons with duct tape, were somewhat Pokemon inspired, to "[bridge] the gap between adult and fantastical children's imagery."
Inafune also dashed hopes that Dead Rising protagonist Frank West would make an appearance in the sequel, only saying that he may show up sooner or later. (Most likely, that's a reference to Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, in which West is rumored to appear.)