Key things
- Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster includes a reference to one of Frank's first models from the original beta.
- Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is full of references to the roots of the series.
- Frank West covered wars, you know.
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster features an image of Frank West's beta model from 2005, both a tribute to the series' roots and potentially Capcom's reference to some of the discourse surrounding Frank's appearance in the remaster.
Dead Rising fans will know that Frank West's gravelly features have changed over the course of the series, most notably his variable receding hairline. When Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster was first announced, some disgruntled fans compared Frank's redesigned appearance to his original beta mode, especially in the hair department.
Looks good, Frank
As it turns out, the easter egg in the Deluxe Remaster is Frank's beta model from 2005. Jessica (Jessie) McCarney, the Homeland Security agent who communicates with Frank via transceiver, knows West more intimately than we thought.
As user X, YouTuber and big Dead Rising fan STiP0 noticed, if you look closely at Jessie's phone during one of the cutscenes, you'll see that her screensaver is none other than Frank West, circa 2005. It's likely that Capcom is just referencing the early days series, but it's funny how the new Frank West resembles his beta counterpart.
Deluxe Remaster is full of neat references to the series and the fandom that grew up around it. Frank West's iconic “I've covered wars, you know” response to Jess' suggestion that he can't take care of himself became a meme in the community, so much so that Capcom included a war correspondent outfit for Frank in the remaster.
Dead Rising had such an interesting development cycle, with several gameplay features, locations, and content changing during development. This resulted in a large amount of truncated content; Capcom restored some content like the rocket launcher, but not all of it. Despite expectations, the long wait for Dead Rising fans to try out a beam weapon continues.
