the cutting room mirror

The House of the Dead 2 (Arcade)

The House of the Dead 2 is a first-person light gun shooter with a horror theme and the sequel to The House of the Dead. The game was later ported to the Dreamcast and Windows, as well as being an unlockable bonus in The House of the Dead III for Xbox and The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return for Wii.

It's also spawned a number of memes thanks to its laughably bad English voice acting (especially antagonist Caleb Goldman, who sounds like a text-to-speech bot) and odd endings.

To do:

  • Clarify release dates for different regions.
  • Cover unused creatures such as "znred" and "znmacho".
  • Document David's unused animations.
  • Document revisional differences in later ports (PC, Dreamcast, Wii, Mobile, etc.).
  • Document the Original Sin prototype (hotd2p in MAME). Original Sin also has unique attract music that is absent from the final game's files.
  • There's a hidden message in the top left of the map route texture.

Unused Music#

ST5_BOS1_AR The track that plays before the boss fight with The Magician lasts 2:06, but only a small portion is heard in-game due to the cutscene only lasting 18 seconds.

Unused Sounds#

Chapter 1#

Filename

Audio

Transcript

Notes

15_G

"The enemy's bigger than you can imagine."

Unused dialogue from G when the players meet him. Replaced by the line "Don't underestimate the enemy."

21YM

"Help me... I don't wanna die..."

Unused voice take for the first civilian who dies. Replaced by the line "I don't wanna die..."

21YNGMA1

"Help me..."

An unused variant for the civilian by the well.

29_2ZE

"Suffer the same way G did!"

Zeal's line was changed to the infamous "Suffer, like G did" in the final game. However in the Wii port, the subtitle displays this line, but not the audio itself.

30_ZE2P

"Get them, Kuarl!"

The "2P" in the filename suggests that Zeal was supposed to say this during a multiplayer game, where both James and Gary are present. In the final game, however, Zeal says "Go, Kuarl!" regardless of how many players there are.

413_GO

"Fate will decide which survives."

Unused Goldman dialogue. There are no Goldman cutscenes in the first chapter.

414_GO1

"Man went too far."

A second unused Goldman line.

414_GO2

"Man did too much."

A third unused Goldman line.

415_GO

"That is why... they die..."

A fourth unused Goldman line.

Chapter 2#

Filename

Audio

Transcript

Notes

54_JA

"How could anyone do this? If only I noticed sooner."

An unused alternate take of James' line if the civilian driving the car crashes.

123_GA

"Yes, that case."

An unused Gary line. Likely intended as an exchange with Harry about the "1998 Curien case", which occurs in the first chapter instead of the second.

418_GA_1

"It's too dark."

Gary's version of the line. May have been intended for dark areas.

418_GA_2

"Need some light."

Gary is likely referring to the flashlight, which appears in dark areas and illuminates wherever the player aims.

418_J_1

"It's too dark."

James' version of the unused darkness-related line.

418_J_2

"Need some light."

James' version of the unused light-related line.

Chapter 3#

Filename

Audio

Transcript

Notes

146_GA

"Are they in here?"

Gary's version of this unused line.

146_J

"Are they in here?"

James' version of this unused line.

418_GA_1

"It's too dark."

Gary's unused "It's too dark" line from Chapter 2 is also in Chapter 3's folder.

418_GA_2

"Need some light."

Gary's unused "Need some light" line from Chapter 2 is also in Chapter 3's folder.

418_J_1

"It's too dark."

James' unused "Need some light" line from Chapter 2 is also in Chapter 3's folder.

418_J_2

"Need some light."

James' unused "Need some light" line from Chapter 2 is also in Chapter 3's folder.

Chapter 4#

Filename

Audio

Transcript

Notes

180_GA

"Run!"

An unused Gary line that was likely for when the players run from Strength, the end boss.

180_J

"Run!"

James' version of the above unused line, again likely for the Strength fight.

Chapter 5#

Filename

Audio

Transcript

Notes

329_GA_2

"A0063's just ahead."

Changed in the final game to "Point A0063 is just ahead." Gary's version of the line.

329_J_2_A

"A0063's just ahead."

James' version of the above unused line.

332_J

"Let's get in."

This file is numbered before the used dialogue file, which says "This must be the car."

348_AE_2

"Be prepared to die."

An unused Magician line that would've played before his boss fight.

349_AE_2

"Be prepared to die."

A slightly-different version of the above unused line.

358_GO_2

"You've finally made it, friends."

An unused Goldman line.

361_GA_2

"I'm coming for you, Goldman."

An unused Gary line.

371_GO_1A

"Man disturbed the life cycle. The sins committed to nature!"

Turned into the infamous dialogue "Man committed a sin, destroying the life cycle of nature. The original sin that man is responsible to... To protect the life cycle!"

Chapter 6#

Filename

Audio

Transcript

Notes

337_ZE

"Go, Kuarl!"

For some reason, Zeal's line is in the folder of this chapter, despite that Judgment doesn't appear at all in it.

References#


  1. Sega Arcade History↩︎
  2. Domestic and Overseas Arcade Game List 1971-2005↩︎
  3. Computer & Video Games - November 1998↩︎