title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: As of November 2020, the organization claimed over 85,000 members, and according to its financial report before its 2021 convention, the DSA now claims 94,915 members, with at least a dozen DSA members in every congressional district.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: Governance of the DSA is by the group's National Political Committee (NPC), which since 2001 has been a 16-person body. The DSA's constitution states that at least eight of the NPC's members shall be women and at least four members of "racial or national" minority groups. A 17th vote is cast by the representative of the DSA's youth affiliate who elects one male and one female delegate who split the vote. The NPC meets four times a year.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The NPC elects an inner committee of six, including five of its own members and one representative of the youth section, called the Steering Committee. At least two of these are constitutionally required to be women and at least one person of color, with the National Director and the Youth Section Organizer also participating as "ex officio" members. This Steering Committee meets bi-monthly, either in person or by conference call.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA is organized at the local level with guidance from the NPC and works with labor unions, community organizations and campus activists on issues of common interest. Nationwide campaigns are coordinated by the organization's national office in New York City. , the DSA lists 238 chapters and organizing committees in all 50 states.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) is the official student section of the DSA. The YDSA chapters and members are encouraged to pursue and promote a democratic socialist political education and participate in social justice activism, often taking part in anti-war, labor and student-issue marches and rallies. The YDSA publishes a newsletter called "The Red Letter" and a blog titled The Activist. The organization's national activities revolve around supporting the DSA campaigns and initiatives and organizing various student conferences, usually held in New York City. The YDSA is a full member of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY).


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The YDSA expanded following youth support for Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential candidacy. According to a YDSA organizer, the group expanded from 25 to 84 registered chapters between 2016 and 2019.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: Biennial national conventions represent the highest authority of the DSA and help guide it and its policies. Conventions are held every odd-numbered year.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA publishes "Democratic Left", a quarterly magazine of news and analysis. This publication continues in an uninterrupted run from the original "Newsletter of the Democratic Left" published by the DSOC (the DSA forerunner) since its establishment in 1973. In 2008, DSA members active in the American labor movement founded Talking Union, a blog that focuses on labor politics, working-class struggles and strategies.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: Left-wing quarterly magazine "Jacobin" is considered to be very close to the organization, although there is no official affiliation between the magazine and DSA. In 2014 its founder and then-editor Bhaskar Sunkara, who is a DSA member, said that Michael Harrington was “very underrated as a popularizer of Marxist thought".


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: DSA members have views ranging across the spectrum of progressivism, social democracy, democratic socialism, eco-socialism, libertarian socialism, and communism.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA regards the abolition of capitalism and the realization of socialism as a gradual long-term goal, therefore the organization focuses its immediate political energies on reforms within capitalism that empower working people while decreasing the power of corporations.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA characterizes its vision of socialism as an economic system based on maximum decentralization that can be supportive of a range of models for social ownership, including publicly owned enterprises and worker-owned cooperatives. The DSA rejects centralized economic planning in favor of a combination of democratic planning and market mechanisms: because the DSA does not believe capitalism and private corporations can be immediately replaced with socialism, it is favorable to using government regulations and organized labor to make private businesses more accountable to the public interest.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: One older leaflet detailing the group's official ideas, "What is Democratic Socialism? Questions and Answers from the Democratic Socialists of America", states that "no country has fully instituted democratic socialism". Nonetheless, according to the DSA there are lessons to be learned from "the comprehensive welfare state maintained by the Swedes, from Canada's national healthcare system, France's nationwide childcare program, and Nicaragua's literacy programs". The "tremendous prosperity and relative economic equality" established by the social democratic parties of the countries of Scandinavia and parts of Western Europe are lauded.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: In 2016, the DSA issued a statement of solidarity with Venezuela. The statement called the sanctions placed on Venezuela by the Obama administration unjust and illegal. It called for the United States to cease its interference in Venezuelan affairs, saying: "We call on the President and Congress to reverse these actions and stop seeking to undermine the Venezuelan people and their legitimate, democratically elected government".


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: At the 2017 DSA Convention, the group announced its withdrawal from the Socialist International (SI). The resolution passed states that the DSA will "[build] direct relationships with socialist and left parties and social movements around the world that we can learn from and which share our values... Our affiliation with the Socialist International hinders our ability to develop stronger relationships with parties and social movements that share our values and which, in many cases, are bitterly opposed to their country's SI affiliate(s)". This was viewed as the DSA voicing its opposition to the SI's perceived acceptance of "neoliberal economic policies".


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: At the 2017 convention it also passed a resolution which solidified the DSA's solidarity with the cause of the Palestinian people and with the controversial Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement: "Democratic Socialists of America condemns all efforts to deny the right of Palestinians in the United States and their allies to free speech, assembly, and academic freedom". The resolution further condemned Israeli actions, comparing those actions to apartheid. The DSA has shown its solidarity with Ahed Tamimi. The statement also reiterated the DSA's support for the liberation of the Palestinian people.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA opposes United States intervention in the Syrian Civil War. A statement issued in April 2017 called the intervention by the Trump administration a violation of both domestic and international law. In the same statement, the DSA called for protests of Trump's actions and for the lobbying of Congress to halt any further intervention.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: At the 2019 DSA Convention, the group announced its support for open borders. At the 2021 DSA Convention, the organization's members voted to apply for membership in the São Paulo Forum, a conference of leftist political parties and organizations largely from Latin America and the Caribbean.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: A DSA delegation travelled to Caracas, Venezuela, in June 2021 to meet with Nicolás Maduro and to attend the Bicentennial Congress of the Peoples (), considered not an autonomous body, but rather "an assemblage of national and foreign supporters" of Maduro himself launched in an attempt "to coat itself with a veneer of international support". The DSA was criticized for giving legitimacy to the Maduro administration, as well as for the members of the delegation staying in one of the most expensive hotels in the city, the , where a night costs $200 USD, and for partying despite the COVID-19 restrictions in Venezuela. They were also criticized for giving "a bad name to the international left in Venezuela".


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: On February 26, 2022, the DSA issued a statement condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine while arguing that the United States provoked Russia. The statement called for the United States to withdraw from NATO and "end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict". This statement was criticized by Democratic congresspersons, as well as politicians who were affiliated with DSA. Critics described the DSA statement as "tone deaf". Others defended the statement and criticized the responses from mainstream media and politicians attacking the organization.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: Positioning itself as an anti-racist and anti-fascist organization, the DSA connects this fight against fascist groups to its broader struggle against capitalism, saying on its website: "We believe that the terror unleashed on our comrades can be defeated. We also believe that the wider system of racist oppression can be defeated, but only with the ending of the capitalist system which birthed it".


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: Members have been present at various anti-fascist marches and protests, including counterprotests against the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Boston Free Speech Rally and many other right-wing rallies surrounding the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials. The DSA positions itself with other left-wing groups who fight fascism in the United States, including the Industrial Workers of the World and groups involved in the antifa movement. The organization also criticizes the police in the United States for their handling of anti-fascist activities and activities of such groups as Black Lives Matter.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA believes in defending communities from neofascist violence and building a multi-racial working-class movement. This involves deplatforming reactionary and racist groups and events, believing that a united front of left-wing organizations needs to confront these forces wherever they appear.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA has long been a supporter and defender of the labor movement in the United States and has also argued for the increase of international worker solidarity. The DSA believes in a livable minimum wage for all workers, but it notes that this fight only goes so far and is only the first step in building a more humane economic system: "Ultimately the minimum wage only works for those lucky enough to find a job – even a low paying one – and it doesn't really "work" for them, because it doesn't come with health benefits, adequate schools, or enough money to set aside for retirement". The DSA members have been supporters and active participants in fights to increase the minimum wage across the country, including the Fight for $15 protests.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA opposes right to work laws, which are seen as an attack on the rights of workers and the historic advances of the labor movement. It is argued that the enactment of these laws reduces the efficacy of collective bargaining agreements, putting workers at a disadvantage. In a statement released in 2014, the organization said: "Such "right to work" laws consciously aim to weaken union strength; they are the main reason why the "right to work" is, as Martin Luther King Jr. put it, "the right to work for less".


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA argues that financial elites have consciously fought to destroy union power in an effort to solidify the hegemony of markets and corporate power. The organization believes that for an equitable and sustainable economic system that the production of wealth should be under the democratic control of those who produce it. The DSA also emphasizes the role played by immigrants, women, disabled workers, LGBTQIA+ and workers of color in the broader labor movement, believing that all barriers between working people must be broken in order to help create and maintain a broad and unified labor movement.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA is committed to the rights of the LGBT community, connecting anti-gay prejudice to capitalist exploitation. This includes pushes for equal rights and protections for all those who identify as LGBTQIA+ as well as rights to housing, jobs, education, public accommodations and healthcare. The DSA recognizes that those who are most discriminated against based on identity are disproportionately women and people of color. The organization also seeks to ensure public schools are safe places for LGBTQIA+ students and that students should have total access to facilities that reflect their gender. The DSA supports the protection of same-sex marriages, but it "views marriage as only a first step in recognizing the diversity of human relationships".


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA aligns itself with the socialist feminist movement. The organization holds that capitalism is built on white supremacy as well as male supremacy. The DSA maintains that reproductive rights are central to the feminist movement. Connecting democratic socialism and socialist feminism, the DSA says "that birth control and safe abortion should be provided as part of a comprehensive single-payer healthcare program". Believing that electoral politics can only take socialist feminism so far, the organization also says that the emphasis must be on community-based grassroots movements. The DSA further says that socialist feminism must include the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: The DSA is opposed to Zionism and to the current form of the State of Israel. DSA views the current form of the State of Israel as imperialist and as a form of ethnostate. The DSA formerly supported Israel throughout much of its history, including socialist and progressive individuals and movements inside the state. In 2018, Jo-Ann Mort, former vice-chair of DSA, described the group as formerly having been "the place to go on the left if you were a socialist and you were pro-Israel".


title: Democratic Socialists of America

text: On August 5, 2017, members of the organization passed a motion to formally endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. "Alternet" noted that this has been a dividing issue, with older members "tried to reconcile socialism with Zionism" while younger members recognize the movement as a "time-tested means of nonviolent protest" and "the most powerful force to combat Israeli apartheid in the 21st century".


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: The Scarecrow is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, and debuted in "World's Finest Comics" #3 in September 1941. The Scarecrow is depicted as one of the most enduring enemies of the superhero Batman and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: In his comic book appearances, the Scarecrow is the alter ego of Jonathan Crane, a brilliant professor of psychology turned criminal mastermind. Abused and bullied in his youth, Crane develops an obsession with fear and uses a specially designed hallucinogenic drug–dubbed "fear toxin"–to exploit the phobias of the people of Gotham City and its protector, Batman. As the self-proclaimed "Master of Fear", the Scarecrow's crimes do not stem from a common desire for wealth or power, but from a cruel pleasure in terrorizing innocents to further his sadistic experiments on the manipulation of fear. The character usually wears an outfit symbolic of his namesake with a stitched mask and burlap hat.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: The Scarecrow has been adapted in various media incarnations, having been portrayed by Cillian Murphy in "The Dark Knight Trilogy" films, Charlie Tahan and David W. Thompson on the Fox television series "Gotham", and Vincent Kartheiser on the HBO Max streaming series "Titans" in the third season. Henry Polic II, Jeffrey Combs, Dino Andrade, John Noble, Robert Englund, and others have provided the character's voice in media ranging from animation to video games.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Bill Finger and Bob Kane introduced the Scarecrow in the Fall of 1941 for "World's Finest Comics" #3 during the Golden Age of Comic Books, in which he only made two appearances. The source of inspiration Kane found for the character came from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" whose main character, Ichabod Crane, also had an odd scarecrow-like physique. Ichabod's surname and bookish appearance were used to create Scarecrow's alter ego, Jonathan Crane.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: The character was revived during the Silver Age of Comic Books by writer Gardner Fox and artist Sheldon Moldoff in the pages of "Batman" #189 (February 1967), still maintaining his origin story from the Golden Age. It was also in "Batman" #189 that the Scarecrow's signature "fear toxin" - a hallucinogenic chemical that makes people have horrific visions of their worst fears - debuted. The character remained relatively unchanged throughout the Bronze Age of Comic Books.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Following the 1986 multi-title event "Crisis on Infinite Earths" reboot, the character's origin story is expanded in "Batman" Annual #19 and the miniseries "Batman/Scarecrow: Year One", with this narrative also revealing that Crane has a fear of bats.<ref name="B/S:YO">"Batman/Scarecrow: Year One". DC Comics.</ref> In 2011, as a result of The New 52 reboot, Scarecrow's origin (as well as that of various other DC characters) is completely altered, incorporating several elements that differ from its original.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Jonathan Crane is bullied at school for his resemblance to Ichabod Crane from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", sparking his lifelong obsession with fear and using it as a weapon against others. In his senior year, Crane is humiliated by school bully Bo Griggs and rejected by cheerleader Sherry Squires. He takes revenge during the senior prom by donning his trademark scarecrow costume and brandishing a gun in the school parking lot; in the ensuing chaos, Griggs gets into a car accident, paralyzing himself and killing Squires. Crane's obsession with fear leads him to become a psychologist, taking a position at Arkham Asylum and performing fear-inducing experiments on his patients. He is also a professor of psychology at Gotham University, specializing in the study of phobias. He loses his job after he fires a gun inside a packed classroom, accidentally wounding a student; he takes revenge by killing the professors responsible for his termination and becomes a career criminal. As a college professor, Crane mentors a young Thomas Elliot. The character also has a cameo in "Sandman" (vol. 2) #5. In stories by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, the Scarecrow is depicted as one of the more deranged criminals in Batman's rogues gallery, with a habit of speaking in nursery rhymes. These stories further revise his history, explaining that he was raised by his abusive, fanatically religious great-grandfather, whom he murdered as a teenager.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Scarecrow plays a prominent role in Doug Moench's "Terror" storyline, set in Batman's early years, where Professor Hugo Strange breaks him out of Arkham and gives him "therapy" in order to train him to defeat Batman. Strange's therapy proves effective enough to turn the Scarecrow against his "benefactor", impaling him on a weather vane and throwing him in the cellar of his own mansion. The Scarecrow then uses Strange's mansion to lure Batman to Crime Alley, and decapitates one of his former classmates in the alley in front of Batman. With the help of Catwoman, — whom Scarecrow had attempted to blackmail into helping him by capturing her and photographing her unmasked— Batman catches Scarecrow, but loses sight of Strange, with it being unclear whether Strange had actually survived the fall onto the weather vane, or if Scarecrow and Batman are hallucinating from exposure to Scarecrow's fear toxin.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Scarecrow appears in "", first seen escaping from Arkham on Mother's Day with help from Carmine Falcone, who also helps the Mad Hatter escape. The Scarecrow gases Batman with fear toxin as he escapes, causing Batman to flee to his parents' grave as Bruce Wayne, where he is arrested by Commissioner Jim Gordon due to Wayne's suspected ties to Falcone. Scarecrow robs a bank with the Mad Hatter on Independence Day for Falcone, but is stopped by Batman and Catwoman. He later appears in Falcone's office on Halloween with Batman's future rogue's gallery, but is defeated by Batman. Scarecrow returns in "" as part of Two-Face's gang, and is first seen putting fear gas in children's dolls on Christmas Eve. He is eventually defeated by Batman. He later appears as one of the villains present at Calendar Man's trial. It is revealed he and Calendar Man had been manipulating Falcone's son Alberto; Scarecrow had determined that Alberto feared his father, and poisoned his cigarettes with the fear toxin to bring out the fear; Calendar Man, meanwhile, had been talking to Alberto, with the fear toxin making Alberto hear his father's voice. Together, they manipulate Alberto into making an unsuccessful assassination attempt on his sister, Sofia Gigante. After Two-Face's hideout is attacked, Batman captures Scarecrow, who tells him where Two-Face is heading. In "", Scarecrow supplies the Riddler with fear gas to manipulate Catwoman, and later aids Riddler when he fights Catwoman in Rome. Scarecrow accidentally attacks Cheetah with his scythe before Catwoman knocks him out.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: The Scarecrow appears in such story arcs as "" and "", first teaming with the Joker to ransom off the mayor of Gotham City. Batman foils their plan and forces them to retreat. Scarecrow betrays Joker by spraying him with fear gas, but it has absolutely no effect; Joker then beats Scarecrow senseless with a chair. Scarecrow later tries to take over Gotham with an army of hypnotized college students, commanding them to spread his fear toxin all over the city. His lieutenant is the son of the first man he killed. He is confronted by both Batman-Azrael and Anarky and tries to escape by forcing his lieutenant to jump off of a building. Batman-Azrael knocks him out, and Anarky manages to save the boy. Despite his criminal history, he is still recognized as a skilled psychologist. When Aquaman needs insight into a serial killer operating in his new city of Sub Diego—San Diego having been sunk and the inhabitants turned into water-breathers by a secret organization—he consults with Scarecrow for insight into the pattern of the killer's crimes, Scarecrow determining that killer chose his victims by the initials of their first and last names spelled out the message 'I can't take it any more' (thus allowing Aquaman to determine both the true identity and final target of the real killer).


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: In the 2004 story arc "As the Crow Flies", Scarecrow is hired by the Penguin under false pretenses. Dr. Linda Friitawa then secretly mutates Scarecrow into a murderous creature known as the "Scarebeast", who Penguin uses to kill off his disloyal minions. The character's later appearances all show him as an unmutated Crane again, except for an appearance during the "" story arc. Scarecrow appears in the third issue of "War Games" saving Black Mask from Batman and acting as the crime lord's ally, until Black Mask uses him to disable a security measure in the Clock Tower by literally throwing Scarecrow at it. Scarecrow wakes up, transforms into Scarebeast, and wreaks havoc outside the building trying to find and kill Black Mask. The police are unable to take it down, and allow Catwoman, Robin, Tarantula II, and Onyx to fight Scarebeast, as Commissioner Michael Akins had told all officers to capture or kill any vigilantes, costumed criminals or "masks" they find. Even they cannot defeat the Scarebeast, though he appears to have been defeated after the Clock Tower explodes.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: The Scarecrow reappears alongside other Batman villains in "Gotham Underground"; first among the villains meeting at the Iceberg Lounge to be captured by the Suicide Squad. Scarecrow escapes by gassing Bronze Tiger with fear toxin. He later appears warning the Ventriloquist II, Firefly, Killer Moth and Lock-Up, who are planning to attack the Penguin that Penguin is allied with the Suicide Squad. The villains wave off his warnings and mock him. He later leads the same four into a trap orchestrated by Tobias Whale. Killer Moth, Firefly and Lock-Up all survive, but are injured and unconscious to varying degrees, the Scarface puppet is "killed", and Peyton Reily, the new Ventriloquist, is unharmed, though after the attack she is taken away by Whale's men. Whale then betrays Scarecrow simply for touching his shoulder (it is revealed Whale has a pathological hatred of "masks" because his grandfather was one of the first citizens of Gotham killed by a masked criminal). The story arc ends with Whale beating Scarecrow up and leaving him bound and gagged, as a sign to all "masks" that they are not welcome in Whale's new vision of Gotham.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Scarecrow appears in "", working for the Riddler and Hush. He composes profiles on the various villains of Gotham so Riddler and Hush can manipulate them to their own ends. He later gases Huntress with his fear gas, making her attack Catwoman. He attacks Batman in a graveyard, only to learn his fear gas is ineffective (due to Hush's bug), but before he can reveal this he is knocked out by Jason Todd. Scarecrow also appears in "Batman: Heart of Hush", kidnapping a child to distract Batman so Hush can attack Catwoman. When Batman goes to rescue the child, Scarecrow activates a Venom implant, causing the boy to attack Batman. He is defeated when Batman ties the boy's teddy bear to Scarecrow, causing the child to attack Scarecrow. After capturing Scarecrow, Batman forces him to reveal Hush's location. In the "" storyline, Scarecrow is recruited by a new Black Mask to be a part of a group of villains who are aiming to take over Gotham in the wake of Batman's apparent death. He later assists the crime lord in manufacturing a recreational drug called "Thrill," which draws the attention of Oracle and Batgirl. He is later defeated by Batgirl and once again arrested.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Scarecrow briefly appears in the fourth issue of the "Blackest Night" storyline. His immunity to fear (brought about by frequent exposure to his own fear toxin) renders him practically invisible to the invading Black Lanterns. The drug has taken a further toll on his sanity, exacerbated by the long disappearance of Batman in the "Batman R.I.P." storyline; he develops a literal addiction to fear, exposing himself deliberately to the revenant army, but knowing that only Batman could scare him again. Using a duplicate of Sinestro's power ring, he is deputized into the Sinestro Corps for 24 hours in order to combat the Black Lanterns. Overjoyed at finally being able to feel fear again, Scarecrow gleefully and without question follows Sinestro's commands. His celebration is cut short when Lex Luthor, overwhelmed by the orange light of Avarice, steals his ring.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: During the events of "Brightest Day", Scarecrow begins kidnapping and murdering college interns working for LexCorp as a way of getting back at Lex Luthor for stealing his ring. When Robin and Supergirl attempt to stop him, Scarecrow unleashes a new fear toxin that is powerful enough to affect a Kryptonian. The toxin forces Supergirl to see visions of a Black Lantern Reactron, but she is able to snap out of the illusion and help Robin defeat Scarecrow.<ref name="S/B #77">"Superman/Batman" #77. DC Comics.</ref> He is eventually freed from Arkham when Deathstroke and the break into the asylum in order to capture one of the inmates.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: In 2011, The New 52 rebooted the DC universe. Scarecrow is a central villain in the Batman family of books and first appeared in the New 52 in "" #4 (February 2012), written by David Finch and Paul Jenkins. His origin story is also altered; in this continuity, his father Gerald Crane used him as a test subject in his fear-based experiments. During one of these experiments, Crane's father locked him inside a little dark room, but suffered a fatal heart attack before he could let Jonathan out. Jonathan was trapped in the test chamber for days until being freed by some employers of the University. As a result of this event, he was irreparably traumatized and developed an obsession with fear. He became a psychologist, specializing in phobias. Eventually, Crane began using patients as test subjects for his fear toxin. His turn to criminality is also markedly different in this version; the New 52 Scarecrow is fired from his professorship for covering an arachnophobic student with spiders, and becomes a criminal after stabbing a patient to death.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: The Scarecrow kidnaps Poison Ivy, and works with Bane to create and distribute to various Arkham inmates a new form of Venom infused with the Scarecrow's fear toxin. With the help of Superman and the Flash, Batman defeats the villains. The Scarecrow surfaces again in "" #10, penned by Gregg Hurwitz, for a six-issue arc. The Scarecrow kidnaps Commissioner James Gordon and several children, and eventually releases his fear toxin into the atmosphere. Scarecrow is also used as a pawn by the Joker in the "Death of the Family" arc; he is referred to as Batman's physician. Scarecrow appears in "Swamp Thing" (vol. 5) #19 (June 2013), clipping flowers for his toxins at the Metropolis Botanical Garden. Swamp Thing attempts to save Scarecrow from cutting a poisonous flower, not realizing who the villain is. Scarecrow attempts to use his fear toxin on Swamp Thing. The toxin causes Swamp Thing to lose control of his powers until Superman intervenes. He is later approached by the Outsider of the Secret Society of Super Villains to join up with the group. Scarecrow accepts the offer.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: As part of "Villains Month", "Detective Comics" (vol. 2) #23.3 (Sept. 2013) was titled "The Scarecrow" #1. Scarecrow goes to see Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Riddler and informs them of a war at Blackgate Penitentiary is coming and learns where each of the alliances lives. Through his conversations with each, Scarecrow learns that Bane may be the cause of the Blackgate uprising and will be their leader in the impending war. It was also stated that Talons from the Court of Owls were stored at Blackgate on ice. Later, looking over the divided city, Scarecrow claims that once the war is over and the last obstacle has fallen, Gotham City would be his. Scarecrow approaches Professor Pyg at Gotham Memorial Hospital to see if he will give his supplies and Dollotrons to Scarecrow's followers. Scarecrow goes to Penguin next, who has already planned for the impending war, by blowing up the bridges giving access to Gotham City. Scarecrow and Man-Bat attempt to steal the frozen Talons from Blackgate while Penguin is having a meeting with Bane. Killer Croc rescues Scarecrow and Man-Bat from Blackgate and brings Scarecrow to Wayne Tower, where he gives Killer Croc control of Wayne Tower, as it no longer suits him. Scarecrow begins waking the Talons in his possession, having doused them with his fear gas and using Mad Hatter's mind-control technology in their helmets to control them. At Arkham Asylum, Scarecrow senses that he has lost the Talons after Bane freed them from Mad Hatter's mind-control technology. Scarecrow then turns to his next plan, giving the other inmates a small dose of Bane's Venom to temporarily transform them. Upon Bane declaring that Gotham City is finally his, he has Scarecrow hanged between two buildings.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: In "Batman and Robin Eternal", flashbacks reveal that Scarecrow was the first villain faced by Dick Grayson as Robin in the New 52 universe when his and Batman's investigations into Scarecrow's crimes lead Batman to Mother, a woman who believes that tragedy and trauma serve as 'positive' influences to help people become stronger. To this end, Mother has Scarecrow develop a new style of fear toxin that makes the brain suffer the same experience as witnessing a massive trauma, but Scarecrow turns against Mother as the victims of this plan would become incapable of feeling anything. Recognizing that Mother will kill him once he has outlived his usefulness, Scarecrow attempts to turn himself over to Batman, but Batman uses this opportunity to have him deliver a fake psychological profile of him to Mother, claiming that Batman is a scarred child terrified of losing the people he cares for to make Mother think she understands him. In the present day, as Mother unleashes a new hypnotic signal to take control of the world's children, the Bat-Family abduct Scarecrow to brew up a new batch of his trauma toxin after determining that it nullifies the controlling influence of Mother's signal until they can shut down her main base.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: In "DC Rebirth", Scarecrow works with the Haunter to release a low dose of fear toxin around Gotham on Christmas and sets up a small stand for her to pick up the toxin. Both he and Haunter are paralyzed by the toxin's effects, allowing Batman to apprehend them. The Scarecrow later emerges using a Sinestro Corps' Power ring to induce fear and rage against Batman in random citizens throughout Gotham, to the point where he provokes Alfred Pennyworth into threatening to shoot Simon Baz as part of his final assault. In the "Watchmen" sequel "Doomsday Clock", Scarecrow is among the villains who attend the underground meeting held by Riddler that talks about the Superman Theory. Wanting to take on other bad guys outside of Doctor Sivana, Mister Mind, Black Adam, and Herkimer, Shazam flies to Gotham City where he hears about a hostage situation caused by Scarecrow. Shazam starts to fight him when he starts to get affected by the fear gas. Batman shows up and regains control of the situation by defeating Scarecrow and administering the antidote. As Scarecrow is arrested, Batman states to Shazam that Scarecrow is too dangerous for him to fight.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: A master strategist and manipulator, his genius labels him as one of the most cunning criminal masterminds. Crane is a walking textbook on anxiety disorders and psychoactive drugs; he is able to recite the name and description of nearly every known phobia. He's even known to have a frightening ability to tamper with anyone's mind with just words, once managing to drive two men to suicide, and uses this insight to find people's mental pressure points and exploit them. Despite his scrawny build, Crane is a skilled martial artist who uses his long arms and legs in his personal combat style known as "violent dancing", developed during his training in the Kung Fu style of the White Crane, for which Scarecrow sometimes wields a sickle or scythe.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Scarecrow is also a brilliant biochemist and toxicology genius, best known for the invention of his fear toxin, which he atomized with mixed chemicals, including powerful synthetic adrenocortical secretions and other potent hallucinogens that can be inhaled or injected into the bloodstream to amplify the victim’s darkest fear into a terrifying hallucination. Its potency has upgraded to an extreme level over the years; in some stories in which it appears, fear toxin is depicted as capable of prompting almost instantaneous, terror-induced heart attacks, leaving the victim in a permanent psychosis of chronic fear. Other versions of the toxin are powerful enough that even Superman can be affected; in one story, he mixes the toxin with kryptonite to simultaneously weaken and terrify the Man of Steel. To instill his toxin, he often uses a hand-held sprayer in the shape of a human skull and special straws which can be snapped in half to release it. In one story, Scarecrow concocts a chemical containing wildfowl pheromones from his childhood that causes nearby birds to attack his opponents.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: In the story arc "As the Crow Flies", after being secretly mutated by Dr. Linda Friitawa, Scarecrow gains the ability to turn into a large, monstrous creature called the Scarebeast. As Scarebeast, he has greatly enhanced strength, endurance, and emits a powerful fear toxin from his body. However, he has to be under physical strain or duress to transform. During the "Blackest Night" mini-series, Scarecrow is temporarily deputized into the Sinestro Corps by a duplicate of Sinestro's Power ring. He proves to be very capable in manipulating the light of fear to create constructs until his ring is stolen by Lex Luthor.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Crane, in almost all of his incarnations, is cruel, sadistic, deranged, and manipulative above all else. Crane is obsessed with fear, and takes sadistic pleasure in frightening his victims, often literally to death, with his fear toxin. Crane also suffers from brain damage from prolonged exposure to his own toxin that renders him nearly incapable of being afraid of anything - except Batman. This is problematic for him, as he is addicted to fear and compulsively seeks out confrontations with Batman to feed his addiction. He is also known to have a warped sense of humor, though not to the level of Black Mask or the Joker, as he has been known to frequently make taunts and quips related to his using his fear toxin or his love of terrifying others. During Alan Grant's "The God of Fear" storyline, Scarecrow develops a god complex; he creates an enormous hologram of himself that he projects against the sky, so he will be recognized and worshipped by the citizens of Gotham as a literal god of fear.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: Abigail O'Shay is a Gotham University student who writes her doctoral thesis on vigilantes like the Bat-Family, whom she calls the "cape and cowl crowd". She is fascinated by the kind of trauma a person would have to go through in order to fight criminals while in costume. She learns about such trauma first hand when Jonathan Crane, then uses her as the test subject in experiments using his fear toxin, intending to test its readiness for use on Batman. She spends more than a year in Arkham Asylum recuperating from Scarecrow's experiments. Blaming Batman for her trauma, O'Shay adopted the identity of Madame Crow with the intention of making sure no one would feel the kind of fear she did ever again as she becomes a member of the Victim Syndicate. In a reversal to Scarecrow's fear toxin, Madame Crow has a set of gauntlets that fire needles filled with "anti-fear" toxin, which removes fear in the hope of keeping people from fighting to avoid their own trauma.


title: Scarecrow (DC Comics)

text: As one of Batman's most recognizable and popular opponents, the Scarecrow appears in numerous comics that are not considered part of the regular DC continuity, including:


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Resident Evil 2 is a 1998 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation. The player controls Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon City after its citizens are transformed into zombies by a biological weapon two months after the events of the original "Resident Evil". The gameplay focuses on exploration, puzzles, and combat; the main difference from its predecessor are the branching paths, with each player character having unique storylines, partners and obstacles.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Resident Evil 2" was produced by "Resident Evil" director Shinji Mikami, directed by Hideki Kamiya, and developed by a team of approximately 50 across 21 months. The initial version, commonly referred to as "Resident Evil 1.5", differs drastically; it was canceled at approximately two thirds completion because Mikami decided it was inadequate. The final design introduced a more cinematic presentation.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Resident Evil 2" received acclaim for its atmosphere, setting, graphics, audio, scenarios, overall gameplay, and its improvements over the original game, but with some criticism towards its controls, voice acting, and certain gameplay elements. It is widely listed among the best video games ever made. It is the best-selling "Resident Evil" game for a single platform at more than copies sold across all platforms. It was ported to Windows, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and GameCube, and a modified 2.5D version was released for the Game.com handheld. The story of "Resident Evil 2" was retold and built upon in several later games, and has been adapted into a variety of licensed works. It was followed by "" in 1999. A remake was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows in 2019.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: A survival horror game, "Resident Evil 2" features the same basic gameplay mechanics as its predecessor, "Resident Evil". The player explores a fictional city while solving puzzles and fighting monsters. The game's two protagonists may be equipped with firearms, but limited ammunition adds a tactical element to weapon use. On the status screen, the player can check the condition of the protagonists, use medicine to heal their wounds, and assign weapons. The characters' current health can also be determined by their posture and movement speed. For example, a character will hold their stomach in pain if wounded, and will limp slowly if on the verge of death. The protagonists may carry a limited number of items, and must store others in boxes placed throughout the game world, where they may later be retrieved. Each protagonist is joined by a support partner during the course of the story. These characters accompany the player in certain scenes, and occasionally become playable. Certain rooms contain typewriters that the player may use to save the game. However, each save expends one of a limited number of ink ribbons, which the player must collect in the game world. The graphics of "Resident Evil 2" are composed of real-time generated – and thus movable – polygonal character and item models, superimposed over pre-rendered backgrounds that are viewed from fixed camera angles. The game uses tank controls, meaning that pressing up moves the character forward, down reverses, and left and right rotates, independently of the camera perspective.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The main addition over the preceding game is the "Zapping System", by which each of the two playable characters are confronted with different puzzles and storylines in their respective scenarios. After finishing the "A" scenario with one protagonist, a "B" scenario, in which the events are depicted from the other character's perspective, is unlocked. The player may start the "A" scenario with either of the two protagonists, resulting in a total of four different scenarios. Actions taken during the first playthrough affect the second. For example, the availability of certain items may be altered.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: After each game, the player receives a ranking based on the total time taken to complete the scenario, and on the number of saves and special healing items used. Depending on the player's accomplishments, bonus weapons and costumes may be unlocked as a reward. The original version of "Resident Evil 2" contains two stand-alone minigames: "The 4th Survivor" and "The To-fu Survivor". In both of these minigames, the player must reach the goal while fighting every enemy along the way with only the default item loadout. All later versions (except the Nintendo 64 version) add a third minigame, "Extreme Battle", which consists of four playable characters and three stages.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: On September 29, 1998, two months after the events of the first "Resident Evil", most citizens of the Midwestern American mountain community Raccoon City have been transformed into zombies by the T-virus, a biological weapon secretly developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. Leon S. Kennedy, a police officer on his first day of duty, meets Claire Redfield, a college student looking for her brother Chris. After being separated, they each make their way to the Raccoon Police Department. They discover that most of the police force have been killed, and that Chris has left town to investigate Umbrella's headquarters in Europe. They split up to look for survivors and find a way out of the city. While searching for an escape route, Claire meets a little girl, Sherry Birkin, who is on the run from an unknown creature, and Leon encounters Ada Wong, who claims to be looking for her boyfriend John, an Umbrella researcher from Chicago.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Raccoon City police chief Brian Irons had been bribed by Umbrella to hide evidence of the company's experiments in the outskirts of the city. He concealed their development of the new G-virus, an agent capable of mutating a human into the ultimate bioweapon. Leon has multiple encounters with a Tyrant, a monster air-dropped into the Raccoon Police Department by Umbrella to seek the G-virus. Irons tries to murder Claire but is killed by a G-virus mutant in the police department. Claire and Sherry escape through the sewers and become separated. After splitting up with Leon, Ada finds Sherry and picks up a golden pendant the girl loses while running away. Further into the sewers, Ada reluctantly teams up with Leon again, after he insists on his duty to protect her. They encounter a middle-aged woman who fires at Ada, but Leon jumps between them and takes a bullet himself. Ada ignores the unconscious Leon and follows the woman, who reveals herself to be Sherry's mother Annette and the wife of William Birkin, the Umbrella scientist who created the G-virus. In an attempt to protect his life's work from special agents sent by the Umbrella headquarters, he injected himself with the virus, which turned him into the malformed creature and is now chasing Sherry because of her genetic make-up. Annette recognizes her daughter's pendant and attempts to take it from Ada. A fight ensues, during which Annette is thrown over a railing. Ada learns that the golden locket contains a sample of the G-virus, and later – taken over by her emotions – returns to Leon, tending to his bullet wound.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Meanwhile, Claire is reunited with Sherry and discovers that William has implanted his daughter with an embryo to produce offspring. Leon, Ada, Claire, and Sherry advance through an abandoned factory connected to Umbrella's secret underground research facility. An attack by William leaves Ada heavily wounded, and Leon explores the laboratory to find something to treat her wounds. He is interrupted by a psychotic Annette, who explains to him that Ada's relationship with John was only a means of getting information about Umbrella because Ada is a spy sent to steal the G-virus for an unknown organization. Just as Annette is about to shoot Leon, the Tyrant appears, and she is forced to retreat. Ada returns to save Leon and battles the Tyrant – which falls into a pit of molten metal – seemingly at the cost of her own life. She confesses her love to Leon, who leaves behind her motionless body, however, Ada survives. Meanwhile, Annette tries to escape with another sample of the G-virus but is fatally wounded by her mutated husband. However, before she dies, she tells Claire how to create a vaccine that will stop the mutations caused by the embryo within Sherry. After preparing the cure, Leon and Claire reunite at an emergency escape train and inject Sherry with the vaccine, which saves her life. En route, Leon is assisted in terminating the now-mutated Super Tyrant by Ada who escapes with the G-virus in the pendant. William—now mutated into an agglomeration of flesh and teeth—follows Leon and Claire, but is destroyed when the train self-destructs. After escaping from the city with Sherry, Leon intends to take down Umbrella, while Claire continues to search for Chris. HUNK, one of the surviving special agents sent by Umbrella, completes his G-virus retrieval mission.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Development of "Resident Evil 2" began one month after the completion of its predecessor in early 1996. "Resident Evil 2" was developed by a group of about 45 people that later became part of Capcom Production Studio 4. Director Hideki Kamiya led the team, which was composed of newer Capcom employees and over half of the staff from the original "Resident Evil". In the initial stages of development, producer Shinji Mikami often had creative disagreements with Kamiya, and tried to influence the team with his own direction. He eventually withdrew into an overseeing role as producer, and only demanded to be shown the latest build once monthly. The game took more than $1 million to create.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The first footage of "Resident Evil 2" was shown at the V Jump Festival '96 in July. This build, later dubbed "Resident Evil 1.5" by Mikami, differed drastically from the final version. Its plot followed the same basic outline and features a zombie outbreak in Raccoon City two months after the events of the first game. However, Umbrella had already been closed as a consequence of its illegal experiments.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The development team sought to retain the degree of fear from the original game, and introduced two characters without experience of terrifying situations: Leon S. Kennedy, largely identical to his persona in the final build, and Elza Walker, a college student and motorcycle racer vacationing in Raccoon City, her hometown. Unlike the final version, the character paths did not cross, and each character had two support partners instead of one. Leon received help from fellow police officer Marvin Branagh and researcher Linda – an early version of Ada – while Elza was aided by Sherry Birkin and John, who appears in "Resident Evil 2" as gun shop owner Robert Kendo. Mikami also revealed in 1996 that the sequel would have new monsters, and the number of onscreen enemies would be increased to "around seven or more" to produce "the sensation of terror as the monsters swarm around the character".


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Real-world examples influenced character designs by artists Isao Ohishi and Ryoji Shimogama. For example, Ohishi based Leon on his bloodhound, and Annette Birkin on actress Jodie Foster. The police department was smaller with a more modern and realistic design. There were more encounters with surviving policemen, such as a superior officer of Leon named Roy. Enemy models used far fewer polygons, allowing many zombies to appear on the screen. The game employed dynamic music, and altered pre-rendered backgrounds in response to gameplay events. The playable characters could use equipment such as protective clothes to enhance their defense and enable them to carry more items. The character models were altered by costume changes and by damage received from enemies.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Believing the game's assets were good individually, but not yet satisfactory as a whole, Mikami expected that everything would coalesce in the three months leading up to the projected May 1997 release date. Soon after, "Resident Evil 1.5" was scrapped at 60–80 percent completion. Mikami later explained that the game would not have reached the desired quality on time, and that the gameplay and locations were dull.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Mikami planned to the end the series with "Resident Evil 2". Supervisor Yoshiki Okamoto criticized the story, finding it too conclusive to allow for future installments. Instead, Okamoto proposed the creation of a fictional universe that would turn "Resident Evil" into a metaseries – similar to the "Gundam" and "James Bond" franchises – in which self-contained stories with common elements could be told.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: During a period in which the team made no progress rewriting the scenario, Okamoto was introduced to professional screenwriter Noboru Sugimura, who was enthusiastic about the first game's story. Sugimura was initially consulted on a trial basis, but Okamoto was impressed by the ease with which Sugimara solved script problems, and soon asked him to compose the entire scenario for "Resident Evil 2". One fundamental modification to the story was the reworking of Elza Walker into Claire Redfield, in order to introduce a connection to the plot of the first game.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: To fulfill Capcom's sales plan of two million copies, director Kamiya tried to attract new customers with a more ostentatious and Hollywood-like story presentation. As Okamoto did not want to simply enforce the new direction, he had Sugimura discuss the plot revisions with Mikami and the development staff. The planners redesigned the game from the ground up to fit the changes, and the programmers and other remaining members of the team were sent to work on "Resident Evil Director's Cut", which was shipped with a playable preview disc of the new "Resident Evil 2" version in order to promote the sequel and to apologize to the players for its belated release.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Few assets from "Resident Evil 1.5" could be recycled, as the principal locations in the final build had been made to look more extravagant and artistic, based on photographs taken of the interiors of Western-style buildings in Japanese cities. The environments were created on SGI O2 computers, and each background took two or three weeks to render. The maximum number of zombies displayed on the screen at one time was limited to seven, making it possible to use 450 polygons for the comparatively detailed models of Leon and Claire. The protagonists, instead of being given visible wounds, were made to limp slowly upon receiving heavy damage. Other than the graphics, one of the most important new features is the "Zapping System", which was partly inspired by "Back to the Future Part II", a time travel-themed film sequel that offers a different perspective on the story of the original film. The voice-overs by the all-Canadian cast of "Resident Evil 2" were recorded before the actual cutscenes were completed, with each of the actors selected from a roster of ten people per role. Thereafter, the full-motion videos (FMVs) were created by filming stop-motion animations of action figures, which were then rendered to completed pictures with computer graphics (CG) tools. Ada's movie model could not be finished in time. Thus, she is the only main character not to appear in a pre-rendered cutscene.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Regional releases required several changes. The North American version contains more violent game over screens, which were removed from the Japanese "Biohazard 2". "Resident Evil 2" was made more difficult (and thus longer-playing) than its Japanese equivalent to prevent short-term rentals from affecting U.S. sales.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The music for "Resident Evil 2" was composed by Masami Ueda, Shusaku Uchiyama, and Syun Nishigaki, except one track composed by Naoshi Mizuta. The music conveys "desperation" as its underlying theme. In his role as lead composer, Ueda provided the motifs, and Uchiyama provided the horror-themed music for the investigation and movie scenes. The main theme, a versatile three-note leitmotif, appears several times throughout the story, included in compositions such as "Prologue", "Raccoon City", and "The Third Malformation of G". Various musical styles, ranging from ambient horror to industrial, represent the different game environments. For example, the streets of Raccoon City are emphasized with militaristic percussion-based music, and the police department features ominous piano underscores. Key events of the story are supported with orchestral and cinematic compositions – a move that was inspired by blockbuster films.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Two albums containing music from the game were released in January and August 1998, respectively. The first, "Biohazard 2 Original Soundtrack", is the main release and includes most of the significant compositions. The second, "Biohazard 2 Complete Track", largely encompasses less prevalent themes, but offers an orchestral medley and a second CD with sound effects, voice collections, and an interview with the sound staff. The European version of "Biohazard 2 Original Soundtrack" has an identical CD, "Resident Evil 2 Original Soundtrack". In the North American version, the opening theme "The Beginning of Story" is split into four individual tracks. Five orchestral arrangements were included on the "Bio Hazard Orchestra Album", a live concert performed by the New Japan Philharmonic. Disc jockey Piston Nishizawa created electronic remixes for several of the compositions, which were later released as the album "Biohazard 2 Remix: Metamorphoses".


title: Resident Evil 2

text: In Japan, marketing included a live action television commercial directed by renowned zombie film director George Romero. The commercial was filmed on location at Lincoln Heights Jail and starred Brad Renfro as Leon Kennedy and Adrienne Frantz as Claire Redfield. The game had a marketing budget of $5 million.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: After its initial release for the PlayStation in January 1998, "Resident Evil 2" was reissued and ported to other systems, many gaining new features in the process.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The first re-release is the "Dual Shock Ver.", which supports the vibration and analog control functions of the PlayStation's DualShock controller. Other additions include a new unlockable minigame called "Extreme Battle", and a "Rookie" mode that enables the player to start the main story with a powerful weapon and infinite ammunition. The Japanese release of the "Dual Shock Ver." contains a "U.S.A. Version" mode based on the difficulty level of "Resident Evil 2"s Western versions. The "Dual Shock Ver." served as the basis for the majority of ports, such as the Windows 9x-based PC-CD version "Resident Evil 2 Platinum". The PC version retains all previously added features and can be run in higher resolutions. A "Data Gallery" was added to the main menu, allowing the player to view movies, rough sketches, illustrations, and 3D models. In February 2006, a Japan-exclusive, Windows XP-compatible PC-DVD re-release was published. Developed by Sourcenext, it includes high-quality FMVs encoded at 640×480 pixels.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The Dreamcast version keeps the additions from the original PC release, and incorporates real-time display of the character's condition on the Visual Memory Unit peripheral. The Japanese edition of the Dreamcast port has the subtitle "Value Plus" and a playable demo of "". An unmodified port of the "Dual Shock Ver." was released for the GameCube. The initial PlayStation version was re-released on the Japanese PlayStation Network in 2007, and the service's North American counterpart received the "Dual Shock Ver." two years later.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The Nintendo 64 version of "Resident Evil 2" is one of the few games released for the console to have FMVs, overcoming the limited storage space on the cartridge. The PlayStation version with two CD-ROMs of up to per disc was faithfully replicated (with unique enhancements) on a Nintendo 64 Game Pak. In the process, audio and video assets had to be more aggressively and creatively compressed, using novel techniques that shift the burden away from storage and toward the console's high real-time processing power. Across twelve months and with a budget of $1 million, "Resident Evil 2" was ported to the console by a team led by nine full-time and one part-time personnel from Angel Studios. Further help was provided by ten staff from Capcom Production Studio 3 and Factor 5. This version offers features that were not included on any other system, such as alternate costumes, the ability to adjust the degree of violence and to change the blood color, a randomizer to place items differently during each playthrough, and a more responsive first-person control scheme. Additionally, the port features 16 new in-game documents known as the "Ex Files", written by Tetsuro Oyama. Hidden throughout the four scenarios, they reveal new information about the series' lore and connect the story of "Resident Evil 2" to those of the other installments, including some that had not been released yet.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The Nintendo 64 version adjusts its display resolution depending on the number of polygonal models currently on screen, and supports the Expansion Pak accessory for a maximum resolution of 640×480 during gameplay. Other visual enhancements include smoother character animations and sharper, perspective-corrected textures for the 3D models. This is the only version to use surround sound, with the soundtrack converted to Dolby Surround by Chris Hülsbeck, Rudolf Stember, and Thomas Engel. The team reworked the sound set from scratch to provide each instrument with a higher sample rate than on the PlayStation, resulting in higher-quality music. Some features from the other enhanced versions based on the "Dual Shock Ver." do not appear in the Nintendo 64 version, such as the "Extreme Battle" minigame. In 2018, Eurogamer called this "one of the most ambitious [and impressive] console ports of all time".


title: Resident Evil 2

text: A port of "Resident Evil 2" for the Sega Saturn was developed at Capcom, with plans for it to use the console's 4 MB RAM cartridge, but technical difficulties led to its cancellation in October 1998.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: Tiger Electronics released a black and white sprite-based 2.5D version for its Game.com handheld in late 1998. It includes only Leon's story path, and lacks many of the original game's core features, including cutscenes and music. This was the first "Resident Evil" game to be released on a handheld console.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Resident Evil 2" received critical acclaim upon release. Its original PlayStation release holds an average aggregate score of 93% at GameRankings based on 25 reviews, and 89 out of 100 points at Metacritic for both the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions based on 13 reviews. The majority of reviews praised "Resident Evil 2" for its atmosphere, setting, graphics, audio, and overall gameplay, but criticized its controls, voice acting, and certain gameplay elements.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Computer and Video Games" magazine's Steve Key and Alex Huhtahla praised the gameplay, puzzles, horror, graphics, audio, and the scenario system's replay factor. "Electronic Gaming Monthly" magazine's four reviewers agreed it was better than the original game, and said almost everything about the sequel is "flawless", including the gameplay, graphics, layout, level of detail, sound, frightful atmosphere, suspenseful story, and scenario system. They criticized the controls and menu system, but said the controls were an improvement over the original. The game tied with the PlayStation version of "Point Blank" for their "Game of the Month". "GameFan" magazine's three reviewers praised the gameplay, tension, environments, graphics, voice acting, and scenario system. "Game Informer" magazine's three reviewers praised the concept, graphics, sound, playability, and entertainment. "" magazine praised the puzzles, monsters, and weapons. "Next Generation" called it "the must-own title of the year", saying it made leaps over the original game in terms of longevity and graphics while retaining the original's core appeal.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: IGN's Ricardo Sanchez said that the game's atmosphere was "dead on", and that "[the] graphics, sound effects, music, and level design all work together to create a spooky, horror-filled world". Ryan Mac Donald of GameSpot shared the opinion, and found the game to be "like a product out of Hollywood". He said that it was "more an interactive, cinematic experience than a video game". Writing for "ComputerAndVideoGames.com", Paul Mallinson considered the atmosphere, story, and film-like presentation its most outstanding features, and though he found its plot to be "far-fetched", he said it was "kept down to earth by clever scripting and gritty storytelling". "GamePro" staff writer Mike Weigand called the narrative "engrossing and dramatic", and the dialogue "well-written" and "spell-binding". IGN's Sanchez, GameSpy's Brian Davis, and Eurogamer's Martin Taylor praised the "Zapping System" for adding to the story and increasing the replay value. Mac Donald said that the idea of actions in the first scenario affecting the second was "cool in concept", but underused.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Resident Evil 2" was also praised for its graphics, which many critics said were a substantial improvement upon those of the first installment. Sanchez and Weigand said that the pre-rendered backgrounds were an impressive leap ahead of those in the original "Resident Evil", due to their increased detail and interactivity. "Next Generation" said that the character models now stood out less from the backgrounds. Shawn Smith of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" found the rendered cutscenes far preferable to the live action ones of the original. Mac Donald praised the model animations for having reached "true realism", and commended the use of body language as a means of seamlessly communicating the condition of the protagonists' health. Allgame's Shawn Sackenheim awarded its graphics the highest possible score, as he found the backgrounds to be "rendered to perfection", the cutscenes "a work of art", and the animation "fluid and eerie". The audio was well received by critics. Weigand cited it as an "excellent accompaniment to the visuals". Sanchez went as far as to say that "Resident Evil 2" "may have the best sound design yet for a console game". "Next Generation" said it had "the most precise and realistic sound effects ever heard in any game". Sackenheim described the music and sound effects as "spot on perfect" and the soundtrack "perfectly composed", and Mac Donald likened the use of audio to that of classic horror films.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: A common point of criticism was the inventory system, which Sanchez called "a pain". He disliked the player's need to retrieve objects from item boxes, and Mac Donald criticized the system for being unrealistic, as the boxes are "[magically]" interconnected and all items take the same amount of space when being carried, regardless of their size. Furthermore, Mallinson and Mac Donald disapproved of certain puzzles, as out of place in a police station setting. Sanchez said that the puzzles were paced better than in the first game, but less interesting and too easy for experienced players. "Next Generation" praised the game's massive length and said that the differences between each character's scenario were great enough to make the replay value ten times greater than that of the original, which used a similar two-scenario system. Sackenheim said the game was brief, and remarked that the individual scenarios are not different enough to hold the interest of casual players until the end of the game. He found the controls to be "easy to pick up and play", and Sanchez said that aiming weapons was difficult. Some reviewers panned the voice acting, calling it "cheesy", "terrible", and "barbaric".


title: Resident Evil 2

text: With the exception of the critically acclaimed Nintendo 64 version, most later releases of "Resident Evil 2" have received slightly lower scores than the PlayStation version. Weigand advised players who already owned "Resident Evil 2" to rent the "Dual Shock Ver." for the "Extreme Battle" minigame, and recommended that newcomers buy the updated edition instead of the original release. The Windows version was praised for its additional content, but criticized for not allowing the player to save at will, and for lacking updated backgrounds to fit the higher in-game resolution. Eurogamer said that version's total elimination of CD-ROM load times make the game "extremely fun and simple". The Nintendo 64 version was widely commended for the technical achievement of fitting a two-disc game on a single cartridge. However, Taylor criticized this version for retaining scenes from the PlayStation version that were used to conceal its CD-ROM loading times – a technical disadvantage absent from cartridge. "GamePro" writer "The Freshman" was impressed with the enhanced graphics of the Nintendo 64 version, but was disappointed by its heavily compressed FMVs. GameSpot's Joe Fielder found the compression to be forgivable given the cartridge format, and that the new exclusive features made up for the lack of the "Extreme Battle" mode. Eurogamer said the Nintendo 64's unique analog control "works supremely well to the point where it's borderline game-breaking". IGN reviewer Matt Casamassina applauded the implementation of Dolby Surround support, and called the Nintendo 64 release the "best version of the game". In 2018, Eurogamer called it "one of the most ambitious [and impressive] console ports of all time".


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The clearer sound effects of the Dreamcast port were received well by Game Revolution's Shawn Sparks, who also remarked that the character models look slightly sharper. However, Steve Key of "Computer And Video Games" disliked the Dreamcast release's low-resolution backgrounds, which he thought made the characters stand out too much from the environments, and thus lessened the atmosphere. GameSpot staff writer James Mielke said that the Dreamcast port was not "an essential purchase", but still a "great game" at an attractively low price. The GameCube release was heavily criticized for its high price and dated graphics. However, "Four-Eyed Dragon" of "GamePro" noted its superior in-game visuals compared to any other version. Davis and 1UP.com's Mark MacDonald were disappointed by the version's lack of features that were included in the Nintendo 64 release. Peer Schneider of IGN found the 2.5D version for the Game.com to be frustrating and only "partially faithful" to the original release of "Resident Evil 2". Although he believed that its graphics and sound effects managed to recreate the original game's atmosphere to a certain extent, he thought that its controls were too "sluggish" to allow for an enjoyable experience.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Resident Evil 2" was promoted with a advertising campaign. In Italy, the game reached 100,000 pre-orders, worth over 12 billion lire or . It became the fastest-selling video game in North America. On the weekend following its release, more than 380,000 copies were sold, grossing . It therefore surpassed the opening revenue of all but one Hollywood movie at that time and broke previous sales records set by the video games "Final Fantasy VII" and "Super Mario 64". After one and a half months, the game's global sales had topped 3 million copies, with 1.9 million sold in Japan and over a million sold in the United States.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Weekly Famitsu" named it Japan's best-selling game for the first half of 1998, with sales of 2.13 million units. By August 1998, 2,298,814 copies were sold in Japan. According to The NPD Group, it was 1998's sixth best-selling game in the United States. At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes, "Resident Evil 2" took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above or in the European Union during 1998. With 4.96 million copies sold, the original PlayStation version of "Resident Evil 2" was a commercial success, and is the franchise's best-selling game on a single platform. By March 1999, approximately units of all versions of "Resident Evil" and "Resident Evil 2" had been sold worldwide, including 810,000 copies of "Resident Evil 2: Dual Shock Ver.", totaling copies for both PlayStation versions of "Resident Evil 2".


title: Resident Evil 2

text: In Japan, 17,973 copies of the Nintendo 64 and GameCube versions were sold, and in the United States, 326,397 copies of the Nintendo 64 version were sold, totaling at least . Total worldwide sales were at least units across PlayStation and Nintendo platforms.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: In "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s 1998 Gamers' Choice Awards, "Resident Evil 2" was the runner-up for Best Adventure Game of the Year and Readers' Choice Best PlayStation Game of the Year, behind "Metal Gear Solid" which won in both award categories. The Video Software Dealers Association nominated it for Video Game of the Year.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Resident Evil 2" has been held in high regard in the years following its initial release, and was named the fourth best game on the PlayStation by "Famitsu". It is listed as one of the 100 best games of all time by "Electronic Gaming Monthly" (62nd), IGN (58th), "Empire" (49th), "Game Informer" (34th), and "Official UK PlayStation Magazine" (6th). Readers of "Retro Gamer" voted "Resident Evil 2" the 97th top retro game, and the staff wrote it was "considered by many to be the best in the long-running series". GameTrailers ranked it fourth on a list of the games that most needed remakes.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: In Italy, "Resident Evil 2" was temporarily banned in 1999 following criticism from the political organization "Movimento Diritti Civili" (Civil Rights Movement) for its realistic depiction of violence, with the law enforcement agency Guardia di Finanza seizing over 5,500 unsold copies. Sony Computer Entertainment asked for a re-examination of the seizure decree, and the ban was lifted a few months later.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Resident Evil 2" is the basis of several licensed works and later games. Ted Adams and Kris Oprisko loosely adapted it into the comics "Raccoon City – R.I.P." and "A New Chapter of Evil", which were released in the first and second issues of "Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine" in March and June 1998. The 60-issue Hong Kong comics "Biohazard 2" was published weekly from February 1998 to April 1999. A romantic comedy retelling of the game's story, centered on Leon, Claire and Ada, was released as the Taiwanese two-issue comic "Èlíng Gǔbǎo II" (lit. "Demon Castle II"). "Resident Evil: City of the Dead", a 1999 book written by S. D. Perry, is a more direct adaptation of the narrative, and is the third release in her series of "Resident Evil" novelizations, published by Pocket Books in 1999.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The mobile game "Resident Evil: Uprising" contains a condensed version of the "Resident Evil 2" story, adapted by Megan Swaine. "", an on-rails shooter released for the Wii in 2009, includes a scenario named "Memories of a Lost City", which reimagines the original "Resident Evil 2" plot while retaining key scenes from the game's four scenarios. In 2008, "Resident Evil 5" producer Jun Takeuchi, who had previously worked on the series as weapons designer and graphics animator, alluded to the possibility of a full-fledged remake. Such a project had already been considered for the GameCube in 2002, but Mikami abandoned the idea as he did not want to delay the in-development "Resident Evil 4".


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Resident Evil 2" appears in the British sitcom "Spaced" in the episode "Art", in which a character hallucinates that he is fighting a zombie invasion. "Spaced" director Edgar Wright cited this episode inspired by "Resident Evil 2" as the basis for his zombie comedy film "Shaun of the Dead" (2004).


title: Resident Evil 2

text: The story arcs introduced in "Resident Evil 2" continue in drama albums and later game releases. Kyoko Sagiyama, Junichi Miyashita, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Noboru Sugimura, Hirohisa Soda, and Kishiko Miyagi – screenwriters employed by Capcom's former scenario subsidiary Flagship – created two radio dramas, "Chiisana Tōbōsha Sherry" ("The Little Runaway Sherry") and "Ikiteita Onna Spy Ada" ("The Female Spy Ada Lives"). The dramas were broadcast on Radio Osaka in early 1999, and later released by publisher Suleputer as two separate CDs, "Biohazard 2 Drama Album". "Chiisana Tōbōsha Sherry" begins shortly after the events of the game. Sherry is separated from Claire while fleeing from Umbrella soldiers sent to kill all witnesses of the viral outbreak. Raccoon City is burned down by the U.S. Government and Umbrella in an attempt to cover up the disaster. Sherry seeks refuge in the neighboring town of Stone Ville, and later escapes to Canada with the help of a girl named Meg, who vows to help her reunite with Claire.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: "Ikiteita Onna Spy Ada" is set a few days after "Resident Evil 2", and deals with Ada's mission to retrieve Sherry's pendant with the G-virus sample, which is said to be in the possession of HUNK in the backstory of the drama album. Ada intercepts the delivery of the locket in France, and kills HUNK and his men. As a consequence of an accidental T-virus leak in Loire Village, the destination of the delivery, Ada is forced to retreat to an old castle. Along with a unit of the French Air Force sent to burn down the village, she encounters Christine Henry, the Umbrella facility director who gave HUNK the order to deliver the G-virus to France. Jacob, the leader of the airborne unit, is revealed to be Christine's co-conspirator. However, he plans to keep the G-virus sample for himself, and shoots her. Philippe, another member of the unit, convinces Ada to give him the pendant, after which he injects himself with the G-virus to give himself the power to stop Jacob. Ada escapes and realizes her feelings for Leon, deciding to quit the spy business and return to him. The characters' story arcs are continued differently: Sherry is taken into custody by the U.S. Government immediately after the events of "Resident Evil 2", and Ada keeps the pendant with the G-virus and resumes her activities as a spy. Hunk successfully delivers a separate G-virus sample to Umbrella.


title: Resident Evil 2

text: In August 2015, Capcom announced that a remake of "Resident Evil 2" was in development. Capcom unveiled the game at E3 2018, with trailers and gameplay footage, and a worldwide release date of January 25, 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. The game uses the RE Engine, which is also in "", and replaces the tank controls and fixed camera angles with "over-the-shoulder" gameplay similar to "Resident Evil 4".


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ""elder brother"" in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain who served as the 35th President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He is popularly called as "Maharaja" of Indian Cricket. During his playing career, Ganguly established himself as one of the world's leading batsmen and also one of the most successful captains of the Indian national cricket team. While batting, he was especially prolific through the off side, earning himself the nickname "God of the Off Side" for his elegant stroke play square of the wicket and through the covers.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: As a cricketer he played as a left-handed opening batsman and was captain of the Indian national team. Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother, Snehasish. He started his career by playing in state and school teams. After playing in different Indian domestic tournaments, such as the Ranji and Duleep trophies, Ganguly got his big-break while playing for India on their tour of England. He scored 131 runs and cemented his place in the Indian team. Ganguly's place in the team was assured after successful performances in series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia, winning the Man of the Match awards. In the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he was involved in a partnership of 318 runs with Rahul Dravid, which remains the highest overall partnership score in the World Cup tournament history.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Due to the match-fixing scandals in 2000 by other players of the team, and for his poor health, Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar resigned his position, and Ganguly was made the captain of the Indian cricket team. He was soon the subject of media criticism after an unsuccessful stint for county side Durham and for taking off his shirt in the final of the 2002 NatWest Series. He led India into the 2003 World Cup final, where they were defeated by Australia. Due to a decrease in individual performance, he was dropped from the team in the following year. He returned to the National team in 2006, and made successful batting displays. Around this time, he became involved in a dispute with Indian team coach Greg Chappell over several misunderstandings. Ganguly was again dropped from the team, however he was selected to play in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times, and one of the greatest ODI batsmen of all time.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Currently, he is the 8th highest run scorer in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and was the 3rd batsman in history to cross the 10,000 run landmark, after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam Ul Haq. In 2002, the "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack" ranked him the sixth greatest ODI batsman of all time, next to Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Dean Jones and Michael Bevan. Ganguly joined the Kolkata Knight Riders team as captain for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament in 2008. The same year, after a home Test series against Australia, he announced his retirement from international cricket. He continued to play for the Bengal team and was appointed the chairman of the Cricket Association of Bengal's Cricket Development Committee. The left-handed Ganguly was a prolific One Day International (ODI) batsman, with over 11,000 ODI runs to his credit. He is one of the most successful Indian Test captains to date, winning 21 out of 49 test matches. Sourav Ganguly is the most successful Indian test captain overseas with 11 wins. The Indian team was ranked eighth in the ICC rankings before he became the captain, and under his tenure the team rank went up to second. An aggressive captain, Ganguly is credited with having nurtured the careers of many young players who played under him, and transforming the Indian team into an aggressive fighting unit.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Ganguly was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004. He was awarded with the Banga Bibhushan Award from the Government of West Bengal in 2013. Along with Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjiv Goenka, and Utsav Parekh, Ganguly is also the co-owner of Atlético de Kolkata, a franchise of the Indian Super League, which won the inaugural season in 2014. He was also the brand ambassador of I-League side Mohammedan Sporting. Ganguly was elected as a president of the BCCI in 2019. and President of the editorial board with Wisden India. Before being elected as the President of BCCI, he was the President of Cricket Association of Bengal, governing body for cricket in West Bengal, India. He is currently a part of the Supreme Court of India appointed Justice Mudgal Committee probe panel for the IPL Spot fixing and betting scandal's investigations.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Sourav Ganguly was born on 8 July 1972 in Calcutta, and is the youngest son of Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly. Chandidas ran a flourishing print business and was one of the richest men in the city. Ganguly had a luxurious childhood and was nicknamed the 'Maharaja', meaning the "Great King". Ganguly's father Chandidas Ganguly died at the age of 73 on 21 February 2013 after a long illness.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Since the favourite sport for the people of Calcutta was football, Ganguly was initially attracted to the game. However, academics came in-between his love for sports and Nirupa was not very supportive of Ganguly taking up cricket or any other sport as a career. By then, his elder brother Snehasish was already an established cricketer for the Bengal cricket team. He supported Ganguly's dream to be a cricketer and asked their father to get Ganguly enrolled in a cricket coaching camp during his summer holidays. Ganguly was studying in tenth standard at that time.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Despite being right-handed, Ganguly learnt to bat left-handed so he could use his brother's sporting equipment. After he showed some promise as a batsman, he was enrolled in a cricket academy. An indoor multi-gym and concrete wicket was built at their home, so he and Snehasish could practice the game. They used to watch a number of old cricket match videos, especially the games played by David Gower, whom Ganguly admired. After he scored a century against the Orissa Under–15 side, he was made captain of St Xavier's School's cricket team, where several of his teammates complained against what they perceived to be his arrogance. While touring with a junior team, Ganguly refused his turn as the twelfth man, as he reportedly felt that the duties involved, which included organising equipment and drinks for the players, and delivering messages, were beneath his social status. Ganguly purportedly refused to do such tasks as he considered it beneath his social status to assist his teammates in such a way. However, his playmanship gave him a chance to make his first-class cricket debut for Bengal in 1989, the same year that his brother was dropped from the team.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: He is married to Indian classical dancer dancer Dona Ganguly, with whom he has a daughter Sana (b. 2001).


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: On 2 January 2021, Ganguly complained of chest pain while exercising and was later diagnosed with three blocked coronary arteries which had led to a mild cardiac arrest. He underwent primary angioplasty for one of the blockages on the same day.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Following a prolific Ranji season in 1990–91, Ganguly scored three runs in his One Day International (ODI) debut for India against the West Indies in 1992. He was dropped immediately since he was perceived to be "arrogant" and his attitude towards the game was openly questioned. It was rumoured that Ganguly refused to carry drinks for his teammates, commenting that it was not his job to do so, later denied by him. Consequently, he was removed from the team. He toiled away in domestic cricket, scoring heavily in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 Ranji seasons. Following an innings of 171 in the 1995–96 Duleep Trophy, he was recalled to the Indian team for a tour of England in 1996, in the middle of intense media scrutiny. He played in a single ODI, but was omitted from the team for the first Test. However, after teammate Navjot Singh Sidhu left the touring party, citing ill-treatment by then captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Ganguly made his Test debut against England in the Second Test of a three-match series at Lord's Cricket Ground along with Rahul Dravid. England had won the First Test of the three-match series; however, Ganguly scored a century, becoming only the third cricketer to achieve such a feat on debut at Lord's, after Harry Graham and John Hampshire. Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior have since accomplished this feat, but Ganguly's 131 still remains the highest by any batsman on his debut at the ground. India was not required to bat in the second innings due to the match ending in a draw. In the next Test match at Trent Bridge he made 136, thus becoming only the third batsman to make a century in each of his first two innings (after Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharran). He shared a 255 run stand with Sachin Tendulkar, which became at that time the highest partnership for India against any country for any wicket outside India. The Test again ended in a draw, handing England a 1–0 series victory; Ganguly scored 48 in the second innings.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Weeks after his successful tour of England, Ganguly eloped with childhood sweetheart Dona Roy. The bride and groom's family were sworn enemies at that point and this news caused an uproar between them. However, both families reconciled and a formal wedding was held in February 1997. Same year, Ganguly scored his maiden ODI century by hitting 113, opposed to Sri Lanka's team total of 238. Later that year, he won four consecutive man of the match awards, in the Sahara Cup with Pakistan; the second of these was won after he took five wickets for 16 runs off 10 overs, his best bowling in an ODI. After a barren run in Test cricket his form returned at the end of the year with three centuries in four Tests, all against Sri Lanka, and two of these involved stands with Sachin Tendulkar of over 250.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: During the third final of the Independence Cup at Dhaka in January 1998, India successfully chased down 315 off 48 overs, and Ganguly won the Man of the Match award. In March 1998 he was part of the Indian team that defeated Australia; in Kolkata, he took three wickets having opened the bowling with his medium pace.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Ganguly was part of the Indian team that competed in the 1999 World Cup in England. During the match against Sri Lanka at Taunton, India chose to bat. After Sadagoppan Ramesh was bowled, Ganguly scored 183 from 158 balls, and hit 17 fours and seven sixes. It was the second highest score in World Cup history and the highest by an Indian in the tournament at the time. His partnership of 318 with Rahul Dravid is the highest overall score in a World Cup and is the second highest in all ODI cricket. In 1999–00, India lost Test series to both Australia and South Africa that involved a combined total of five Tests. Ganguly struggled scoring 224 runs at 22.40; however his ODI form was impressive, with five centuries over the season taking him to the top of the PwC One Day Ratings for batsmen. Around the same time, allegations came that Ganguly was romantically involved with South Indian actress Nagma, something he denied.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: In 2000, after the match fixing scandal by some of the players of the team, Ganguly was named the captain of the Indian cricket team. The decision was spurred due to Tendulkar stepping down from the position for his health, and Ganguly being the vice-captain at that time. He began well as a captain, leading India to a series win over South Africa in the five-match one day series and led the Indian team to the finals of the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy. He scored two centuries, including one in the final; however, New Zealand still won by four wickets. The same year, Ganguly tried his hand at county cricket career in England but was not successful. In "The Wisden Cricketer", reviewers Steve Pittard and John Stern called him as "The imperious Indian—dubbed 'Lord Snooty'". They commented:


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: "At the crease it was sometimes uncertain whether his partner was a batsman or a batman being dispatched to take his discarded sweater to the pavilion or carry his kit bag. But mutiny was afoot among the lower orders. In one match Ganguly, after reaching his fifty, raised his bat to the home balcony, only to find it deserted. He did not inspire at Glamorgan or Northamptonshire either. At the latter in 2006 he averaged 4.80 from his four first-class appearances."


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: His Lancashire teammate Andrew Flintoff thought him to be aloof and compared his attitude to that of Prince Charles. In Australia's three Test and five-match ODI tour of India in early 2001, Ganguly caused controversy by arriving late for the toss on four occasions, something that agitated opposing captain Steve Waugh. In the Fourth ODI, he caused further controversy by failing to wear his playing attire to the toss, something considered unusual in cricket circles. However, India won the Test series 2–1, ending Australia's run of 16 consecutive Test match victories in the Second Test. The match saw India looking set for defeat after conceding a first innings lead of 274. Waugh chose to enforce the follow-on and V. V. S. Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) batted for the entire fourth day's play to set Australia a target of 384 on a dusty, spinning wicket. The Australians were unable to survive and became only the third team to lose a Test after enforcing the follow-on. In November 2001, Ganguly's wife Dona gave birth to their daughter Sana. During the final match of the 2002 NatWest Series held in Lords after a stunning performance by teammates Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, Ganguly took off his shirt in public and brandished it in the air to celebrate India's winning of the match. He was later strongly condemned for tarnishing the "gentleman's game" image of cricket and disrespecting Lord's protocol. Ganguly said that he was only mimicking an act performed by the British all-rounder Andrew Flintoff during a tour of India. In 2003, India reached the World Cup Final for the first time since 1983, where they lost to the Australians. Ganguly had a successful tournament personally, scoring 465 runs at an average of 58.12, including three centuries.<ref name="SC Ganguly / One-Day Internationals / Series averages"></ref>


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: By 2004, he had achieved significant success as captain and was deemed as India's most successful cricket captains by sections of the media. However, his individual performance deteriorated during his captaincy reign, especially after the World Cup, the tour of Australia in 2003 and the Pakistan series in 2004. In 2004, Australia won a Test series in India for the first time since 1969. It was speculated that Ganguly was in disagreement with the head of cricket in Nagpur over the type of pitch to be used for the Third Test. The groundsmen went against Ganguly, leaving a large amount of grass on the pitch. Some experts indicated that the reason for this was for "spite or revenge" against the Indian captain. When Australia's stand-in-captain, Adam Gilchrist, went to the toss, he noticed Rahul Dravid was waiting instead of Ganguly, leaving him to ask Dravid where Ganguly was. Dravid could not give a definitive answer, saying: "Oh, who knows?"


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Following indifferent form in 2004 and poor form in 2005, he was dropped from the team in October 2005. Having been nominated and rejected in 2000, when the game suffered a tarnished reputation due to match fixing scandals, the captaincy was passed to Dravid, his former deputy. Ganguly decided against retiring and attempted to make a comeback to the team. Ganguly was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004, India's fourth highest civilian award, in recognition of his distinguished contribution in the field of sports. He was presented with the award on 30 June 2004, by then President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: In September 2005, Greg Chappell became the coach of India for the tour of Zimbabwe. Ganguly's dispute with him resulted in many headlines. Chappell had emailed the Board of Control for Cricket in India, stating that Ganguly was "physically and mentally" unfit to lead India and that his "divide and rule" behaviour was damaging the team. This email was leaked to the media and resulted in huge backlash from Ganguly's fans. Ganguly had enlisted the support from the Indian media and eventually the board had to intervene and order a truce between the pair. BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra issued a statement that,


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: "In view of the decision that cricket is to go forward, both the coach and the captain have been asked to work out a mutual and professional working relationship. For this, performance will be the criteria, applicable to captain, coach and players. [...] Of course the captain controls the game, the coach does his own job. Mutual trust is important. Henceforth no player/captain/coach will write or have any interaction with the media. Going to the media will lead to disciplinary action."


title: Sourav Ganguly

text: Ganguly, Chappell and the Indian team manager for the Zimbabwe tour, Amitabh Choudhary, were asked to appear before the BCCI committee, where it was reported that assurance of working together was given by them. Consequently, due to his poor form and differences with the coach, Ganguly was dropped as the captain of the team, with Dravid taking his place. Chandresh Narayan, chief correspondent for "The Times of India", commented that "The row with Greg Chappell just added to the mystery, but he was going through a really bad patch then, his only score [of note] was a hundred against Zimbabwe and that didn't count for much." Ten months later, during India's tour to South Africa, Ganguly was recalled after his middle order replacements Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif suffered poor form.