Interview: Jas Patrick gives us the inside scoop on Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster

Dead Rising is a game near and dear to my heart, as there really was nothing like it at the time of release. Exploring the undead infested halls of the Willamette Parkview Mall and batting off the horde with whatever you could find was a blast, and it only got better the more you played.

Along the way you’d meet survivors sharing their stories, battle dangerous individuals who lost their sanity amidst the outbreak, and uncover a conspiracy that’ll change the United States forever. It’s for this reason I was thrilled to see Capcom was finally remastering the game for a modern audience.

Check out the trailer for Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster below

Recently I sat down for a chat with Jas Patrick, the voice actor behind the new Frank West who’s had roles in games like Octopath Traveler 2 and animated series like Scissor Seven. Together we discussed what it was like taking such a legendary Capcom character for a spin, as well as his history and passion for the Dead Rising series as a whole.

To kick things off I wanted to hear about Jas’ history with the Dead Rising series and Frank West as a character prior to voicing him in the remaster, and I couldn’t have been happier with this answer.

Jas began by saying Well the original Dead Rising kicked my butt constantly. It was a very cool game, I loved Frank who was just a really cool character, and very different from a lot of characters at the time, and really for video game history in general. He was kind of his own dude … he still had that every man thing going on. So I really, really loved the character, but I was terrible at the game.

“I'm a bit of a completionist, so the timers and things would make me a little crazy … I would go, ‘oh let’s go do this’ or 'Oh, got to do this’ and then the mall would blow up hahaha. I wasn't super huge into zombie games either, but I got there, you know, progressively, and it was RE (Resident Evil) that really sold me on it.”

Somewhere along the way we got sidetracked talking about real-life zombie apocalypse survival, and how games like Dead Rising probably make you think you could save the day if you were in Frank’s shoes…

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Jas: “I'm like, I don't think you're going to like that as much as you're thinking you're going to, you're going to be on the dinner menu. You are soft, and you don't know how to swing and axe for two minutes, you're not Frank West. You know, I'm a country boy, I've lived all my life in Nashville, and I've split wood. And you believe me, swinging an axe no matter how heavy it is, you know, even the lighter ones, it gets tiring after a while. You know, I just, I always think about the chapped hands and the blisters from, you know, never mind trying to hack. Not that I know anything about hacking through bodies, because I don't haha.”

Sam: Well, I was going to ask this later, but I might as well ask it now, if you were in Frank's shoes, if you were stuck in the mall for 72 hours, do you think you would get to the end for the helicopter to pick you up?

Jas: Oh absolutely if I saw someone I like to think I’d have the nobility to pull somebody into the room, but traipsing back out? I'm not a photojournalist, so I have absolutely no horse in the race to go get pictures of it. And I'm, you know, I also, whenever you see something online and there's some kind of catastrophe happening, or something awful happening, and the people just standing there filming it, I mean, that takes guts, that's a lot of grit. I tend to be more pragmatic than that.

“I'd like to think that I would help some people… I would definitely find a weapon. But would I, would I go be a hero? I mean, if they were on my way, I would definitely help them, but to go back out and just go around yeah, I don't know. But you know, maybe that's not the cool answer. Maybe I should say, hell yeah, I'd be out there you know?”

We then had a good laugh about Silent Hill 2 (2024), a game we’re both playing at the moment that gives you the option to do the sensible thing and drive away before entering the town.

Konami

Back to Dead Rising though, the remaster was a pleasant surprise for fans around the world, being suddenly announced on X by Capcom over the Summer. No one seemed to have inside knowledge of its existence, and Jas shed some light over how much of a closely-guarded secret it was during the game’s creation.

Sam: So what was that like for you? How far in advance did you know about it and was it easy to keep it a secret?

Jas: I didn't even tell my parents. Nobody knew, but I've known about it for, I don't know, almost two years, or however long it's been since I recorded. I just couldn't wait, I was super excited to play it. But no obviously I couldn't tell anyone, I was amazed at how under wraps it was.

“But yeah, when I didn't know that I was going to be Frank, when I auditioned for it, it was code names, and they made it an alien invasion. There were no pictures, and I knew nothing about the game. I didn't know that I was Frank until three minutes before recording. When I got there, the director said to me, ‘are you familiar with Dead Rising?’ I said, ‘absolutely’ and they said, you know the protagonist? I said ‘yeah Frank West’ and they said, ‘oh good, we won't have to tell you anything about it then, you're Frank West.’ And I plopped down on the couch that I'd been sitting in, and then I jumped up and I went to go hug the director, and then, and then caught myself, because I don't know the person, you know … so then I awkwardly, like, patted his shoulder, and then I just said, ‘thank you thank you.’”

Now when the remaster was first announced, many were hoping that Frank West’s original English voice actor TJ Rotolo would be returning to the role. While this obviously wasn’t the case Jas made it clear to me that he wanted to live up to the work TJ place into the role but put a new spin on it at the same time.

“I had to match the lip flaps, and things like that. So if you go and you line TJ and I up, if he goes, ‘dada, dada’, I go, ‘dada, dada’, and you can line them up, and they'll play almost, almost exactly. But I wasn't trying as some people said, ‘oh it looks like he's doing an impression’, I don't do impressions. You know, I was, honestly, I was trying to make it as much of me as I could, while still having this rigid structure to stay within. And I really loved doing parts where there was no voice in the prior games, like with the Japanese tourists and stuff, there wasn't an original voice to that. So I was more free and that was really fun because I got to be Frank, but I got to be more me Frank versus TJ Frank, you know.”

Fortunately I think the majority of fans were more than impressed with Jas’ stamp on the role, as it struck an excellent balance of being a new version of Frank, but still recognisable as Frank.

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Jas: In my fondest dreams. I wanted it to be like Nick (Apostolides) in [Resident Evil 2 and 4] because it was the same thing with him. It came out, and people are like, ‘well this isn't Leon’. And then now he is Leon. And I've had the same thing with me. People telling me, you know, ‘you are Frank'. And it's awesome dude. Because I try hard in everything I do, but I really, I respected this guy, this material, and I wanted it to be badass.”

Now I couldn’t have this interview without asking about the future holds for Jas and Frank, and whether there were any other iconic Capcom IPs he’d like to be part of one day.

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Jas: “Resident Evil baby, RE,I love RE, and I didn't always though that's the thing. I came to it later, and I played the original, the OG, and I made through most of it, and it was cool or whatever but, I mean, we're talking OG PlayStation, ‘you were almost a Jill Sandwich’, you know? Like, way old school.”

“I loved Final Fight when I was a little kid. I thought that was the coolest, because it kind of came out of nowhere. Those huge sprites, you know, they're just incredible. And I wanted to be Guy you know, coming with the back fist … I thought that was dope man.

Sam: “Well Marvel Vs Capcom is still quite a big series, and Frank has appeared in that so if there were to make another one, you could, in theory, be a fighting game character as well!”

Jas: “Oh, from your mouth to God's ear, please Capcom, I want to be in Marvel Vs Capcom. That would be, that would be so cool. That would be so cool. Yeah, anything Frank, man, I'll play Frank until I'm you know in the old folks home, (old man voice) ‘I've covered wars, you know’. I'll do it, yeah, as long as they'll let me, I'll do it.”

Sam: “Well if we're talking more Frank West, I suppose the next step would be like an Off The Record remaster. Obviously, they'd have to do Dead Rising 2 first, or maybe do them both at the same time?”

Jas: I think at the same time, it'd be dope. So like, you start off and you just pick you're either Chuck or you're Frank, instead of having DLC just, just do a Complete Edition, or the Definitive Edition, or something like that. You know the devs don't ask me my opinion, but that's just my opinion.”

Sam: “And how would you feel about doing a Dead Rising game that's entirely yours? Like a brand-new script for you to do?”

Jas: “Man yeah, that's the big prime rib right there. Absolutely, absolutely. Where do I sign up?”

Then just to round things off and have a bit of fun I had a few quick-fire questions about Jas’ favourite parts of the Dead Rising game.

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Sam: “So the first one, what are your go-to weapons? Are there any in particular that you immediately run to?”

Jas: “I make sure that I get my mannequin torso, I have like four mannequin torsos, at least three mannequin torsos at all times, maybe a lead pipe, but usually a katana or two, one of the mini chainsaws, a couple of orange juices and baseball bat. I like the baseball bat just because it's satisfying, or the lead pipe.”

Sam: “Next one, do you have a favourite psychopath mission?

Jas: Yeah, how can you not like Adam (The Clown)? I love Adam. He's a hoot, man but You know what though I love the convicts. I love the prisoners. Every time they come out, I kill them … and then I like to drive the jeep around and run over some stuff.”

Sam: “The remaster gives us even more outfits since they added a load of Capcom character costumes, any favourites in that selection?”

Jas: “There is a blue button down, black pants and a yellow tie, and I call it the Dai Bo outfit. So that's the outfit I wear all the time. But the outfits are dope man. I love Nemesis and it's so cool but it's weird, the Licker one, the Licker will make you crazy because anytime you do a cutscene, the tongue is like going through Jesse's face or something. Oh, it's so yucky. I don't, I don't want to look at the Licker but you know they're really cool.”

That’s unfortunately all I had time for, but if I had it my own way I’d have talked Dead Rising all day long. If you haven’t played Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster yet either as an old fan or a new one, I’d urge you to give it a go whenever you’ve got time. It’s a phenomenal game, and if the future of the Dead Rising series hinges on the success of the remake I think it’s in good hands, and after speaking to Jas about his performance and love for the character it’s clear Frank West is in good hands too.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is available for Xbox, PlayStation and PC platforms, as well as via Steam.