Crazy History of Resident Evil 4
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VOICE OVER: Riccardo Tucci
WRITTEN BY: Shane O'Gorman
Resident Evil 4's history was so elaborate and crazy that we had to do a separate video for it. Not only is it the best Resident Evil game (yeah we said it) but one of the best video games ever made. From the original version that went on to become Devil May Cry, to Resident Evil 4 Fog Version and Resident Evil 4 Hookman version, here is a complete history of Resident Evil 4.
When it comes to the pulse pounding combination of the action and horror genres in the world of video games, nothing arguably comes to mind sooner than the hugely successful “Resident Evil 4”. Breathing new life into the franchise and regarded to this day as one of the finest pieces of interactive entertainment ever produced, the creators must have clearly had a vision in mind for this title from the get-go for it to pan out so well, right? Well, not exactly. It may come as a surprise that the journey to such massive praise was hardly a smooth one for “Resident Evil 4” As there were 4 rejected iterations before we got the masterpiece we know today.
As we already covered in our ‘Franchise Origins of Resident Evil’ video: The first game in the series was first conceived as a remake of an earlier horror game titled “Sweet Home”, the project eventually shifted gears into a brand new I.P created by Shinji Mikami, resulting in a complete reinvigoration of the survival horror genre. You can find out more about that game’s development in our “Origins” video.
Flash forward to the start of the sixth generation of gaming, with Sony’s PlayStation 2, Nintendo’s GameCube and even Microsoft entering the scene with the Xbox. With new hardware and better technology, fans were excited to see what was next for “Resident Evil” and so was the development team behind it, as production initially began exclusively for the PlayStation 2.
Under the leadership of “Resident Evil 2” director Hideki Kamiya, The first iteration of Resi 4’s creative decisions were a drastic alteration from the traditional gameplay style of its predecessors. Rather than the slower and more methodical pace of prior games, ‘Resi 4’ was initially planned to feature a ‘cool’ superhuman protagonist for the player to control, moving through a series of visceral and lightning fast hack and slash combat sequences. Mikami felt this strayed too far from the series roots and development was restarted from scratch on “Resident Evil 4”. Kamiya’s work wasn’t a total loss however, as he took those same ideas and spawned an equally successful franchise for Capcom: “Devil May Cry” which was released in 2001.
In 2002, Capcom officially announced “Resident Evil 4” as a member of the ‘Capcom Five’; a group of five games to be exclusively released for the GameCube after striking a deal with Nintendo. The second iteration of “Resident Evil 4” (dubbed the “Fog version”) was first shown off to the public at the Tokyo Game Show that same year, Now under the direction of Hiroshi Shibata and with the game allegedly forty percent complete…things looked to be finally on track for the project.
This version of the game, which some fans though would be a sequel to the now non-canon GameBoy Color title: “Resident Evil Gaiden” was to feature Leon infiltrating a castle said to belong to Umbrella’s then unseen founder Oswald E. Spenser, while also dealing with his left arm being infected by the progenitor virus. However the game ran into technical limitations with the hardware at the time. So the team started production all over again, though they kept Leon’s iconic brown jacket design.
First shown off at E3 2003, the 3rd iteration’s most obvious change was a tonal shift to more paranormal based scares, with Leon traversing what appeared to be a haunted mansion, fending off hallucinating ghost enemies in a game that felt more akin to ‘Silent Hill’ or ‘Eternal Darkness’ in style than ‘Resident Evil’. It would also feature a recurring enemy known as “Hookman” which this iteration is named after. Some of the elements in the final release were present, such as the ‘over the shoulder’ aiming system, but overall, the “Hookman” version of the game didn’t sit quite right with Mikami either.
Technical issues once again ended up being the final nail in the coffin for the “Hookman” version. The game was designed to switch back and fourth between the real world and Leon’s hallucinations, but unfortunately the Gamecube had difficulties rendering two versions of the same room at any time. Thus the development of that version was scrapped in favor of returning the series to its roots. Little is known about this 4th version of the game as no official footage or trailer was ever released to the public, but after only a few months, this version was also shelved.
As the saying goes, “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”. So, after much trial and error, Shinji Mikami dismissed Hiroshi Shibata and returned to the director’s chair, this time with the hopes of that the 5th iteration would completely reinvent the series for the new generation. Mikami and other members of the development team had expressed fatigue with the old gameplay systems, feeling it was chaining them down from a creative perspective. With a set of fresh ideas and newfound enthusiasm, they set out to fire on all cylinders, making this installment the best yet…and suffice it to say, they knocked it out of the park.
Finally hitting store shelves in January of 2005, “Resident Evil 4” was hailed as a masterpiece, not just for the franchise but the video game medium as a whole with every aspect of its design being regarded as a breath of fresh air. Instead of the usual slow and dumb zombies, the ‘Ganado’ enemies were relentless, fast and aggressive, keeping combat consistently suspenseful as players clutched their controllers tightly, white-knuckling the experience from start to finish. The graphics, sound design and storyline were all top notch making for one heck of a breathless thrill-ride full of fun twists and bombastic set pieces. Naturally, a game this popular wouldn’t stay exclusive to the ‘Cube for long, eventually being ported to the PS2, Wii, iPhone…and…well, pretty much everything you can play games on. When are we getting a SmartFridge port Capcom? A hit in it’s day and still serving as the blueprint for the perfect combination of over the shoulder action and horror, with the “Dead Space” series and even Shinji Mikami’s latest creepy endeavor “The Evil Within” clearly drawing a page from ‘Resi 4’s book.
While development hell is usually a red flag for disaster on the gaming scene no thanks to Duke Nukem: Forever, “Resident Evil 4” is a prime example of this not always being the case. Although Shinji Mikami left Capcom after development concluded; Having faith in the project and exhibiting an inspiring amount of passion towards making the best product possible, despite all odds and creative hiccups along the way, should stand as an example for the industry. Still setting the standard for both third person shooters and survival/horror video games to this very day, it was more than worth the wait during its lengthy development history; and its still something worth checking out now…so, if you haven’t already…then go! Go, play “Resident Evil 4!”
As we already covered in our ‘Franchise Origins of Resident Evil’ video: The first game in the series was first conceived as a remake of an earlier horror game titled “Sweet Home”, the project eventually shifted gears into a brand new I.P created by Shinji Mikami, resulting in a complete reinvigoration of the survival horror genre. You can find out more about that game’s development in our “Origins” video.
Flash forward to the start of the sixth generation of gaming, with Sony’s PlayStation 2, Nintendo’s GameCube and even Microsoft entering the scene with the Xbox. With new hardware and better technology, fans were excited to see what was next for “Resident Evil” and so was the development team behind it, as production initially began exclusively for the PlayStation 2.
Under the leadership of “Resident Evil 2” director Hideki Kamiya, The first iteration of Resi 4’s creative decisions were a drastic alteration from the traditional gameplay style of its predecessors. Rather than the slower and more methodical pace of prior games, ‘Resi 4’ was initially planned to feature a ‘cool’ superhuman protagonist for the player to control, moving through a series of visceral and lightning fast hack and slash combat sequences. Mikami felt this strayed too far from the series roots and development was restarted from scratch on “Resident Evil 4”. Kamiya’s work wasn’t a total loss however, as he took those same ideas and spawned an equally successful franchise for Capcom: “Devil May Cry” which was released in 2001.
In 2002, Capcom officially announced “Resident Evil 4” as a member of the ‘Capcom Five’; a group of five games to be exclusively released for the GameCube after striking a deal with Nintendo. The second iteration of “Resident Evil 4” (dubbed the “Fog version”) was first shown off to the public at the Tokyo Game Show that same year, Now under the direction of Hiroshi Shibata and with the game allegedly forty percent complete…things looked to be finally on track for the project.
This version of the game, which some fans though would be a sequel to the now non-canon GameBoy Color title: “Resident Evil Gaiden” was to feature Leon infiltrating a castle said to belong to Umbrella’s then unseen founder Oswald E. Spenser, while also dealing with his left arm being infected by the progenitor virus. However the game ran into technical limitations with the hardware at the time. So the team started production all over again, though they kept Leon’s iconic brown jacket design.
First shown off at E3 2003, the 3rd iteration’s most obvious change was a tonal shift to more paranormal based scares, with Leon traversing what appeared to be a haunted mansion, fending off hallucinating ghost enemies in a game that felt more akin to ‘Silent Hill’ or ‘Eternal Darkness’ in style than ‘Resident Evil’. It would also feature a recurring enemy known as “Hookman” which this iteration is named after. Some of the elements in the final release were present, such as the ‘over the shoulder’ aiming system, but overall, the “Hookman” version of the game didn’t sit quite right with Mikami either.
Technical issues once again ended up being the final nail in the coffin for the “Hookman” version. The game was designed to switch back and fourth between the real world and Leon’s hallucinations, but unfortunately the Gamecube had difficulties rendering two versions of the same room at any time. Thus the development of that version was scrapped in favor of returning the series to its roots. Little is known about this 4th version of the game as no official footage or trailer was ever released to the public, but after only a few months, this version was also shelved.
As the saying goes, “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”. So, after much trial and error, Shinji Mikami dismissed Hiroshi Shibata and returned to the director’s chair, this time with the hopes of that the 5th iteration would completely reinvent the series for the new generation. Mikami and other members of the development team had expressed fatigue with the old gameplay systems, feeling it was chaining them down from a creative perspective. With a set of fresh ideas and newfound enthusiasm, they set out to fire on all cylinders, making this installment the best yet…and suffice it to say, they knocked it out of the park.
Finally hitting store shelves in January of 2005, “Resident Evil 4” was hailed as a masterpiece, not just for the franchise but the video game medium as a whole with every aspect of its design being regarded as a breath of fresh air. Instead of the usual slow and dumb zombies, the ‘Ganado’ enemies were relentless, fast and aggressive, keeping combat consistently suspenseful as players clutched their controllers tightly, white-knuckling the experience from start to finish. The graphics, sound design and storyline were all top notch making for one heck of a breathless thrill-ride full of fun twists and bombastic set pieces. Naturally, a game this popular wouldn’t stay exclusive to the ‘Cube for long, eventually being ported to the PS2, Wii, iPhone…and…well, pretty much everything you can play games on. When are we getting a SmartFridge port Capcom? A hit in it’s day and still serving as the blueprint for the perfect combination of over the shoulder action and horror, with the “Dead Space” series and even Shinji Mikami’s latest creepy endeavor “The Evil Within” clearly drawing a page from ‘Resi 4’s book.
While development hell is usually a red flag for disaster on the gaming scene no thanks to Duke Nukem: Forever, “Resident Evil 4” is a prime example of this not always being the case. Although Shinji Mikami left Capcom after development concluded; Having faith in the project and exhibiting an inspiring amount of passion towards making the best product possible, despite all odds and creative hiccups along the way, should stand as an example for the industry. Still setting the standard for both third person shooters and survival/horror video games to this very day, it was more than worth the wait during its lengthy development history; and its still something worth checking out now…so, if you haven’t already…then go! Go, play “Resident Evil 4!”
