Canceled Resident Evil game for Game Boy Color Surfaces online

A port of the Game Boy Color Resident Evilwhich was officially canceled by Capcom in 2000, has just resurfaced online thanks to Games That Weren't, an online archive dedicated to preserving canceled and unreleased video game projects. These latest builds Resident EvilThe infamously canceled Game Boy Color port is considered the most complete to date, with Games That Weren not believing it could potentially be fully playable from start to finish.

In early 1999, Capcom approached South London game developer HotGen to make the first Game Boy Color port. Resident Evil. Of course, condensing a game originally made for the PlayStation onto a single color Game Boy cartridge wouldn't be easy, but HotGen went to work and set a fall 1999 release date. Resident Evil's Game Boy Color port would not have a Fall 1999 release date or the new January 2000 release date that was announced after the delay. Instead, Capcom pulled the plug on HotGen Resident Evil completely, officially canceled the game in March 2000, stating that he was “unsure that the product would make both consumers and Capcom happy.”

Resident Evil's 98% complete Game Boy Color Port is now playable

Flash forward over 25 years later and HotGen's Resident Evil The Game Boy Color port is back with a vengeance. On December 17, Games That Wen't published an X post stating that the “final build” of HotGen Resident Evil is now playable through its website. Clicking on the link in this X post will take the user directly to Resident Evilon the Games That Weren't page, which details a brief overview of the development history of the canceled port, including some comments from the original developers provided to the archive site in 2020.

According to these 2020 quotes, assistant programmer Pete Frith believed that HotGen's Resident Evil the port was roughly 98% complete by the time it was canceled by Capcom, reaching the QA testing stage. According to Frith, this was the cancellation reason given to the developers Resident Evil“the original creator…didn't feel GBC was worthy of his creation.”

An archive post on games that weren't also details previous builds of the Game Boy port that found their way online, specifically referencing two separate builds from 2011 and one version that was believed to be about 90% complete, but not quite as beatable as Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield.

This latest version, restored by Games That Weren't, is the most complete yet, apparently being the final version of the game that existed before it was canceled in 2000. Although Games That Weren't has not verified whether this version of the game Resident Evil is beatable from start to finish, the Tyrant can be encountered and defeated at the end of the game, a sequence not available in previous builds. Along with a full list of music and sound effects and a packed gallery of in-game screenshots, Games That Weren also includes links to download the build so fans can try it out for themselves.

Other canceled Resident Evil video games

HotGen's Resident Evil The Game Boy Color port is far from the only one Resident Evil a game that had problematic development and is certainly not the only one Resident Evil a project that has been canceled in recent decades:

Resident Evil 1.5 – The original 1996 sequel Resident Evil which was canceled in mid-1997 at about 60–80% completion
Resident Evil 0 (Nintendo 64 version) – A prequel to STARS Bravo Team, which was originally developed for the Nintendo 64 64DD add-on before production was discontinued in 2000 due to the console's technical shortcomings
Resident Evil 3 – Original version Resident Evil 3 was going to follow Umbrella Secret Service agent Hunk as he attempted to obtain a sample of the G-Virus on a cruise ship. It was canceled in 1998 before the launch of the PlayStation 2
Resident Evil 4 – Four separate versions Resident Evil 4 were scrapped before the fifth and final version was released in 2005. The first was to follow Oswell E. Spencer's sons and had a heavy action focus, a project that eventually became Devil May Cry. The second version brought Leon Kennedy to the table but was canceled due to technical difficulties. A third version introduced an over-the-shoulder look while filming and focused on Leon Kennedy suffering from a virus that made him hallucinate enemies, and was also canceled due to technical difficulties. The fourth version was said to have focused on a more traditional zombie story before Shinji Mikami became director of the project and scrapped it.