CANCELLED’ is a series of posts at PlusMana.com that examine games that, for one reason or another, have never seen the light of day. Following the first of the series where we discussed ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned’, we will look at Resident Evil GameBoy Color in this week’s issue.
Calling 1996’s Resident Evil one of the most important video games is hardly an understatement. It both popularized and defined (and named) the survival horror genre, and Resident Evil is one of the most popular and long-lasting gaming franchises. It is a series that has seen is ups and downs, with the most recent entry Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, being seen by man as a return to form. As Capcom is known to do, it has released Resident Evil games on almost every console since the PlayStation. The original game, counting remakes, has been seen on no less than three other systems. The Sega Saturn and Microsoft Windows all saw the game, as did (remarkably) the Nintendo DS.
The thought of Resident Evil on a handheld may seem strange, but its not even the first time that concept existed. Back in 1999, the Game Boy Color of all things was to see it’s own version of Resident Evil. Developed by HotGen, the game was to feature almost everything featured in the PlayStation original. It had even made it all the way through the development cycle before being canned. That’s right, this is a finished product we are talking about here. Let’s do a deep dive into what exactly this whole thing is, shall we?
A Defining Game
As I said, the original Resident Evil was kind of a big deal. It quickly became the gold standard for survival horror games. Limited inventory slots, fixed camera angles, and (for better or worse) tank controls all became commonplace. Soon other survival horror franchises popped up, including Konami’s Silent Hill (rest in piece, Silent Hills/P.T.) and Dino Crisis, also from Capcom (think Resident Evil with dinosaurs). The success of the original led to Capcom making Resident Evil into a franchise, with 2 and 3 releasing in 1998 and 1999, respectively. And being a franchise means that the series would be seen on as many consoles as possible.
While the idea of Resident Evil GameBoy Color may seem strange, one can understand Capcom’s rationale behind it. The Game Boy was a huge success out of the gate. It’s actually the third all-time best-highest selling piece of hardware, with more than 118 million units sold. So naturally Capcom would want one of their premier franchises represented on the system. But to fully and faithfully bring the original PlaySation game to the handheld? To call that a Heruclean task seems like an understatement. It seemed like an almost impossible task. Maybe it was an impossible task, since in the end it wasn’t meant to be. But the fact that the developers actually managed to finish it seems like maybe, just maybe, it could’ve been done. But alas, it was not meant to be.
Resident Evil for the Game Boy featured almost everything that was in the original. (Credit: Unseen64)
Resident Evil GameBoy Color: So Close, Yet So Far
The thing that makes Resident Evil GameBoy Color stand out from other cancelled games, as has been stated, is the fact that it was a game that was completed before receiving the ax. The story goes, Capcom was given a complete version to evaluate. It was then that it was decided that the Game Boy’s hardware limited the game too much, and the game was just of poor quality. Therefore, the decision was made to cancel the game, just before its release. And that’s where this story ends. At least that’s what it seemed like, until just a few years ago.
Aiming your gun probably wasn’t the easiest in this game. (Credit: Unseen64)
In 2012, two cartridges were found, containing ROM dumps. After a successful fundraising effort, the ROMs were released for public use. Each ROM was from a different point in the game’s development. The second one was from much earlier in the development cycle, with few locations available, and you could only play as Chris Redfield (the final game was to feature both Redfield and Jill Valentine, as in the original). The first one was from much farther along, featuring around 90% of the game. With the game in a (mostly) playable state, we could begin to get a clearer picture of the game’s ultimate fate.
The Most Impressive Port?
Before going any further, I recommend watching this playthrough of the game uploaded to YouTube. Now, the video is over an hour long, so you don’t need to watch the whole thing (you’re certainly welcome to!) but I would definitely scrub through the video to get a clear idea of what this game really is. If I’m going to be honest, this may be the most technically impressive port of a game ever. They actually managed to bring a game that originated on the PlaySation to the Game Boy! The fact that HotGen accomplished the seemingly impossible is honestly a more than commendable effort. Despite all this praise, I am on the side that Capcom ultimately made the right decision in cutting this game’s release.
Yes, the game is technically impressive. Yes, they managed to pretty much recreate the PlayStation original on the Game Boy. But still, from what I can tell at least, the game seems unplayable. Movement seems slow and clunky, and it appears to be almost impossible to orient yourself right away, making aiming pretty difficult. And honestly, there is so much going on the screen watching from the internet, playing this on the Game Boy’s tiny screen seems almost impossible. Though admirable, maybe the idea of recreating a PlayStation game on the handheld was a bad idea.
Was recreating Resident Evil for the Game Boy a good idea? (Credit: Unseen64)
What Capcom should’ve done was create a Resident Evil game created specifically for the Game Boy. (I mean, there was, Resident Evil Gaiden, but that game’s not very good.) Use the hardware and its limitations to create a game that works around it. And in a strange twist of fate, the original Resident Evil did make its way to a handheld, in a much different way.
Deadly Silence
Resident Evil: Deadly Silence was released for the Nintendo DS in 2006, to celebrate the franchise’s 10th anniversary. Instead of recreating the game for the Nintendo DS, Deadly Silence is a straight-up port of the original PlayStation game. (For context, this game was released after the 2002 remake was released on the GameCube to critical acclaim.) Yes, that means that even the most campy aspects of the PlayStation game, like the live-action FMV’s and original voice acting, was in here. Deadly Silence was the original game in the series, with some extra features added to it. I’ve never played Deadly Silence, so I can’t offer a true opinion on it, but it at least seems more playable than the Game Boy version ever could be. But it’s still odd to see another release of the original game in a post-REmake world.
Deadly Silence on the Nintendo DS was a much more faithful Resident Evil port. (Credit: residentevil.wikia.com)
With Resident Evil 7 being seen as a return to form, and Resident Evil: Revelations being well-reviewed when it released on the 3DS, the series may be making a comeback. And with the Nintendo Switch already a hit, maybe we’ll see another Resident Evil portable game. Maybe not Resident Evil 8, but a game made specifically for the Switch.
So there you have it. Resident Evil GameBoy Color, one of the strangest stories in video games. A game that was this close to seeing a commercial release, only to have it shut down before it had the chance. But then in a strange turn of events, the game saw a second life over ten years later, thanks to emulators. It just shows you that sometimes the story behind a product is more interesting than the product itself.