Beta + Cancelled Bio Hazard Video Games - Page 3 of 3

Resident evil 4 is probably the console game with the most tormented development cycle of all time. Originally scheduled for Playstation 2 in 2001, the Capcom game had to wait four years and as many betas to take the final form. The first version, as it is well known, became Devil May Cry because the build was deemed too action-oriented to be part of the series. Nevertheless, the trappings of the Resident Evil saga were plentiful, from the fixed camera to the haunting environments.

Gamers were shocked by the announcement that Resident Evil 4 would be exclusively on the Gamecube. The first Gamecube beta was presented at TGS 2002, showing Leon in a strange metallic structure (later confirmed to be an Airship) fighting a bizarre fog creature. The few words spoken in the trailer were about the Cradle of the Progenitor Virus, and apparently the story centered on the assault of our heroes to Umbrella Europe. Moreover, Leon was probably infected and wielded odd supernatural powers.

The following year (2003) Resident Evil 4 was shown again. This version had different features and a new emphasis on the supernatural that seemed to bring the game closer to Silent Hill. In this new trailer, Leon (who still had some strange power) was inside a mansion infested with some strange presence, notably a strong creature with a hook. An extended video of this beta is featured on Biohazard 4 Secret DVD, where we can also see the Killers Armors still present in the final game on Ashley’s stage.

Although this last beta seemed to be the most promising and polished version yet, Capcom decided to start over again. The third beta, which according to the programmers featured zombies, was not even presented to the public. Finally, the Resident Evil 4 we are most familiar with was shown at E3 2004. The Resident Evil 4 Unseen Saga didn’t end there, though. After about a year of the Gamecube release, Resident Evil 4 was ported to the Playstation 2 with a few new locations.

Moreover, the trial version of the Gamecube version was hacked, revealing the names of many rooms of the various betas and really cool items like the Optical Camo and the Infrared Goggles. It seems that the programmers were still making changes to the game until the very end of development. Knowing Capcom, maybe even the setting of the last chapter of Umbrella Chronicles is lifted from the scrapped zombie version of Resident Evil 4.

Thanks to Robert Seddon for the contribution and to Jay for the english corrections!

In Formeragent‘s Youtube channel we can see an interesting video with beta comparisons.

In November 2009, Tyrant of resident-evil-beta.de discovered a pre-release version of Resident Evil 4. These are the main differences from the final game:

You can use the silencer on the hand gun and on the tmp
The merchant menu is very different
You can contact Hunningham, but there is no pic of her
You can play only the first three levels
The screen “end of level xx” is different
Some voices from the enemies are different
Saddler’s voice is different
All documents are missing
If you pick up an item,the sound is different
the debug menu is fully unlocked

A pic of a woman found extracting the files inside the beta. Probably just a placeholder.

Unused item

Also, Enrico Marini of the THIA forum found the beta polygonal model of Ashley and an interesting placeholder, Jill dressed with the Ada dress, in the retail version of Resident Evil 4 :

More info from DCodes7:

Resident evil 4 went through a long development cycle. Multiple prototypes were created; officially only two of those prototypes were shown to public. Resident evil 4’s development started in 1998 which involved taking a trip to Spain to study castle architecture. In December 1999 it was hinted that RE4 was in development, however the game wasn’t officially announced until 2001.

When resident evil 4 was shown to the public for the first time it was announced that the game was being developed by Capcom’s Studio 4 for the Nintendo GameCube as part of five game line up that was exclusively developed for the GameCube.

Build 1 – Fog Version

The first build that was shown to the public, nicknamed the fog version, shows Leon S. Kennedy infiltrating umbrella Europe while being chased by a fog creature. This build was shown at TGS (Tokyo Game Show) 2002. The trailer for this build hinted that Leon could have been possessed and infected by the progenitor virus. The story involved the origins of the progenitor virus – hence what is said in the trailer: “the cradle of the progenitor virus.”

EGM (Electronic Gaming monthly) interviewed director Hideki Kamiya; this interview revealed that there was a super natural ability locked inside Leon’s Left arm and a notion to an unrevealed female character! You can read the entire interview to the left of this paragraph.

In the end, after the first showing of this build, it was scrapped; because “it was too much of a departure from the resident evil series.” Eventually this build of the game evolved into what is known today as Devil May Cry.

In early 2006 it was discovered – in the debug menu on an early trial demo of resident evil 4 – that the large metal structure that is shown in the fog trailer was an airship. Only the names of the levels remained. To see all of the 3.5’s level names (Fog & Hook Man versions) click on the links below.

http://www.the-horror.com/index.php?id=features&s=re4demos&p=10

http://www.the-horror.com/index.php?id=features&s=re4demos&p=11

http://www.the-horror.com/index.php?id=features&s=re4demos&p=12

Build 2 – Hook Man

Later in 2002 resident evil 4 was revealed to the public once again at E3 2002, showing a completely different game from earlier that year at TGS. This build of the game Showcases Leon S. Kennedy in a mansion while being attacked by possessed suits of armor, possessed dolls, and killer hook man ghosts; this version of the game concentrated on the super natural and puzzle solving.

The following year in 2003, cube magazine published a six page article titled “Diary of a Mad Man.” This six page article puts build 2’s story months after the Raccoon City (Resident Evil 2) and Rockford island (code veronica) incidents. You can read all six pages of the article below this paragraph.

Thanks to the 5th survivor on the THIA forum for posting these articles!

In the end the Hook man version of Resident Evil 4 was scrapped because it was “too paranormal for the resident evil plot.” This build of Resident Evil 4 evolved into the game Haunting Ground. In 2005 a five minute game play video of build 2 was released with the biohazard 4 (Resident Evil 4) Secret DVD.

Part 1 Conclusion:

Resident Evil 4 was scrapped, evolved, only to be scrapped again. Two prototypes evolved into two games and one of those games evolved into a franchise. Resident Evil 4’s development didn’t stop there; the game continued to evolve and change as it was being developed. Though Resident Evil 4 remained roughly the same – gameplay wise – the items, collectables, enemies, and the sounds of the guns were changed until the games release. In Part 2 of the analysis I will explain and point out changes that Resident evil 4 went through based on the trials and demo’s that promoted the game.

[spoiler /Clicca qui per la versione in Italiano/ /Nascondi la versione in Italiano/]Resident evil 4 è probabilmente il gioco per console con lo sviluppo più tormentato di tutti i tempi. Originariamente previsto per Playstation 2 nel 2001, il titolo Capcom ha dovuto attendere ben 4 anni e altrettante beta per assumere la forma definitiva. La prima versione è diventata come è noto Devil May Cry, poiché ritenuta troppo action per far parte della serie. Nonostante ciò, rimangono evidenti i debiti alla saga horror all’interno del gioco, dalle inquadrature alle ambientazioni.

Poi è la volta dell’annuncio shock di Resident evil 4 esclusiva gamecube, con la presentazione della nuova versione al TGS 2002, che vede Leon all’interno di una strana struttura alla prese con un bizzarro essere incorporeo. Le poche parole presenti all’interno del trailer parlano della culla del progenitor virus, e a quanto sembra la storia era incentrata nell’assalto dei nostri eroi ad umbrella europe.

L’anno successivo (2003) il titolo viene presentato nuovamente, ma stavolta evidenziando caratteristiche differenti, che sembravano avvicinare la saga a Silent hill, con una nuova enfasi sul soprannaturale e sull’horror psicologico. Di questa versione, di cui il trailer originale mostrava solamente Leon all’interno di una magione infestata da strane presenze, in particolare da un mostro dotato di uncino, esiste anche un filmato esteso all’interno del biohazard secret dvd.

Benché si trattava sicuramente la più curata e promettente delle beta, Capcom decide nuovamente di cambiare direzione nello sviluppo, ma il nuovo titolo, che a sentire i programmatori aveva di nuovo gli zombie, non viene neanche mostrato al pubblico. Finalmente, all’e3 del 2004 viene esibita la versione definitiva, o almeno cosi si credeva. Dopo circa un anno infatti Resident Evil 4 viene convertito per Playstation 2 con delle aree aggiuntive rispetto alle release gamecube. E sicuramente ancora diverso materiale del Resident Evil 4 Project è rimasto sconosciuto al pubblico. Lo vedremo in Resident evil Wii?[/spoiler]

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Playstation, Saturn, Sega, Sony

Resident Evil 1 [PSX – Beta / Concept]

yota

11-04-2008

3 Comments

In the mid ’90s Shinji Mikami began to work on a new horror game set,just like NES’ Sweet Home, in a large building surrounded by a forest. Maybe influenced by the recent success of Doom, the project was initially conceived as a FPS. We know next to nothing about this first prototype, but it would have surely been one of the most advanced shooter created yet. However at the end Capcom selected another pc game, Alone in the Dark, as a model for their new product, and Resident Evil / Bio Hazard became an action adventure with a strong emphasis on survival.

Unfortunately, we don’t know much about the first draft of the story, but at least we have few artworks about Dewey and Gelzer, two beta characters, later replaced by Rebecca and Barry, that represented respectively the strong guy (in this case a cyborg) and the comic partner. We can only speculate that at the beginning the narrative was less serious, and the graphic style not that realistic (for the standards of the time).

Co-op beta

After one year of development, in 1995, previews of the first playable builds of Resident Evil started to appear in gaming magazines.

In these screens we can see that originally the game could have been played in co-op. Jill also had a different costume and the fight with the snake was in the room that connects the house with the garden. We don’t know if in this early beta there were still leftovers of the removed locations in the code (the cementery, the paths in the forest) that were, like Trevor’s letters, later reintroduced in the RE remake for the Gamecube.

Resident Evil 08/04/1995

In 2010, Tyrant of resident-evil-beta.de recovered a beta of Resident Evil that dates back to 08/04/1995. It seems to be similar to the V-Jump ’95 build, so for a list of the main differences see the paragraph below. Unfortunately, in this version the co-op mode was already removed, even if some leftovers can still be found in the folders of the iso. Only Chris is playable, and it is not possible to see the map or access the inventory. Interestingly, you can change weapons in real-time. Also, in this beta Barry can save Chris too, but just because they didn’t make the event exclusive to Jill’s scenario yet. In 2011, Hidden Palace released this particular build to the public.

Notice how Dewey and Gelzer’s character portraits are still present in the game’s code.

V-Jump ’95 Presentation

In the video of the V-Jump ’95 Presentation, linked below, we can see an early beta with some differences:

No cutscenes
Some different camera angles
Chris polygonal model was less detailed and he began the game armed
Different music and japanese voices
All the zombies had white jackets
The blue gallery had four pillars
Some minor differences in many rooms
Kenneth Sullivan (the corpse in the backroom) is in another location in the final game
Spiders instead of dogs in the corridor (it still happens in the released version when you return in the mansion after the guardhouse)
Hunters at the beginning of the game!
No metal plate for the crests in the outside corridor
The first fight against the snake was moved in a room in the first floor in the final game
The room where chris fights the snake in the video is different in the final version

Probably this build is more recent than the 08/04/1995 one, but not by much.

Maximum console 1996 Preview

A slightly different Tyrant

Wesker in the plant room? Most likely it was just a placeholder, but as we know, in the final version Wesker is in the guardhouse, we meet him after the boss… what if at the beginning we could fight the plant with him?

Also, in the same issue, the article mentions a graveyard among the other locations of the game. This is strange, because if it was still planned to be included we should have at least some screenshots of it. Maybe it got dropped at the end of the development? and if so, why it wasn’t included in the director’s cut ?

Trial Version

More unseen material can be found in a demo called Resident Evil Trial. This version was more or less the same as the final game but there were still some differences: no keyboard in the hall, the plant’s book was in the tiger’s statue, the shield was in the blue hall, many items were in other places, some camera angles were different, etc etc.

Far more interesting are the objects that can be unlocked in the demo with the action replay: a pickaxe (probably used in the caves), Oil (used to burn zombies like in REmake?), beta version of the ink cartridges, the magnum and flamethrower ammo. Also, originally Bio Hazard was meant to have Japanese voices, but they were changed as Shinji Mikami felt that it wasn’t realistic for the characters to speak another language, as they were supposed to be American.

Thanks to KeijiDragon for the video with the original japanese dialogue!

Thanks to the The Horror is Alive forum, one of the best sources for RE, and Resident Evil Beta DE.

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Playstation, Sony

Resident Evil 1.5 [PSX – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors

11-04-2008

17 Comments

Resident Evil 2 began development in 1996 shortly after the original game and was originally scheduled for a March 1997 release. However, as the game was approaching its release date, the developers were unsastified with the resulting product. Rather than releasing a game they were unhappy with, the developers took the risk of developing the game from scratch. This scrapped version of the game was later dubbed Resident Evil 1.5. by the internal staff of Capcom.

This prototype version of the game starred Leon S. Kennedy from the finished game and Elza Walker, a prototype of Claire Redfield. Like Claire Redfield, Elza was a motorcyclist and college student, with the only difference being her appearance and the fact Elza had no ties to any established character from the previous games. Other supporting characters from the released game also appeared in Resident Evil 1.5. For example, Marving Branagh, a minor character who gets killed off early in the finished game played a major role in the prototype, helping Leon and Ada escape. The settings of the game were also significantly changed, with the police station in the original prototype having a more contemporary design. – [info from Wikipedia]

In early 2013 the beta / prototype version of Resident Evil 1.5 was finally leaked online, and many gamers are now able to check a part of what the game was meant to be. You can find the RE 1.5 proto / beta to download around the web, with a simple Google Search.

For more infos: Resident Evil 2: Beta Backgrounds Comparison

Also you can check:
www.the-horror.com
www.bioflames.com
www.biolegend.de.vu (sadly, only in german but nice pics)

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Dreamcast, GameCube, Nintendo, Playstation 2 (PS2), Sega, Sony

Resident Evil: Code Veronica [Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors

10-04-2008

1 Comment

Code: Veronica was one of the first third-party games announced for the Sega Dreamcast by the end of 1998. The game was originally scheduled for a late 1999 release following the Dreamcast launch, but was delayed and eventually released at the beginning of 2000.

While Production Studio 4 was in charge of the game’s artistic direction, the actual development of the game was handled by Nextech Corporation (a subsidiary of Sega at the time), the same company that ported the original Resident Evil to the Sega Saturn. Although, the game was originally marketed as a Dreamcast exclusive during its initial release, the game was ported to the PlayStation 2 and GameCube later, in the form of the updated version Code: Veronica X. [Infos from Wikipedia]

While the game was in development, Capcom released various screenshots from early versions of the project, in which we can see some differences in Claire’s clothes (changed 2 times before the final ones), enemies (a different looking spider, monsters placed in different areas), camera angles (different fixed visuals) and backgrounds (different items and details).

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GameCube, Nintendo

Resident Evil [GC – Tech Demos & Concept]

monokoma

08-04-2008

2 Comments

In these screens and in the video, we can see a series of concept arts and tech demos (for the 3D models and the animations) created by Capcom while the Resident Evil gamecube remake was in development. In these we can even find some pre-rendered backgrounds that were never used in the final game, as the “room on fire” or the “dark stairs” ones. It’s interesting to notice that Jill never uses all those kicks animations in the final version.

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