Resident Evil Gaiden

I probably should have played this before Resident Evil HD, but I initially hadn't intended to play this. With how comprehensive my list had become, however, it felt like a waste to skip something, so I'm glad I eventually gave it the time of day. It's not bad!

I played this on an emulator and used a number of shaders to try to replicate the GBC's original muted palette.

I may have gotten this game through... less-than-legitimate means, but given how old this is and, well, how inaccessible most of the Game Boy Color's library is I don't feel any sort of shame about it. This game isn't likely to get remade or re-released any time soon so hunting down a copy "unofficially" is really the only way anyone might be able to see what it entails (outside of paying some rando on eBay anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars).

This game, if for some unknown reason you aren't aware, was a Game Boy Color spinoff starring Barry Burton and Leon S. Kennedy. It sets them down on a cruise ship that's been overrun by zombies and has them tracking down an unknown bioweapon.

A cutscene and that same sequence after transitioning to "gameplay".

Leon and Barry make for an unlikely duo, yes, but each of them feel in-character (if you can really say either of them has much of a personality) and I enjoyed how the later portions have you switching between the two after they get split up. It doesn't have the multiple-playthrough potential of the other games but just changing your player's sprite makes it evoke some of the spirit of the earlier RE games (even if both people are functionally identical). The plot's pretty standard but it does have one or two nice turns in it (as well as an ending that makes what could otherwise be a sorta-canon side story firmly not so) but the plot's never really been the driving force behind why people play these games.

This is, genuinely, maybe an all-time moment in the series for me. 

Mechanically I think this makes a number of interesting choices to adapt the series to a less competent bit of hardware. It's got the same core structure as the other games (large area with a lot of backtracking and items you pick up to use on locked doors and whatnot) and in an incredibly general sense they try to do something similar with combat. You have two gameplay phases, essentially. An isometric walking-around mode where you can attempt to avoid zombies (most are inactive until you get near them at which point they'll start to approach you) and another active combat mode once they've grabbed onto you or you've initiated a fight with them. 

In this phase it's almost like a rhythm game where you need to time your attacks to when your reticle is over the enemy, with a damage boost for perfectly timed attacks. Attacks become easier as the enemies get closer but, once they're within a certain range, they'll be able to attack you so it's in your best interest to deal with them as quickly as possible. While you can get better at this, I never truly perfected it so the end result is a bit like the "actual" games. The rare critical hit, occasional misses, and a lot of body shots that never do as much damage as you'd want them to. You also have a knife that doesn't use ammo but which is only useful at incredibly close range, much like the knives in the other games. All in all it's a cool system.

If that sounds a bit complicated, here's some gameplay:

While I don't think it's particularly vital or revolutionary, I'm glad I played this. Part of the reason I've been going through these game in chronological order was precisely for games like this; I wanted to play these franchises in release order so I could play each of them within the context of their release dates. Gaiden, as a followup to RE3 and as a precursor to REHD, is an interesting artifact of its time. For example, there's even an attempt to recreate a Nemesis-style pursuer enemy who'll follow you around (certain) areas of the map and who can't ever really be "killed". If I'd played this game in a vacuum I don't know that I'd've see this game's Tyrant-analogue in the same light.

There's no "clear screen" for me to share so instead I'll leave you with this: an incredibly crunchy audio clip of a voice saying "Resident Evil."