Games That Weren't^®

2000 Capcom / Virgin Interactive / HotGen

Platform: Gameboy Color

How can you possibly squeeze a 32-bit PlayStation CD ROM game into a small Game Boy Color Cartridge? Well, HotGen would attempt to do just that with a conversion of Resident Evil in mid-1999 and to make it as close as possible with similar 3D perspectives using scaled sprites.

There were delays and a lot of struggles to cram everything in. There were of course a number of restrictions and tweaks made along the way, but HotGen had a pretty decent stab at it and had a title which was certainly pushing the 8-bit hardware.

Retained were the original game’s locations, viewpoints, puzzles, pre-rendered backgrounds and dialogue. Characters and enemies were software-scaled, with technical compromises required due to the GBC’s limited CPU power and storage. Speech was replaced with text windows, but the structure of the PlayStation original remained largely intact.

When we spoke to developer Nigel Speight as part of our book coverage in 2020, he had the following recollections about the development:

“If I remember correctly I would say the game was about 75-85% complete. Originally the game was supposed to be about 35% of the original PlayStation version and we were going to elongate the storyline to keep reusing the rooms. However, as time went along Virgin kept upping the cartridge size and wanting more of the original content in. If I remember correctly I’d created an editor that allowed the 3d to be aligned to the screens and objects placed etc and I think that the last build we made didn’t include the final amount of content me and the artist Martin Smith had created.”

The game had been shown at places like E3 in 1999, and had been planned for release by the Christmas of that year – though delays meant it slipped into early 2000. By February 2000, the game was nearing completion and was being tested. However, Capcom decided to cancel the title, feeling that the game wasn’t up to scratch.

Assistant programmer Pete Frith (back in 2020 when questioned by us) couldn’t recall the completion state, but felt it was more 98% finished, as there was a lot of communications between the team and QA testers at the end. He also recalls that the story they were told regarding the cancellation, was that the original creator of Resident Evil didn’t feel the GBC was worthy of his creation, and that he had personally instructed the cancellation. He also informed that the lead artist Martin Smith had sadly passed away.

Where Martin focused on the backgrounds, Simon Butler did the sprite work on the game. Mark Cooksey was then on hand to create all the music and sound effects, though many would not get properly integrated it seems.

Thankfully, in 2011 – two separate builds were preserved thanks to Kiff Storey and Bowker. One version was quite near to completion, but was missing intro titles and had debug screens on and was felt to be around 90% complete. A long-play online confirmed that the game wasn’t completable either for both characters.

In late 2025 however, Games That Weren’t have now preserved a final version of game at the point of cancellation and we have it here for you today to check out thanks to Pete Frith providing everything. Again, it isn’t 100% complete (perhaps now 98% – based on Pete’s estimates) – but there is more content and it *might* actually now be completable. Due to time constraints, we’ve not been able to sit and play through the title fully to confirm, as there might be scenes that glitch/bug out.

Crucially, we know that the Tyrant seems to be present at the end (see below) and its possible to trigger the end sequence compared to the earlier builds. We have a hack further below that jumps you near the end, so that you can see this for yourself.

The debug data present in other builds has been removed in the final build, and there are a set of introduction credit screens present in this version. Also, hacking through the game – the end sequences are in place too, which gives promise that the game may be completable in its current final state. Just in case it isn’t, we’ve created a few hacks which allow the following to unlock some unseen content:

1) ResiEvilHack-EndingSelector: This allows you to just select either character and jump straight to the end sequences for both.

2) ResiEvilHack-TyrantSegments: This hack jumps near towards the end of the game, where the tyrant is now walking around the final outside scene if you select Chris Redfield. If you select Jill Valentine, it starts you in the lab with the tyrant moving around (though its just their silloette).

You can’t seem to kill the Tyrant with the knife with Chris (though you might be able to find a weapon nearby). However, if you play with Jill and navigate towards the outside helicopter pad – the tyrant is there, and you can use your gun to kill them – triggering the end sequence.

3) ResiEvilHack-SceneNMusicPlayer: This is quite a cool hack. Firstly, if you select either character – it will play through all the animated scenes for that player in sequence. It is likely there will be a few scenes here which were not used in the game or integrated. Then if you press “B” on the same selector screen, you will be able to play through all the SFX and pressing “SELECT” will cycle through all the tunes created by Mark Cooksey.

In a note found to the developers, Mark listed all the music and SFX as follows (with his original descriptions):

MUSIC

0 Silence tune (Skipped in selector)
1 Long Background tune #1
2 Short Dramatic Danger Loop tune #1
3 Short Dramatic Danger Loop tune #2 *modified tune *
4 Short Dramatic Danger Loop tune #3 *new tune to replace old one *
5 Short Dramatic danger loop tune #4 * modified tune *
6 BG00 from res evil
7 Long Background tune #2
8 Long Background tune #3
9 Moonlight sonata correct
10 Moonlight sonata played badly correct
11 Long background tune #4
12 Girly end of game tune * new tune *

SFX

0 Police card (char) select
1 Option move from one to another
2 select (highlight option)
3 Cancel
4 Wooden door open
5 Wooden door close
6 clock ticking VERSION 1 Looping
7 Stop clock 1 ticking
8 clock ticking VERSION 2 BETTER THAN 1 Lp
9 Stop clock 2 ticking
10 Footstep #1 on carpet
11 Single hard footstep
12 Double footstep #1 Gravel use together
13 Double footstep #2 left foot then RFoot
14 Long Footstep for wading through water
15 Gun shot #1 n
16 Gun shot #2
17 Knife swipe 1 Shorter
18 Knife swipe 2 Longer
19 Zombie Moan 1 (1 channel fx)
20 Zombie Moan 2 (2 channel fx more real)
21 Zombie Chomp (bite)
22 Teleprinter type sound 1 shot
23 Go on to next screen after pick char
24 Page Turn
25 Gun Reload 1 REVOLVER
26 Gun reload 2 Shotgun
27 Gun Reload 3 ???
28 Gun shot #3 RIFLE/SHOTGUN
29 Gun shot #3 RIFLE/SHOTGUN
30 Bloke Aaah being attacked.
31 Girl Aaah being attacked.
32 Push Furniture (continuous)
33 Stop push furniture
34 Bees
35 Break stone
36 Gate Noise
37 Lift start (loops)
38 Lift stop
39 Key open (key apar)
40 Power on
41 Computer key click

In addition to this, we have extracted out a set of assets used for the game – which may contain sprites/sequences not used in the final game. Also, the original WAV samples that Pete Frith created from his voice to make the speech on the title screen – including some versions that were not used :)

What else have we established so far?

1. Zombie deaths are still not properly implemented it seems – they just collapse to their knees still. Wondering if that may have been a Nintendo request to tone it down?
2. It seems all artwork was complete, even if the game was not 100%. Sprites could be 98% complete – especially as death sprites are missing.
3. Hunter is present in sprites, but doesn’t seem to be used? We might be wrong. Zombie used in one scene where it bites Rebecca when it should be the Hunter. Zombie is often used as a placeholder.
4. Wesker and Barry sprites are exactly the same.
5. Some sprite colours are set wrong, Rebecca is blue in one section – colours not properly set for all characters in the scenes. It seems that there was a limit to character colours that could be set in one room . i.e. 3 characters. Problematic if the same scene has to be re-used with different characters with different colours. This may well have been something to fix at the end.
6. Some cut scenes seem to be unfinished – they can be viewed in bits. Not all of them seem to be called yet in the game. Segments and animations missing, including the Tyrant coming out of the glass and moving towards Chris and Wesker dying. Music missing from Piano scene at this stage, not all SFX utilized.

What has been established since the release?

1. Danny C via the comments has confirmed that they were able to play Jill’s campaign and finish it start to end.
2. Both Danny C and Shork confirm that all weapons work except the Bazooka.
3. Danny C confirms that the Snakes first version doesn’t work, but the second fight is playable to an extent to defeat it.
4. Shork found that you can’t seem to combine red and green herbs and that there are multiple “nothing” items.
   1. Tony Purkey also confirms that the combine function does not work for herbs and ammo.
5. Shork also found that the ammo doesn’t do anything, but then all the weapons have unlimited ammo. Tony Purkey also confirms this.
6. Shork also found that after 20 saves, the display for the number of saves corrupts.
7. Tony Purkey ran into an un-proceedable state, where they removed the shotgun from the wall, got saved by Barry from the connecting trap room, left it and went back in – but couldn’t leave again (so was stuck).
8. Shork also managed to complete Jill’s campaign – finding that you can’t get the passwords for the computer, as none of the files work. There’s also a bunch of zombies teleporting all over the place.
9. Miguel Rhodi found playing Chris’ campaign that the door which is supposed to open with the flamethrower, doesn’t open at all. Tried multiple things (placing weapon on panel next to door in every position – but nothing happens).
10. Ink ribbons do not work, but you can still save anyway. (via Tony Purkey)
11. You can run out space in the crate, which can be a problem because there’s no way to drop or use ammo or ink ribbons. (via Tony Purkey)
12. Some puzzles give no indication on how to solve, such as the wolf and eagle medals being used on the fountain. (via Tony Purkey)
13. The room before Chris’ jail cell is glitched out, but you can still navigate it blindly. (via Tony Purkey)
14. The MO disks can be used in the computers interchangably, and he used 2 disks on one computer and one another and none on the last one – yet the door still unlocked to get to Chris. (via Tony Purkey)
15. Some of the last rooms in the lab have Jill disappear, though you can still navigate blindly to get to the doors. (via Tony Purkey)
16. After defeating the second snake (the first one doesn’t fight), there’s no indication to go down the hole. It seem you have to “Inspect the piano” to trigger the sequence. (via Tony Purkey)
17. Using the hex crank in the garden is a pain, as there is no indication that it needs using or where to use it. You keep trying along the wall until it works. (via Tony Purkey)
18. Lots of cutscenes don’t happen, like the giant ball rolling and almost crushing you. (via Tony Purkey)

So it seems it was almost there in terms of content, but perhaps still another month of work needed to properly polish off.

If you spot anything else – please feel free to get in touch or leave something in the comments and we’ll update the page over time. For now, we hope you enjoy taking a look at what has been recovered and enjoy the findings so far. We have also included two bonus builds that we also located which will have some minor differences too.

As a bonus, contributor David (see comment) has dug out and highlighted a set of early press images further below with more detailed backgrounds and also screenshots in Games Master magazine which has the following differences compared to the current and earlier ROMS:

1. The ‘status’ text is missing from the ecg in the inventory
2. Jill has a 6 slot inventory
3. The clock is missing from the dining room
4. The greenhouse room is much less detailed and the plant is missing

With a huge thank you to Pete Frith for allowing us to preserve and for the assets, to Danny C, Tony Purkey, Miguel Rhodi and Shork for sharing their findings so far, to David for the Press Kit materials and other details relating to earlier versions and to Nigel Speight for his recollections.

Downloads

• Preview_ResidentEvil (Includes extra earlier builds)
• Hacks_ResidentEvil
• Samples_ResiEvil
• Press Kit details
• Interview with Fergus McGovern

Videos

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxzv5gEs8gM  (GTW Video)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoRIwCh5uz4   (E3 video – thanks to David for flagging up.)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Nt4_q2mAs   (E3 1999 video – showing different coloured main hall, more debug info and a different font. Thanks to David for flagging up).

Press kit images and press pages/screenshots (Thanks to David)

Screenshots

Maps gallery

Assets gallery