Canceled Resident Evil game for Game Boy Color Surfaces Online

The Game Boy Color port Resident Evilwhich was officially discontinued by Capcom in 2000, has just been resurrected online thanks to Games That Weren't, an online archive dedicated to preserving canceled and unreleased video game projects. This latest construction of Resident Evils infamously canceled Game Boy Color port is believed to be the most complete yet, with games that didn't believe it could be fully playable from start to finish.

In early 1999, South London game developer HotGen was approached by Capcom to make a Game Boy Color port of the first Resident Evil. Of course, condensing a game originally made for the PlayStation into a single Game Boy Color cartridge would be no easy feat, but HotGen got to work and set a fall 1999 release date. Resident Evils Game Boy Color port would not have its fall 1999 release date, or the new January 2000 release date it was given after a delay. Instead, Capcom pulled the plug on HotGen's Resident Evil completely, officially canceled the game in March 2000, stating that it was not “certain that the product would have satisfied both consumers and Capcom.”

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

Flash forward more than 25 years later and HotGens Resident Evil The Game Boy Color port is back with a vengeance. On December 17, Games That Weren't made an X post stating that “the final build” of HotGen's Resident Evil is now playable via its website. Following the link in this X post takes users directly to Resident Evils page on Games That Weren't, where a brief overview of the aborted port's development history is detailed, including some comments from its original developers provided to the archive site in 2020.

According to these 2020 quotes, assistant programmer Pete Frith believed that HotGens Resident Evil the port was about 98% complete when it was canceled by Capcom, and it reached the QA testing phase. According to Frith, the reason for cancellation given to the developers was that Resident Evils “original creator… didn't feel GBC was worthy of his creation.”

The archive post on Games That Weren also details the previous versions of the Game Boy port that have found their way online, specifically referencing two separate builds from 2011 and one version that was considered about 90% complete but not completely unbeatable like either Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield.

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

Other canceled Resident Evil video games

HotGen Resident Evil The Game Boy Color port is far from the only one Resident Evil games that have had problematic development, and it's certainly not the only one Resident Evil projects that have been canceled in recent decades:

Resident Evil 1.5 – The original follow-up to the 1996s 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 originally developed for the Nintendo 64's 64DD expansion before production was halted in 2000 due to the console's technical shortcomings
Resident Evil 3 – The original version of Resident Evil 3 would follow Umbrella Secret Service agent Hunk as he tried to recover a sample of the G-Virus on a cruise ship. It was discontinued in 1998 ahead of the launch of the PlayStation 2
Resident Evil 4 – Four separate versions of Resident Evil 4 was scrapped before the fifth and final version was released in 2005. The first was to follow the sons of Oswell E. Spencer and had a heavy action focus, a project that ended up being Devil May Cry. The second version brought Leon Kennedy to the table but was canceled due to technical difficulties. The third version introduced an over-the-shoulder point of view while shooting and focused on Leon Kennedy suffering from a virus that caused him to hallucinate enemies, and was also canceled due to technical difficulties. The fourth version was said to focus on a more traditional zombie story before Shinji Mikami became the project's director and scrapped it.