Resident Evil 0

Resident Evil Zero or Resident Evil Ø‎, known in Japan as Biohazard Ø‎ (&#12496;&#12452;&#12458;&#12495;&#12470;&#12540;&#12489;&#65296;), is a survival horror game that was developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo GameCube and released in 2002. It is the fifth game in the Resident Evil series by release order and was the last of the core titles to use the original Resident Evil game play system prior to the release of Resident Evil 4.

The game's storyline serves as a prequel to the original Resident Evil, covering Rebecca Chambers' ordeal a day prior to the Arklay Research Facility incident.

Plot
On July 23, 1998, S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team is sent to investigate a series of grisly murders in the Arklay Mountains region. On the way to the scene, Bravo's helicopter malfunctions for no apparent reason and crash lands in the forest with no fatalities. The team soon discovers an overturned Military Police transport vehicle along with the mutilated corpses of the MPs themselves. A transport document within the vehicle reveals that the deceased were transporting former Marine and convicted felon Billy Coen to his execution. The decision is made to split up and search for Coen. Bravo team's field medic, rookie member Rebecca Chambers, stumbles upon a train suspiciously stopped in the middle of the forest - the Ecliptic Express. Unknowingly, Rebecca stumbles into the prelude of an event where she will be tested to her limits and her worst fears will be realized. However, she soon finds help from an unlikely source. Together, Rebecca and Billy must survive the nightmare and expose the secrets of what has caused it.

Main Characters

 * Billy Coen - a former United States Marine convicted of murder, he was sentenced to death and on his way to his execution when mysterious events allowed him to escape into the forest and to the nearby Ecliptic Express train.


 * Rebecca Chambers - an 18 year old rookie medic from the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team. She is on her first mission, investigating the mysterious murders plaguing the Arklay Mountains. Mission priority is shifted over to the apprehension of Billy Coen when the team learns of his escape.

Supporting Characters

 * James Marcus - a brilliant scientist and one of the three founding members of Umbrella. He was the company's top researcher until he mysteriously disappeared over twenty years ago.


 * William Birkin - a much younger scientist than James Marcus but just as brilliant, Birkin is highly ambitious and very much interested in Marcus' work.


 * Albert Wesker - the captain of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team, he is always calm and collected but incredibly ambiguous. He appears to have ulterior motives.


 * Enrico Marini - the captain of S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team, he is in command of Rebecca and leads the search for Coen. He cares very deeply for all those under his command but he has become suspicious of the circumstances that have led them to this situation.


 * Edward Dewey - a member of S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team who served as the helicopter co-pilot. He, like the other Bravo team members, is searching for Billy Coen in the forest.

Gameplay


Resident Evil 0's main game play feature, the "partner zapping" system, is unique in the series in that instead of choosing a single character to play through the entire game, the player controls both Rebecca and Billy. Both characters can travel together with one character being controlled by the player and the other by the computer (who can also be partially controlled with the C stick), or split up and search separate areas each at the same time. This dual control is central to solving some of the puzzles in the game. The difference between both characters is that Rebecca can acquire chemicals with her mixing kit and can get into tight spaces, but is more fragile to enemy attacks. In contrast, Billy can handle heavy objects, has an oil lighter and can sustain more damage than Rebecca, but cannot mix herbs (in contrast from previous games, in which any character could mix herbs).

The game also does away with the use of "item boxes" placed in fixed locations for the player to store items in. Instead, the player can now drop items on the floor to make room for new ones, and must retrace their steps back to the room they previously dropped the discarded item when they need it later in the game. The locations of dropped or "touched" items are displayed on the player's map.

Locations
The following are notable locations visited in the game:


 * Ecliptic Express — A luxurious train owned by Umbrella. It transports Umbrella employees from (presumably) downtown Raccoon City to the Arklay Management Training Facility.


 * Management Training Facility — A facility owned and operated by Umbrella to train its employees. The facility is located deep in the Arklay Mountains and was run by James Marcus until his mysterious death.


 * Umbrella Church — A completely normal and ordinary church. It is located directly next to the Management Training Facility. The church is a cover for a laboratory located directly beneath it and operated by James Marcus. Marcus used the lab to research the Progenitor Virus and eventually combined it with leech DNA to create the T-virus. The lab also contains Marcus' private quarters and an underground cable car that connects to the Vacant Factory.


 * Vacant Factory — Owned by Umbrella, it is now abandoned. It connects to Marcus's Lab via an underground cable car and also connects to the Arklay Treatment Plant. This factory is also seen in Resident Evil 2.


 * Arklay Treatment Plant — Used for sewage handling and treatment, owned by Umbrella. It is now abandoned. It has a large dam that is damming (presumably) the Marble River. Umbrella uses the facility to dispose of all its failed test subjects. The plant also has a large lift that ascends to a heliport that overlooks the Spencer Estate.

Unlockables
After the player completes the main game, the following is unlocked: Leech Hunter Bonuses Note: If you collect a certain amount of leeches then you will only be awarded the prize that goes with that number. For example, if you collect all 100 leeches, you will only unlock the infinite ammo and nothing else. Once you get infinite ammo and Magnum, you are unbeatable. Also, when you hit around the 90 mark, enemies will spawn in next empty areas.
 * Alternate Costumes (Complete the game with any rank on Normal or Hard mode) - Rebecca begins the next play through with the "closet key" already in her inventory and can be used to open the closet inside Cabin 101 in the Ecliptic Express. The outfits available include a Suit with sunglasses for Billy and leather pants and a halter top for Rebecca. Rebecca's cowgirl outfit from the Remake is available as well.
 * Submachine Gun (Complete the game in 5 hours or less on Normal or Hard mode with an A rank) - The Submachine Gun is available as part of Billy's initial inventory during the subsequent play through.
 * Rocket Launcher with unlimited ammo (Complete the game in 3.5 hours or less on Normal or Hard mode with an S rank) - The Rocket Launcher is available as part of Rebecca's initial inventory during the subsequent play through.
 * The "Leech Hunter" Minigame - The objective is for Billy and Rebecca to collect the 100 leech-shaped charms scattered inside the Management Training Facility. There are 50 blue charms that can only be picked up by Billy and 50 green ones for Rebecca. Once the player has obtained a charm (up to 10 for each item slot), it cannot be dropped. For the Leech Charms obtained by both characters to be taken into account, one must escape by leaving the facility from the main entrance in the main hall. If one of the characters is killed, the game will end and only the charms collected by the surviving character will be taken into account. The following items can be unlocked for the main game depending on how many charms were collected:
 * 100 Leech Charms: Infinite ammo for all weapons.
 * 90-99 Leech Charms: Magnum Revolver will appear in Room 202 of the Train.
 * 60-89 Leech Charms: Infinite ammo for the Hunting Gun.
 * 30-59 Leech Charms: Equipped Handguns will have infinite ammo.
 * 1-29 Leech Charms: Ammo for the Submachine Gun will be available throughout the main game.

Creatures

 * Zombie
 * Cerberus
 * Leech
 * Mimicry Marcus
 * Crow
 * Plague Crawler
 * Giant Spider
 * Eliminator
 * Hunter
 * Lurker
 * Stinger (boss)
 * Centurion (boss)
 * Bat (boss)
 * Tyrant T-001 (boss)
 * James Marcus/Queen Leech (boss)

Development history
Resident Evil 0 was first unveiled during the Tokyo Game Show in 2000. The game was originally slated for the Nintendo 64, as it was believed by the developers that the platform's cartridge-based media would be more capable in handling the item dropping and "partner zapping" systems proposed for the game than the disc-based medias used by the PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast due to the lack of loading times. However, production of the game shifted from the Nintendo 64 to the GameCube as a result of the transition to "128-bit" consoles. Since the GameCube made use of a disc-based media, the programmers were forced to rely on clever programming methods to shorten the loading times. The graphics were improved dramatically due to the platform change in order to compete with the Resident Evil remake, also for GameCube.

In contrast to other known Resident Evil prototypes, which have been known to go through massive changes during production, (one of the most dramatic examples being the original idea for Resident Evil 4, which was eventually released as the start of an entirely new series, called Devil May Cry) the actual game plan did not change as dramatically compared to the released version. Rebecca's original character design featured her wearing a beret instead of the red bandanna she wears in the original game (it is unknown whether this discrepancy would've been explained in the actual game). In the released GameCube version, she wears neither (as her character model in the game is based on REmake). The train in the beginning of the N64 version did not actually move until being activated by the player. Edward Dewey was originally scripted to lose his hand to a Cerberus before his death (which would later turn out to be the same hand found by Joseph Frost in the original game). However, this would prove unnecessary with the inclusion of Kevin Dooley in REmake. The N64 version's graphics were more in line with Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 than any other game in the series.

The storyline in Resident Evil Zero was originally supposed to lay the groundwork for the forthcoming Resident Evil 4 by introducing the Progenitor Virus which was to play a major role in RE4. Originally Resident Evil 4 had Leon S. Kennedy exploring an ancient castle in Europe that was owned by Umbrella and was reported to be where Umbrella's B.O.W. research began. At some point in the game, the Progenitor Virus is unleashed and infects Leon which makes him hallucinate at points in the game which fans have speculated is symbolic for his body trying to fight off the virus. Most of Resident Evil Zero's new storylines was rendered obsolete when Shinji Mikami took over directorial control of Resident Evil 4 and tossed everything out, intending Resident Evil 4 to have a completely new story, as a change of scenery (and enemies) to the previous Resident Evil games. The concept of exploring the origins of the Progenitor virus and Umbrella's research into it was later used in Resident Evil 5.



In late 2008, a Wii port was released solely for Japanese gamers. This port was criticized by gamers due to the lack of new features. The basis of which was due to many gamers using the Wii's reverse-compatibility to play the cheaper GameCube port. On March 12, 2009 Capcom announced that they will be releasing Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil (REmake) on the Nintendo Wii in North America as the Resident Evil Archives. They will be released as the "classics collection" and are slated to hit stores at the end of June 2009 for $30.00 each. A "classics collection" and the release of The Darkside Chronicles is most likely to make up for Resident Evil 5 not seeing a Wii version. As with Resident Evil 4, the games will be outfitted with Wii pointer controls.

Cameos

 * The Factory area (where Rebecca runs into Enrico) is the same area where Claire/Leon arrives in RE2.
 * The Save Room at the Factory entry has a hatch near the wall. It's the same hatch from Resident Evil 2, which lead back to the R.P.D at Raccoon City. It's sealed and can't be opened. Also, the door that takes you back to the research center was never found or used on Resident Evil 2.
 * Although Resident Evil: Survivor (Biohazard: Gun Survivor) was only considered to be a spin-off of the main game franchise by fans; Sheena Island, the main setting of the game, is mentioned early in Zero 's prologue as one of the places infected by the T-virus. This proved that Survivor is canon.

Production History
Resident Evil Zero began production on the Nintendo 64 and featured graphics close to Resident Evil 2 and 3. The developers believed that the system's cartridge media would give the quick load times required for the game's character switching system.

Production shifted to the GameCube halfway during development in order to compete with the Shinji Mikami-directed remake of the original.[9] The scenario and storyline in the released GameCube version remained largely unchanged, though Rebecca received a new outfit (she originally wore a white beret and shoulder pads, similar to Jill's original costume) and the graphics were significantly enhanced to take advantage of the GameCube's hardware. Several of the EX Files featured in the Nintendo 64 version of Resident Evil 2, namely Rebecca's Report and Mother Virus Report, alluded to the events of Resident Evil Zero. Several of the later variations of the Nintendo 64 hardware's packaging featured screenshots of this version of Resident Evil Zero with a "Coming Soon" notation.

Novelization
A novelization of the game titled Resident Evil: Zero Hour was written by author S.D. Perry. A prequel to the very first game (Resident Evil) or book (Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy), the main characters include the Bravo Team's Rebecca Chambers and an ex-Marine named Billy Coen.

Trailers

 * Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil Zero Trailer - 2009