Resident Evil 3.5

Officially announced in 2001, Resident Evil 4 underwent a long development period in which three proposed versions of the game were discarded by the developers before the finished product was released in 2005.

An earlier attempt at developing Resident Evil 4 was made from 1998 to 2000 for the upcoming PlayStation 2, with Resident Evil 2 director Hideki Kamiya leading the project. Some term this early-development stage "Resident Evil 3.5", in reference to the early-development stage of Resident Evil 2, which was designated "1.5". The first year was primarily spent on research of what the project would be, and included a trip to Spain for the development staff to study Spanish architecture. The first character designs were made. The direction that the project took was considered too much of a departure from the traditional Resident Evil style and the resulting game was revamped and released as Devil May Cry, which began its own franchise, in 2001.

Development versions
Three formats existed before the final version that became Resident Evil 4. They are named the "Fog"; "Hooked Man" and "Zombie" versions.

Fog


The development of Resident Evil 4 got its official start in 2001 for the GameCube as part of an exclusivity agreement between Capcom and Nintendo. The first proposed version, dubbed the Fog version, was unveiled in the Tokyo Game Show in 2002 and had Hiroshi Shibata, the background designer for Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, attached to the project. This version's premise featured Leon infiltrating Umbrella's headquarters in Europe, getting infected by the Progenitor virus and fighting fog-like creatures. One of the most notable areas shown in this version was a flying airship; however, Capcom scrapped the second beta of Resident Evil 4 quietly and created a new version without any outside announcement.

The Hooked Man


After the Fog version came the Hooked Man version. First shown at E3 in 2003, this version was set in a mansion and featured Leon fighting what appeared to be paranormal enemies, such as medieval suits of armor and living dolls. Infected with the Progenitor virus as with the Fog version, the screen would adopt a blue filter once the paranormal entities appeared as part of hallucinations. The most notable enemy in this version was the aforementioned Hooked Man, a possessed-looking man carrying a large hook. The game displayed numerous elements that have been carried over to the final release:


 * The over-the-shoulder perspective when Leon's weapon is drawn. However, in the video, there are a few times when Leon aims without the over-the-shoulder camera. The game reverts to a third-person view like a traditional Resident Evil game.
 * A red laser sight for Leon to use while aiming.
 * The flashlight that is added to Leon's character design.
 * A suit of armor suddenly attacking Leon when he attempts to pass it, as well as the button combination to dodge the attack.
 * The ability to throw a grenade.
 * The concept of assigning the L button to draw another type of weapon. In the beta version, the weapon was a grenade; in the final release, the weapon was a knife.
 * The 'struggle' feature where player has to break free from an enemy's grasp.
 * Leon's health indicator. In the beta, it flashes when Leon is hurt, but in the final release the developers decided to add a HUD to display more information.

This version was reportedly so scary that Shinji Mikami warned the gamers with an infamous quote "Don't pee your pants" prior showing the initial trailer at E3. Gameplay footage of this version was featured in the Biohazard 4 Secret DVD, released in Japan. This version was scrapped for being too paranormal for the Resident Evil plot.

Zombie
The final proposal before the finished product reportedly featured zombies as enemies once again. Not much is known about this version as it was never shown publicly. It was considered too formulaic by the developers and was discarded. After this, Shinji Mikami took over directorial duties from Shibata and began working on the version that was released.

Differences to finished product
Some changes where made to the final version of Resident Evil 4, such as a "REFLEX" mode, that would slow down the action while aiming. Videos still exist across the net displaying this odd mode, the screen becomes framed in a blueish glow, and headshots become pathetically impossible to miss.

The final pre-release version of Resident Evil 4 was released publicly on the Nintendo GameCube as a mail-away special called "Resident Evil 4: Preview Disk". The disk contained a short demo of Resident Evil 4 that included the first two areas of the game, "The House", where Leon starts off at, and "The Village". It featured no cut-sequences, and took about 20-40 minutes to complete depending on player's skill. The gameplay itself is largely unchanged from the final version, however the inventory "Attach'e Case" system was not yet in place, as the inventory system shown is the inventory slot design that is used in almost every other Resident Evil title.

The knife was an equipable weapon out of the inventory, instead of simply being "assigned" to the L button, which functioned as Leon's binoculars in the demo. Instead of pulling your knife out, holding the L button would cause Leon to look through his binoculars, which was more or less useless in the demo. The binoculars, and the way they worked still exists in the final game, but actually controlling them is now only one special event scene in the game's first chapter, and appears later in cut-sequences. Other changes include different sellable items, and different models for other items. The only other noticeable differences are simply quality issues. As it is a demo, the game suffers from a handful of small and often weird problems, including enemy AI issues and poorly animated blood effects (the most noticeable is Leon's decapitation at the hand of Doctor Salvidor, the blood seems to spray cartoonishly out). The disk also included trailers for the other 4 GameCube Resident Evil titles, and came in exclusive packaging.

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