Resident Evil 0

Resident Evil Zero (also depicted as Resident Evil Zero), known in Japan as biohazard 0‎ (バイオハザード０), 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 gameplay 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 Laboratory incident.

Summary
Faced with the relentless undead and other horrifying creatures, S.T.A.R.S. officer Rebecca Chambers makes an alliance with Billy Coen, an escaped criminal. Unknowingly, Rebecca stumbles into the prelude of an event where she will be tested to her limits and her greatest fears will be realized. Together, Billy and Rebecca must survive the nightmare and expose the dark secrets of what has caused it.

Main characters

 * 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. She separates from the team and discovers the Ecliptic Express train stopped on the tracks. As she enters to search for survivors, the train starts to move again after two members of the U.S.S. Delta team restart the train.


 * 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.

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 - Although much younger than James Marcus, William is just as brilliant, and is a genius in the science & research department. Birkin is highly ambitious, and shows great interest 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. He is the only other member of the Team, including Rebecca, to enter the Ecliptic Express.

Gameplay


Resident Evil Zero'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.

Initial development
Developed by Capcom Production Studio 3, the concept of a prequel to the original Resident Evil first blossomed shortly after the Nintendo 64DD's announcement in 1995, when the original game itself was still in development. Early in the game's development, it was intended to be sold on a CD-ROM, with the possibility of an N64 cartridge-based version being researched in 1997.

While the 64DD was intended to use CD-ROMs, Studio 3 instead chose to only use the cartridge-based 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 the unique 'partner zapping' systems proposed for the game than disc-based media, due to the lack of loading times. This iteration of the game was first unveiled during the Tokyo Game Show in 2000. Only footage of the train stage, the Ecliptic Express, was used because the quality of the other stages was not considered good enough for preview.

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: Nemesis than any other game in the series.

GameCube redesign
Production of the game shifted from the Nintendo 64 to the GameCube as a result of the transition to sixth generation consoles; consequently the game was delayed so that the environments could be upgraded to match other 120-bit games of the generation. 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 storyline in Resident Evil Zero was originally supposed to lay the groundwork for the forthcoming Resident Evil 4 by introducing the Progenitor virus (beforehand known as the "Clay virus") which was to play a major role in RE4. Initially 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.

Wii port


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.

Due to an unexpected error on game transfer, the Wii version was pushed back to early December. The games official North American release date was December 1, 2009, making Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil Zero the last game in the Resident Evil series to be released before 2010. Capcom has since released an upgraded version of Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil Zero that comes with a literal Umbrella colored in the traditional White and Red of the Umbrella Corporation and has the Umbrella logo on two sides.

The Wii Port released in North America has received little to no change from the original GameCube Release, and was criticized for not fully using the Wii remote capabilities.

Novelization


A novelization of the game titled Resident Evil: Zero Hour was written by author S.D. Perry. It was the seventh book of the Resident Evil series but preceded all the other books in terms of chronological order. 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.

Reception
The game was well received by critics and has sold 1.25 million copies worldwide.

Trailers

 * Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil Zero trailer - 2009

Trivia

 * At the end of the game, when Rebecca and Billy split, she takes his dog-tags with her. This may be to provide proof of his death. However, in the REmake or Umbrella Chronicles, she does not wear it.
 * In the N64 port of Resident Evil 2, Billy is mentioned (instead spelt "Koen") in an extra file written by Rebecca regarding his "death", intended to foreshadow the then-upcoming Zero. 
 * This is the last game to utilize a fixed third person camera perspective by default; Resident Evil Outbreak uses a following-camera perspective while Resident Evil 4, 5 and Revelations use "over-the-shoulder" by default.
 * The Factory level was revisited in Resident Evil 2, although the rooms able to be accessed in each game differ.