Barry Burton

Jill, here's a lockpick. It might come in handy if you, the master of unlocking, take it with you.

Barry Burton was a member of S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics And Rescue Service) and the backup man for the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team. He was in charge of maintaining and supplying weapons for his fellow S.T.A.R.S members.

Background
Before 1998, Barry was a soldier in U.S. Air Force, serving in the same unit as Chris Redfield, with whom he became good friends with. Barry later left the Air Force and joined the recently formed S.T.A.R.S., where he employed his vast knowledge of weaponry. Chris was eventually discharged from the force and began drifting. Barry met up with Chris and managed to talk him into joining S.T.A.R.S. also. He has a loving wife, Kathy, with two daughters named Moira and Polly.

Barry is also a known gun enthusiast and NRA member. When he came to Raccoon City to join S.T.A.R.S., he became friends with Gun Shop owner Robert Kendo. The two were close friends and often went fishing together in Stoneville. Due to their friendship, Barry commissioned Robert's brother, Joe, to modify most of S.T.A.R.S.' arsenal, including their side arm, the Samurai Edge. Barry had his specially modified to fire .40S&W caliber rounds.

Mansion Incident
That was too close. You were almost a Jill sandwich!

After a confrontation with Cerberi, Barry managed to escape into the Spencer estate along with fellow Alpha team members Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker and Jill Valentine. Afterwards, he helped Jill overcome several of the mansion's traps and creatures. However, Albert Wesker, who was actually a spy working for Umbrella corporation, blackmailed Barry to do his bidding by using his family as leverage. Barry began to eliminate any evidence that implicated Wesker and began luring Jill into traps against monsters. It was because of Barry that Wesker was able to track down Enrico and murder him. While in the lab, Wesker reveals his control over Barry, and has him once pull his gun on Jill. After revealing that his threat against Barry's family was a bluff in a moment of hubris, Barry shoots Wesker. Jill, Chris and Rebecca Chambers subsequently escaped the mansion. Barry also escaped before the destruction.

(Please note: Both Barry and Rebecca are acknowledged as surviving the incident in Resident Evil 2 and a timeline in Resident Evil 5)

Raccoon City Incident
Time to end this damned nightmare!

After the Mansion incident, Barry immediately moved his family to Canada, out of Umbrella's reach in order to ensure their safety. He then left them to rejoin Chris and Jill in their Anti-Umbrella efforts. During the t-virus outbreak, when Raccoon City was facing annihilation, he took a civilian helicopter in order to locate Jill and extract her from the city.

Barry came in contact with an Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service mercenary Carlos Oliveira (who was assisting Jill amidst the chaos) and was able to locate Jill in time to rescue both her and Carlos before the missile destroyed Raccoon City. Afterwards, Jill and Barry participated in undisclosed anti-Umbrella operations until Umbrella's shutdown by the Government.

Starlight Cruiser Incident (Resident Evil: Gaiden non-canon)
Please note that the following section pertains to a game that is non-canon.

Barry, now a member of an underground Anti-Umbrella organization, was called into the office of the organization's chief. He was informed that one of their operatives, Leon S. Kennedy, had been sent to the luxury ocean cruiser, the Starlight Cruiser, to destroy a prototype B.O.W. that was supposedly among the ship's passengers and crew, but contact had been lost with him 24 hours ago.

Barry was sent to find Leon and quickly discovered that there had been a t-virus outbreak on-board. Soon, Barry found a young survivor named Lucia, who was being chased by a prime candidate for the B.O.W.: a large, grey humanoid who could produce tentacles from its abdomen and transform into an amoeba. After being separated from Lucia, Barry found Leon unconscious. The two joined forces and saved Lucia again. Barry left Lucia with Leon and made contact with Umbrella, who had apparently contacted him en route to the Starlight. When found by Leon and Lucia, Barry demanded that he hand her over and took her down to an Umbrella-owned submarine.

On-board, it was revealed that Barry used Umbrella to procure a means of escape from the Starlight, that Umbrella had no knowledge about the B.O.W. the three had been fighting (indicating the possibility of the involvement of Umbrella's competition) and that the B.O.W. in question was a parasite in Lucia's body. Barry demanded that the parasite be removed or else, he'd kill the captain.

Upon removal, the parasite escaped and turned everyone on the submarine (except Barry and Lucia) into zombies. It was fully grown within minutes. When Barry steered the submarine back to the Starlight, the parasite jumped on board. It used its unique ability to mimic Leon, who was in the engine room, having defeated the other B.O.W. In the end, Barry, along with Lucia and the Leon impostor, killed the B.O.W. with a hail of gunfire. Afterwards, Barry took in Lucia as a stepdaughter, as per his accepted offer on the submarine.

This game is not part of the official series canon, as its plot is ignored and in some places contradicted by later titles.

Wardrobe
Barry's outfit in Resident Evil is a white S.T.A.R.S. t-shirt, gray pants, and a red vest over the t-shirt.

In Resident Evil 3, Barry is wearing a brown bomber vest, supposedly gray pants, a white t-shirt, and a black ball cap.

Appearances
Barry made his first appearance in the original Resident Evil as one of the few surviving members of S.T.A.R.S. in the game. He would appear in various portions of Jill Valentine's scenario in order to lend a hand whenever the scene called for Barry's raw strength. Depending on the choices made by the player, one could finish the game with or without saving Barry at the end.

It's worth noting that Barry never appears in Chris' scenario after the opening intro and his disappearance is never solved in that scenario. Likewise, Rebecca (a supporting character in Chris' scenario) never appears in Jill's game, either. Despite the discrepancies between both scenarios, both Rebecca and Barry escaped alive.

Barry is also famous for his awkward-sounding lines in the first game. Resident Evil notoriously suffered from a terrible and often laughable translation and much of the dialogue was reminiscent of engrish. Out of all the characters, however, Barry seems to be an enigma at the same time, the funniest character. Some of his lines included "What?! What is this?!" at the sight of a giant puddle of blood, or his infamous "The master of unlocking" line when referring to Jill's ability to use a lockpick well. By far, his most famous bad line is the legendary "You were almost a Jill Sandwich!" line. This is said to Jill after she is rescued from a collapsing room and has been lampooned countless times, for example, in the Capcom-made zombie action game Dead Rising, one of the locations in the mall's food court is "Jill's Sandwiches". Barry's dialogue is considerably improved in the REmake, "What is this?!" and "Master of unlocking", as well as many other awkward sounding bits of dialogue, are completely cut from the remake and replaced by more natural-sounding speech, although a variation of the "Jill sandwich" line and a scene involving Barry "examining" blood remains. However, the "Master of Unlocking" line is occasionally referenced throughout the series, with the most notable being the "Masters of Removing" achievement or trophy available in Resident Evil 5.

Barry is also an extra figurine in the updated Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition, along with Rebecca Chambers, as they appear under extra figurines. His voice phrase is: "I have THIS!", refering to his magnum, the same phrase he used when speaking with Jill in the first game.

Barry is a playable character in Resident Evil 5's "Mercenaries Reunion" that comes with either the DLC or the new edition of Resident Evil 5.

Weapon of choice


I've have this!

Barry's signature weapon is his .44 Magnum Colt Anaconda (it was the .357 Colt Python in the original version), which he uses as a sidearm during the Mansion incident instead of the Beretta 92F/FS (or Samurai Edge) used by the other members. He also uses a flamethrower to save Jill if she gets attacked by Plant 42. His version of the Samurai Edge has been modified to fire .40 S&W rounds instead of normal 9mm Luger rounds and is available (in the GameCube remake) as an unlockable weapon for Jill and Chris with unlimited ammo.

Barry is one of the playable characters in the multiplayer mode in the Nintendo DS port of the original game, Resident Evil: Deadly Silence.

The Mercenaries Reunion
Barry Burton is a playable character in a version of Resident Evil 5's "The Mercenaries" mode entitled "Mercenaries Reunion". Barry can be obtained by either purchasing Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition on a physical disk, or downloading Lost in Nightmares as a DLC. Barry's outfit matches his S.T.A.R.S. uniform.

While not having any fully automatic weapons such as a sub-machine gun or otherwise, Barry's handgun is powerful enough to take most enemies down with 3 or less shots. His magnum is also very effective with one or two shots exploding the Big Man Majini. His rifle is typical: powerful but must be aimed through a scope, which limits peripheral vision.

Barry comes with the following weapons:
 * 1) The Dragunov SVD Sniper rifle,
 * 2) Barry's custom Beretta 92F Custom 'Samurai Edge' Handgun (with 30 loaded shots),
 * 3) A Smith & Wesson Model 29

Barry's custom Colt Anaconda will only be used when he does a melee attack named "Gun Bash". Also, when Barry performs the move where he pulls out his custom weapon, entitled "Miranda Rights," he will shout two of his famous lines. They will be either "I have THIS!" or "What IS this?!?". Barry will also say this when he uses a proximity mine. Albeit in a more serious tone. Barry is also the only character in both Mercenaries modes who uses a gun for a melee attack.

Resident Evil Deck Building Game
Barry is a character card in the Resident Evil DBG base set. Barry specializes in Magnums, true to his character, and is given a +20 damage bonus to any Magnum he is using. This is his Level 2 effect. His Level 1 effect can contribute to this by adding +5 damage to the same weapon. However, the damage bonus can apply to any weapon in the game provided Barry is attacking another character or a revealed Infected. He has 90 health, which is a unique amount among the characters in the base set.

Trivia

 * Barry is the only character in Resident Evil 5 to use his signature weapon during melee attacks (Gun Bash and Miranda Rights).
 * Barry's special move "Hurricane" is the same spinning melee move as the "Double Lariat" -- first performed by Mike Haggar in Final Fight and then by Zangief in the Street Fighter series and Frank West in Dead Rising, all games made by Capcom.
 * In the original live-action FMVs and character art, Barry is seen with a black magnum revolver. However in the game, it is switched to a chrome finish.
 * In The Mercenaries Reunion, when Barry approaches an enemy from behind when shot in the leg, he will perform a melee move where he takes his magnum out and pistol whips the enemy on the head (Gun Bash). This originates from classic Resident Evil where when the player follows a specific path in the game, Barry will come up behind Albert Wesker and knock him out with his gun.
 * Barry has 2 different deaths in both the original and remake of the first game, in the original, he can be killed in the Underground or in the Labratory, whereas it the remake, he can be killed by Lisa Trevor or the Tyrant.
 * Unusually, the ways he dies in RE1 are strange, as he has a magnum yet he was killed by zombies or hunters