Resident Evil Gaiden is a top-down perspective action RPG with first-person J-RPG style battle system featuring
Leon S. Kennedy and
Barry Burton as the protagonists. The entire game takes place on a cruise liner where a
t-Virus outbreak has occurred and turned most of it's passengers into zombies. The heroes were both present on the cruise as Umbrella were thought to be carrying experimental B.O.W.s (Bio-Organic Weapons) on board. The game also features a new character named
Lucia who has the ability to 'sense' powerful B.O.W.s.
The ultimate goal of the game is to defeat the B.O.W. thereby stalling Umbrellas research and then escape the cruise liner.
Compared to other Resident Evil titles, the game is completely different mainly due to the lack of power of the Game Boy Color. Before Gaiden was developed, a version of Resident Evil was developed for the platform at some stage but was later cancelled as it was far too ambitious.
The gameplay consists of exploring areas, collecting items such as keys for unlocking the path forward and entering battles where a pip bounces along a bar across the screen and pressing fire in a certain spot counts as a hit - more difficult enemies have a smaller area where a hit would land.
It received mixed to low review scores and has since been designated as non-canon (i.e. a completely separate story that does not tie in to Resident Evil lore). Proof of this is by the end of the game it is revealed that
Leon had become infected - a fact which was completely sidestepped in his later appearances. The next time a Resident Evil game was produced for mobile platforms was Resident Evil Deadly Silence, an enhanced remake of the original Resident Evil specifically for the Nintendo DS.
The Starlight
Luxurious cruiser, deadly secret...
Umbrella Submarine
Docked to Starlight like a parasite