Video Games

Why Capcom Shouldn’t Skip a Resident Evil: Code Veronica Remake

“Resident Evil: Code Veronica” has an ominous beginning.

The opening crawl tells of the Midwestern town of Raccoon City being completely destroyed by the T-Virus outbreak. A helicopter flies over to a mysterious island, where Claire Redfield is unloaded and then knocked out. She was captured by the Umbrella Corporation while breaking into a laboratory in Paris. She was looking for her brother, notorious police officer Chris Redfield. In a flashback, Claire sprints down her hallway, her machine gun firing at her and shards of her glass flying all over the place. She is quickly cornered and captured, but she can’t help but set fire to several Umbrella Corporation employees.

If there’s one early game in the series that deserves a comeback, it’s Code Veronica.


This is the immediately iconic opening cutscene. A brazen, action-packed opening inspired by the films of Face/Off director John Woo. When Claire wakes up in a dingy prison on Rockfort Island, the game’s spooky atmosphere envelops you. Unlike his three previous Resident Evil games, the environments are not pre-rendered and fully 3D. And while the tank controls are present, Code His Veronica has some oddities that leave a lasting impression. For example, there is a point near the halfway mark where you can’t turn back, and if you carelessly save in front of the next boss, Tyrant-078, without ammo, there is little way to defeat the monster, and no way to go back to get it. neither. more bullets. Be prepared to start over the whole game if you’re going to repeat your previous saves over and over again. This is one of the reasons why Code Veronica is often cited as the hardest classic Resident Evil game.

For some undead apprentices in the series, these elements are part of what makes 2000’s Code Veronica so special. But for others, CV is simply outdated and the gameplay offends our modern expectations of gaming. Not only are these players missing out on a great survival experience, they’re missing out on one of the most important parts of Resident Evil’s overall story. If there’s one early game in the series that deserves a comeback, it’s Code Veronica.

After all, Code Veronica was supposed to be the true successor to Resident Evil 2. In the late 90s, Capcom began developing his two new games in parallel. One was his Gaiden-style spin-off about Jill Valentine for PlayStation. The other would be Claire and Chris Redfield in the upcoming mainline game developed for the Dreamcast. An exclusivity deal with Sony forced Capcom to change plans and remake the spin-off into Resident Evil 3, his originally envisioned third installment into a spin-off. But Code Veronica is still heavily tied to the main story, not only revealing what happened to Redfield after Raccoon City, but also featuring the return of villain Albert Wesker.

After all, Code Veronica was supposed to be a true sequel to Resident Evil 2.


CV plays such an important role in the Resident Evil series, so why would Capcom seem to have decided to skip the remake? After Resident Evil 3 there would have been a modern version of Code Veronica. Still, a new version of “Resident Evil 4” is now here. Don’t get me wrong. The result was fantastic, Capcom did a miraculous job and made one of arguably the greatest games he ever made even better. But what’s the cost? Can the company go on and forget about Code Veronica, which seems to be the direction the studio is headed?

Getting Code Veronica today is also complicated. Modern consoles let you play a slightly unstable emulated port of Code Veronica X, the PlayStation 2 remake of the Dreamcast original. There are lighting and emulation issues throughout, and while it’s better to play the PS3 Remake, it further raises the barrier to entry. A remake would make the game more accessible to people and would greatly improve the graphics quality. With Resident Evil 4, it was difficult to argue whether a remake would significantly improve gameplay, but Code Veronica is a clear case that any remake could do better. , and seeing the beautiful Gothic landscapes with a European flair now exposed, the -gen console would be great.

Now, Code Veronica is not without its problems. For many people, the game’s slow pace might be a problem, but like other recent remakes, Capcom has inevitably cut some content to speed up the game a bit. , hopefully making the very annoying sub-character Steve a little more human. The bigger problem is with the Ashford Twins.

Ignoring that these two are some of Resident Evil’s most spirited characters, Alfred would need a drastic change. Inspired by Norman Bates in Alfred Hitcock’s Psycho (the name seems to be an homage to the director), Alfred is a mentally unstable man obsessed with his sister. and sometimes impersonates her to disguise her identity. He cross-dresses and mutters to himself in various voices.

Alfred isn’t a transgender character, but people wearing gender-nonconforming clothing are a threat, amplifying the noxious trope that mental illness and cross-dressing are linked, but in reality they are. not (another example is Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs) and you can Read here for why the portrayal is so harmful). The game doesn’t necessarily share these perspectives, but it reinforces these stereotypes with Claire’s infamous line calling Alfred a “transvestite freak.”

It’s a detrimental offensive moment for the trans community.a Reported by GLAAD In 2015, 84% of Americans “continued to learn about transgender people through the media.” This means that characters like Alfred play a large part in people’s perceptions of cross-dressing, and many people may mistake them for being transgender. If you want to remake it, you have to change it drastically. Completely removing Alfred’s cross-dressing would be a start. He can be a compelling character with an unnatural infatuation and a terrifying aura for his twin sister without resorting to harmful tropes. If rewritten properly, Alfred could be one of Resident Evil’s best villains.

Of all the Resident Evil games that haven’t been remade, Code Veronica is clearly the most deserving and most in need of a remake.


This is one of the most significant changes Capcom has to make and will show the studio’s willingness to update the game for a modern audience. Because it’s inevitable that we’ll be remaking Resident Evil 5, the most controversial of all Resident Evil games. , would require a lot of changes.

Where Code Veronica raised eyebrows in 2000, Resident Evil 5 was met with immediate disdain. The plot depicts a white character, Chris Redfield, going to an African country and killing infected black residents. The opening, in particular, was reported to use traditional racist, fear-mongering iconography. Going back to 2009, IGN published an editorial that investigated Whether the game was racist. If the remake followed the same story, similar arguments would naturally arise and Capcom would have to make changes.

Updating the base game for a more modern feel, the Code Veronica remake will have Resident Evil fans ready for major changes to Capcom’s Resident Evil 5. And with these updated stories, you can enjoy both Code Veronica and Resident Evil 5. No problem for the new generation and future generations.

Of all the Resident Evil games that haven’t been remade, Code Veronica is clearly the most deserving and most in need of a remake. And if we put our business hats on, it also makes sense economically. If Capcom remakes Resident Evil 5 and then Resident Evil 6, the studio will basically have no games to revive, unless they then return to Code Veronica, which is strange on a narrative level. It makes sense to remake Code Veronica.

Jack Sheperd is a freelance writer at IGN.

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