



BIOHAZARD 4 (バイオハザード４, Baiohazādo 4?) was the name of a cancelled entry to the Resident Evil series. It was later revamped and released as Devil May Cry in 2001.

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Plot

According to Hideki Kamiya and some sources, the story was based on unraveling the mystery surrounding the protagonist Tony Redgrave and his twin brother Vergil, the sons of The Earl Spencer who have become superhumans through the use of the G-Virus.[1] Tony maintains a human form, but possesses superior skills and intellect.[2] The story was likely set in the future.

The story was to be focused on Mallet Island, home to an Umbrella facility.

Gameplay

Initially, the game would play out similar to the early installments of Resident Evil on the PlayStation, however as Kamiya felt the playable character did not look brave and heroic enough in battles from a fixed angle, he decided to drop the prerendered backgrounds from previous installments and instead opted for a dynamic camera system. The gameplay is assumed to be similar to that of the final product, Devil May Cry with the exclusion of sword fighting where in the original concept there were huge emphasis on guns. The released game still shares various similarities with the Resident Evil series.

Development

First hinted at in early December 1999,[3] Resident Evil 4, was a title that faced a considerably lengthy development time, during which no fewer than four different proposed versions of the game were ultimately to be discarded.[4] It initially began development in 1998 with plans to be the very first Resident Evil title released on the then-upcoming PlayStation 2 console. Direction was led by Hideki Kamiya after producer Shinji Mikami requested him to create a new entry in the Resident Evil series.,[5] who returned to the director's seat soon after 1998's Resident Evil 2. The game's origins tied in with Kamiya's earlier attempt at BIOHAZARD 3, which was cancelled in mid-1998 in order to move to the PlayStation 2 and its plot abandoned.[6][7]

It was later renamed BIOHAZARD 4 when Kazuhiro Aoyama's BIOHAZARD 1.9 [Working Title] was renamed as the third entry.[8]

Around the turn of the millennium,[2] Resident Evil 2 writer Noboru Sugimura created a scenario for the title,[9] based on Kamiya's idea to make a "cool" and "stylish" action game.[10] The story was based on unraveling the mystery surrounding the body of protagonist Tony,[11] an invincible man with skills and an intellect exceeding that of normal people, with his superhuman abilities explained with biotechnology.[2] As Kamiya felt the playable character did not look brave and heroic enough in battles from a fixed angle, he decided to drop the prerendered backgrounds from previous installments and instead opted for a dynamic camera system.[5] This new direction required the team to make a trip to Europe, where they spent 11 days in the United Kingdom and Spain, to study Spanish architecture while photographing things like Gothic art statues, bricks, and stone pavements for use in Texture mapping. It was also at this point the first character designs were made.[12][13]

Focusing on the use of action alongside the horror themes, Though the developers tried to make the "coolness" theme fit into the world of Resident Evil,[14] the direction that the project took was seen by other members at Studio 4 as being a progressively radical departure from the traditional Resident Evil concept of Survival Horror. Shinji Mikami felt it strayed too far from the series' survival horror roots and gradually convinced all of the staff members to make the game independent from it. After talks between Kamiya and Mikami, it was decided that the game should continue development but as a separate franchise, Kamiya eventually rewrote the story to be set in a world full of demons and changed the hero's name to Dante.[2] The cast of characters remained largely identical to that in Sugimura's scenario,[15] although the hero's mother[16] and his father,[17] the latter an early version of the Umbrella Corporation founder Lord Ozwell E. Spencer,[18][19] were written out of the story. The game's new title was revealed as Devil May Cry, released for the PlayStation 2 in August 2001,[20] resulting in its own franchise.

Similarities with Resident Evil 4

Some aspects of "Stylish" BIOHAZARD 4 did make their way into the release version of the game. For example, the Novistador enemy was based on Beelzebub. In keeping with the series tradition of naming B.O.W.s after mythological beings, this B.O.W. was an insectoid enemy named after "Ba'al Zebub", a derogatory term ancient Hebrews gave to the Philistine god Ba'al. Like the Novistadores, Beelzebubs appear have flying and non-flying variations. The idea of a cathedral and castle also appeared in "Stylish", which were later recycled into the "Castle" versions and made their way into the release version.

Gallery

Further Notes

While Devil May Cry was still in development as BIOHAZARD 4 (Resident Evil 4) , the main protagonist was to be named "Tony", but his name was later changed to Dante.

was still in development as , the main protagonist was to be named "Tony", but his name was later changed to Dante. Tony Redgrave's name is mentioned on Ebony and Ivory (Dante's trademark pair of personally customized, semi-automatic pistols) The outward facing sides (Ebony's left and Ivory's right) are engraved with a dedication to Dante which is explained in Devil May Cry Volume 1 to be from Nell Goldstein: " For Tony Redgrave

By .45 Art Warkson "

The inward-facing side of each weapon's slide (Ebony's right and Ivory's left) is engraved with "Ebony & Ivory" in a cursive script.

The inward-facing side of each weapon's slide (Ebony's right and Ivory's left) is engraved with "Ebony & Ivory" in a cursive script. Tony Redgrave is an alias of Dante in the released game.

The "For Tony Redgrave" award in DmC: Devil May Cry is awarded for slaying fifty enemies using nothing but firearms. The name of the award references the engraving on Tony's guns.

is awarded for slaying fifty enemies using nothing but firearms. The name of the award references the engraving on Tony's guns. In Devil May Cry After Grue notes Tony's boots are wrecked from defeating the corpses, Dante complains that he'd have to replace them, as he had finally asked Claire out on a date. This is a possible reference to Claire Redfield, another character created by Hideki Kamiya.

After Grue notes Tony's boots are wrecked from defeating the corpses, Dante complains that he'd have to replace them, as he had finally asked Claire out on a date. This is a possible reference to Claire Redfield, another character created by Hideki Kamiya. Kamiya stated that the name Redgrave came to be due to similarities with the name Redfield. [21] In addition, he also stated that Dante took the name Tony Redgrave from someone he respected, referring to Antonio Redgrave, father of Luka a character in Bayonetta [22]

