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Resident Evil Code Veronica: The Nostalgia Diaries (Ch. 1) now with PRIZES!

Sep 11, 2009 // MikeeB

Long title is loooooooong. As we creep closer to the release of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles , it’s time to keep moving forward with our discussion of all your thoughts and memories of playing through some these classic RE titles. Throughout the last month or so Resident Evil 2 has been the focus of my discussion, but now I’d like to introduce my next topic, Resident Evil Code Veronica. So without further adieu here’s the first entry in my series that chronicles my memories with Code Veronica. See you after the jump!

Where to begin with this one…  Resident Evil Code Veronica is quite possibly one of the most underrated and overlooked titles that I can think of. Debuting on the Sega Dreamcast in February of 2000, Code Veronica picks right up with Claire’s story following the conclusion of Resident Evil 2. While we’re on that topic I’d like to go ahead and express my love to the Dreamcast for being one of my all time favorite game platforms. If you missed out on your daily dose of gaming news yesterday, 9/9/09 marked the 10 year anniversary of the consoles launch. Happy birthday old friend! ScrewAttack put together a top 10 list of their all time favorite Dreamcast titles to help celebrate the occasion and Resident Evil Code Veronica made in the #4 spot! Here’s the video in cased you missed it… bonus points for their #1 pick 🙂

I recently got the chance to dive into this game again and it amazes me how many Resident Evil fans have just shrugged it off and missed out on an amazing game. Maybe it was because the Dreamcast wasn’t as commercially popular as the Playstation or N64, maybe it was because the game wasn’t a true “numbered” sequel, and the list goes on. Even I fall victim to this group a little bit. I’d received both RE3 and RE Code Veronica as a gift, but due to all of the other awesome titles that were available at the time, I never got around to properly play through the entire game until much much later. If you’re interested. I’d highly recommend picking the game up before you continue reading on, because my posts are going to be spoileriffic. If you’re wondering where you can still find the game these days, then worry no more. We’ve got it available in our Capcom store as part of the Resident Evil Essentials Pack .

Code Veronica was actually released in Japan a few weeks before hitting North American shores, but another neat little exclusive they got was a Limited Edition Code Veronica Console Bundle. Only 1800 of these red “Claire” bundles were produced and some are still are seen floating around Ebay in the neighborhood of $800 or so.

Resident Evil Code Veronica was the first RE title to make the jump into the “next generation” of consoles, and by that I mean wasn’t on or a port of an original Playstation title. The differences were subtle, but definitely noticeable. For starters, visuals were given an overhaul. The character models looked fantastic and the traditional RE pre-rendered backgrounds were swapped with dynamic 3D backgrounds. Of course with change you’re going to catch some heat from purists, but personally I liked the change, because it still kept the RE feel while the camera walked along with you. This can be a big help for seeing what’s ahead of you. I can remember so many times in RE2 when I could hear something creeping along, but then turned a corner and have him standing right in front of my face. You might think that this would take away from the horror element of the game a little bit, I mean c’mon, zombies jumping out and scaring you is what people love about the series. I beg to differ though, the game still has plenty of “HOLY CRAP!” moments, but now if your character is looking down a hallway, you too will be able to see what’s coming at you.

Like I mentioned before, you play as Claire Redfield, who managed to escape/survive the Raccoon City incident. Her brother Chris is still nowhere to be found, so she goes off searching for him in a top secret Umbrella Corp. facility and gets herself captured and thrown in a prison complex on Rockfort Island, but of course… like the Transformers, there’s more to Rockfort than meets the eye.

There’s lots of new characters introduced, new weapons, lots of puzzle elements, and of course plenty of zombies to dispose of. I’ll be delving into the game in detail next post! If you’ve played the game already leave some comment love or join our forum discussion to make yourself heard! If not you’ve got a few days to get caught up, so get goin!

There’s a ton of neat stuff happening in the RE community as of late. Steve Burnside has now joined both Claire and Leon on twitter so check them out and follow to see what they’re up to. I hear the might be running into some “hidden items” for you fans, so keep your eyes peeled and your F5 finger primed and ready. Also we have the introduction of the Code Veronica Experience on the Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles site . Last week I also got the pleasure of attending Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. We got the chance to show off Darkside Chronicles, host an awesome RE5 PC launch party , giveaway zombie swag, and of course i nvade the Rock Band stage right across from our own booth. Looking back on it there were quite a few singing/dancing zombies last week, which is rare … consider yourself lucky! I’ll be posting some of my own pics from PAX as well which will be in my photo albums

I also mentioned there would be prizes up above and I intend to deliver. I’ve got some Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles posters signed by the producer himself Masachika Kawata. How do I get one you ask? Easy! just head on over to the discussion thread and post a picture of yourself “zombified” with a sign/message that reads “Let your darkside out…”. The more creative, fun, awesome your picture is the better chance you have at scoring an awesome/rare prize. I’ll be giving out somwhere between 5-10 posters this time around so start snappin your best photos!

As always, thanks for reading, and be ready for more soon!

~mike