One of gaming’s most fascinating what-ifs just became playable. Games That Weren’t, a preservation group dedicated to documenting cancelled and unreleased titles, shared a near-final build of Resident Evil for Game Boy Color on December 17, 2025. The build represents the game at the moment HotGen Studios was forced to cancel it in 2000, and assistant programmer Pete Frith estimates it’s roughly 98 percent complete. After 25 years, players can finally experience the ambitious attempt to bring PlayStation survival horror to Nintendo’s 8-bit handheld.
The Technical Miracle Nobody Asked For
Cramming Resident Evil onto Game Boy Color hardware seemed impossible, yet HotGen came remarkably close. The original PlayStation game featured pre-rendered 3D backgrounds, full motion video cutscenes, CD-quality audio, and complex puzzle-solving across sprawling interconnected environments. The Game Boy Color had an 8-bit processor, 32 kilobytes of working RAM, a 160×144 pixel screen, and cartridges maxing out at 8 megabytes. For context, the PlayStation version occupied 650 megabytes across a full CD.
HotGen’s solution involved aggressive compromises that somehow preserved the core experience. They converted the pre-rendered backgrounds into simplified tile-based graphics, reduced enemy variety, streamlined puzzle sequences, and cut most cutscenes. Voice acting became text dialogue boxes. The detailed character models turned into tiny 8-bit sprites. Despite these limitations, the team maintained tank controls, resource management, inventory systems, save rooms with typewriters, and the oppressive atmosphere that defined Resident Evil.
Why It Got Cancelled
According to Frith, the cancellation came from an unexpected source. The team was told that the original creator of Resident Evil didn’t believe the Game Boy Color was worthy of the franchise and ordered the project killed. Whether this refers to director Shinji Mikami or producer Tokuro Fujiwara remains unclear, but someone at Capcom with significant authority decided an 8-bit port would damage the brand.
The timing made this particularly frustrating for HotGen. Frith recalls extensive communication between the development team and QA testers before cancellation, suggesting the game was nearly ready to ship. The newly released build contains content absent from earlier leaked prototypes, including the Tyrant boss fight and the game’s ending sequence. This wasn’t a half-finished prototype scrapped in early development. It was a nearly complete product killed at the last minute.
What Got Replaced
Capcom eventually released Resident Evil Gaiden on Game Boy Color in 2001, developed by M4 instead of HotGen. Gaiden featured an original story with Leon Kennedy exploring a cruise ship overrun by zombies. The game used overhead perspective for exploration and switched to first-person shooting during combat encounters. While competent, Gaiden abandoned any attempt to recreate the original Resident Evil experience. It was designed specifically for handheld hardware rather than porting console gameplay.
The Previous Leaks
Work-in-progress builds of this impossible port have circulated online since 2011 when prototype ROMs first appeared. Even the most complete of those earlier versions remained too unfinished for players to reach the ending. The community had resigned itself to never seeing what HotGen accomplished in full. Someone allegedly held onto a more complete version for years, asking for money to release the ROM publicly, which frustrated preservation advocates.
This newly shared build changes everything. While not 100 percent finished, it contains enough content that Games That Weren’t believes players might be able to complete the entire game from start to finish. The group hasn’t confirmed this yet due to time constraints, so they’re asking the community to test it thoroughly and report whether any scenes glitch or prevent progression. To help players explore everything, they’ve included hacks allowing direct access to the Tyrant boss battle or the ending sequence.
What Still Needs Work
The 98 percent completion estimate acknowledges remaining issues. Some cutscenes are unfinished with missing animations or placeholder graphics. Certain sprite colors don’t match their intended appearance. Wesker and Barry use identical sprites because unique artwork was never implemented for one of them. Zombies drop to their knees when killed instead of falling over completely, though this might have been a deliberate change to satisfy Nintendo’s content restrictions and reduce perceived violence.
Despite these rough edges, the game appears fully playable. All locations are accessible, puzzles work correctly, inventory management functions as intended, and combat encounters play out properly. The core gameplay loop of exploring the Spencer Mansion, finding key items, solving puzzles, and surviving zombie encounters translates remarkably well to handheld hardware. Players familiar with the PlayStation original will recognize everything even through the visual downgrade.
The Developers React
Original artist Simon Butler responded to the preservation news on social media, saying it was good to see his sprites again after all these years. He admitted working on the project wasn’t the most fun he’d ever had but found it interesting nonetheless. The comment suggests the technical challenges of squeezing Resident Evil onto Game Boy Color hardware created significant development stress, understandable given the massive gap between the target platforms.
Why This Matters for Preservation
This release highlights the importance of game preservation efforts and why groups like Games That Weren’t serve crucial functions. Cancelled games exist in legal gray areas where developers can’t officially release them but don’t want them lost forever. Without preservationists tracking down old builds and sharing them publicly, fascinating projects like this Resident Evil port would disappear completely as storage media degrades and former developers lose access to old files.
The Game Boy Color died commercially in 2003 after the Game Boy Advance replaced it. HotGen closed years ago. Capcom has zero financial incentive to acknowledge or preserve this cancelled port. If Pete Frith hadn’t saved a copy of the final build and chosen to share it with preservationists, nobody would ever experience what the team accomplished. Future generations of game developers and historians would lose the opportunity to study how engineers solved seemingly impossible technical challenges.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I download the Resident Evil GBC ROM?
Games That Weren’t has the ROM available on their website. Search for their site and look for the Resident Evil Game Boy Color entry. This is a cancelled game that never received commercial release, so distribution exists in a legal gray area.
Can I play this on real Game Boy Color hardware?
Yes, if you have a flash cartridge that lets you load ROMs onto actual hardware. The game was developed for real Game Boy Color systems, so it should work on original hardware just like any official release.
Is the game fully beatable?
Games That Weren’t believes it might be completable but hasn’t verified this yet. They’re asking the community to test thoroughly and report any game-breaking bugs or progression blockers.
Why did Capcom cancel it if it was almost finished?
According to the development team, someone important at Capcom or involved with creating Resident Evil believed the Game Boy Color wasn’t worthy of the franchise and ordered the project cancelled.
Did Capcom ever make a Game Boy Color Resident Evil?
Yes, Resident Evil Gaiden released in 2001. However, it was an original game designed specifically for Game Boy Color rather than a port of the PlayStation version.
What’s different from the 2011 leaked builds?
This version includes the Tyrant boss battle and ending sequence, plus additional content and polish. Previous leaks were estimated around 90 percent complete, while this build reaches approximately 98 percent.
Who developed this port?
British studio HotGen handled the port. The team had experience with technically ambitious handheld projects and came remarkably close to the impossible goal of fitting Resident Evil onto 8-bit hardware.
Will Capcom ever officially release this?
Extremely unlikely. The game was cancelled 25 years ago, and Capcom has shown no interest in acknowledging or preserving it. Preservation groups are the only reason it’s playable today.
The What-If History
Imagine an alternate timeline where this version shipped in late 2000. Game Boy Color owners would have experienced Resident Evil’s tense survival horror on the bus, in bed, or anywhere else handheld gaming happens. Reviews would have marveled at the technical achievement while criticizing inevitable compromises. Capcom might have greenlit more survival horror ports to handhelds, potentially changing the trajectory of mobile gaming. Instead, the project died quietly, replaced by an original story that abandoned any attempt to recreate what made Resident Evil special. Now, 25 years later, we finally get to see what HotGen accomplished and wonder what could have been. The game exists as a testament to developer ingenuity, a reminder that seemingly impossible goals sometimes come within reach through clever engineering and stubborn determination. Whether it represents a technical miracle or a fool’s errand depends on your perspective, but nobody can deny the achievement of getting this far with such limited hardware.