The Resident Evil series has evolved so much over the years that even hardened fans find it hard to pin down a favourite. Which brand of Resident Evil are we talking about? Do you prefer old-school tank controls and fixed camera angles, or are your tastes more action-oriented? Regardless of the individual flavours, the addictive mixture of cinematic terror and B-movie shlock and gore runs through them all. But which Resident Evil is the best?
The original game hit the PlayStation back in 1996 and birthed the entire survival horror genre as we know it. While the RE series has had its share of ups and downs over the last couple of decades, we're living in a golden age of Resident Evil, and Switch has been lucky enough to receive a flurry of ports of Capcom's blood-curdling series.
Nearly all of the 'significant' entries have made it to a Nintendo platform at one time or another. In fact, the only mainline games Nintendo fans are still missing are the recent remake of Resident Evil 2, the upcoming remake of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and the latest totally new mainline game Resident Evil 7 (and a cloud-only streaming version of the latter is available on Switch in Japan - you'll find it in the list below).
We asked you which Resident Evil games were the best and you delivered the following verdict. Below you'll find the very best Resident Evil games (and, by extension, the worst) on Nintendo platforms, according to Nintendo Life readers.
So, turn the lights off, turn the sound up and, perhaps, grab a sandwich as we uncover the best Resident Evil game ever. Read on, if you dare...
15. Resident Evil Gaiden (GBC)
Resident Evil Gaiden was an attempt to scale down the survival horror to Nintendo's diminutive handheld and took the franchise on an ocean voyage well before Resident Evil Revelations. Obviously, preserving the gameplay of the original on such modest hardware would have been a huge challenge, although that didn't stop Capcom announcing a port of it for the Game Boy Color (check out The Cutting Room Floor for a look at that prototype). A straight port eventually got cancelled and replaced with this, a top-down game which abstracts the zombie combat with first-person elements involving a sliding bar half-inched from any number of Golf games.
Featuring returning characters Leon S. Kennedy and Barry Burton, the amusingly-acronymed REG is a decent stab at bringing the series' trademark tension to a portable, but after the pre-rendered beauty of the main games, its low-fi take diminishes the effect somewhat. Instead of remaking the mainline games, we'd like to see Capcom take another swing at this in a modern context. Everyone loves a bit of Barry.
14. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (3DS)
A portable spin-off of the surprisingly fun separate Mercenaries Mode which debuted in Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D expanded the roster of playable characters and bulked out the score-chasing shooter into a full-priced standalone game. Whether there was truly enough content to warrant the asking price was another question, and Capcom - arguably no stranger to pushing its luck when pricing certain software - might have done better by making this a cheaper, download-only title (or even a DLC tie-in with Revelations). However, the game was surprisingly addictive, and having something this good looking on 3DS was a novelty at the time.
13. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii)
A pleasant serving of light-gun shooting action with a big old side dish of reheated stories and narrative gap-fill, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles mixes retelling various events from Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil Code: Veronica with new scenarios set several years after. For a Wii title it's got some fine visuals and there's plenty of meat for fans to chew on with series favourites Leon S. Kennedy (the 'S' stands for 'Sensational hair') and Claire Redfield.
12. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)
As with all the very best Hollywood franchises, the makers of the Resident Evil series won't be satisfied until they've filled in every conceivable gap in between the mainline games with a prequel, sequel or - forgive us - 'interquel'. No, Chris, Jill, Leon and the gang can't pause to pee without finding themselves in a spin-off. Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, is that some of them have been quite good. There are plenty that haven't made it to Nintendo consoles, but the Wii did receive arguably two of the best spin-offs in the form of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and its sequel sitting below it on this list.
This is an on-rails shooter with plenty of interstitial fan service that references the mainline entries and a focus on the quite literally shady exploits of Albert Wesker. It's a fun, arcade-y experience that arguably acts as a fine 'Previously on Resident Evil' refresher for anyone who wants to jump in at a later point in the series.
11. Resident Evil 6 (Switch eShop)
Considered by many to be the point where the mainline series stepped too far away from its survival horror origins, Resident Evil 6's four campaign threads weave together the stories of Leon S. Kennedy, Ada Wong, Chris Redfield and Jake Muller. Variable quality between the four player characters' scenarios didn't help, and the game arguably suffered from stretching the RE4 template to breaking point after every other third-person shooter had already picked its corpse clean. RE6 has its defenders, and there's certainly plenty of it, but this is generally considered to be the mainline series' weakest point and it seems you lot agree.
Comments (50)
The starrs from the lickers, brilliant
"Where'd everybody go, bingo?"
I'd mostly agree with that list to be honest. Other than poor Resi 0, that deserves a wee bit more love than 5, at the very least.
Resi Rev. 2 is better than Rev. 1 imo.
RE4 is a great game but not the best RE. Resident Evil 2 is the best game in the series; by far.
@betterbygames Eh. The lack of zapping system features made it inferior, in some respects, to the original RE2. Also, the lack of replayability compared to the original.
Don't get me wrong: I adore RE2make. But it's not a perfect jewel of a game like REmake was.
I want a physical release of RE-games not, downloadable versions.
Resident evil 2 1. Resident evil 1 2. Resident evil 4 3 and resident evil revelations 2 4. That’s for starters
I still prefer Code Veronica on Dreamcast... the intro was all gone in X version. I remembered the game "i'm alexia ashford". it wasn't the same in X. And Resident Evil 2.. should've been on gamecube the Dreamcast version. Why? Because the cutscenes are all fullscreen. Yes people.. fullscreen. No black bars or whatever and higher quality FMV. Gamecube version only ported the psx the basic version. Such a pitty that they dismissed Dreamcast port so quick. That was the master version IMO. Played/owned Gamecube version, but it didn't feel the same to me. It was a step back since I knew that Gamecube hardware was stronger than Dreamcast. It was weird to me that they went with the basic version. Well it's what it is. But besides that still a great game. Love RE2 and Code Veronica and then RE3, RE4/RE5... Remake and REzero. All others I haven't played ever
RE0 deserves more love and RE4 does NOT deserve first place.
The only games in the series I really liked were the original, 2, and 4. Everything else is forgettable for me.
Resident Evil 4 is my number one for sure.
I agree with the list though I would swap Resident Evil 4 with Resident Evil 2. I want some hardcore horror and animated zombies with my Resident Evil.
RE4 is a good game, just not a Resident Evil game in my opinion, stranger. RE7 is a great horror game, but again not really a Resident Evil game in my opinion. I’ll always class REmake on the GC as the best Resident Evil game, they just nailed that original blueprint they started with the PS1 original. Not played the RE2 remake yet, I do wonder if it will be too action orientated and won’t feel like a Resi game, but I’ll still definitely play it at some point in the near future.
Ahhhh, finally a #1 that is correct
I think they mean Resident Evil 4 on Wii and Revelations on 3DS since that was impressive for that console
@nessisonett I was sad to see that too. I voted RE0 to try keep it high. It has issues but it's a much better entry than REV1 and RE5. I am glad to see REmake placed so high, however, and to see RE6 placed so low.
Does re4 have ink ribbons for saves? Or auto save?
Maybe first time round, but if 4 has the number one spot it can't be anything to do with its recent outing on the Switch. Most reviews I read weren't to kind to it, suggesting the developers were capitalising on the Switch to make a quick buck, and I guessed it worked.
You know the best thing? These are all good games that I’d play in a heartbeat.
Also you forgot Resident Evil Outbreak which was a top online co-op game.
Resident Evil 2 will always be my favourite whether it be the original or the excellent remake
RE0 is way better than 5.
In my opinion, from 1 to 6, 5 is the second worst.
@Ralizah RE2 had a 'zapping' system? Only Zero had that I think (where you can swap characters during the game)? I found REmake on Gamecube a bit boring, lost the B-movie charm of the original. Revelations 2 almost brought the cheese back, especially with Barry!
I like RE2 remake and 7, probably most out of the post RE4 games. RE4 lost its way once you reached the Island stage to me, became a full on shooter. 5 was not great for me, 6 very patchy.
@NoLife Me too. All of these digital libraries aren't guaranteed by anything and if something ever happens to our beloved Nintendo in the future, our games will be inaccessible. Not to mention the fact that I travel a lot (my primary reason for purchasing a Switch) and I'd like to easily swap game carts rather than connect to the internet to re-download a game.
Glad to see my babe RER ranking so high . Over a thousand hours speedrunning the ghost ship, Wii U and Switch combined. No regrets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci5O4TiBSLE
@Logan-Japan if Nintendo suddenly went under I'm sure Sony or Microsoft would snap up their assets and make sure the eshop is down for less than a day. The games will be there until support for the Switch is dropped in 2020.
I’ve never played a RE game...
Resident Evil 4 on Wii is still the definitive version, glad to see it top the list despite Resi 2 and 3 both being absolutely brilliant.
@Ristar24 The "zapping system" in RE2 refers to the way situations change in B scenarios based on actions taken by the player in A scenarios. This helps to drive the illusion that the two playthroughs are two perspectives on one complete story, whereas the two scenarios in RE2make are treated like alternative reality takes on the same story, which undermines the point of having both of them running around, interacting at key points, etc
@NintendoByNature You save the game through typewriters but no ink ribbons needed. Just save as many times as you want as long as you find a typewriter.
There's no auto save but there are certain parts of the game where if you die you can continue from the beginning of that section even if you didn't save
resident evil 4 on wii was the bomb, you could spend hours using the motion controls and the knife was great.
And off course that piece of garbage 4, is on first place.
Huge surprise there.
As far as I am concerned 4 did irreparable damage to Resident Evil.
@John_Deacon Sweet that's good to know. Never liked the ink ribbon aspect.
Good list! The first Resident Evil game is just great!
RE4 best played on Wii / Wii U as the Switch version lacks in motion controls. Holding my breath for RE2make for Switch.
Exactly what I had in mind.
Have enough people on this site really played the Japan only cloud version of 7, to make it so high up the list?
"Best RE games" according to who? You Gavin?
Have you actually played Nemesis and Code Veronica? If so, they should be swapped around at best. The latter is great and the former is ass.
@KitsuneNight
Couldn't agree more. The series died with that one.
Maaaan... after playing the original on my Saturn, I bought (and still have!) every single RE game released for the Gamecube, and I still don't get why people like RE2 so much. I thought that game was awful.
@GravyThief There's some action to it but I remember getting so frustrated at the lack of bullets and more strategic approach to the game. I eventually got gud and took the game at a much slower pace if that makes it seem more appealing.
@Ralizah I see, apologies I misunderstood you there as didnt realise that was a specific term for the RE2 system. I actually cant remember what changed that much in the original, so far back, though I liked that the new game retained the subsequent play throughs.
@Ristar24 Yeah. RE2make was -almost- the ideal remake for me. As it stands, though, I feel like they managed to create a modern action game that still maintains the majority of what I love about classic survival horror games. It's very much what I wish RE4 had opted for, as it's contemporary without sacrificing a huge aspect of the series' identity in the process.
The changes made do mess with the replayability a bit(to see the changes made between each characters' A and B campaigns), the interconnectedness of the two campaigns, the lore, the enemy variety (they cut out a lot of enemies in the remake), etc. though.
Still, it's probably my favorite RE game since REmake (although I still haven't touched RE7). And Mr. X definitely leveled up in terms of scariness, considering he stalks you throughout the game now instead of just showing up a few times and being easily ignorable in the B campaigns.
@Ralizah Yeah, as I say 4 lost me as the game went on (had this at launch on Gamecube), and the action went sky high. I would recomend 7, it suprised me how the tone still felt very 'Resident Evil' despite the shift in perspective and style. I do think they have moved in the right direction with the last two games.
EPIC FAIL. #1 should be Resident Evil: Deadly Silence which combines Resident Evil for Saturn with the Japanese Edition of Resident Evil: Director's Cut.
@Onkel_Laser
Agreed. Though Resident Evil Revelations was great, 2 was better.
@Turbo857 Revelations 2 is like the 3rd best game in the series and my personal favorite.
The first Resident Evil is still the best!
Resident Evil Revelaitons on the 3DS is my favorite, it looked awesome in 3D. After that I'd say RE1 on the PS1, then RE2 Remake.
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