All the footage available of the prototypes of Resident Evil 4 / Resident Evil 3,5. 00:00 TGS 2002 trailer - Fog version / progenitor virus 01:12 Nintendo E3 2003 press conference gameplay reveal 03:58 2003 gameplay - Paranormal / hook man version 08:59 2004 beta gameplay Wikipedia: Resident Evil 4 underwent a lengthy development, during which at least four versions of the game were discarded. The first version was directed by Hideki Kamiya. Around the turn of the millennium, Resident Evil 2 writer Noboru Sugimura created a scenario for the game, based on Kamiya's idea to make a "cool" and "stylish" action game. The story was based on unraveling the mystery surrounding the body of protagonist Tony, an invincible man with skills and an intellect exceeding that of normal people, with his superhuman abilities explained with biotechnology. 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. This new direction required the team to make a trip to Europe, where they spent 11 days in the United Kingdom and Spain, photographing things like Gothic statues, bricks, and stone pavements for use in textures. Though the developers tried to make the "coolness" theme fit into the world of Resident Evil, 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. Kamiya eventually rewrote the story to be set in a world full of demons and changed the hero's name to Dante. The cast of characters remained largely identical to that in Sugimura's scenario, although the hero's mother and his father, the latter an early version of the Umbrella Corporation founder Lord Ozwell E. Spencer, 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, resulting in its own franchise. Development on Resident Evil 4 started over at the end of 2001. The first announcement was made in November 2002. This revision, commonly dubbed the "fog version", was directed by Hiroshi Shibata and was 40 percent finished at that time. The game saw Leon S. Kennedy struggling to survive after having infiltrated the castle-like Umbrella's main headquarters located in Europe and featured traditional Resident Evil monsters such as zombies. During the course of the new story, Leon became infected with the Progenitor Virus and possessed a hidden power in his left hand. The game was to feature some first-person elements. At E3 2003, another revision was revealed that is widely known as the "hook man version" now, though titled Maboroshi no Biohazard 4 on the Biohazard 4 Secret DVD. The story was set in a haunted building where Leon contracted a bizarre disease and fought paranormal enemies, such as animated suits of armor, living dolls, and a ghostlike man armed with a large hook. The game had an otherworldly feel to it, containing elements like flashbacks and hallucinations that were marked by a bluish tint and a shaking camera. It also displayed various gameplay mechanics that carried over to the final release, like the over-the-shoulder camera and a laser sight for aiming in battles and quick time events. Other features, such as dialogue choices, were removed later. The Hallucination version had only a basic story concept, having dropped the previous scenario penned by Noboru Sugimura of Flagship. In 2012, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis scenario writer Yasuhisa Kawamura said he was responsible for this version, as he wanted to make Biohazard 4 scarier "and suggested using a particular scene from the film Lost Souls, where the main character [...] suddenly finds herself in a derelict building with a killer on the loose. An arranged version of this idea eventually turned into Hook Man. The idea went through several iterations as Mr. Sugimura and I carefully refined this world (which, I have to say, was very romantic). Leon infiltrates the castle of Spencer seeking the truth, while inside a laboratory located deep within, a young girl wakes up. Accompanied by a B.O.W. dog, the two start to make their way up the castle. Unfortunately, there were many obstacles that needed to be overcome and the cost of development was deemed too expensive." Kawamura added he was very sorry and "even ashamed" that Mikami had to step in and scrap this version. After this attempt, the last cancelled revision featured classic zombies again. However, it was discontinued after few months, and before it was ever shown to the public, as the developers felt it was too formulaic. https://twitter.com/NeoGamerbr