The is one of the most significant "lost" artifacts in survival horror history. Originally developed for the Nintendo 64 (N64) between 1998 and 2000, this version of the game was intended to be a prequel to the original Resident Evil before technical limitations and shifting console generations forced its cancellation in favor of the Nintendo GameCube.

: Capcom initially conceived the prequel to take advantage of the N64’s cartridge-based media . Developers believed the lack of loading times on cartridges was essential for the game’s "Partner Zapping" and item-dropping systems, which would have been difficult for the disc-based PlayStation 1 to handle.

On the N64, the data transfer rate of the cartridge format allowed for instantaneous switching. Players could leave Billy in one room, walk Rebecca to another, and swap back and forth with zero downtime. Pre-Rendered Background Compression