Why Gaiden is canon (no question marks or grammatical errors here)

[A-J]

The Leon at the end of Gaiden is the BOW itself, because only it bleeds green blood.

which would mean that the real leon was killed or left in the ocean ..

which isn't exactly how it happened, gaiden just isn't canon, face it people.

[News Bot]

which isn't exactly how it happened, gaiden just isn't canon, face it people.

This. Absolutely zero relevance to the series other than namesake. Like the movies.

[Skunky]

Okay, there seems to be a majority agreement that we just pretend Gaiden never existed. (we're gonna scrub Gaiden from the face of the series!)
I'm okay with that...

But I'm still slightly tempted to one day buy a GBC and a copy of Gaiden, so I can play it.

[Stars_g36]

i have my copy of it! I could care less if it was cannon or not...I liked it as a side story, much better then any mobile RE game...actually had some sort of story line, it was like Dead Aim (ship wise) and RE4 with the girl on the ship. Barry was also there! So who knows!

[Bianca]

I played Gaiden long, looooong ago, and I barely remember anything about it, save for the clunky battling system. I still have my copy, and I'd like to play it again, but I don't really have the patience for it anymore. One day I will surely revisit it though.

Gaiden, to me, is really the only complete letdown in the series. I mean, at least I minimally enjoyed Survivor, but Gaiden left me in nothing but frustration and disappointment. And, of course, I'm quite a big fan of Dead Aim, and will never understand why more people won't give it a chance. Survivor 2 barely counts, but at least it's fun.

But, getting to the point: No, I do not think Gaiden is canon. Not at all. There would've been mention of it in the main series by now. Capcom themselves seems to want to forget the game exists.

[Corrin]

All I know is we need a real RE game starring Barry and Leon...just imagine the limitless possibilities for cheesy, awful dialogue!

[Yzak]

I've played (and beaten, orz) Gaiden. I actually think the battle system for it is cute and fun, but to an extent - I got sick of it if I played for too long and had to wind up being in a mood to play it when I wanted to play more. The story though was hilariously ridiculous and said ridiculousness was the reason I played the game at all. It's a game you can't play through seriously, so I had fun loling at almost everything. Especially that ending and the HUMAN DISGUISED B.O.W. OH NOES.

[Death Club]

Why would you even want it Canon?.... this topic is insane

[Harry Mason]

I agree that Gaiden is canon. It was released by Capcom and featured Barry on his next mission that we heard about at the end of RE3. Maybe in the future they will have another one..but I don't stay awake at night wishing it wasn't canon. Besides there is a T-virus vaccine right? So It's not too hard to figure Leon getting some vaccine working in a anti-BOW org...

I was disappointed that the original GBC game was canceled since I had pre-order money on it. I'm just surprised that they didn't use a game engine like metal gear on GBC it would have made it more enjoyable.

[Carnivol]

I was disappointed that the original GBC game was canceled since I had pre-order money on it. I'm just surprised that they didn't use a game engine like metal gear on GBC it would have made it more enjoyable.

Agree. It was a bit of an odd choice for it to use a closed off battle system and such. I guess they figured they wanted to do something like "Survivor" (Letting there be "mainline" games and then "FPS side-stories")

I think something like Metal Gear Solid (Ghost Babel) or Perfect Dark would've been the way to go (infact, rumble pak cartridge like Perfect Dark would've certainly been the way to go, could've worked some wonders for the shortcomings of screen space and audio on the system. Evt. also use some of that nice rotoscoping for fluid animation and such. Could've been a nice and more "faithful" end result.)

Anyway, Gaiden's not THAT bad, and a little bit of recent talk about it has infact made me want to replay it again sometime soon.

[A-J]

Anyway, Gaiden's not THAT bad, and a little bit of recent talk about it has infact made me want to replay it again sometime soon.

i honestly thought capcom made a REALLY bad decision by making it on the GB COLOR of all things, a GBA game could have been so much more .. hell an original DS or PSP title wouldn't be a bad idea right now either ..

[cvxfreak]

I thought Gaiden took place 6 months after RE2, making it sometime after CV?

And 外伝 means sidestory in the context of videogames. Or perhaps supplement, but the characters strictly adhere to "outside" 外 and "story" 伝. Wikipedia is right. Prime Blue used a dictionary, but as my year long stay in Japan proved, dictionaries are NOT the most reliable way to get proper meanings. Tell me Prime Blue, if you looked up 偽善者 in the dictionary, could you tell me more about the word than what the dictionary spews out?

And the game wasn't even written by Japanese people to begin with, so the term Gaiden was used with a Western assumption in mind.

[News Bot]

I agree that Gaiden is canon. It was released by Capcom

It was developed by Virgin. Story and all.

Besides there is a T-virus vaccine right? So It's not too hard to figure Leon getting some vaccine working in a anti-BOW org...

Uhh, the Leon at the end isn't Leon at all. It's the B.O.W. A vaccine wouldn't do anything.

[Rombie]

It was developed by Virgin. Story and all.

Actually it was a small independent dev team in England called M4 Limited. Virgin just did publishing in the UK as per earlier Capcom contracts for the GBC title. Also check the credits to see who had input on the scenario and planning for the game:

Scenario & Planning - Hiroki Kato

Even Mikami is listed as an advisor on the game (!) so Capcom clearly had input on what the title was. Personally, and this goes against what I'm pushing though, I'd expect that the title never was expected canon. Very little if anything has ever been mentioned of it in the various documents Capcom has published surrounding the chronology since and I think that itself speaks strongly on it not being canon.

As for why they released a GBC title when the GBA was out... the theory a few years back as to why the game was a GBC title was Capcom purchased a publishing license in 1999 from Nintendo for a unspecified Resident Evil GBC title.... and so when their planned RE port game fell through, they had Gaiden made to still produce a promised RE title on the format and make use of the license rather than wasting it. Additionally, given Mikami's connections with Nintendo around the time the title was being made and released (in the Capcom 5 on GC era) it's not surprising he'd push for it and thats probably why he's listed under that advisory role.

[Helegad]

Use your imagination guys. Leon could have still survived at the end. Here's my creative theory:

Barry notices the green blood and puts a cap in the BOW's ass (yo nigga) /gangsta
Leon managed to get out of the ship and survive the sinking by jumping out of an open window.
Leon swims to the boat.
Barry, Leon, and Lucia have an orgy then row home.
The end.