History VideoGame / ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles

* ForgoneConclusion: This game takes place before Resident Evil 4. Krauser is a villain in Resident Evil 4. Don't act surprised.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Some of the final bosses are ridiculously huge and powerful. The player may need a special storyline weapon for some of them, but most will go down to the player and their pistol. Specifically, the player needs to use a rocket launcher to defeat Combat Mode Mr. X (a.k.a. "The Super Tyrant"), the Linear Launcher to defeat Alexia, and a missile to defeat the T-078 Tyrant.

** Mind, this is after being shot to death once, left behind on an exploding island, and then somehow clung onto the escape plane's ''exterior'' until it was halfway over the ocean.

** Steve likes to take his aggression out on zombies.

* AnimationBump: In a rare example of taking a step back to improve animation, this game goes with Chris Redfield's original look and not his steroid-fueled look from ''ResidentEvil5''. It could also arguably be said Chris simply ''canonically'' bulked up between appearances and was "officially" less muscular during this time frame.

** Considering Leon also got more muscular in his later appearances, it's likely that they both just got in shape for their more strenuous new jobs.

** Also, being forced into very dangerous combat service or risk having a little girl be killed/vivisected/experimented on/etc.

* UnreliableNarrator: A possible explanation for the differences between how ''Resident Evil 2'' and ''Code: Veronica'' originally happened, and how they're depicted here. Leon is telling the story secondhand (in the second game, he never even met Chief Irons, let alone witnessed his death), and is getting some of his facts mixed up. Justified in that he and Krauser are in a life-or-death scenario of the worst kind, and in both retellings, Claire was in the same situation while babysitting first a little girl and then a teenaged male who acts like a little boy at times. Leon's memory can't and shouldn't be expected to be sharp when he's retelling a traumatic experience in a small break during a traumatic experience.

** Krauser gets a few moments:
--->'''Krauser:''' I don't care how much they're paying him (Leon). This job sucks.

* BoringButPractical: The standard pistol may be all the player ever needs. It has unlimited ammo and, when fully upgraded, has enough firepower to utterly destroy any single boss the game throws at the player. Plus, it's the only weapon capable of OneHitKill-{{Boom Headshot}}s.
** Then again on the Very Hard difficulty, it may be a wise idea to use your other weapons at your disposal as well

** Then again try using just the pistol on Very Hard mode.

* BoringButPractical: The standard pistol is all the player ever needs. It has unlimited ammo and, when fully upgraded, has enough firepower to utterly destroy any single boss the game throws at the player. Plus, it's the only weapon capable of OneHitKill-{{Boom Headshot}}s.

''The Darkside Chronicles'' is divided into three levels, each of which is subdivided into a number of chapters. Operation Javier is the main level, covering Leon and Krauser's efforts to battle Javier. Memory of a Lost City is an adaptation of ''ResidentEvil2'', framed as Leon recounting his previous experience with biohazard outbreaks to Krauser. Game of Oblivion is implied to be Leon's recollections/near-drowning induced fever dream of the story of the T-Veronica virus, as told to him by Claire Redfield after the events of ''[[ResidentEvilCodeVeronica Resident Evil Code: Veronica]]''. In the game, Memory of a Lost City occurs after the first chapter of Operation Javier and Game of Oblivion likewise occurs in between the second and third chapters of Operation Javier. Chapters 6 and 7 of Operation Javier, sometimes referred to as Darkness Falls'or Krauser's Hidden Story, are a retelling of Chapters 4 and 5 from Krauser's point of view.

* AnimationBump: In a rare example of taking a step back to improve animation, this game goes with Chris Redfield's original look and not his steroid-fueled look from ''ResidentEvil5''.
** It could also arguably be said Chris simply ''canonically'' bulked up between appearances and was "officially" steroid-free during this time frame.

* BoringButPractical: The standard pistol is all the player ever need. It has unlimited ammo and, when fully upgraded, has enough firepower to utterly destroy any single boss the game throws at the player. Plus, it's the only weapon capable of OneHitKill-{{Boom Headshot}}s.

* BroadStrokes: Basically how the adaptations of ''Resident Evil 2'' and ''Code: Veronica'' should be seen. Even beyond the strong application of NeverSplitTheParty compared to the original's predominance of LetsSplitUpGang, the cutscenes often change events. The most blatant change came in the retelling of ''Code: Veronica'', which displayed [[spoiler:Alfred and Alexia Ashford as [[{{Squick}} disturbingly]] [[{{Twincest}} close]]]] - here, [[spoiler:Alexia cares little for Alfred and even kills him for being "useless"]].
** Claire might not have wanted to mention [[spoiler:the squickish incest undertones]] in their entirety. Steve's new voice being less narmish could have been Claire not wanting to talk about how annoying it was, seeing as how [[spoiler:he's dead and all]].
** After all, part of the game's theme was showing some of the same situations from the perspective of different characters. No two characters saw the events in exactly the same way.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: [[spoiler: Manuela Hidalgo.]]

* GunsAkimbo: Since the player can play this game with only the Wii remote, feel free to play with one in each hand!

* ManEatingPlant: The Ivy B.O.W. returns in the ''Resident Evil 2'' chapters. Operation Javier has the Ivy XY, a tropical variant, as well as the [[spoiler:V Complex]].

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: The ending cutscene of Memory of a Lost City shows why Leon joined the government to become their agent prior to this game, and where Sherry is. [[spoiler:While Claire somehow wandered off after Raccoon City was destroyed, Leon and Sherry were captured by the government and Leon was given the choice; work for them, or be imprisoned while Sherry is taken off for experimentation, due to being the last source of the Devil Vaccine]].

* OminousLatinChanting: Monster Steve's theme, Alexia's themes, and [[spoiler: both of Hilda's themes]]. Even more ironic because the second is [[spoiler:a mimicry of the lullaby that Manuela sings]].

* ShellShockedVeteran: Krauser sort of applies, but BloodKnight might be more accurate. He considers the military to be the only thing that gives his life meaning and does not take it well when he is forced to retired from the military [[spoiler: after his arm is permanently damaged by the Hilda creature.]]

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Brutally subverted. The shotgun's sole virtue is its spread shot which allows it to hit multiple targets at once, though it does have good hitting (A+) and stopping (S+) power. It's an average gun at best but has one of the worst reload times in the game, with only the rocket launcher taking longer. What's more, its reload time is a fixed stat so it can't be improved. Increasing its capacity is generally not advised as reload times increase as well.
* StartOfDarkness: For Krauser, leaving him somewhat of an AntiVillain once ''Resident Evil 4 rolls around.

----

* JitterCam: Meant to add to the atmosphere but all it does is make it annoyingly hard to aim compared to the previous game.

'''''Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles''''' is a sequel to earlier ResidentEvil rail shooter ''[[ResidentEvilUmbrellaChronicles Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles]]''. Set in 2002, it covers Leon S. Kennedy's backstory with Jack Krauser, hinted at in ''ResidentEvil4'', as the two are deployed deep into the South American jungles to investigate rumors of an infamous drug lord, Javier Hidalgo, having contact with an underground Umbrella researcher. They discover that the rumors are true and Javier has bought a considerable number of B.O.W.s to use as terror-weapons against his enemies, as well as samples of the T-Veronica virus, which he has used to unleash a plague of zombies upon the countryside. Meeting a mysterious girl named Manuela, the two men must find out why a drug lord has begun to dabble in bio-weaponry.

''The Darkside Chronicles'' is divided into three levels, each of which is subdivided into a number of chapters. Operation Javier is the main level, covering Leon and Krauser's efforts to battle Javier. Memory of a Lost City is an adaptation of ResidentEvil2, framed as Leon recounting his previous experience with biohazard outbreaks to Krauser. Game of Oblivion is implied to be Leon's recollections/near-drowning induced fever dream of the story of the T-Veronica virus, as told to him by Claire Redfield after the events of ResidentEvilCodeVeronica. In the game, Memory of a Lost City occurs after the first chapter of Operation Javier and Game of Oblivion likewise occurs in between the second and third chapters of Operation Javier. Chapters 6 and 7 of Operation: Javier, sometimes referred to as Darkness Falls'or Krauser's Hidden Story, are a retelling of Chapters 4 and 5 from Krauser's point of view.

* GreenEyedMonster: The main reason why [[spoiler: Krauser pulled his FaceHeelTurn. He was envious that Leon was so special in the eyes of the government despite being "employed" against his will, while Krauser was not, despite being a willing member of SOCOM. The mission with Leon also ultimately turned out to be his last mission in SOCOM, something he was very much displeased with as he [[BloodKnight viewed serving in the military as his life]]]].

** After going through a door puzzle that has you removing (via ''shooting'') dolls so a boy can get to his lover, Steve says this gem that hangs a lampshade on all of the nigh-ridiculous or nonsensical puzzles in the series:

* RuleOfFunny: The unlocked minigame seems to be one part this, one part ShoutOut to ''Resident Evil 2'''s "Tofu Survivor", as it depicts Claire having to escape from the RCPD building while fighting her way through swarms of man-sized vicious blocks of tofu which are blown into ludicrous fragments by your gunfire.
* SequentialBoss: You have to fight William Birkin's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th form in a row with no breaks in between, and his health bar fully replenishes for each form. Make sure to conserve your ammo and healing items.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Krauser sort of applies, but BloodKnight might be more accurate. He considers the military to be the only thing that gives his life meaning and does not take it well when he is forced to be released from the military after his arm is permanently damaged by the Hilda creature.
* ShoutOut: In the ending of the Code: Veronica recount, Wesker is seen looking up from the flames of the island facility that Alexis was inside as he watches Chris's helicopter flying away, similar to [[FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]].
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Brutally subverted. The shotgun's sole virtue is its spread shot which allows it to hit multiple targets at once, though it does have good hitting (A+) and stopping (S+) power. It's an average gun at best but has one of the worst reload times in the game, with only the rocket launcher taking longer. What's more, its reload time is a 'fixed' stat so it can't be improved. Increasing its capacity is generally not advised as reload times increase as well.
* StartOfDarkness: For Krauser, leaving him somewhat of an AntiVillain once [[ResidentEvil4 RE4]] rolls around.
* UnreliableNarrator: A possible explanation for the differences between how ''Resident Evil 2'' and ''Code: Veronica'' originally happened, and how they're depicted here. Leon is telling the story second-hand (in the second game, he never even met Chief Irons, let alone witnessed his death), and is getting some of his facts mixed up. Justified in that he and Krauser are in a life-or-death scenario of the worst kind, and in both retellings Claire was in the same situation while babysitting first a little girl and then a teenaged male who acts like a little boy at times. Leon's memory can't and shouldn't be expected to be sharp when he's retelling a traumatic experience in a small break during a traumatic experience.
* WasOnceAMan: The unidentifiable amphibious B.O.W you fight in the first and second-last chapters of "Operation: Javier"? That's [[spoiler:Manuela's mother Hilda, transformed into her present state with a severe overdose of the T-Veronica virus by her husband]].

''ResidentEvil: The Darkside Chronicles'' is a sequel to earlier ResidentEvil rail shooter ''[[ResidentEvilUmbrellaChronicles Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles]]'' set in 2002. It covers Leon's backstory with Jack Krauser, hinted at in ''ResidentEvil4'', as the two are deployed deep into the South American jungles to investigate rumors of an infamous drug lord, Javier Hidalgo, having contact with an underground Umbrella researcher. They discover that the rumors are true and Hidalgo has bought a considerable number of B.O.Ws to use as terror-weapons against his enemies, as well as samples of the T-Veronica virus, which he has used to unleash a plague of zombies upon the countryside. Meeting a mysterious girl named Manuela, the two men must find out why a drug lord has begun to dabble in bio-weaponry.

The Darkside Chronicles is divided into three 'levels', each of which is subdivided into a number of chapters. ''Operation: Javier'' is the main 'level', covering Leon and Krauser's efforts to battle Javier Hidalgo. ''Memory of a Lost City'' is an adaptation of ResidentEvil2, framed as Leon recounting his previous experience with bio-hazard outbreaks to Krauser. ''Game of Oblivion'' is implied to be Leon's recollections/near-drowning induced fever dream of the story of the T-Veronica virus, as told to him by Claire Redfield after the events of ResidentEvilCodeVeronica. In the game, Memory of a Lost City occurs after the first chapter of Operation: Javier and Game of Oblivion likewise occurs in between the second and third chapters of Operation: Javier. Chapters 6 and 7 of Operation: Javier, sometimes referred to as ''Darkness Falls'' or ''Krauser's Hidden Story'', are a retelling of chapters 4 and 5 from Krauser's point of view.

It's harder to place Darkside Chronicles on the {{Canon}} scale then its predecessor, as its adaptations change things more then Umbrella Chronicles did.

* AnimationBump: In a rare example of taking a step back to improve animation, this game goes with Chris' original look and not his steroid-fueled look from ''ResidentEvil5''.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: Many enemies have a spot that they take extra damage from, usually the head or mouth. With bosses this is usually the only way you can actually hurt them. Examples include the head and heart for Tyrants and the Jabberwock, Nosferatu's heart, and the open mouth of Hunter Gammas.

* BoomHeadshot: Identical to the version used in Umbrella Chronicles, except the target zone is wider and so it's easier to pull off. 'True' headshots result in the head exploding, while misaimed headshots will cause more damage and result in a neat little spurt of blood.
* BoringButPractical: The standard pistol is all you ever need - unlimited ammo and, fully upgraded, enough firepower to utterly destroy any single boss the game throws at you. Plus, it's the only weapon capable of OneHitKill-{{Boom Headshot}}s.

* BraggingRightsReward: Getting the Linear Launcher as a weapon that you can use in any chapter.
* BroadStrokes: Basically how the adaptations of ''ResidentEvil2'' and ''ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' should be seen. Even beyond the strong application of NeverSplitTheParty compared to the original's predominance of LetsSplitUpGang, the cutscenes often change events. The most blatant change came in the retelling of ''Code: Veronica'', which displayed [[spoiler:Alfred and Alexia Ashford as [[{{Squick}} disturbingly]] [[{{Twincest}} close]]]] - here, [[spoiler:Alexia cares little for Alfred and even kills him for being "useless"]].

* {{Determinator}}: The T-078 in "Game Of Oblivion" gets caught in the waist by an activated missile. It ''wrestles'' with the rocket-propelled explosive, almost succeeding in holding it at bay until its ignition sequence stops but loses its footing and is carried out of the cargo bay.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Some of the final bosses are ridiculously huge and powerful. You may need a special storyline weapon for some of them, but most will go down to you and your pistol. Specifically, you need to use a rocket launcher to defeat Combat Mode Mr. X (aka "The Super Tyrant"), the Linear Launcher to defeat Alexia, and a missile to defeat the T-078 Tyrant.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Manuela Hidalgo.
* FakeDifficulty: The creatures, particularly in "Operation: Javier", keep having their health boosted as the chapters go by - a maximum damage handgun will take out a Gamma Hunter with one shot in the first chapter, but half a maximized clip is needed in the fourth chapter. Couple this with the increasing amount of helmeted zombies who need two shots to remove their helmets and the fact that they seem to get even ''tougher'' in the special Krauser missions. The Hard difficulty reducing the headshot zone to the same level as [[ResidentEvilUmbrellaChronicles the Umbrella Chronicles]] or worse does ''not'' make things any easier.
* FramingDevice: The Javier mission provides the frame for the two other levels.
* FreakyIsCool: The secret chapters, a retelling from Krauser's perspective after finally reaching Javier's mansion, reveal he has begun to admire the Umbrella Viruses and the power they can bring, particularly after seeing what Maneula can do with her T-Veronica infection.

* GenreSavvy: At the beginning Leon tells Krauser to aim for the head to kill the zombies. Later on Claire tells Steve to aim for the bosses' heads.
* GiantSpider: This game has the most variety of any ResidentEvil game to date. Giant jumping spiders called Jumping Maneaters in "Operation: Javier", the tarantula-like Webspinners in "Memory of a Lost City", and giant black widows in "Game of Oblivion".
* GreenEyedMonster: The main reason why Krauser pulled his FaceHeelTurn. He was envious that Leon was so special in the eyes of the government despite being 'employed' against his will, while Krauser was not, despite being a willing member of SOCOM. The mission with Leon also ultimately turned out to be his last mission in SOCOM, something he was very much displeased with as he [[BloodKnight viewed serving in the military as his life]].

** In the case of the Super Tyrant near the end of "Memory of a Lost City", the player needs to time the rocket shot so that it hits when it leaps and lands. Shooting it at any other time causes it to swat away the rocket or catch and return it at the player.

* GunsAkimbo: Since you can play this game with only the Wii remote, feel free to play with one in each hand!

* [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity Plus One Gun]]: The Linear Launcher requires you to complete every chapter on Hard difficulty, but it's worth it. It has the most damage and stopping power of any gun in the game (both S rank, and each can be upgraded to S+ rank for 22000 gold), a massive splash radius, and infinite ammo. The only drawback is that it needs to recharge in between each shot... but, this is an upgradable stat and, at maximum, it takes something like two seconds to charge.

* LazyBackup: Averted in that your partner will shoot and kill enemies on their own even when there's no second player. The downside is that they also have a health bar and can be attacked or even killed by enemies as well.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Javier Hidalgo [[spoiler:, upon learning his daughter was infected with the same incurable terminal disease that killed her mother, infected her with T-Veronica. He then began preparing to spend the next 15 years abducting and murdering girls so he could transplant their organs into Manuela in order to keep her from becoming a mindless Veronica Mutant, and has already killed 50 innocent girls by the time the game starts.]]
* MaleGaze: Steve gets a nice [=POV=] of Claire's butt in the first chapter of "Game of Oblivion".
* ManEatingPlant: The Ivy B.O.W returns in the ResidentEvil2 chapters. "Operation: Javier" has the Ivy XY, a tropical variant, as well as the [[spoiler:V Complex]].
* MultipleEndings: Two endings are possible, with a third that simply adds to the 'good' ending. Beat V Compound in under 10 minutes, and [[spoiler:Manuela lives and manages to remain human]]. Fail to beat it in that time, and [[spoiler:Maneula loses too much blood and burns up from the T-Veronica virus]]. And then there's the secret ending (the aforementioned expansion on the 'good' ending) revealing that [[spoiler:Wesker is watching the fight and Krauser's thoughts on the subject]].

** Krauser gets a variation of this when [[spoiler: he realizes that his career with SOCOM is likely over, and Whesker is the only one who can let him continue doing the only thing he's good at.]]

* RankInflation: Most ''ResidentEvil'' games have a rank system that goes from D to C to B to A to S. ''Darkside Chronicles'' has "+" versions of all of those ranks in between the lower and higher rank, up to S+ as the highest rank.
* RewardingVandalism: As in [[ResidentEvilUmbrellaChronicles The Umbrella Chronicles]], shooting stuff gets you [[ApocalypticLog Files]] and also gold, which is used to upgrade your weapons. It doesn't count towards your end-of-level score, though.
* RuleOfFunny: The unlocked minigame seems to be one part this, one part ShoutOut to ''ResidentEvil2'''s "Tofu Survivor", as it depicts Claire having to escape from the R.C.P.D building while fighting her way through swarms of man-sized vicious blocks of tofu which are blown into ludicrous fragments by your gunfire.

--> '''Steve:''' Well that's a complicated way to open a door.