Resident Evil on DS?

A bit of a buzz has met the currently circulating rumour that a remake of Resident Evil is coming to the Nintendo DS. The source of the story is NGC magazine, which says that creator Capcom is planning an RE game on the handheld based on the original PlayStation game. Though the atmospheric zombie game had a fixed camera for each of its environments, it’s being said that the DS rejig will use an over the shoulder, third-person perspective much like that in the stunning Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube. Apparently the touch screen will be used for attacks, when slashing with your knife for example.

Capcom is very pally with Nintendo, especially when it comes to the originally PlayStation-based RE franchise. You’ll recall that Capcom has already remade this game on one Nintendo console – the Gamecube - where new lighting and textures transformed the old game, giving it a look that arguably has yet to be bettered on the system. Similarly, RE4 is still exclusive to Gamecube, though it will eventually come to PS2.

We like the idea of RE on the DS, though it will be interesting to see how well the small environments of the original will adapt to more exploratory gameplay. NGC also say in their article that they’d like to see some of the puzzles adapted or maybe even reinvented to take advantage of the stylus. We heartily concur – titles like Polarium and Zoo Keeper show that this is an area the DS really excels in, and an adventure game with these thrown in would surely make this a real winner. This could also have the potential to be the best looking game yet on DS. There was talk some time ago of a RE title coming to PSP, but NGC being a Ninty only publication, there was obviously no mention of it there.

We’ll keep you updated with any more developments about this intriguing tale if and when we hear it.