2026 marks the 30th anniversary of Capcom's beloved survival-horror franchise Resident Evil, but anyone wanting to play through every game in the series will have to jump through some hoops to make that happen. There have been about 30 Resident Evil games released in North America over the years, and while most of them can indeed be played on modern hardware, many others are unfortunately trapped on older platforms.
In fact, it wasn't until just the last couple of years that the original Resident Evil trilogy was made playable on modern platforms thanks to GOG and PlayStation Plus Premium. And not all Resident Evil games that are playable on modern hardware are on everything. There are some that can only be played on PS5 through streaming PS3 games (like The Umbrella Chronicles and The Darkside Chronicles, for instance), and others that are only playable thanks to Xbox One and Series X/S backward compatibility with the Xbox 360.
Every Main Resident Evil Game In Release Order
The Resident Evil franchise has been around for decades and is responsible for some of the greatest horror games ever. Here are all the main releases.
I'm in the midst of a massive Resident Evil marathon. My hope is to play through every game and rank them all in time for the 30th anniversary on March 22, and while I am making good progress, there have been some bumps in the road. The only legitimate way to play some of the Resident Evil spin-off games is to pay an arm and a leg for a used copy at an inflated price, and it's just a shame that it's impossible to play through every game in such an iconic franchise on modern hardware. The Resident Evil games that are not playable on modern hardware are Resident Evil Survivor, Resident Evil Gaiden, Resident Evil: Dead Aim, Resident Evil Outbreak, Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2, and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D.
List of Resident Evil Games You Can't Play on Any Modern Hardware
- Resident Evil Survivor
- Resident Evil Gaiden
- Resident Evil: Dead Aim
- Resident Evil Outbreak
- Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2
- Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
I'm not saying that all of these are good games, but for the sake of gaming history, it would be nice to have these Resident Evil titles readily available on modern platforms in some way, shape, or form. Resident Evil Survivor is a genuinely awful first-person RE game that totally misses the mark, but it would still be fascinating to revisit through PS Plus Premium or GOG like we are able to do with the other PS1-era Resident Evil games. Resident Evil Gaiden, meanwhile, is an intriguing, non-canon spin-off starring Leon S. Kennedy and Barry Burton that translates the RE formula to Game Boy Color surprisingly well. It would be right at home on the Nintendo Switch Online's Nintendo Classics service alongside other GBC games.
Resident Evil: Dead Aim is effectively a better take on the Survivor idea. Resident Evil: Dead Aim features both first-person action and third-person exploration, and generally has more depth and content than its predecessor. Dead Aim isn't the best Resident Evil spin-off by any stretch of the imagination, but it does feature some surprisingly important revelations for the overall lore and since other PS2 games have been re-released on PS4 and PS5 (including Code: Veronica X), it should be as well.
Resident Evil Re:Verse is technically not available on modern platforms either, but that's because its servers were shut down, and it has effectively ceased to exist. I also didn't list Resident Evil Survivor 2 - Code: Veronica because it was never released in North America.
The Outbreak games are where things get a little tricky. Resident Evil Outbreak and its sequel were online multiplayer games released at a time when online multiplayer wasn't nearly as prevalent as it is now. While re-releasing them on modern platforms would still be greatly appreciated, the Outbreak games seem ripe for a remaster or remake collection that allows them to live up to their full potential that went unrealized on the PS2 back in the day. Remakes or remasters of the Outbreak games could also help iron out some of their issues, like the long load times.
And finally, there's Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. Released as a Nintendo 3DS exclusive in 2011, The Mercenaries 3D effectively combines the Mercenaries modes from Resident Evil 4 and 5 into their own video game. Since the bulk of the content is technically available to play in other games, The Mercenaries 3D is the least-urgent RE game missing from modern platforms, but it would still be awesome to see it live on somehow, for completionists' sake if nothing else.