An interview with Hiroyuki Kobayasi has recently featured within the hallowed pages of the EDGE magazine, revealing one or two gems of information about the various stages that Resident Evil 4 went through since its announcement back in 2002.

Revealing that future Resident Evil titles for the GameCube would be extremely unlikely given that the next-generation of consoles will shortly be upon us, Kobayashi-san did however confirm that plans are already in place to continue the re-birth of Resident Evil on the next-gen.

As Resident Evil fanatics will testify, the final version of Resident Evil 4 looks remotely different to that which was featured at the Tokyo Game Show ’03, a build that Kobayashi described as Resident Evil 3.5 or the “Fog Version” within the interview. The reason behind the complete change was deemed that this version was “not revolutionary enough”; although the history of Resident Evil 4 stretches far further then that.

Originally development started on the Playstation2 for Resident Evil 4, however that later manifested itself as Devil May Cry. Next came the build of Resident Evil 3.5 which was announced and made an appearance at the Tokyo Game Show, however this was scrapped at the preceding E3 event, although reused at the TGS because the team didn’t have any screens or artwork from the new build. A brief attempt at a more traditional Resident Evil began after the cancellation of Resident Evil 3.5, focussing on the destruction of Umbrella and featuring Zombies; however it wasn’t long before the team went back to the drawing board and came up with the Resident Evil 4 that is finally upon us.

For awhile the team contemplated the possibilities of not branding this a Resident Evil title, given the huge changes to the series formula, but the ultimate decision was that it shared enough similarities and allowed the team to truly evolve the franchise.

And for those that lament the lack of strafing controls, it’s worth noting that these were originally in the control set-up, however it ultimately made the game too easy and detracted from the tension and atmosphere.

Finally in a stinging rebute to senior management, Kobayashi-san claimed that the decision to port Resident Evil 4 to the Playstation2 was not a decision of Production Studio 4.

The interview is well worth a read if you’re a Resident Evil fan, so make sure to check out for the latest issue of EDGE on magazine stands now. (less info)