Resident Evil – Code: Veronica[a] is a survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom and originally released for the Dreamcast in 2000.

After producer Shinji Mikami and his team learned they would be unable to port Resident Evil 2 to the Sega Saturn, they began development on an original game, which became Code: Veronica.

Claire was designed with a tougher appearance than in Resident Evil 2, with the reason being her past experiences in Raccoon City built her toughness and confidence.

Capcom announced Code: Veronica in August 1998 and released it in February 2000 after delays and a reduction in sales expectations due to the struggling Dreamcast platform.

[b] The revised version included new cutscenes which revealed more details about the story, and it was ported to the GameCube in addition to other platforms in later years.

The camera will follow, pan, and zoom as the player navigates their character through the environment, similar to Capcom's own Dino Crisis (1999).

In addition to the Redfield siblings, this mode allows the player to control supporting character Steve Burnside and antagonist Albert Wesker, as well as a version of Claire in a new wardrobe.

Discovered by Umbrella's security forces and eventually captured, Claire is imprisoned on Rockfort Island, a prison complex owned by the corporation, situated in the Southern Ocean.

Eventually, the pair manages to find a seaplane and use it to escape, only for Alfred to pursue them and switch their plane to autopilot, directing it towards another Umbrella facility in Antarctica.

Upon their arrival, the pair finds that the facility had suffered an outbreak, and fight their way through the zombies and monsters within to seek a means of escape, battling with Alfred and fatally wounding him.

Meanwhile, Chris Redfield arrives on Rockfort Island in search of Claire, after receiving a message from her via Leon S. Kennedy.

In the process of doing so, he comes across Albert Wesker, an independent agent since the Spencer mansion incident (the events of Resident Evil), who is seeking to retrieve a sample of the T-Veronica virus.

After Chris learns of his sister's whereabouts, and Wesker discovers that Alexia is alive and carries what he needs, the two separately find their way to Antarctica.

After mutating, Steve attempts to kill Claire, but fails, regaining control of himself to turn on Alexia, who then inflicts a mortal wound on him.

When Mikami asked for more time to develop the game, he was told it would need to have a better technical quality, making Sega's upcoming Dreamcast more appealing.

[13] Around the same time, a side-story game for the PlayStation starring Jill Valentine in the events leading up to Resident Evil 2 was being developed.

This is made clear in the environments which feature gothic architecture and art in addition to central European carvings and German-style weaponry.

This contrasts to previous games in the series which were driven by the panic elements from American horror films, such as monsters and zombies.

[15][19] Capcom added detail to the zombie enemies unprecedented in the series, such as making their jaws move and eyes twitch.

This characterization is emphasized by her ability to dual wield sub-machine guns, and also by the opening cinematic which features her in a John Woo-inspired action scene.

[14][18][20] Shinji Mikami and Yoshiki Okamoto's team at Flagship oversaw the game's scenario and direction, while XAX Entertainment assisted with environments and Nextech handled much of the technical development.

Capcom of Japan stated that they were hoping to sell the game to roughly one third of all Dreamcast users, which they estimated would total to around one million copies.

[24] Capcom initially planned to have Code: Veronica released around the same time as Resident Evil 3 and, more importantly, the Dreamcast launch in North America on September 9, 1999.

Expecting high demand, Capcom set up a contest for fans to enter to win an opportunity to purchase the systems.

While the core game remained unchanged, several graphical alterations were also made, most notably in the character model for Steve Burnside (who was given a different hairstyle).

In North America, the Wesker's Report DVD was also sold on Capcom's website and given to customers who purchased the game at specialty retailers such as Electronics Boutique and GameStop.

[39] Code: Veronica received universal acclaim; many critics felt it was the best Resident Evil game at the time, and a "must-own" for the Dreamcast.

[6][51][52][53] GameSpot's Joe Fielder pointed out that Sony's Extermination (2001) and Capcom's own Onimusha: Warlords (2001) had been released during this gap with better controls.

Critics commonly cited the game's archaic design and controls as making it less appealing compared with contemporary offerings.

[64] The PlayStation 2 version of Code: Veronica X had sold 900,000 copies and earned $27 million in the United States by July 2006, outselling Resident Evil 4.