Christian duerre biography

Leon S. Kennedy is one of the Resident Evilfranchise's most beloved protagonists and heroes with an intriguing backstory, and that popularity is all the more apparent with the Resident Evil 4 remake coming next year. He's been an icon in gaming arguably since the original version of RE2 for the PlayStation, but the original version of the fourth installmentis what exploded his mainstream status.

The franchise overall is one of the most recognizable in gaming and the survival-horror genre, though there are some interesting facts others may not know about Leon. From things like his almost-first appearance in the '90s to some surprising crossovers, Leon Kennedy has had a long history in gaming.

Leon's Would-Be First Appearance

Leon S. Kennedy's first appearance was cemented in Resident Evil 2for the PS1, but he came close to appearing in a "would've been" version of that game. It's long since been internally dubbed as "Resident Evil 1.5" (viaShmuplations) and that version would've also included Leon as one of the two playable protagonists.

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This version of the game was ultimately scrapped despite being 70% complete at the time, though, given the final product's success, it doesn't seem like too much of a loss. Interestingly enough, the second character was a woman named Elza Walker, who was eventually redeveloped into Claire Redfield.

The remake of the second mainline game was eagerly anticipated, and it proved to be one of the greatest survival-horror games ever. Resident Evil 2 received critical acclaim for its stunning visual modernization of the original game, smooth gameplay, tense atmosphere, and the lovingly remade versions of Leon and Claire.

Given the former's aforementioned popularity within the series, it was expected to see that so many players opted for his campaign first. According to a Capcom poll, 78% of players chose to do so.

Leon Was Designed As A Parallel To Chris Redfield

Both Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield are some of the most recognizable characters in the Resident Evil franchise, and as the latter came first, Leon was designed as a parallel to him, according to Platinum Games. Game designer and director Hideki Kamiya created the character, opting to create Leon as someone who's a bit more grounded, inexperienced, and with a gentler personality.

Chris has certainly been a heroic character in the series, but he's more in line with the stereotypical gruff action-hero archetype. Kamiya didn't want Leon to be a derivative of Chris Redfield in concept.

Leon Featured In A Capcom Snowboarding Game

Video game characters having crossovers in other games isn't a farfetched concept. It's especially common in Japanese gaming IPs and a character with the fame of Leon S. Kennedy would always be an easy pick.

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He's made an appearance in some of the unlikeliest places, one of which being in the 1999 PS1 game Trick'n Snowboarder. Leon features as one of the three unlockable Resident Evil characters in the game, and it's in line with other whacky crossovers like Darth Maul in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 during the PlayStation 2 era.

Leon Featured In An Obscure Crossover Tactical RPG

Tactical RPGs are a genre with some excellent games, but it's not one would expect to see someone like Leon S. Kennedy appear. Nonetheless, that's exactly what happened in Project X Zone 2 for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was a big crossover event between video game characters across Capcom, Bandai Namco, and Sega.

Leon wasn't the only representative, though, as both Chris and Claire Redfield also appeared to round out the Resident Evil cast of characters. Project X Zone 2 was developed by the current Xenoblade Chronicles developer studio Monolith Soft.

His Face Was Modeled After RE4's Animation Director

Leon went through a noticeable design change going into Resident Evil 4, though, part of that could be naturally attributed to the leap in technological capabilities from the PS1 to the PS2, Nintendo GameCube, and Nintendo Wii. That being said, he still generally resembles his original appearance.

As evidenced by the four variations the game went through, it's clear RE4 had a troubled development cycle. Though, the team seemed to settle nicely on Leon's new look internally, as they used the game's animation director Christian Duerre as the base. Even going by his more grizzled look in the upcoming Resident Evil 4 remake, Leon's design has been fairly consistent ever since.

The fourth mainline game is commonly regarded by longtime fans as one of the best games in the Resident Evil series, but its early development also paved the way for another Capcom gaming icon.

Early on, the development team wanted to try and make Resident Evil 4 more stylish, but some time later game director Shinji Mikami decided that it strayed too far from the franchise's roots. However, the concept wasn't thrown away altogether, as it was later repurposed into Devil May Cry for the PS2. This could explain some superficial visual similarities between Leon and Dante's character designs.

In addition to paving the way for the over-the-top campiness of Dante in the Devil May Cry series, Resident Evil 4 went through four different versions (via Den of Geek) while in development, each having Leon tackle the game's world in different ways.

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The "Hook Man" version, for instance, saw Leon in a new setting and premise where he contracted a mysterious disease in a haunted building and pit him against more supernatural enemies. The others, the "Fog" and "Hallucination" versions, had similar alternate angles for Resident Evil 4's story before ultimately settling on the final version.

Leon's Original RE2 Canon Campaign

As with its acclaimed remake, the original Resident Evil 2 PS1 game featured two separate campaigns, one for Leon and one for Claire. Whichever players choose, the core story beats of the game are generally the same with some altered details.

Based on where Leon's story continued after the events of RE2, playing through his "B Campaign" (which is done simply by playing as Claire first) is regarded as the main canon story. The parallel story modes of the game are part of what made the PS1 game so beloved and replayable in the first place, and it's interesting to see how each player-chosen approach could change the narrative.

Leon's First Live-Action Appearance Came In A Commercial

Some live-action portrayals of Leon Kennedy have been done in (mostly poorly-received) movies, but longtime fans of the series will know that he had his debut in the '90s. A live-action commercial for the PS1's Resident Evil 2 put late actor Brad Renfro in the role of Leon.

Though gaming is more mainstream than ever now, the '90s were known for seeing fun approaches like this to video game marketing. It's an undoubtedly small-scale and brief role, but it was Leon's live-action debut all the same.

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