Resident Evil 4

1. Shoot legs, then melee. Headshots waste ammo early. One or two rounds to the knee staggers most Ganados; run up and tap A for a context kick that clears crowds and conserves bullets.

2. Knife the first crate you see. Break barrels, crates, and cabinets with the knife (hold R + press A repeatedly). Ammo is tight; free pesetas and herbs add up fast. The knife never breaks.

3. Sell the first spinels, buy the shotgun. The Merchant appears after the village siege. Trade gemstones and spinels immediately—the shotgun costs 20,000 pesetas and trivializes crowd control for the next two chapters.

4. Use the attache case Tetris. Rotate items with Y, combine herb colors (green+red = full heal), and sell duplicate weapons. Keep one healing item in the top row for panic access. Case expansions come before gun upgrades.

5. Typewriter = save + item box. Save often (ink ribbons are infinite on Normal). The item box shares inventory across all typewriters—stash treasure and excess ammo, retrieve later when the Merchant’s nearby.

6. Aim for explosive barrels during swarms. Red barrels one-shot groups. Ganados path toward Leon predictably; let them cluster, then detonate. Conserves grenades for the cabin siege at the end of Chapter 1-2.

7. Don’t sell the beerstein or elegant masks yet. Inlaid treasures sell for more when you socket all three gems. Hold onto them until complete.

• Shoot knees, not heads. A kneecap shot staggers most Ganados and opens them for a melee finisher (roundhouse or suplex depending on position), which conserves ammo and clears space. Headshots can trigger the Plagas parasite early, which wastes more bullets than it saves.

• The attaché case is a jigsaw puzzle. Rotate guns to fit more; the Punisher (free from the Merchant’s first shooting range) is thinner than the starting Handgun. Sell treasure immediately—it has zero gameplay use and frees slots for healing items before boss arenas.

• Save the Rocket Launcher drops for Regenerators. The game hands you a free RPG before several mini-boss encounters (El Gigante, two Garradors, the hedge maze). Regenerators and Iron Maidens are the only enemies worth the one-shot; everything else can be kited or crowd-controlled.

• Yellow herb + green herb = damage reduction, not just healing. The mixed herb cuts incoming damage by roughly half for 60–90 seconds. Mix one before entering any arena with a lock-behind-you door (cabin siege, water room, lava-Ganados gauntlet).

• The Merchant’s tune means safety. His zones are hard checkpoints where enemies despawn and progress auto-saves. If you’re low on health or ammo, backtrack to the last Merchant before pushing forward—Capcom placed them generously for exactly this reason.

• Treasure combinations exist but aren’t telegraphed. The Elegant Mask takes three gems (red/green/purple); the Beerstein takes three (ruby/catseye/emerald). Sell base treasures solo, but hold combinable pieces until complete—the value multiplier is significant.

• TMP is a trap weapon for first playthroughs. It chews ammo, has poor per-shot damage, and shares the Handgun’s 9mm pool. The Shotgun and Rifle handle crowd control and precision better on a limited economy. Save the TMP for New Game+ when money is trivial.

• Don’t upgrade a weapon you plan to replace. The Merchant pays 50% of base price + upgrades when you sell, but early-game tune-ups (Handgun capacity, Shotgun reload speed) don’t transfer. Bank cash for the Blacktail or Riot Gun instead of sinking Pesetas into starter gear.

Chapter 1-3: The Village Square ambush — The first major roadblock. When the church bell rings at ~5 minutes, all Ganados retreat; new players waste ammo trying to clear the square. Run a circuit instead: barn → two-story house → tower ladder → repeat, funneling enemies through doorways. Prioritize the chainsaw Ganado with shotgun headshots. Low on shells? The explosive barrel near the center fountain takes out 3–4 at once. The bell rings at the same timer every run; survive until then and the encounter ends.

El Gigante (quarry fight, Chapter 2-1) — Players burn through all rifle ammo trying to down him conventionally. Shoot the parasite on his back when he’s stunned (2–3 rifle rounds or ~8 TMP bursts to expose), then run to his fallen body and press the context button for the knife QTE. Massive damage. Repeat twice. Free the dog from the bear trap earlier in the chapter and it distracts El Gigante mid-fight for free shots. Don’t waste grenades; save them for the cabin defense immediately after.

Chapter 3-4: The two-Garrador room in the sewer — Blind, clawed mini-bosses that one-hit kill. The game wants you to sneak and backstab the parasite bulge, but footstep audio is unreliable on GameCube speakers. Ring the bell in the center of the room, wait for both to converge on the sound, then sprint to the opposite corner and shotgun their backs when they turn. Mines (if you bought them from the Merchant) trivialize this: place two near the bell before ringing.

Regenerators in the island labs (Chapter 5-2) — Unkillable without the Infrared Scope to see their hidden parasites. Skip the scope card in the freezer room and you’re backtracking; there’s no other way to damage them permanently. With the scope equipped on the rifle, aim for the glowing orange nodules (usually three: two in the torso, one in the legs). Each parasite takes 2–3 rifle rounds. Don’t bother with the knife; their grab animation is faster than Leon’s dodge window.

Krauser’s knife fight (Chapter 5-3) — The QTE-heavy duel where blocking his attacks is mandatory. Press the context button too early and you’re eating hits; wait until his blade is mid-swing (listen for the audio cue, not the visual). After three successful parries, he staggers — switch to the shotgun and unload. Knife-fighting him the entire time is a trap; the game expects firearms during stagger windows.