Replayed on Pro to get all the achievements and fuck me this is the most playable and enjoyable game ever made almost 20 years later. While I appreciate the smart restructuring the remake did, I would honestly rate it and this as equal. Remake might have a MUCH better story and much smoother gameplay but there's something downright magical about this somehow. Perfect pacing, 10/10 campy writing and characters, and a core gameplay loop so fun that not even 2005 jank and awful sections like U3 can ruin it. Unlike anything else in the series, for better and for worse. But mostly for better.
Also, shoutout to the RE4 HD Project, it's literally free and it makes the official remaster look like an AI upscale. Hopefully Capcom's shiny new DRM bullshit won't invalidate all the hard work they did for a non profit project!! only time will tell I guess.