RE4 i a million times better than RE1:Rebirth, and RE1:Rebirth (the GCN remake) is a million times better than RE2.
If you've not seen rebirth its awesome, its changed a lot, what with the combat defense system (you die with less zombie bites, one on hard i think), but you have a secondary line of defense (like jill sticks a dagger in their heads if one gets too close). Plays and looks better than the rest of the previous franchise.
RE4 is just leagues, and leagues better than the rest of the franchise. Its gameplay is so beyond the rest of them, yet it still manages to feel like a RE game. Capcom did a good job.
@george,
Forgive me if i'm wrong, but didn't Donkey Kong have two sequels out by that time?
Then again i guess that's what you meant by godfather, a loose connection that really doesn't seem important to anyone outside of the mafia?
Na, it was a great game, but it wasn't that innovating in the scheme of things as far as i remember from descriptions. Then again, I can only look back with the forsight to know that and knowing about the other not so big games that beat it to the punch, given that i was born in 1984
Fun though.