Leon S. Kennedy
Valentine did not appear in the 1998 sequel, as the production team used new protagonists (Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield) to preserve the original game's horror elements: Mikami believed Valentine and Chris Redfield would be too experienced to be scared by the events in the sequel. She returned as the sole protagonist in "Resident Evil 3" (1999). Mikami – the lead producer of both "Nemesis" and the concurrently-produced "" (2000) – wanted each game to highlight a female character who had previously appeared in the series; Valentine is the protagonist in "Nemesis", while Claire Redfield is the lead character in "Code: Veronica". Commentators suggested these decisions were made as a result of the success of the "Tomb Raider" series, which featured Lara Croft as the protagonist.