When exiting the game, the items and treasures from last autosave point is retained. Reaching a checkpoint is not enough.
Recommended Weapons
M92F handgun (start)
M3 shotgun (3-3)
AK74 machine gun (5-1)
Dragunov SVD rifle (2-2), and H&K PSG-1 rifle (5-3)
S&W M29 magnum (3-1)
Resident Evil 4
General Tips
flash grenades kill exposed parasites instantly (including the ones with a human body still attached)
the merchant fills up a gun when upgrading the capacity - upgrade magnum when out of ammo
use (flash or normal) grenades on flocks of crows
rocket launcher - one shot, one kill, even for bosses
use it for Salazar's right hand (does not work if he is not frozen)
use it for the Salazar symbiote, you have to hit Salazar when his body comes out of the symbiote
if enemies have armour or shields, use the shotgun!
blind slashers cannot hear you if you walk and don't run
chapter 4-1, free broken butterfly: when Ashley is done with her little solo adventure, backtrack to the roof of the castle, where there is a 'piggyback'-accessible room
when giants go to their knees, you can climb them for a little bit of fast-slashing
Weapons
Recommended Weapons
Red9 (chapter 2-2) with stock
Riot Gun (chapter 3-1) or Striker (chapter 4-1) (the riot gun is OK, it might be stupid to wait for the Striker)
Rifle (semi-auto) (chapter 3-1)
TMP (chapter 1-2) (people say it sucks ass, but you find ammo for it, so why not use it?)
Broken Butterfly (chapter 3-1 or chapter 4-1 for free) or Killer7 (chapter 5-1)
Optional Weapons
Mine Thrower (3-1)
Bosses
Salazar Symbiote: Shoot eye, then use Grenade Launcher on Salazar
Krauser: Use low knife attack
Saddler: Shoot the eyes on the legs, shoot anywhere with mine thrower