The Resident Evil Retrospective Part 1-Genesis of Evil

It is arguably the most popular and successful horror franchise in gaming.  With a number of critically acclaimed games, several CG Anime Spin Off films, and the most financially profitable Live Action Video Game franchise in history (sad to say), there is hardly a Gamer or Otaku alive who hasn’t heard of Resident Evil.  It’s been a topic on my blog every once in a while due to a hefty amount of Anime influences you can spot in its world building, characters designs and well crafted action sequences.  For this, fittingly the month of October, the Gundam Anime Corner is going to be taking another retrospective look at his legendary horror saga, starting from its PS1 roots and taking us to the current PS5 generation and even dedicating some time to those aforementioned movies.  Choose your weapon, get your miniskirt or barrette and get ready to punch some freaking boulders.  Welcome Dear Readers to the Resident Evil Retrospective.
 
Part 1-Genesis of Evil

The year was 1996 and Capcom, the legendary studio behind Mega Man and Street Fighter, was about to add another mammoth video game franchise to their resume.  Conceived by Shinji Mikami and Tokuro Fujiwara  and heavily inspired by the works of Horror Auteur George Romero (Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead), came Resident Evil (or as it is known in Japan, Biohazard).  The story focused on the elite members of the Special Tactics And Rescue Squad (STARS), specifically Alpha Team, sent into the Arklay Mountains outside of Raccoon City to investigate a series of strange disappearances, including their own STARS Bravo Team.  Much of Resident Evil’s main heroes and villains first appeared here including Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers and Albert Wesker.  Thanks to a mix of fixed camera angles and two different campaigns for both Chris and Jill, Resident Evil amped up the tension by giving players terrifying foes to encounter and not just Zombies.  Also, Chris and Jill’s different skill sets gave them advantages and disadvantages but also encouraged extra playthroughs.  The game also had an intentionally campy English Dub that gave birth to several meme worthy deliveries, including the infamous “Jill Sandwich”.  Resident Evil became a revolutionary title and an instant classic as a result of all of these elements and more.  The only question was, as the survivors of Alpha Team fled the mountains, what horror would they encounter next? 

That answer came two years later with two back to back sequels that took the horror unleashed in the Arklay Mountains and brought it right to Raccoon City, Resident Evil’s most iconic setting.  1998’s Resident Evil 2 saw two more series mainstays make their first appearances and, much like Chris and Jill, both had their own tales to tell.  Leon S. Kennedy was a rookie police officer coming to Raccoon City on his first day, only to get swept up in a Zombie apocalypse alongside the beautiful but mysterious Ada Wong.  Claire Redfield, Chris’ Sister, arrived to find her missing brother but became the guardian of a young girl, Sherry Birkin, who’s parents had dangerous connections to the unleashed plague ravaging the city.  Meanwhile, over in 1999’s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, the spotlight returned to Jill Valentine in a story that took place before and after the events of its predecessor.  Jill found herself being relentlessly pursued by a nigh unstoppable bio weapon, the titular Nemesis, whose sole objective was to kill the remaining members of STARS.  While both games utilized similar systems and assets, both also included improved graphics, gameplay, new memorable characters and solidified the Nemesis as one of the most terrifying bosses in video gaming history.  But even though Raccoon City was destroyed by the end of both games, the terror was far from over. 

While only a year elapsed between game productions, only three months passed between sequels in game time.  Resident Evil: Code Veronica, released on the criminally short lived Sega Dreamcast, put the spotlight back on the Redfield siblings.  Claire found herself trapped on Rockford Island, fending off a Zombie outbreak within the forgotten prison while still searching for Chris.  Chris, meanwhile, was making his way to Claire but was about to come face to face not just with the horrible origins of the Umbrealla Corporation but also an enemy he long thought dead.  While graphically the best looking of the games to that point, Code Veronica received more criticism than before.  Most complaints were lobbied at the lack of gameplay innovation, some difficult game sections and the inclusion of the rather annoying Steve Burnside, who only existed as a potential love interest for Claire.  As the franchise entered the new millennium, big things were on the horizon.  But before that happened, Resident Evil took a trip to the past to tell one lost tale, the tale of Rebecca Chambers.  Resident Evil Zero, released on the Nintendo Gamecube in 2002, took players back to the events prior to the first game as Bravo Team survivor, Rebecca, teamed up with escaped convict Billy Coen, to face the early horrors that would soon befall her fellow STARS Alpha Team comrades later on in the Spencer Mansion.  While the game offered new team based gameplay between Rebecca and Billy and fun cameos from characters like Wesker, much of the criticism shown for Code Veronica echoed in Zero: Gorgeous game but the series needed to do a bit more to improve itself. 

Indeed, Resident Evil had reached the point where the only way to continue on was to evolve…and man, what an evolution it was about to have.  Come back Next Friday as we look at arguably the pique of the franchise and the sharp decline it took right afterwards as the Resident Evil Retrospective continues right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.