10 Resident Evil Facts You Didn't Know
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VOICE OVER: Ty Richardson
WRITTEN BY: Ty Richardson
With an extensive, decades-long history, there's bound to be some things about “Resident Evil” you don't know. For this list, we'll be looking behind the scenes to bring you trivia about Capcom's survival horror series that you may not have been aware of. Our list includes the First-Person Origin, the franchise's handheld legacy, the reasoning behind its name change in the US, and more!
Script written by Ty Richardson
With an extensive, decades-long history, there's bound to be some things about “Resident Evil” you don't know. For this list, we'll be looking behind the scenes to bring you trivia about Capcom's survival horror series that you may not have been aware of. Our list includes the First-Person Origin, the franchise's handheld legacy, the reasoning behind its name change in the US, and more! Did any of these facts surprise you? Know any other tidbits of “Resident Evil” history? Share with us in the comments below.
While franchises like “Resident Evil” have gone on to attain legendary status across the wide world of entertainment, even the most successful properties need to have taken inspiration from somewhere. In the case of Capcom’s action-horror franchise, that inspiration came from a little NES game called “Sweet Home”. Cited as a masterpiece by RE’s creator Shinji Mikami, “Sweet Home” was basically the grandfather of the survival horror genre, incorporating RPG mechanics into its gameplay and focusing much more on puzzles and inventory management, not just scaring the player. Simply spend an hour or so with this title, and one can see how many horror games today, not just “Resident Evil”, have evolved and innovated thanks to the groundwork laid out by “Sweet Home”.
When “Resident Evil 7” launched in 2017, many were surprised at Capcom’s new angle for the franchise, some claiming that Capcom was taking cues from other successful horror titles like “Outlast” and “Amnesia”. However, the first-person angle has been a desire for “Resident Evil” since the very first game. Early in development, Capcom intended for the first “Resident Evil” to be experienced in a first-person view with a UI similar to games like “DOOM”. As much as Mikami wanted this as a part of the finished game, the original PlayStation could not handle it. And so, it was scrapped.
During the first game’s development, “Resident Evil” was aiming for an ambitious feature that few horror games offered at the time: co-op. When the game was shown off in 1995, gameplay footage and screenshots showed both Chris and Jill exploring Spencer Mansion and fending off zombies. As history has shown, this feature was not implemented into the final game. The reason was very much the same as the first-person camera - the PlayStation simply could not handle it. Mikami himself admitted that the co-op gameplay itself “wasn’t good enough.” It wouldn’t be until 2009’s “Resident Evil 5” when the series finally got to dip its toes into co-op gameplay.
You wanna know what WASN’T planned and yet made it into the final game? The hokey voice acting. Towards the end of development, Capcom came to a sudden realization - this game with Japanese audio was also getting shipped to the West with not an ounce of English in it. Worried that this would turn off potential customers, Capcom scrambled for English localization. American actors were quickly rushed into Japan to film the FMV sequences, and the actors were only given two takes for every scene. Thanks to the miniscule budget for this rushed piece of development, the campy nature of “Resident Evil” ended up being one of its strongest aspects.
It isn’t uncommon to find games with different names across different countries. “Resident Evil” was basically forced into having a different name, specifically for its North American release. Capcom had planned to release the game under the name “Biohazard”. Unfortunately, their timing was messed up as an MS-DOS game called “Biohazard” had already launched in North America. A metal band in New York was also using the name. And so, Capcom’s North American offices held an internal contest, allowing the staff to decide the new name. Much to the chagrin of Capcom Japan and Mikami, the name was chosen, and the rest is history.
In addition to a massive success in the realm of video games, “Resident Evil” found surprising success in the world of cinema, too. Horror movie fans and “Resident Evil” fans are all too familiar with Alice today, but there was a moment where the franchise could have gone down a completely different route. After directing a commercial for “Resident Evil 2” in 1998, the late filmmaker and grandfather of zombies George A. Romero was approached by Capcom to direct a “Resident Evil” movie. Makes sense considering Mikami has stated how much of a Romero fan he is and how “Night of the Living Dead” influenced “Resident Evil”. Romero would turn down the offer…at first, before handing them a draft of what he wanted to do. According to Romero, Capcom and production house Constantin Films liked the script. The head of Constantin Films, on the other hand, did not, and they went with Paul W.S. Anderson’s version instead. Currently, the University of Pittsburgh holds Romero’s drafts in their George A. Romero Archival Collection.
As we’ve seen thus far, “Resident Evil” hit so many significant points where the series could have ended up being drastically different from the one we know today. What’s shocking is that the series was originally going to have a much, much shorter lifespan. Just when “Resident Evil 2” was getting close to finishing development, supervisor Yoshiki Okamoto threw a wrench into everything. He was not happy with Mikami’s original version as it would close off any potential for more sequels. The rewrites that came after would force the team to redesign almost the entire game just so that the story made sense. In other words, there is a completely different version of RE2 floating around out there somewhere.
When it comes to handheld gaming, “Resident Evil” was definitely late to the party. That isn’t to say it took forever for the franchise to make a handheld debut; it just took a while until we got a really good one like we saw in “Revelations”. There were a few more, less successful attempts in the years prior. “Resident Evil Gaiden”, released for the Game Boy Color, featured a weird blend of shooting gallery gameplay with an RPG setup. Then, we had the clunky pocket game from Tiger Electronics. …Yeah, that was a thing. And then, we had a DS remake of the first game, “Resident Evil: Deadly Silence” that was only released in Japan and featured a decent multiplayer mode. Still waiting to hear from Capcom as to why us Westerners never got that one.
Location scouting is incredibly important in entertainment when you’re trying to make your experience invoke a certain tone or atmosphere. With its countless exotic landmarks, one can easily decipher what regions of the world Capcom pulls from for “Resident Evil”. But one location remains somewhat of a mystery - what is Racoon City based on? From simply observing skyboxes, buildings in backgrounds, and the like, fans believe that Racoon City is based on Toronto, the capital city of Ontario, Canada. It is worth mentioning that Capcom has never officially confirmed where in the world Racoon City is exactly, and they likely never will.
“Resident Evil 4” spent so much time in development that its 7-year development cycle would seem absurd if not for disasters like “Duke Nukem Forever”. One would wonder just what the heck was happening behind closed doors that would cause such a lengthy development. Well, it basically came down to the art direction and environment. At one point, RE4 involved demons, but the theme didn’t feel like “Resident Evil”. However, the concept would be recycled for “Devil May Cry” which would go on to become another massive Capcom franchise. Another iteration of RE4 made use of a “samurai/ninja” theme where zombies would appear from trapdoors and fake walls. This, too, would be unlike “Resident Evil” and would be recycled to birth the “Onimusha” series. Basically, RE4 helped bring forth new ideas while it tried to get its own bearings, and it only makes the title even more significant in both “Resident Evil” and Capcom’s history.
With an extensive, decades-long history, there's bound to be some things about “Resident Evil” you don't know. For this list, we'll be looking behind the scenes to bring you trivia about Capcom's survival horror series that you may not have been aware of. Our list includes the First-Person Origin, the franchise's handheld legacy, the reasoning behind its name change in the US, and more! Did any of these facts surprise you? Know any other tidbits of “Resident Evil” history? Share with us in the comments below.
Home, “Sweet Home”
While franchises like “Resident Evil” have gone on to attain legendary status across the wide world of entertainment, even the most successful properties need to have taken inspiration from somewhere. In the case of Capcom’s action-horror franchise, that inspiration came from a little NES game called “Sweet Home”. Cited as a masterpiece by RE’s creator Shinji Mikami, “Sweet Home” was basically the grandfather of the survival horror genre, incorporating RPG mechanics into its gameplay and focusing much more on puzzles and inventory management, not just scaring the player. Simply spend an hour or so with this title, and one can see how many horror games today, not just “Resident Evil”, have evolved and innovated thanks to the groundwork laid out by “Sweet Home”.
First-Person Origin
When “Resident Evil 7” launched in 2017, many were surprised at Capcom’s new angle for the franchise, some claiming that Capcom was taking cues from other successful horror titles like “Outlast” and “Amnesia”. However, the first-person angle has been a desire for “Resident Evil” since the very first game. Early in development, Capcom intended for the first “Resident Evil” to be experienced in a first-person view with a UI similar to games like “DOOM”. As much as Mikami wanted this as a part of the finished game, the original PlayStation could not handle it. And so, it was scrapped.
Getting Scared With Friends
During the first game’s development, “Resident Evil” was aiming for an ambitious feature that few horror games offered at the time: co-op. When the game was shown off in 1995, gameplay footage and screenshots showed both Chris and Jill exploring Spencer Mansion and fending off zombies. As history has shown, this feature was not implemented into the final game. The reason was very much the same as the first-person camera - the PlayStation simply could not handle it. Mikami himself admitted that the co-op gameplay itself “wasn’t good enough.” It wouldn’t be until 2009’s “Resident Evil 5” when the series finally got to dip its toes into co-op gameplay.
Late Homework
You wanna know what WASN’T planned and yet made it into the final game? The hokey voice acting. Towards the end of development, Capcom came to a sudden realization - this game with Japanese audio was also getting shipped to the West with not an ounce of English in it. Worried that this would turn off potential customers, Capcom scrambled for English localization. American actors were quickly rushed into Japan to film the FMV sequences, and the actors were only given two takes for every scene. Thanks to the miniscule budget for this rushed piece of development, the campy nature of “Resident Evil” ended up being one of its strongest aspects.
It’s Always DOS
It isn’t uncommon to find games with different names across different countries. “Resident Evil” was basically forced into having a different name, specifically for its North American release. Capcom had planned to release the game under the name “Biohazard”. Unfortunately, their timing was messed up as an MS-DOS game called “Biohazard” had already launched in North America. A metal band in New York was also using the name. And so, Capcom’s North American offices held an internal contest, allowing the staff to decide the new name. Much to the chagrin of Capcom Japan and Mikami, the name was chosen, and the rest is history.
Legends Meeting Legends
In addition to a massive success in the realm of video games, “Resident Evil” found surprising success in the world of cinema, too. Horror movie fans and “Resident Evil” fans are all too familiar with Alice today, but there was a moment where the franchise could have gone down a completely different route. After directing a commercial for “Resident Evil 2” in 1998, the late filmmaker and grandfather of zombies George A. Romero was approached by Capcom to direct a “Resident Evil” movie. Makes sense considering Mikami has stated how much of a Romero fan he is and how “Night of the Living Dead” influenced “Resident Evil”. Romero would turn down the offer…at first, before handing them a draft of what he wanted to do. According to Romero, Capcom and production house Constantin Films liked the script. The head of Constantin Films, on the other hand, did not, and they went with Paul W.S. Anderson’s version instead. Currently, the University of Pittsburgh holds Romero’s drafts in their George A. Romero Archival Collection.
Ending the…Duology?
As we’ve seen thus far, “Resident Evil” hit so many significant points where the series could have ended up being drastically different from the one we know today. What’s shocking is that the series was originally going to have a much, much shorter lifespan. Just when “Resident Evil 2” was getting close to finishing development, supervisor Yoshiki Okamoto threw a wrench into everything. He was not happy with Mikami’s original version as it would close off any potential for more sequels. The rewrites that came after would force the team to redesign almost the entire game just so that the story made sense. In other words, there is a completely different version of RE2 floating around out there somewhere.
Horror In Your Pocket
When it comes to handheld gaming, “Resident Evil” was definitely late to the party. That isn’t to say it took forever for the franchise to make a handheld debut; it just took a while until we got a really good one like we saw in “Revelations”. There were a few more, less successful attempts in the years prior. “Resident Evil Gaiden”, released for the Game Boy Color, featured a weird blend of shooting gallery gameplay with an RPG setup. Then, we had the clunky pocket game from Tiger Electronics. …Yeah, that was a thing. And then, we had a DS remake of the first game, “Resident Evil: Deadly Silence” that was only released in Japan and featured a decent multiplayer mode. Still waiting to hear from Capcom as to why us Westerners never got that one.
Raccoon City, Toronto, Canada
Location scouting is incredibly important in entertainment when you’re trying to make your experience invoke a certain tone or atmosphere. With its countless exotic landmarks, one can easily decipher what regions of the world Capcom pulls from for “Resident Evil”. But one location remains somewhat of a mystery - what is Racoon City based on? From simply observing skyboxes, buildings in backgrounds, and the like, fans believe that Racoon City is based on Toronto, the capital city of Ontario, Canada. It is worth mentioning that Capcom has never officially confirmed where in the world Racoon City is exactly, and they likely never will.
Leon S. Kennedy - Capcom’s Gold Mine Prophet
“Resident Evil 4” spent so much time in development that its 7-year development cycle would seem absurd if not for disasters like “Duke Nukem Forever”. One would wonder just what the heck was happening behind closed doors that would cause such a lengthy development. Well, it basically came down to the art direction and environment. At one point, RE4 involved demons, but the theme didn’t feel like “Resident Evil”. However, the concept would be recycled for “Devil May Cry” which would go on to become another massive Capcom franchise. Another iteration of RE4 made use of a “samurai/ninja” theme where zombies would appear from trapdoors and fake walls. This, too, would be unlike “Resident Evil” and would be recycled to birth the “Onimusha” series. Basically, RE4 helped bring forth new ideas while it tried to get its own bearings, and it only makes the title even more significant in both “Resident Evil” and Capcom’s history.
