Top 10 Resident Evil Facts

Based on a Japanese horror film, "Sweet Home" was a psychological-horror RPG tie-in that shadowed a team of documentary filmmakers looking to procure valuable paintings inside an abandoned mansion in the middle of a forest. Little do they know that the residence is actually a haunted abode occupied by countless monsters and ghouls, sound familiar? More features that might ring-a-bell include: puzzle sub-games, limited inventory storage, scattered notes as a storytelling mechanic, and, oh yeah, a door-based loading screen. This is due to fact that RE1 was originally in-development as a "Sweet Home" remake, so don't be calling-out Capcom for plagiarism, particularly since both IPs are owned by them.

Most players agree, if there's one thing that the first RE did poorly, it was it’s writing. This was so bad, that even Capcom is in on the joke by now. When it comes to the particularly extra cheeeeeese-ey "Jill Sandwich" line, its first reappearance is on an arbitrary recipe note that players can find in the mobile game Resident Evil: Uprising. This same line is once again referenced in Capcom's, Dead Rising, where in the first floor of the game's shopping mall setting, players will find a decently subtle allusion that only RE fans will appreciate.

In our last entry, we've established that Resident Evil's dialogue isn't exactly the most...clever. Evidently, so did the franchise's creator, Shinji Mikami, who also helmed the first RE game as its director and producer. For those of you going "no duh...", when we say he thought the dialogue was horrible, HE meant the Japanese dialogue of the first game. As a result, Mikami removed the Japanese lines from the game altogether, favoring new English-speaking actors and dialogue – all of which he felt fit the American setting better anyway. To Mikami's credit, those of us who've seen and heard the Japanese cut probably would've made the same decision. However, to his discredit, it probably spins-circles compared to this. (Barry: “It’s a weapon, its really powerful especially against living things”) Jesus Barry…

Taking a painful six years to complete, RE4 underwent numerous overhauls prior to its release in 2005. One proposed concept was a tone-down from guns in favor of a more aggressive melee-based combat system. Enter: "Devil May Cry", or, the game that was supposed to be Resident Evil 4. Near its completion, the game was ultimately shelved after Shinji Mikami felt that it, ha-ha, strayed too far from the series' survival-horror feel. Nevertheless, Capcom refused to drop of what was completed of the gorgeously-designed game and so had it repackaged under a new name and franchise, similarly as they did with "Onimusha", which was originally an oriental-themed version of RE1.

Did you guys know that at one point, the Godfather of the zombie genre himself, George A. Romero, was hired to write and direct a film adaptation of Resident Evil? Well, this was indeed the case in 1998, when Capcom approached him for the project after being impressed with his direction for the 30-second live-action ad of Resident Evil 2. Initially declining to refrain from doing more films with zombies in it, Romero ultimately reconsidered. However, the screenplay he submitted was reportedly so bad that he was subsequently dropped from the project and replaced with Paul W.S. Anderson. I know what you’re thinking, but then again, y’ever see Survival of the Dead?

Following the unprecedented success of the first game, it was only natural for Capcom to attempt several double-downs by porting it to other major consoles. One such effort was an attempt to re-introduce the title to handheld gamers via the new and rising GameBoy Color. Dissatisfied with the finished product, the port was ultimately scrapped and unreleased, with Capcom's official statement citing a lack of confidence that the product would've held up to gamers' standards. Nevertheless, a prototype was eventually leaked in 2012 and despite reports detailing its perfect room-for-room and event-for-event recapturing, most players ultimately agreed with Capcom's decision, commonly conceding that it just wasn't suitable for the format. Still it would’ve been better than Resident Evil Gaiden.

After the underestimated success Resident Evil 2, Capcom went straight to developing not only the next main installment but also a spin-off tie-in showcasing the events that led to the T-Virus outbreak in Raccoon City. The plan appeared to rock-solid, however, in all their hastiness, Capcom had apparently forgot the length to which their Sony contracts extended, binding them to release two numbered titles or official sequels exclusively for Playstation. Hence, the spin-off that was merely RE: Nemesis had a "3" shoved into its title, while Code Veronica, which many Capcom developers still regard as the true Resident Evil 3, was altered as the spin-off.

After the completion of the initial game that was to be Resident Evil 2, Capcom execs were not impressed, particularly with its dated-looking finish and conclusive ending for the narrative. This forced the franchise's first push of the reset button, making the unreleased rendition of RE2 known to gamers as Resident Evil 1.5. Drastically distinct from the official, 1.5 featured a different female protagonist as well an RPG-esque mechanic for developing character and weapon stats. Additional changes from the initial draft included major remodeling of characters, delaying the official sequel even further and prompting Capcom to apologize to fans in the form a playable demo released with RE1's director's cut.

Yeah, we know. (sarcastically) “Whoa! The franchise has a Guinness World Record? Shocker!” Right? Well, how about we give you guys a few guesses as for what the record is for. Most gory video game series of all time? Nope! Best horror-based brand of all time? Guess again. Wait, it's best-selling video game franchise of all time, right? Ha ha, not even close. Correct answer: "Worst Game Dialogue Ever". We’ve already covered why the dialogue was so bad, but to earn a world record for the worst is still a rather impressive landmark. To be fair the series holds 2 other records: “The Highest Grossing Game Licensed Movies” and the “First Live Action Movie Trilogy Based on a Video Game”. Goddammit Paul Anderson!

Before we send chills down your spine with our favorite Resident Evil fact, let's have a look at a few honorable mentions:

-Resident Evil 5 is the most sold installment of the franchise

-A Hulkish Cyborg and an Eddie Murphy-inspired character were cut from RE1

-RE1's Sega Saturn port has a fight with a zombified Wesker

That's right fanboys, believe it or not, this franchise was originally intended to run in the vein of what would've been seasoned forerunners like "Wolfenstein" and "Doom". Despite the FPS genre's fast rise in popularity at the time, developers at Capcom felt that the technology available didn't allow it to fuse well with horror. As a result, they opted for an approach which mirrored that of the then action-adventure based franchise "Alone In The Dark". Though Resident Evil would later re-explore the first-person perspective concept with the rail-shooters Umbrella and Darkside Chronicles, they flounder in comparison to the brilliant, frightening, ammo-conserving, and third-person survival-horror that we all came to love.

Do you agree with our list? Which Resident Evil fact did we miss? For more eye-popping Top 10’s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com