From the Western-style on a stormy night to a village in the mountains of Eastern Europe, from Shinji Mikami to Peter Fabiano, the Resident Evil series has gone through 25 years since its birth, and this game theme has gone through ups and downs and is still Capcom's hot IP. Since Capcom launched the first "Resident Evil" in 1996, more than twenty orthodox series and related gaiden games and countless peripheral products have been born. Due to the long span of time and the many game platforms caused by the innovation of game technology, the behind-the-scenes stories of many early Resident Evil works are not known to us.
Father of Resident Evil: Shinji Mikami
In his first few years at Capcom, Shinji Mikami followed the team to make games adapted from Disney animations such as "Aladdin" and "Dumbo". At the time, Capcom R&D director Tokuro Fujiwara gave Shinji Mikami a new project to make a pure horror game similar to "Sweet Home".
"Sweet Home" is a game that tells the story of a five-person film crew entering an ancient castle and encountering a series of horror stories, players through supplies and weapons in the map to fight the ghost monsters in the castle, the game has a permadeath mechanism, the number of character deaths is linked to the difficulty of the game, the more attrition, the more the player is driven to a desperate situation.
After Fujiwara Tokuro left Capcom, the project was shelved, and Capcom only gave three a small budget due to investment failures and technical bottlenecks in the European and American markets. Shinji Uegami originally had the idea that instead of players running away from danger but to take up arms and fight monsters, after reconstructing the narrative structure and mechanics of Sweet Home, Mikami and his team decided to make a game with their own characteristics. Mikami's game philosophy is that "horror elements are never the first, or even second", and "interesting game content in the form of horror entertainment".
The creation of "Resident Evil 1" is influenced by "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", the protagonist is in an abandoned villa, suddenly encounters a tall image with a murder weapon and a mask, either escaping or using limited resources to resist. Mikami's original idea was to make Resident Evil 1 a first-person perspective, but Capcom couldn't do it without 3D production experience at the time. As a helpless move, scene pre-rendering can only be used to solve the contradiction between scene switching and function, and frequent perspective switching may bring players a bad game experience. Fortunately, after the game was released, players felt that this added to the horror experience of the game. (This rendering method is not Mikami's first creation, but refers to the 3D horror game rental "Phantom of the Haunted House")
Resident Evil 1 Japanese version cover
BIO HAZARD / RESIDENT EVIL
Release Date: March 22, 1996 (PS version) / July 25, 1997 (SS version) / December 6, 1996 (PC version)
The extremely low budget allowed Shinji Mikami to use live-action footage instead of the opening animation CG, and the 3D characters with 2D backgrounds were also helpless, thanks to screenwriter Kenichi Iwao, who conceived the worldview and core framework of the full series of Resident Evil, such as: T virus Umbrella Company, Tyrant, and a series of game characters.
Barry-Barton
Gilles Valentien
Wesker Albert
Chris Redfield
The plot of the Resident Evil 1 game tells the story of a number of missing people in Raccoon City, the bodies of the dead are found to have gnawing marks, S.T.A.R.S special force Bravo disappeared during an investigation mission, the Alpha team that rushed to reinforce was attacked by non-human creatures on the road, and the surviving team members took refuge in an unknown Western-style pavilion under the leadership of Captain Albert Wesker, but were attacked by more zombies and mutated monsters. The game's protagonists, Chris Redfield, and Jill Valentian and the surviving Brave squad member Rebecca Charmbus investigate the mystery in the Western-style pavilion, and discover that it is Umbrella's biochemical test to create the T virus, while Wesker is a spy sent by Umbrella to the police to guide S.T.A.R.S into a trap that has been laid out. Chris and Jill used their limited resources to defeat the tyrant and other biochemical weapons and finally escape.
This game has set the style and tone of the entire biochemical series at the beginning, with the dual protagonists setting different attributes, different plots and battle arrangements. Some of the action choices made by some level players can affect the outcome of the game. Considering the scarcity of in-game resources, Mikami also added physical combat to players, and the setting that fighting will cause higher damage to zombies than weapons is still used today. It should be noted that the plot of Resident Evil 1 now described is the same as the "Resident Evil Reset Edition" released on the NGC platform, because the reset version redesigns the characters and zombies and enriches the plot background. I'll explain the difference in detail later in Resident Evil Reset.
Resident Evil 1 English cover page
"Resident Evil 1" sold 300,000 copies in its first week of release, which is still under the pressure of "Final Fantasy 7" released by Square during the same period, relying on innovative themes and thick game content, by the end of the year, Biochemical 1 sales exceeded one million, and became the first game on the PS platform to sell millions. Capcom saw the popularity of the subject matter and immediately began to develop a PC port, and the following year released the SS version of Sega (Sega Saturn game console). "Biohazard" is also popular in Europe and the United States, but because the Biohazard name has been registered by a rock band in New York, Capcom changed its English name to "Resident Evil", but the game cover of "Resident Evil 1" released in Japan still has the word Biohazard.
Resident Evil: Director' Cut
Release Date: September 25, 1997 (PS Version) / November 22, 2006 (PSP Official Analog Version)
Resident Evil Director's Cut cover
The Resident Evil Director's Cut is intended to ease the pressure caused by players waiting for the Resident Evil 1 sequel, as Capcom made it clear that he would continue to develop the genre after the Resident Evil 1 hit, but there was still no news a year and a half later. The Director's Edition mainly increases the game difficulty selection in terms of game content, adding "Beginner" difficulty to increase the number of ammo, "Arrange" difficulty is a new high difficulty, in this mode, the position of ammunition and props is reset, as well as the number of enemies and position adjustment. Due to the change in position, the backplate has completely lost its function, and due to the reduction of resources in the scene, the faster and stronger reinforcement zombies make it more difficult for players to survive. This will attract players who wish to challenge the original to buy it again, but "Arrangement Mode" is also an option to double the ammo.
What's interesting about the Director's Cut is that it comes with a demo version of Resident Evil 2, as well as demos of Mega Man DASH and Breath of Fire 3.
Resident Evil 2 / Resident Evil 2
Release Date: January 29, 1998 (PS version) / December 26, 2007 (PSP official analog version) / February 19, 1999 (PC version) / January 28, 2000 (N64 version) / January 23, 2003 (NGC version)
PS Japanese edition cover
"Resident Evil 2", which was scheduled to be released in March 1997, was finally postponed to January 1998 on the PS platform, the reason for the delay According to the interview materials of Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya, Shinji Mikami began the development of a sequel after the end of Resident Evil 1, but in the process the game was once pushed down and redone, and the director producer Yoshiki Okamoto was also very dissatisfied with the first version of "Resident Evil 2", in his opinion, the game is too bright lighting and stacked with too many Hollywood action movie elements, It seems to be contrary to the immersive horror style of the original generation. Overall, it's just that the game isn't scary enough. Mikami later attributed this to the inexperience of a group of young producers such as Hideki Kamiya. (This demolished case is called "Resident Evil 1.5" by biochemical fans, and compared to the current Resident Evil 2, the heroine is replaced, the passerby character is retained, the zombie is more humane (he turned out to be a human), has climbing movements, and can even throw explosives.) ）
PS US version cover
In the development of Resident Evil 2, Shinji Mikami no longer served as a supervisor, but was responsible for development as a producer together with Noritaka Funami, and Mikami was more involved in the game's budget and daily project management. This is the arrangement of his boss Yoshiki Okamoto (the founder of Street Fighter and the Bole who developed the biochemical series by Shinji Mikami). Supervision is handled by Hideki Kamiya, and Mikami and Kamiya have worked closely together in Resident Evil 1, so Mikami trusts this arrangement. Although Hideki Kamiya's Resident Evil 1.5 was still scrapped, Mikami was able to withstand the pressure and start over, and Hideki Kamiya's dedication to game art did not disappoint Mikami in the end.
Great bald head Hideki Kamiya
Obsession with art alone could not really save the development of Resident Evil 2, and Okamoto Yoshiki clearly realized that it was the screenwriter's problem, because after the release of the first generation, screenwriter Kenichi Iwao left Capcom to join Square (the plots of Final Fantasy 11 and 14 are Kenichi Iwao's responsibility) Okamoto Yoshiki believes that the game's plot is too bland, because Hideki Kamiya carefully continues to expand the content in the story structure left by Iwao, and Kamiya Hideki's personal style turns the game into an American popcorn movie. Executive producer Okamoto decided to ask playwright Sho Sugimura as screenwriter (Sugimura is a famous film and television screenwriter, and many of Super Team and Kamen Rider's works are written by him) After playing the demo, Sugimura decided that Resident Evil 2 should deepen the depth of the game's plot and thematic coherence, so that it can create a biochemical series universe, and he suggested that it is best to push down the existing game development progress. Yoshiki Okamoto supported the proposal, while Hideki Kamiya agreed, and Shinji Mikami was responsible for resisting pressure from others in the development department to allow Hideki Kamiya to concentrate on the development of new game content.
PS Japanese version vibration version cover
"Resident Evil 1" sets the theme and tone of the game, and "Resident Evil 2" systematically expands the world of "Resident Evil" to weave a unique and grand game world view. Resident Evil 2 was released simultaneously in Japan and Europe and the United States, and was a huge success in the market, with first-day sales exceeding 2 million, which is the first game since Capcom was founded to exceed 2 million first-day sales! The PS version of "Resident Evil 2" eventually sold more than 7 million.
The story mode of the 2nd generation also uses a dual protagonist mode, which are Raccoon City rookie cop Leon Kennedy and Chris's sister Claire Redfield. The plot continues to tell the story of the previous generation, after the Western-style museum was blown up, rats infected with the T virus spread the virus to the entire raccoon city along the drainage system, rookie detective Leon encountered corpses on the way to the police station and Claire met and was arranged to separate to complete their respective tasks, and the villain of the game is William Birkin and his G virus. Leon meets King Ida, a double agent, in the process of fighting zombies, which begins an entangled emotional journey, and Claire meets William's daughter Shirley Birkin to understand the cause of the virus development and family tragedy.
In addition to expanding the world view, the emotional description of the characters is a prominent highlight, Sugimura introduces a new character Ida Wang to make the audience think, and Shirley Birkin's dialogue and family tragedy plot enrich the image of the villain Boss and prepare the plot for the next generation. The flow setting of the two protagonists continues to be used, but Sugimura and Kamiya decide to let the plot cross between the two, similar to the Riddler, and the plot will only be complete if the plot lines of both are opened and the clue fragments are pieced together. The weekly finale and the ending of the second week of "Biochemical 2" are also very outstanding settings, the weekly player ending is against Dr. William, and in the second week, Claire will encounter the tyrant's attack and eventually need to defeat the tyrant. Although the two weeks are played sequentially, the two weeks are set up at the same time, so the actions chosen by the two weeks will affect the actions of the two weeks, resulting in each of the enemies they encounter.
Resident Evil Director's Cut DualShock Ver. /Resident Evil: Director's Cut Dual Shock Ver.
Resident Evil 2 Dual Shock Ver. /Resident Evil 2 Dual Shock Ver
Release Date: August 6, 1998 (PS Version)
The director's cut version originated from the film industry, in fact, in order to cope with the film rating system, the edited version is the same as the movie, and there is a common "director's cut version" in the game industry. The purpose of Resident Evil: Director's Cut is not only to alleviate player dissatisfaction with the slow pace of development of Resident Evil 2. The Director's Cut version, released in Europe and the United States, added gore footage that was not available in the original and live-action footage of Chris smoking. Compared to the original work, in the new mode in the Director's Cut, the in-game shots and enemy positions are personally experienced by Mikami. On August 6, 1998, Capcom released " Resident Evil : Director's Clip Shock Edition " and " Resident Evil 2 Shock Edition " , which coincided with Sony's vibration controller released that year and added some new game content.
"Resident Evil Director's Cut Vibration Edition" is the final version of "Resident Evil 1" on the PS platform, in addition to fixing the bugs that should be due and increasing the fineness of the picture quality, the added controller vibration function makes the horror atmosphere even higher, and also re-tracks the original electronic music BGM with the classical style BGM played by the symphony orchestra.
"Resident Evil 2 Shock Edition" is the same as the previous generation, adding "Arrangement Mode" to increase the difficulty, which is also the position of ammunition and props are reset, as well as the number and position of enemies. Another "Rookie Mode" is for casual players, where players have unlimited ammo and the ability to enter cheat codes in-game for players to use.
Resident Evil 3: LAST ESCAPE / Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Release Date: September 22, 1999 (PS version) / June 16, 2000 (PC version) / November 16, 2000 (DC version) / January 23, 2003 (NGC version)
The sales of more than 7 million "Resident Evil 2" really made Capcom management realize the gold content of this IP, and under the arrangement of Yoshiki Okamoto, Capcom decided to expand the universe of the "Biochemical" series, "Resident Evil 3", "Resident Evil 0", "Resident Evil: Codename Veronica" and a "Resident Evil 1.9" gaiden works were all approved. These games are set up for different platforms, and Resident Evil 0 is similar in nature to make up for the ambiguous setting of Biochemical 1, and is intended for the Nintendo Nintendo 64 console (later become NGC console). Codename Veronica partnered with Sega to prepare the Sega Saturn console (later changed to Sega's DreamCast console), while Resident Evil 3, led by Hideki Kamiya and Masaaki Yamada, continued to be released on Sony's PlayStation.
This development arrangement was broken by the arrival of PlayStation 2, the game industry is clear about the potential of the PS2 platform, have begun to develop games for PS2, Capcom is naturally among them, but PS2 games require new hardware and development environment, designers need to redesign the game content to adapt to the innovative PS2 platform, if the original plan continues, players may not play the orthodox sequel of "Biochemistry" with serial numbers for two years. After thinking about it, Capcom resolutely decided to change the name of the previous "Biochemical 3" to "Biochemical 4", with Hideki Kamiya as the director, and re-developed it on PS2 after overturning all the projects. "Resident Evil 1.9", which was originally a gaiden, was changed to "Resident Evil 3" and became an orthodox sequel.
This arrangement is also a helpless move, Shinji Mikami is not interested in the mass production of the "Resident Evil" series to do "Dinosaur Crisis", Hideki Kamiya needs to focus on the development of games on the PS2 platform, and then let biochemical players wait for a two-year window The consequences are terrible, so "Resident Evil 3" can only be responsible for the young Aoyama Kazuhiro team.
Because of Hideki Kamiya's sudden change to the ending of the 2nd generation, the protagonist of "Codename Veronica" was changed from the original Jill to Claire, and the protagonist of "Resident Evil 1.9" was originally Umbrella agent Hank, which was changed to Jill after becoming the main story. The story also revolves around Jill's escape journey in Raccoon City, a new force called Umbrella European Research Institute and their new bioweapon tracers and new hunters, which will eventually be destroyed by nuclear weapons.
The game location in this game basically coincides with the 2nd generation, no longer a two-protagonist process, and the player can only control Jill Valentian alone. In the timeline, the first half of the game takes place 2 generations ago, Jill escaped from the Western-style and began to investigate Umbrella's biological weaponsWhen the Raccoon City virus broke out, Jill learned that the US government was ready to use nuclear weapons to erase Raccoon City but was infected with the T virus because of the attack of the tracer "Nemesis", and the second half is Jill and the male protagonist Carlos Oliveira (a member of Umbrella's U.B.C.S unit) work together to find a vaccine and finally defeat the boss "Nemesis" at the garbage disposal plant. Jill and Carlos board a helicopter and escape from Raccoon City in the explosion (the plane pilot is 1st generation Barry Barton).
The plot of the 3rd generation is closely related to the 2nd generation, and the scene is not limited to indoor scenes such as the 2nd generation police station, but extends to more outdoor open fields such as streets, garbage disposal plants, hospitals, etc., allowing players to feel the oppressive force when facing zombies. There are also many innovative designs in the gameplay, emergency avoidance system and dangerous decision setting, players can avoid it through tactical actions when facing certain monster attacks; Jill will have two response options for players to choose from in certain battle scenarios, choosing either one will affect the battle state and subsequent plot, and choosing nothing will get a third feedback. In addition, there are designs such as ammo crafting and drug synthesis, scene interaction, and quick turns, which have continued to be used in subsequent games and become essential elements of Resident Evil.
The highlight of the 3rd generation is also his "mercenary mode", which is said to be inspired by the Schwarzenegger movie "Crossing the Level" that game screenwriter Takura Kawamura loved, and Kawamura wanted to design a breakthrough independent gamer that can be based on killing enemies and rescuing hostages, and players can repeatedly challenge in different scenarios and difficulties. "Mercenary Mode" also appeared in later 4, 5, and 6 generations (of course, the gameplay and core themes have evolved), and even launched independent works on 3DS and mobile platforms. In addition, Kawamura, who worked part-time as a game planner, also participated in the design of the 3rd generation boss battle, and the unique "dangerous choice" system was also his idea. (Resident Evil 3 Remake cancels the mercenary mode and battle selection that leads to multiple endings)
生化危机 Substitute: 维罗妮卡 Resident Evil CODE:Veronica/ Resident Evil – Code: Veronica
Release Date: February 3, 2000 (DC version) / Full version March 22, 2001 (DC version, PS2 version) / August 7, 2003 (NGC version)
Although it was named the "Resident Evil" series, it was jointly developed by Capcom, Nextech and Sega, Capcom only sent a small number of people to follow up, and Shinji Mikami and Yoshiki Okamoto were only responsible for the direction of the script. Because of the exclusive agreement, it is less well-known than other formal games, but due to the content and quality of the level, it can be said to be the best exclusive work on the DC console.
The game uses the plot of the final intersection of two characters and two main lines, the background of the game's accident takes place three months after the destruction of Raccoon City, Claire continues to track down Umbrella Company and find the whereabouts of her brother Chris and is unfortunately captured by the Umbrella Company, and later escapes with the virus outbreak in Lockford Prison, and meets Steve Burnside in the chaos. Unexpectedly, Alfred Ashford, the leader of Umbrella, set the plane's destination at the South Pole. Alfred is defeated by Steve in Antarctica, but his sister Alexia Ashford manages to fuse the Veronica virus perfectly.
Another plot chapter revolves around Chris and Wesker, the old wrongdoer, Chris learned that his sister was arrested, so he went to the base to rescue, but unexpectedly encountered Wesker who was uncertain in the 1st generation, it was Wesker who let the virus spread in prison, and the purpose was to obtain the Veronica virus. When he learns that the virus entity is in Antarctica, he gives up on Chris and goes to Antarctica. Chris also learned that Claire was also in Antarctica. In the finale, Kestef is killed by Alexia, and the two Lyle siblings, Wesker and Alexia, fight in three ways, and the brother and sister finally defeat Wesker and Alexia and escape from the South Pole.
Biochemical fans treat this area as an orthodox sequel, with the high performance of DC consoles, "Codename Veronica" is no longer a static CG scene with 3D animation characters, replaced by a completely 3D scene, a reasonable dynamic perspective, a more refined model, the lifelessness of Lockford Prison and the bone-chilling of the Antarctic Research Institute have made players feel an epoch-making sense of progress. Under the guidance of professional film directors, the cutscene CG of "Codename: Veronica" pays great attention to the use of movie lenses, and the viewing experience is excellent. For example, classic clips such as Steve breaking through the window and the hero saving beauty, the duel between Wesker and Alexia, two superhumans.
9 months after the release of "Codename Veronica", Capcom announced that "Resident Evil: Codename Veronica Complete Edition" was released to PS2 and DC, breaking the exclusive agreement, and "The Complete Edition" included content that the original version did not add due to lack of development time. At the same time, the pre-ordered bonus DVD of "The Complete Edition" included the video content of "The Wesker Report", which sorted out the important plots of the Resident Evil series, and the PS2 version of "The Complete Edition" came with a demo of the new game "Devil May Cry" produced by Hideki Kamiya.
Resident Evil Survivor
Release Date: January 27, 2000 (PS Version)
The "Gunshot Soul" series is an independent spin-off, there are four parts in the series, of which the 1st, 2nd and 4th parts are related to "Resident Evil", and the third part is "Dinosaur Crisis" related works.
"Guns Down 1" is jointly developed by Capcom Second Development Department and Tose Japan, the Japanese version and the European version can be played with the light gun peripheral of the PS console, just like the arcade light gun game, and the North American version can only be played with a controller due to the social pressure of the shooting. In 02, a PC Chinese port version for Taiwan Province was launched, but there were many bugs and even the installation could not be carried out smoothly.
"Gunshot Soul" is a cursor shooting game, without the suspenseful horror scenes of the "Resident Evil" series, just a relaxed and pleasant shooting. The plot of the game is also bizarre, the player plays a character who suffered a plane crash after escaping from Raccoon City, and after amnesia, he was stranded on a desert island and encountered zombies, constantly remembering his true identity in the process, and finally remembering that he was commissioned by Leon to investigate the Umbrella Institute on the island.
Gunshot 1 has also been criticized by players, even if there are many popular zombies of previous generations in the game have traditional puzzle elements, but the bizarre plot and boring light gun shooting games make this series although under the banner of Resident Evil but fans do not buy it.
Gunsurvivor 2: Resident Evil CODE: Veronica / Resident Evil Survivor 2 Code: Veronica
Release Date: July 2001 (Arcade Version) / November 8, 2001 (PS2 Version)
"Guns Down 2" was originally an arcade game prepared by Capcom for Namco, and the plot of this step of the work can be said to be forcibly made up for the sake of the game, directly using "Codename; Veronica's main plot, the official explanation is that Claire always dreams during the process of traveling to Antarctica???? There are three modes in this game on the console platform, "Arcade Mode" for playing the story, "Dungeon Mode" for challenging tasks, and "Cockroach Mode" for exclusive use, in addition to some secret files for completion.
Gun Survivor 3: Dino Crisis
Release Date: June 27, 2002 (PS2 Version)
The "Dinosaur Crisis" series is the product of Mikami's idea of "zombie replacement", and after the fire of "Resident Evil", Mikami was worried that a series of zombie zombies would make players lose their freshness, and the horror survival type of games could not jump out of the framework of weird power and chaos. Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" gave Mikami inspiration, dinosaurs' overwhelming superiority in size and speed can bring players endless nightmares, so the development plan of "Dinosaur Crisis" was put on the agenda (there is time to tell about the "Dinosaur Crisis" series) "Gunshot 3: Dinosaur Crisis" is logical to become the orthodox sequel to "Dinosaur Crisis".
Gun Survivor 4: Heroes Never Die / Resi Dent Evil: Dead Aim (Gun Survivor 4: Biohazard: Heroes Never Die)
Release Date: February 13, 2003 (PS2 version)
"Heroes Don't Die" is the last work in the series, still based on the original story of the Resident Evil worldview, the plot mainly tells the story of the US military agent Bruce McVin (Bruce · McGivern) and Chinese NSA agent Fong Ling infiltrated the tanker where the zombie virus broke out and confronted Umbrella's defector Morpheus. This game is quite a big change from previous generations, starting with the third-person mobile first-person shooter, and adding the emergency avoidance of Biochemical 3. The game's ammo is no longer unlimited, but it can be obtained through supply points.
Although the Gun Soul series is of poor quality, it laid the foundation for the subsequent "Biochemical Chronicles", and the series is all logged on the PS platform, which also means the rise of the PS faction within Capcom, laying the groundwork for Mikami to be marginalized and finally leave the Capcom core in the future.
Resident Evil Series Catalog:
Resident Evil (1996)
Resident Evil 2 (1997)
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)
Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (2000)
Resident Evil Remake (2002), Resident Evil 0 (2002)
Resident Evil: Dead Im (2003)
Resident Evil Outbreak (2003)
Resident Evil 4 (2005)
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007)
Resident Evil 5 (2009)
Resident Evil: Revelations (2012)
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (2012)
Resident Evil 6 (2012)
Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015)
Resident Evil: Resident Evil Umbrella Corps (2016)
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)
Resident Evil 2 Remake (2019)
Resident Evil 3 Remake (2020)
Resident Evil 8: Resident Evil Village (2021)
Resident Evil 3 Remake (2023)