15 YEARS OF RESIDENT EVIL Dawn of the dead
It took the horror genre into the mainstream and became Capcom’s most lucrative franchise almost overnight. Christopher Dring unearths the horror stories behind the birth, rise and resurrection of Resident Evil
SHINJI MIKAMI and his team redefined the survival horror genre when they developed Biohazard, aka Resident Evil, in 1996.
Not that anyone expected it at the time. Resident Evilwas loosely based on a niche Japanese-only 1989 Famicom game called Sweet Home. Not the typical basis for success. But it was a success. A huge one, selling 2.75m units on PSone alone. “We obviously had no idea it’d grow to be so popular,” says Resident Evil 4producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who has also worked on every Resident Evilso far.
“During the development we had both internal and
external resistance as we were aiming for something that was very new and unconventional – but the team was sure it would be accepted by the gamers one way or another.” Long-term Resident Evilproducer Masachika Kawata adds: “We
64
The number of Resident Evil titles released worldwide
thought horror games only had a niche market, so we did not think it would become so popular. But because of its originality and the highly entertaining contents, Resident Evilreached out to the bigger audience.”
Following the original’s runaway success, expectations were high for the sequel, and Capcom put its full weight behind the game. But 80 per cent into the development of Resident Evil 2and Mikami-san declared himself unhappy with the project, so he scrapped it and
HORROR STORIES
started again.
It proved to be the correct decision. ”Compromise is not an
option,” says Kobayashi. “It was
controversial but if a game hasn’t got what it takes to awe, it is dead to us.” Capcom’s
head of Home Video Games Business and
managing corporate officer Katsuhiko Ichii adds: “The original Resident Evilwas an instant global success and this was where history begun. “But Resident Evil 2 took it to another level
RESIDENT EVIL 0 Released: 2003 Formats: GameCube, Wii
The prequel to the Resident Evil universe was originally a GameCube exclusive. It told the story of Rebecca Chambers, the only surviving member of the STARS Bravo team, and featured a partner switching system.
www.mcvuk.com
RESIDENT EVIL Released: 1996 Formats: PSone, PC, Sega Saturn, DS, Wii, GameCube
The game that went on to define the survival horror genre. The three PSone editions sold a combined 5m units worldwide, the GameCube remake has sold 1.35m copies.
RESIDENT EVIL 2 Released: 1998 Formats: PSone, GameCube, PC, Dreamcast, N64,
Game.com
Regarded by the press (such as Famitsu) as one of the greatest PSone games of all time, the iconic sequel sold some 5m units on the original PlayStation alone.
RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS Released: 2000 Formats: Dreamcast, GameCube, PS2, PC
The third Resident Evildidn’t enjoy the same critical plaudits as its predecessors, nor did it quite sell as much, shifting a still pretty impressive 3.5m units.
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