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How Resident Evil Started? Just imagine. The year is 1996. You are all alone in a room and completely immersed into the game sitting on a couch with a controller in your hands. Your heart beats wildly as you go through a dark, haunted house filled with unimaginable horrors. Unknown to you at the time, you were being introduced to a whole new world. But how did we come to this? How did the beginning of the end for all of the people start? Keep it tough, comrades of survival horror as we about to turn the pages of history deep down where this iconic franchise originated.
Birth of Survival Horror – How Resident Evil Started?
For one to appreciate how Resident Evil came into existence, a backstory is so very much needed. The mid-90s were altogether a different era in gaming. We had plumbers rescuing princesses, hedgehogs running at light speeds, and fighters fighting in an arcade. However, there was one genre that was conspicuously absent – a game that would truly scare the players.
Here comes Shinji Mikami, one young staff of Capcom with great ideas. For this, he sought to create a game that immersed the player within an engaging storyline that included horror. His vision, though, would not just create a new gaming trend, but a billion dollar franchise as well.
What Influenced the Creation of Resident Evil
At this point, you are probably asking yourself, “What happened that made Resident Evil begin to form in the brain of Mikami?” As strange as it may sound, there is such a blend of ingredients that makes it all come together as a cocktail.
To begin with, there was the Sweet Home, an Famicom video game released in 1989 and based on a movie of the same name. Mikami was first assigned to create the remake of this game for the PlayStation. But like a crazy Charles Ashford, playing with the virus, he ended up not remaking it, but starting from scratch.
Then there were the good old zombie movies. Romero’s ‘Night of the Living Dead’ was most influential. Mikami wanted to replicate this feeling of dread and confinement. And let’s not even mention Alone in the Dark, a game that came out in 1992 and built some foundations of survival horror genre.
The Development Process
Now, we move on to, how did the Resident Evil round up all the different pieces? It was a drama as advanced as being in chase scenes with Lickers and grappling with puzzles within the confines of the building. Led by Mikami, the development team put all efforts in to build a game that would break all records, on what was considered possible on the Play Station.
The most annoying of the core problems was the fact that it was not easy to construct the 3D world that was rich yet horrifying. They did this by means of employing pre-rendered backgrounds, a practice that would survive on into the following years in the series. The game was supposed to be in a first person perspective – picture that! They even played around with the notion of a cooperative mode. In the end however, these concepts were abandoned in favor of the fixed angling and single player action that we adore (or detest on the basis of how many times a hidden Z-shape has charged at you barking and biting) or know.
Key Characters and Their Creation
Almost on every converse why Resident Evil came into being the notable figures cannot be excluded. There is also Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine who are not avatars created by a Random generator at some high fantasy – they were designed and intended to be some cool heroes and heroines who can be identified with. A little trivia – Jill’s story involved her being a sexy motorcycle racer. I know, right. Unfortunately, the rest of the team thought it best to make her a bit practical. As for Chris, the action theoretic from that period were used for his concepts, limited to their over muscular forms.
And let’s not forget about Albert Wesker, the one antagonist in the game who wore his sunnies even indoors at night. We had never thought of it as a tall tale – the decision to inject a human being into the villain’s character creation. They are really evil, but they don’t do the dirty work themselves.
The T-Virus and Umbrella Corporation
Now how do you think the Resident Evil saga began? Two words: T-Virus and Umbrella Corporation. These elements were not there because of the need for embellishments – they featured in the plots even from the very beginning.
Its capacity to create zombies in the T-Virus was a classic case of the convenient storytelling device. It made fears of political oppression and biological warfare very real, since such scenarios were common in the 90s. And Umbrella Corp? Well, what could be worse than a corporation with no face and tremendous resources at its disposal? What if Amazon turned around and declared it’s going into the bioweapons business (God forbid that Jeff Bezos is taking notes).
Gameplay Innovations
When I take a look at how Resident Evil all started, one thing comes out clearly that it was not only the story and the environment that was the hit. The genre itself was groundbreaking. Definite restrictions on ammunition, unrestrained health items, and inventory exploitation all contributed towards the horror and the strategies.
Remember the first moment when you had to decide on whether to take up that shotgun, or the vital herbs? That’s the kind of decision-making that kept players on their toes. And don’t even get me started on the save system. Ink ribbons and typewriters – that was the worst kind of system, because it caused more panic than any zombie faced.
Reception and Impact
That brings us to the question, what made people turn their heads on Resident Evil? With a bang, that’s how. When it was launched in 1996, there were no other things in the market that were similar. It was lavishly praised for its great atmosphere, great graphics, and highly creative game mechanics.
And players remained both gay and ghastly. I remember the very first time I played it, I went without sleep for days, while at the same time being unable to put the game down. It was as if there was a very intense strat film that you could control, and we were all addicted to it.
The game did very well. It was selling like hot cakes plus sequels and spin offs came in thick and fast. But even more importantly, it set up a blue print of survival horror which most games have been utilizing up to now.
The Heritage and Development of the Franchise
We all know the origins of Resident Evil and it is amazing to appreciate how far the series has gone from then, appreciating for that matter, how this survival horror battery has never being afraid to change. Most games are cross between the orthographic viewpoint and the standard conventional control system of the first edition to the in between – the shoulder rehearse with the action, to the seventh editions first view horror games which is wonderful.
Even so, in spite of the many changes, the heart of what made the first game so special is still there. The suspense, the economy of supplies, even the disturbing plots – these factors were included in Resident Evil from the very first day.
Conclusion on How Resident Evil Started
So, there you have it – the shocking, thrilling, and sometimes bizarre story of how Resident Evil started. From rendering an old Famicom game to becoming a million dollar franchise, Resident Evil is a success.
Resident evil encompasses all of that and more still. With every series that comes out, my two decades of playing these games force feed me nostalgia and unanticipated gleam into cyberspace. I find myself patriotic about the positive indications of the cyberspace. An apprehension about their early –almost pixelated days of horror. And, on what numbness the series will reach further thereafter about next.
What the tale of how Resident Evil began teaches us is that evolutionary development and innovation is the most critical factor for one to prevail – both in the realm filled with T-Virus outbreaks and in the ever metamorphosing world of video games. Here’s to this and many more sleepless nights for the next 25 years and the burn of lack of ammo!
Questions and Answers
1. Was Resident Evil the first survival horror game?
Even though Resident Evil made the phrase “survival horror” famous and established many conventions of the genre, it was not the first game of this kind. Games like Sweet Home and Alone in the Dark paved the way for the genre. Nevertheless, owing to the broad success of Resident Evil, it is often considered that this game made the survival horror genre as we know it popular.
2. Why was the game called ‘Biohazard’ in Japan? Consisted of toxins mobile to people?
“Biohazard,” the title from the Japan marketing and media department was intended to sometimes warfare and germs viruses in the game. But then which was then governed in North America was, therefore, the reason why this title could not be used in that territory, the concept of Resident Evil came about.
3. How many versions of the original game Resident Evil exists?
There is more than one original Resident Evil game which includes the first PlayStation version, it’s Director’s version, the remake for the Gamecube, but also various listening and enhancement variations. Each of these adaptations has its own peculiarities and enhancements, thus providing different experiences.
4. Were there real guns scanned and used for the game?
Yes! To make the game look more real, the game development team scanned real weapons. And so in such minute details was the environment so enriched that new levels of realism were reached in video games at that time.
5. Was there any contradiction when Resident Evil was first released?
As with many bloody games on video at that time, the game Resident evil did have some controversy because of the violent nature of the game. Certain jurisdictions banned some countries due to the demand for cuts, while there were arguments about the impact of violent videos on the audience. Still, such controversies in the end contributed little to the reduction in game sales or cultural significance of the game.
