When the topic of horror video games is brought up, it’s nearly inevitable that someone will mention Resident Evil. Having sold 117 million units since its inception, Resident Evil is not only the most successful horror video game franchise of all time but is also one of the best-selling video game series ever. In addition to numerous video game entries, this success has led to a wide variety of spin-offs such as movies, TV series etc. and, given how large the franchise can appear to be, I thought it would be worth covering the history of the Resident Evil franchise.
Let’s start with the history of the first game. The origins of the first Resident Evil game lies in an earlier game that was released by Capcom, the company that develops and releases Resident Evil. Sweet Home, released in 1989, was based on the Japanese movie of the same name and features characters exploring a mansion while encountering supernatural beings with the gameplay revolving around RPG mechanics as well as item management, puzzles and multiple endings based on how many characters survive. Tokuro Fujiwara, who had directed Sweet Home, assigned Shinji Mikami, who had previously worked on several Disney video games, to be the new game’s director in 1993 with the intention of remaking Sweet Home under a different name due to rights issues. Initially being developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System before switching to the PlayStation, Resident Evil was released in Japan in 1996 as “Bio Hazard” with the name Resident Evil being used in the Western release. The game stripped away the role-playing elements that were present in Sweet Home, emphasised zombies although other creatures do exist within the mansion and a third-person fixed camera inspired by the 1992 Alone in the Dark game. The game was a surprise success with the original release and a later director’s cut version selling a combined 5 million copies over their lifetime and is often credited with popularising the survival horror genre.
