Resident Evil

Variants

Okay, so this is going to get a bit hairy. There are currently two copies of the jewel case floating around, and while we can for sure confirm the second one further below, this immediate one is the unknown entity. This is the copy that’s been with Game-Rave forever. On the jewel case manual, the ESRB image was upgraded to include the Ages + 17 immediately underneath the stylized M. The disc in my case looks like the long box one, with just the M.

A version (shown further below) was discovered where the disc properly matches the manual. In acquiring this second jewel case, research has shown that there’s enough of the old ESRB / New ESRB combo to hypothesize that it is also legit. There have been other ESRB mixing in the library (see Ace Combat GH and Tekken 3 GH),  So for right now we’re going with there being two versions.

Jewel Case Release

This is the properly matched version, where both the CD and the manual have the Ages 17+ under the M in the ESRB Logo.

Corrected ESRB Icon matches on Disc and Manual

Misprints

• There are no known misprints.

Review

Welcome to the game that launched a thousand horror ships and introduced the video game industry to one of the sneakiest graphical tricks ever discovered in gaming history.

Resident Evil really doesn’t need any introduction; it’s one of Capcom’s most profitable and famous franchises since Street Fighter 2 first took over the arcades. Having spawned enough sequels, spin-offs, and cameo appearances in other games to fill an entire strategy guide, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know about the series.

While the true origins of the Raccoon Mansion were explained in the prequel Resident Evil 0, the action in this title happens after a team of S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad) disappears while investigating the mansion. Now a second team, led by Albert Wesker, with members Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine must use their wits to out gun, out run, and out solve every puzzle the mansion can throw at them.

Capcom’s graphical solution of creating ‘flat’ CG rendered backgrounds allowed them to pour more polygons into the characters, producing a gorgeous looking cast of zombies and troops. This trick would be used by quite a few other companies throughout the PlayStation’s life, and Capcom carried over the tradition with their PS2 series Onimusha.

Ironically, this landmark of a game hasn’t really aged well in its original form; I found myself cracking up at the absurdly bad B-Movie style dialogue in ways I never did back in its original release. If you’ve never played a Resident Evil game, go snag a Game Cube and the re-released Resident Evil GC. It’s a frightful good time.

Final Score: 8 – Great

Like an old horror movie where you know all the scares, Resident Evil still remains an iconic game that can be returned to eternally. Sure there are prettier remasters on other consoles, but sometimes the original is the only way to go.

Screenshots

• There are no screenshots for this game yet.

Videos

• There are currently no videos for this game.

Trivia

• Resident Evil gained a ‘Director’s Cut’ release that added a few things as well as changed a few things to the main game. Curiously, this caused the original hit to be shunned from the Greatest Hits release catalog. The updated Director’s Cut takes it’s place among the green.
• In one of the most eye brow raising situations, Resident Evil 1 first got the above ‘Director’s Cut’, but then got re-developed into the high-resolution, modern day graphics version for the Nintendo Game Cube. Years after, that version got remastered for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
• Resident Evil is the only game in the entire series to have a ‘happy ending’. That is, that the story actually has closure and does not allude to a possible sequel or side story element. Capcom wrote that script that way so just in case it did not catch on in popularity, the tale would have been complete.
• Nintendo bought the rights to all the numerical Resident Evils for their Game Cube system in 2002. RE was completely redone from scratch with no more FMV footage and reworked item layouts and game areas.
• The series has sold more than 24 Million units worldwide.
• Released in Japan as Biohazard, the name had to be changed when it came to America because there was a heavy metal band with the same name.
• There were three FMV clips in the US version that had to be censored before the game could be released in America. One included the opening FMV, the second is the part where you run into the first zombie in the house, and the last is Chris’ ‘Bad’ ending where he is no longer shown lighting up a cigarette.
• Take a closer look of the cover illustration. The main human character is actually a montage of different parts, including different faces/arms, and his weapon is a fusion of several different pieces. Half of the cover is illustration, half is photography.
• Capcom admitted the cult classic movie Night of the Living Dead was the inspiration for the game.
• Also released for the Sega Saturn, which featured different costume choices and an extra mode.
• Although based on a different script, there were many joke game references featured in the Hollywood Resident Evil movie. One of them being a characters comment of, “I don’t understand, I shot [the zombie] five times!”
• Jill Valentine’s cameo in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 pays a huge tribute to RE1. They even have a move where she uses a Herb and the RE life bar comes out to show she’s fine.