The Legacy of a Survival Horror Classic – Resident Evil 1
Resident Evil is the game that started it all. It is a fan favorite classic and even though others prefer some of the sequels, the real success is the franchise. This has been going strong for 30 years. And it’s still pumping out remakes and new stories but aside from that, Resident Evil has made tons of money since then and kept leveling up. They’ve had action figures, merch and movies. Resident Evil has produced around 30 titles across different consoles. That’s a fantastic achievement.
Spooky First Impressions in 1995
Let’s go back to 1996 when Resident Evil 1 first came out on the PlayStation. I was about 10 years old in the fifth grade when I 1st played it. I remember seeing the images of the Chimera and Cerberus in a magazine and I thought they was weird looking. One day, my brother’s best friend brought his PlayStation, and he rented Resident Evil. And I had no idea what this game was about or that it was the same game from the magazine.
The intro started talking about raccoon city and the attacks in the Arklay Mountains. I was thinking maybe it’s a bunch of rabid raccoons that you gotta fight off or something. The opening scene was chaotic with crazy dogs until they go into the mansion. It’s a big mansion, kind of looks like a haunted house and things are getting creepy.
That first scene with the zombie eating the S.T.A.R.S. member had me like, “whoa!” I never really played a horror game that was gory. Even though I played Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct, this was a little different. Because it involved monsters I guess. There was a bunch of jump scares in this game, and I loved it. It was difficult but man I was hooked on this game. I remember after the rental my brother’s best friend, Jorge, bought the game. At one point he let us borrow it the Playstation and games. One weekend my friend from school came over and we were playing it, he was fascinated by it.
He thought it was so cool and was always asking me questions about what happens next? Later on I eventually witnessed my brothers beat the game. They got a strategy guide and got through the whole game. I didn’t bother at this point because it was very difficult for me. I couldn’t get passed Yawn, kill the hunters or have enough herbs. I finally saw the ending and thought, “Man, this is a long game. It’s like a movie.”
the infamous Tank Controls and Fixed Camera Angles
The puzzles were challenging but the zombies weren’t too bad. That is up until the hunters came around, that’s when things got real. But what makes it difficult for some people? The tank controls! A lot of people are not fans of the tank controls. For me, it works in this game, it’s not the most convenient but it’s doable. A lot of people also complain about the fixed camera angles. From what I’ve read the fixed angles actually scarier because of the hiding threats and loss of control. Psychologically it’s better for the game, so there’s that.
There’s very few people that I’ve met, that grew up with the game, and they said that the cameras and the controlling is not for them. But its a lot of this young generation that complain because it not modern enough for them. They like to complain about anything either way. So, Gen Z sit this one out. You’re not invited to the conversation. This is for the millennials in Gen X.
Unlocking Scenarios, Multiple Endings
What’s so cool about this game is that so much thought went into it. The way that they built out the mansion, it’s actually laid out like a real building. You get different scenarios and different endings depending on what you do. There’s a few major key parts, and I will list them here.
Chris’ Best ending
- Let Rebecca follow you when you meet her in the save room.
- Rescue Rebecca from hunters.
- Get all 3 MO disks to free Jill from the prison cell.
- Rescue Jill from the prison cell in the lab.
jills best ending
- Wait for Barry’s rope drop.
- Trust Barry in the cave, say yes to go with you and say no if he should go in front of you.
- Collect 3 MO disks to free Chris.
- Rescue Chris from the prison cell in the lab.
You can either get the worst ending, a bad ending, a good ending, and then the best ending for both Jill and Chris. I’ve heard many people say that when they went to school and talked to their friends about it, everybody heard different scenarios. Nobody believed each other, how crazy is that? Whether that was planned or not, this generated so much talk and confusion amongst people.
That is until you get the strategy guide and right there is where you will be able to see all the different paths and endings. I thought it was fascinating because at first we had gotten the worst ending. And then we had got the good ending. What I did in my Playthroughs for both Jill and Chris, I made sure to do the best endings so you can see how to achieve it. I thought it was interesting that people in Japan who mastered the game, could beat it with only a knife. I thought that was crazy because there’s some, enemies that you need, heavy firepower for. But no, some psycho out there really did it with only a knife. Which is why part two has certain un-lockable scenarios that make it really challenging, which I thought was a nice touch.
Another thing that I liked about RE was that it was, all in a house. It was kind of like a haunted house with monsters in it. But as we learn later on, everything was an experiment. Some sick bastard really made bio weapons but you don’t get the full story in part one.
I wish that they stuck to the lore a little bit better because with so many games, there’s plot holes and so many mistakes here and there. I guess they would have to do a complete overhaul on the whole entire franchise just so everything lines up.
Here is an explainer video on all endings and I do not take credit for it.
From Super Nintendo Concept to PlayStation Budget Success
This game has its flaws, especially because it was the first one. And from my knowledge, this game was supposed to originally be for the Super Nintendo. It wasn’t going to have good graphics, obviously. They changed things around and decided to make it for the PlayStation. They were also inspired by Alone In The Dark, which I have played after Resident Evil. At the time I didn’t know it released way before Resident Evil. I’m glad they made it on the PS1 because you wouldn’t get that same feel from an SNES.
Watch the video below. I don’t take any credit.
This game did so good. That they had a bigger budget for part two and you could see that in in the cut scenes. Because part one was all over the place. You had live action, was terrible acting. You had CGI, and then you also had cut scenes with the polygon graphics.
Tracking Down the Live-Action Cast Backstories of Resident Evil
An interesting thing. Are the backstories to all of the actors? That were involved in it. They had no idea what this was about. They never saw it up until recent years, like the past 5 years. And then they actually played the video games. And that’s just a special thing to residents of evil, if it weren’t for them. We wouldn’t have known the backstories. These actors have been going to the conventions. The Comicons, and it’s great, most of them are still alive. Unfortunately, one or 2 of them have passed away. Now look up for facts on that one.
The Future of Remakes and Movie Adaptations
The whole thing is, they will be remaking part one again, and modern graphics, and I’m pretty sure it’s gonna look really scary. And I hope they stick to the lore this time and keep it where everything makes sense. They haven’t done the best job with the movies. Welcome to Raccoon City, was coming close, but they put too much in one movie and it was just, it didn’t work out. And the next one that’s coming out, my honest opinion, it looks like it’ll be a good horror movie when it’s definitely not resident evil. There’s nothing resident evil about it. There’s people that are praising it, but there is nothing resident evil about it at all. How old were you when you 1st played it? What were your thoughts? Please let me know. In the comments, press start to continue the next game.
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