30 years of "Resident Evil": WAAAAAH, the zombie dog!
Zombie dogs, healing herbs, Jill sandwiches: 30 years ago, "Resident Evil" laid the foundation for one of the most successful game series of all time.
(Image: Capcom)
“Resident Evil” was released in Japan on March 22, 1996 (under the significantly less cool name “Bio Hazard”), with the PAL version following just under half a year later. It bore the red seal of the USK, meaning it was “not suitable for children and adolescents under 18 years of age.” But of course, this symbol was just a formality, as I know from personal experience. Because I worked at Capcom from 2012 to 2017 as a PR and Community Manager. In this role, I often and extensively interacted with fans. And the game I was asked about most, by far, was “Resident Evil.” Surprisingly often, it was introduced by the sentence, “I was actually much too young to play it, but...”
1996 was a time when in Germany, anything that showed more than three red pixels in a pile was generally indexed. And in “Resident Evil,” things get quite intense at times: with a pistol, shotgun, flamethrower, or grenade launcher, you take on various zombies, monster spiders, or giant snakes, direct hits cause blood to splatter, and occasional body parts roll out of the frame. And yet, this very game was not indexed.
The then-BPjS (Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons) did examine the game at the request of the Bochum Youth Welfare Office, but rejected its indexing on May 15, 1997, with the reasoning that no explicit violence against humans is committed here. Violence is only a possible means to achieve game objectives, and the focus is more on solving puzzles than on killing enemies. Furthermore, the game had already received an age rating of 18 anyway. And it had already been available for more than a year at that point – meaning the vast majority of sales would have already been completed, and indexing would essentially be completely useless by then. Astonishing!
30 Jahre „Resident Evil“ (16 Bilder)
Capcom
)The Birth of Survival Horror
Recalling “Resident Evil” is a rollercoaster of emotions designed by the greatest fan of the sine function. On the one hand, there's probably no one who remembers the zombie dog that smashes through the mansion window shortly after the game begins with just a shrug. That one scene is likely responsible for most of the PlayStation controller-shaped holes in televisions worldwide.
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And that was just one of the many iconic moments that bring a warm feeling to your stomach when you remember this game: the encounter with the first zombie, which slowly turns its head towards the player. The Moonlight Sonata. The constantly scarce ink ribbons for the dangerously limited save system. The loading pauses disguised as creaking doors – a technical necessity that was impressively and stylishly repurposed for atmospheric bonus. The damn bastard Albert Wesker. Silly lines like the “Jill sandwich.”
Or those moments of sheer panic when your own health bar is hammering a worrying red, you're out of healing herbs, your pistol just clicks uselessly. You have to sneak step by step, camera change by camera change, past the groaning enemies to the safe haven of the save room. “Resident Evil” wasn't the first survival horror game. But it was the first to push survival horror into the mass market with momentum, define the term, and become the genre's flagship for years to come. And above all, it pushed the “survival” aspect of the term to the point of intolerability.
