Resident Evil 1 (1996 Video Game)

 With it being 30 years of Resident Evil, I thought I take a look back, all the way to the year of 1996 when a video game company Capcom introduced the world to this survival horror game on the original Playstation.

Set in the fictional mountain region in the Midwest, players get to choose between either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, who are members of a elite task force known as S.T.A.R.S. and they must escape from a mansion that has been infested with zombie and other monsters.

Many gamers nowadays would probably think this is funny, but at the time, the original Resident Evil was given high praise for its graphic, gameplay, sound and atmosphere. But hey, it was 1996, this was a big step for gaming at that point.

At the time, it was the highest selling Playstation game of all time which ultimately it was Gran Turismo who became the all time selling game for the original Playstation with Final Fantasy 7 coming in second place.

In fact, Resident Evil grossed 200,000,000 dollars by the end of 1997, which would be a total equivalent of 411,000,000 million dollars in 2025. How ever people want to put it, this game was highly successful. It was so successful, that it was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2024.

Now, I must say that I was only six years old when this game came out and it completely scared the crap out of me. But now that I am older, I truly appreciate what it create and I can't even imagine what Capcom is thinking when it comes to what they have accomplished. I mean, this franchise is now 30 years, as a writer myself, I hope and pray to have a story and characters like that someday.

Speaking of which, the characters in this game were incredible. Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers and Albert Wesker. Spoiler Alert, the swerve where Wesker turns out on his teammates and basically used them a test subjects for the Umbrella Corporation was awesome. In my humble opinion, Wesker is one of the best villains in not just video games, but in any kind of literature.

Choosing to play as either Chris or Jill was pretty cool too because it created a different dynamic and provided some great replay value. For example as Jill, you have more room in your inventory than you do as Chris. They also had two different side characters as Chris had Rebecca while Jill got help from Barry and also, multiple endings.

I also love the concept of the franchise, which is bio-weapon terrorism with the Umbrella Corporation. Umbrella is known for creating a virus (T-Virus) and were using it to create the so called next stage of human evolution. This concept scares me because Bio-weapons I learn, do actually exist, so the idea of people doing this and experimenting on God only knows what is scary.

But back to the game, another reason why the original Resident Evil game was so cool was how it reminded me of a B-Movie. It was definitely a 90s game and seeing the actors in the live-action was pretty cool. Kind of like how Command and Conquer was.

The only things really I can complain about the game was that I never was cool with the camera angles in the game. I always had a tough time trying to figure those things out. Plus, I did struggle with some of the puzzles in the game. To be fair though again, I was only a kid playing this game, I was just happy to get to play the game and spend time with my brothers.

In 2002, the original Resident Evil got a remake, which is crazy to think that was nearly 25 years old in on itself. It also was universally loved by fans and many claim it to be a perfect example of how to make a remake in gaming. But that is a story for another time.

Again, who would have thought that this game started franchise 30 years later. I mean, you can never predict something like that, but it should has been an incredible ride and it was really a lot of fun looking back on this game.

Happy 30th Resident Evil 1!

Until Next Time!

God Bless and Be Safe Everybody! 🙏🙏🙏