Resident Evil

In 1996 Capcom released what would go to be one of the most influential games of the entire 32-bit generation: Resident Evil. The title garnered immediate praise from critics and players alike, and single-handedly introduced ‘survival horror’ to the gaming masses. Plenty of titles ‘inspired by’ followed, but Resident Evil remained the progenitor.  There was just one problem for the Saturn faithful: the game initially came out on the PlayStation only. The Saturn faithful had to suffer yet another blow to their gaming prospects.

There is a saying, however: in the darkest hour, hope springs eternal. Capcom was, after all, one of the Saturn’s most prolific third-party developers. While they were busy readying the Director’s Cut for the PlayStation, they also contracted low-key Japanese software house Nextech to port the game to Saturn. Nextech quietly labored away, and in 1997, the world was treated to the Saturn version of Resident Evil. Suddenly available on both the Saturn and PlayStation, it’s likely safe to say that everyone on the planet at that point had a chance to experience the horror-fest. Everyone…except for me.

Rather than write about the merits and detriments of Resident Evil and regurgitate what has without doubt been covered countless times over the years, I invite you to read something (hopefully) more novel: I will recount my personal experience playing this game for the first time in 2019. Do you remember your first time with Resident Evil? I cordially invite you to hop on the Nostalgic Express, grab yourself a can of soda and a Jill sandwich, and join me as we take a special trip down memory lane. For a fair few hours, let’s have 2019 become 1996 as I tell the tale of my very first plunge into the strange goings-on in Racoon City.

First, some context. In my quest for a complete North American Saturn game collection, I picked up Resident Evil in the early 2000s, and gave it a spin. Expecting the great game I’ve heard so much about, I cringed at the horrendous live-action FMV opening sequence, then shuddered thought the preposterous voice work in the first in-game cut-scene. Completely taken unawares, I shook my head in disbelief at how Capcom could seriously approve such ludicrous work. Then the game proper began, and I discovered the game employs very unconventional tank controls and static backgrounds viewed from a variety of angles. Ohhhh… I DETEST tank controls, and the shifting perspective on the static backgrounds was disorienting and confusing. Bad FMV? Horrible voice acting? Stupid control scheme and camera transitions? That was it for me. GAME OVER. I promptly shelved the game, all the while wondering what in the world Resident Evil players were smoking. Resident Evil became nothing more than an ornament on my Saturn game shelf; nothing more than a crummy Jill sandwich amongst excellent Saturn entrees.

There it stayed for weeks, then months, then years… then two full decades. I was well aware of the popularity of the franchise, but simply couldn’t be bothered to return to a game that gave me such an off-putting first impression. My curiosity was finally roused when SEGA Saturn, Shiro! was recording our 2018 Halloween episode, and naturally, Resident Evil came up. Chaz, Sam, and our host Patrick all had compelling tales of their experiences with the game. The conversation went so deep as to discuss how the left-handed Hunters reacted to players trying to run by them, how today’s players run the game in mere hours and even how some now avoid picking up certain weapons, in the name of efficiently managing item inventories. I was intrigued. There must be something to Resident Evil for the game to evoke such vivid experiences in people. What sealed the deal for me was Sam’s recounting of first getting a Saturn: Resident Evil was his very first Saturn game, and he stayed up for hours playing it. He was constantly being killed by Yawn before learning that the key was to run and avoid the gargantuan serpent. How could he play this game so persistently and with such dedication if it wasn’t brilliant in some way? That was it. All this depth, all this… passion, and I knew I had to give Resident Evil its’ second chance at a first impression.

A few months passed before I could make good on my commitment to re-try the game, but eventually the time was right. Just before starting, I made a commitment to absolutely avoid consulting any internet guides, FAQs, let’s play videos, or even the full walkthrough provided in the hallowed pages of the Official SEGA Saturn Magazine. Having preserved my Resident Evil virginity for twenty-some years, I wanted my first time to be special. I wanted to party like it was 1996 again!

Knowing she was the easier game of the two, I selected Jill Valentine as my character, and went to work. I took the live-action opening sequence and the initial voice acting in stride, but unlike 20 years ago, I suddenly realized that this game felt like very old horror movies – the ones with the bad acting and ridiculous costumes and props. In other words, what felt bad then now felt so bad that it was good, in a very B-movie sort of way. This was a positive start – I knew I would be approaching this game very differently in 2019 than I did all those years ago.

The tank controls annoyed me, but with a bit of perseverance, I mastered them. It dawned on me that the controls were really the best way to accommodate the ever-changing perspectives as I moved from one screen to the next. This led to my first deep satisfaction with the game: I realized the camera angles absolutely heightened the sensation of claustrophobia and fear. Not knowing what lay just out of view or just around a tight corner was a great tension-builder, especially when you could only see part of the room or hallway you were in but you could hear something shuffling about, nearby. That was a brilliant touch, and it was all made possible by the ‘security camera’ angles the game displayed in.

I quickly came upon the iconic scene of the zombie feasting on Kenneth’s corpse. Unlike the comedic voice acting, the sound of flesh being eaten came across VERY crisply and realistically, and that head turn was PERFECT. That video clip gave me enough pause that when the zombie stood up and ever so slowly began to lumber towards me, I had to frantically recall which button did what, how to equip my Beretta, how to aim… and all the while the zombie came closer and closer. In that moment, I experienced a mixture of fear, panic, and a genuine shot of adrenaline coursed through my body. My real-life fight-or-flight reaction was activated in a way that no videogame had never managed before, and even after pumping the zombie full of much more lead than was strictly necessary, that feeling of heightened awareness remained. This videogame tapped something very primal within me – actual, genuine fear. It was then that I truly understood the genius of Resident Evil. I almost dropped my Jill sandwich.

My adventure continued and I was able to appreciate how well Capcom pulled off the ability to maintain the tension in the game. The music, composed by the trio of Tomozawa, Hiroki and Ueda, fit exceptionally well. To me, it conveyed not merely fear but also an interesting mix of tension and curiosity. This made exploring the mansion all the more compelling, because aside from wanting to survive, I wanted to find out what in blazes was going on here. The music, sparse and subtle, really nailed that cocktail of discovery and horror.  Likewise, the opening door screens between rooms were such a perfect way to mask loading times when transitioning areas in the game. The music continued to play during the loading scenes, and the feeling of total immersion was never broken. Perfect.

Being a fairly logical individual, I felt the way the story played out was perfectly frustrating – in the sense that Jill and Barry continuously agreed to separate. Come on! I would think. You are far better off staying together! But as with any good horror film, Jill and Barry would often do the stupid thing and go their own ways, alone, under-equipped, to face mutants and zombies and other unknown horrors. Thank goodness Barry was around when the ceiling began to lower in that one room, otherwise I would have ended up as a Jill sandwich! But… Why was Barry there, when he should have been checking the dining room? Immediate suspicion. What was Barry hiding? I made a mental note to watch their future interactions carefully.

My first ‘holy crap’ moment came early on, when traversing the L-shaped hallway on the main floor of the mansion. When the Cerberuses crashed through the window, I had a jolt to the heart. In a panic, I once again had to fumble with the controls to be able to dispatch the dogs, and that was when I had my first ‘click, click’ of Jill trying to fire when her gun magazine was empty, and I realized ammunition was not unlimited. This compounded my earlier discover that not only does saving not happen at will, but that finding a save point is not enough by itself – ink ribbons are required, and they are not exactly abundant. Oh wow. This game wasn’t kidding around. 

I also had to un-learn a basic gaming convention – it was entirely possible, and in many ways more favorable – to run and avoid than to stand my ground and fight. Much like getting used to the tank controls, I took a while to come around to this idea. Resident Evil was testing me in ways that a videogame never did before. Excellent.

Finding the first ‘safe room’ was a massive relief, and I thought there would be some sort of ‘sleep here, restore your health’ function. Except, of course, there wasn’t. The challenges kept piling on: there was only so much Jill could carry (and those inventory slots filled up FAST), her ammo was very limited, saving was restricted, and restoring health was not at all easy. And yet, I was compelled to play on and on. Because the game was so well paced, it was very difficult to put down. It was an intoxicating experience.

Finding Forest pecked to death by crows and seeing several of them sitting around his body was another moment. Later, in the art gallery room, the crows being positioned above you and watching your every move with their cold eyes was chill inducing. I really had no idea what was coming from one moment to the next, and this unpredictability was so unlike any other game I’ve ever played. And yet, Capcom managed to get the progression and the difficulty just right. I found the puzzles to be varied and interesting, and never too easy or too difficult. This well-placed difficulty meant that I was getting tons of satisfaction as I thought to use a lighter in a dark room, or realized I could put the fertilizer into the water supply to kill the plant, or that I would push the switches in the art gallery in ascending age order of the painted man. Never obvious, and never overly difficult. So, so satisfying.

Another aspect I found immensely enjoyable is the long stretches where there were no enemies to combat. I would get comfortable, then begin to focus more on solving the mysteries of the mansion… And whether this meant finding diaries or other written clues or sitting down to play the Moonlight Sonata on the piano, the game always found ways to keep me firmly engaged and wanting to go on for just a little bit more. Just as I would get comfortable, a zombie would burst from the closet behind where I stood, and I was cruelly reminded that this is a survival horror game, and not a leisurely mystery adventure. I really enjoyed how the game lulled you into this false sense of security, only to dash it and set you back into a state of alertness.

The first time I encountered Yawn, I remembered Sam and Chaz’s advice and did my best to run around the giant snake and retrieve the emblem hidden there. Getting the hang of the tank controls was really key by this point, but thankfully, I was doing OK. How handy for Barry to be there to rescue me after I collapsed from the snake poison! But… Why had he waited until I had collapsed? That was a little bit too convenient.

I honestly thought I had come to the end of the game when I collected the last crest and placed it at the end of the outside hallway. Having explored virtually the entire mansion by that point, I figured this was where I would make my escape and this excellent game would be a wrap! Remember, I knew nothing of Resident Evil prior to playing it this time around, so it was a heck of a surprise that the game continued on outside the mansion! The courtyard wasn’t too long to work my way through but having to navigate the guard house made me realize that Resident Evil was a far bigger game than I had initially expected. Another checkmark in the game’s favor, in my view.

To be honest, at that point I had fighting the zombies pretty much under control, and whilst I had to fight them from time to time, I began to relax and focus once again on the story. Returning to the mansion and being introduced to the Hunters was a nasty surprise! Another brilliant design move: the difficulty would generally ramp up at a fairly steady pace, but every now and again it would jolt up significantly to school me and remind me who was boss. Wow. The constant surprises (horrors?) were done so well and kept me on my toes and constantly vying to up my game.

After fighting Yawn the second time (and dying / restarting a few times), Barry showed up again, and I went down the hole in the floor. When the rope dropped, that was it – I was convinced that Barry was working against me, and I continued on in the basement. By a stroke of luck, I was on low health at this section and kept dying several times over before I could save post-Yawn. This meant I had to do the cut-scene with Barry dropping the rope a few times over. On my last attempt, I figured I’d search around in the tiny room I dropped down into, just in case I missed something important. Imagine my surprise when Barry returned and dropped another rope down for me! Wow. I did not see that twist coming. Maybe Barry wasn’t evil after all… Or was he just trying to gain my trust? Either way, this was a brilliant fork in the road that kept me guessing.

It took me some time to figure out the crank and battery puzzle, to stop the flow of water and be able to descend into the sewers. The difficulty was really picking up here, and my ammo and health items – not to mention ribbons – were low. Tensions were running high. Luckily, I had Barry follow me around towards the end (I chose to lead) and he was able to dispatch a Tick for me (Ticks, I learnt, were exclusive to the Saturn version). Finding a wounded Enrico, I learnt that STARS had been set up, and everything had been orchestrated by a mysterious organization by the name of Umbrella. Just as Enrico was about to divulge everything, he was shot! While Barry stayed behind to ‘investigate’ (of course), I ran after the shadowy assailant. I had to fight that giant spider, and I died over and over at that part. I eventually worked out that the spider was vulnerable to explosive rounds from my bazooka, but not before I had to break down and consult the internet for what turned out to be the first of two times. You see, I had NO IDEA how to switch out my Acid Rounds for my Explosive Rounds in my bazooka! This was not mentioned in the manual, and, very counter-intuitively, it actually could not be done until whatever was loaded into the bazooka was fully spent. In my eyes, this was one of the few misses Capcom committed with this title. Still, after only two shots of the properly loaded bazooka, the spider was dead.

When I finally made it to the rooftop, I had my second instance of consulting the internet. See, as I adventured, I kept a handwritten page of things I had seen or found for which I had not yet figured out a use (It was extremely fun to have to resort to writing down notes as I adventured!). I had no idea what to fit into the two cavities at the circular pool of water. I also had the two Doom Books… But what to do with them? Nothing seemed to work. The internets told me that I had to examine them when they were facing me the same way I’d hold a real book to open it, and inside I found the two medallions needed for the pool. That was also something I could not see myself working out on my own. Hmmm. Still, onwards.

I was now in the underground laboratory, and I knew the game was nearing its’ end, as more of the story was coming together. I love how Capcom made sure the storyline details were coming out in a slow drip – the suspense-building was masterfully done. I worked my way through the lab and reflected upon how every enemy, every environment and every clue were so well conceived and integrated in the game. Particularly creepy was the one room down in the depths where all the scientists’ bodies were laid out on cots – a makeshift morgue. I even ended up finding Chris locked up in a cell in the lab! The moment of truth with Wesker played out, but thankfully, Barry came back and whacked him unconscious, and, as per Barry’s brilliant advice, rather than escape with our lives, why not go down and see Tyrant? Clearly, that makes the most sense. The final battle was pretty awesome – having the monster slowly yet relentlessly close in on me was awesomely horrific. Still, he was relatively easy to dispatch, and it felt somewhat anti-climactic. I then rescued Chris and, with time running short, Barry, Chris and I made our escape. It was then that I had to face Tyrant a second time, and BOY, was this guy harder to kill! Not going to lie – I died many times here, before finally surviving long enough to grab the dropped rocket launcher and blowing Tyrant to bits, and finally escaping the mansion for good.

Whew! What a ride! My clear time was 13 hours, 1 minute and 5 seconds, and I had used 23 ink ribbons. I lost count how many times I had been turned into a Jill sandwich.

So… What next? Well, I now want to play the game through as Chris. I also received a special key when I beat the game, and from what I understand, it’s for the one room I could never access in the mansion, and it contains extra costumes for Jill and Chris. Then there is the Saturn-exclusive Battle Mode to try out. And there are multiple endings to see as well, I hear. In other words, lots more Resident Evil for me to squeeze out of the lone Saturn entry.

For me, Resident Evil got a bunch of things very, very right. The art style was great – the old, creepy mansion, the camera angles, the overall dark look of the game were all fantastic. The music was also an excellent compliment, being suspenseful and really helping set the mood. Did I mention the sound effects? A zombie’s head exploding from a close-up shotgun shot sounds just like a rotten melon bursting. The story was interesting, with enough left unexplained that it really compels me to play Resident Evil 2. Just who is Umbrella and what are their goals? And what happened to Wesker after Barry knocked him unconscious? The overall difficulty and pacing were also extremely good. For a 20+ year old game, I feel it has help up incredibly well. I am aware there are HD remakes available on multiple platforms, but as a Saturn product, this is top-notch. I now understand what all the fuss was about!

A quick word about Resident Evil 2… It was originally announced for the Saturn, but eventually cancelled, citing (like Tomb Raider 2) the difficulties in getting the game to run properly on SEGA’s hardware. I could halfway understand this argument with Tomb Raider 2, as it is an all-3D environment and Tomb Raider 2 is a bigger game than Tomb Raider, but Resident Evil is all about 3D character models overlaid on 2D background images. If the Saturn can manage Virtua Fighter 2, featuring 2 detailed, high-resolution characters with a huge move-set each to hold in memory, running at 60 fps, there is no reason why Resident Evil should not have been possible. In fact, it should have looked even better than on the PlayStation. But I digress… I will play RE2 on the Dreamcast.

So… What should be my Shiro! Challenges? Normally I give these challenges out, but since I’m fresh meat with Resident Evil, maybe YOU can comment on our Facebook page and leave me some missions to complete or interesting things to discover in the Arklay mountains region?

That’s it, folks. Playing Resident Evil for the first time in 2019 was a blast. Now… I’m feeling kinda hungry. Maybe I’ll go and fix myself a sandwich. A Ji…. Ah, nevermind.

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Saturn vs. PlayStation

Curious as to the differences between Saturn Resident Evil as compared to the PlayStation original? Here are those differences:

• Higher resolution and increase in detail in the backgrounds (both very slight increases)
• Slightly quicker loading and saving
• Missing Gouraud shading on the 3D models
• Saturn features a slightly darker color palette
• Saturn-exclusive monsters: the Tick (a re-worked version of the Hunter) and a 2nd Tyrant in Chris’ game
• Saturn-exclusive Battle Mode

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Resident Evil style games, before and after

Resident Evil is hailed as the first entry in the survival horror genre, but indeed there were similar games both before and after it. In the case of the games before, the situation is akin to how Doom is considered the grandfather of the FPS genre, although there were plenty of Wolfenstein-style games prior. Doom just took it to the next level, both in terms of game mechanics and mass market appeal.

Similarly, there were many Resident Evil clones that flooded the 32-bit market after RE, some faring better than others. Most common is the use of ‘special forces teams’, all bearing unique abbreviations.

Here is a brief rundown of some of the notable entries in the genre from the time period. Bear in mind this is just a sample list; there were many other entries into the genre.

• Alone in the Dark (1992, Infogrames for PC, Mac, 3D0): the earliest ‘modern’ example of survival horror, survive and escape a 1920s haunted mansion. The sequel, Alone in the Dark 2: One Eyed Jack’s Revenge, received a Saturn release.
• Deep Fear (1998, SEGA for Saturn): The last-ever Saturn game published by SEGA, you play as John Major of the E.R.S. Team as you confront mutating people in the underwater base Big Table. The cause appears to be a strange meteor that crashed into the waters.
• D2 (1998, Warp for Dreamcast): A Kenji Eno production, you control Laura as the survivor of a passenger jet crash over the Canadian north. The cause of the crash was a meteor, and things are not what they seem…
• Parasite Eve (1998, Squaresoft for PlayStation): People are spontaneously combusting and the originator of the events, Eve, carries mutated mitochondria.
• Dino Crisis (1999, Capcom for PlayStation, Dreamcast): Shinji Mikami returns for Dino Crisis, where  an operative of S.O.R.T. Investigates a research facility on a remote island that has been overrun by dinosaurs.
• Blue Stinger (1999, Climax for Dreamcast): Elliot of the E.S.E.R finds himself trapped on Dinosaur Island and needs to escape.
• Carrier (2000, Jaleco for Dreamcast) The S.P.A.R.C. Team is sent in to investigate the vessel Heimdal, which has gone silent. Inside, they find horrible mutants to fight.