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The History of Resident Evil (2002)

The original, rebuilt by its own director six years later, so completely that its new monsters and a buried subplot became canon.

The Resident Evil remake reached the GameCube in Japan on March 22, 2002, six years to the day after the original, and in North America on April 30. It was directed by Shinji Mikami himself, under an exclusivity agreement that brought the series to Nintendo's GameCube, and it is routinely ranked among the greatest remakes ever made.

THE MAKING

Why remake a six year old game

Mikami's reason is on the record: the original had not aged well, and the GameCube could bring the game closer to his original vision. Programmer Yasuhiro Anpo added a second reason this Library documents elsewhere: the original's poor localization, which the Japanese staff had not known was poor. The remake was developed in fourteen months by Capcom Production Studio 4, the final two months worked with no days off. The faces were modelled on real people, Jill's on Canadian model Julia Voth, and the script was rewritten and re-voiced entirely.

THE DESIGN

The same mansion, haunted properly

The presentation keeps the original's shape, 3D models over pre-rendered backgrounds, at a new level of detail, with a camera that can track the player and backgrounds layered with moving water and swaying branches. The design then changes under the returning player's feet: rebalanced enemies, redesigned puzzles, new areas, defensive weapons for when a zombie grabs you, and Crimson Heads, killed zombies who revive faster and deadlier unless burned or beheaded. Restored from the original's cutting floor is a whole subplot: Lisa Trevor, the girl the mansion's experiments were practised on for decades.

The score is by Shusaku Uchiyama, Makoto Tomozawa, and Misao Senbongi. About 60 percent of the character animation came from motion capture, a technique the 1996 team had deliberately not used.

THE RECEPTION

Scores, sales, and the consequence

Famitsu · 39 / 40

Scores of 10, 9, 10, and 10: higher than the original's 38.

Metacritic · 91 / 100

IGN scored it 9.0 and called it the prettiest, most atmospheric and all around scariest game they had played. GameSpot scored it 8.9 and called it the best the series had to offer.

Sales · Worse than expected

The documented disappointment, and a consequential one: the remake's sales are part of why Capcom steered the series toward action, the road that ends at Resident Evil 4.

The afterlife · 2015

The high definition remaster of 2015 was a critical and commercial success, the audience arriving thirteen years late, in numbers.

That is the remake's strange double record: the series' best reviewed mansion, and the sales result that convinced its publisher the mansion formula was finished.

The Gallery Why did Resident Evil 4 change the series?

The History of Resident Evil (2002)

THE MAKING

THE DESIGN

THE RECEPTION

THE FIRST WORD