One of the most important horror video games of all time isResident Evil, developed by Capcom and directed by Shinji Mikami in 1996. Since its release, the game has spawned an over 100 million unit selling franchise and become one of the cornerstones of the “survival horror” genre it helped to create. While Mikami left Capcom after the closure of Clover Studio in 2007, he has remained vocal about his opinion on theResident Evilseries. Now, in the most recent video documentary from Japanese YouTube channel Archipel, Mikami discusses the inspirations behind the originalResident Evil.
While it is no secret by now that the originalResident Evilstarted out as a spiritual successor to the Japan exclusive horror RPGSweet Homefor the Famicom (NES), Mikami revealed that Capcom had initially approached him to make another horror game using mechanics fromSweet Home, including a first-person camera and an emphasis on ghosts as the game’s enemies. Mikami claims that after watching George A. Romero’sDawn of the Deadhe was inspired to focus the game around zombies instead.
RELATED:Resident Evil Characters We Want To See in RE: Infinite Darkness
The inclusion of zombies as the main enemy type was also made to makeResident Evilmore accessible to non-horror fans, as Mikami thought that usingSweet Homeas a foundation lead to him creating concepts that worked well for “core horror fans” but would not deliver sales-wise. The next inspiration Shinji Mikami sites is Tobe Hooper’s 1974 filmThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre.Mikami references a scene in which the villainLeatherface kills a character and drags them across the floor, which inspired the introduction of Resident Evil’s hunter enemy.
In discussing the original version’s first-person camera, Mikami claims that he had been designingResident Evilto feature a first-person perspective up until he had seen Infogrames' 1992 DOS horror gameAlone in the Dark, which inspired him to consider using pre-rendered backgrounds for the game’s environments. Pursuing a first-person cameracould have putResident Evilat riskof going over-budget, as the team was inexperienced with 3D game design at the time. In discussing the decision to use fixed camera perspectives, Mikami states that “In the end, many players told me that they thought that view made the game scarier.To which I say it was just a workaround.”
The creation ofResident Evilis just one of the many things discussed in the first part of Archipel’s documentary on Shinji Mikami. In the video, the legendary game director discusses his work on the likes ofDino Crisisand otherResident Eviltitles, revealing thatResident Evil 3was originally intended to be a spin-offaimed at core fans of the franchise before Capcom forced the team to broaden its appeal and restructure it as a numbered entry. He also discusses howResident Evil - Code: Veronicawas intended to be a numbered entry in the series before Capcom and Sega came to a disagreement over its Dreamcast exclusivity.
Mikami also briefly discusses his roles as a director and producer on titles, as well as his disappointment in theResident Evilgames made after his time at Capcom, butclaims to have been a fan ofResident Evil 7: biohazard, as well as the state of the horror genre in both video games and film as a whole. Shinji Mikami is currently the executive producer at Tango GameWorks on titles such asThe Evil Within 2andGhostwire: Tokyo.
