Alex Aniel - Itchy, Tasty: An Unofficial History of Resident Evil

Daniel Acedo Caldern

Albert Alonso

Dimitri Awesometh

Philipp Bader

Christine Bagarino

Peter Baines

Jake Baldino

Bradley Biglin Sr

Michael Billing

Jontahn Brantner

Rocco Buffalino

Adam Cherneski

Joey Chiu

Jonathan Clark

Michael Anthony Clemmer

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Diamond Feit

Michael Ferguson

Jos Pedro Gonalves Fernandes

Florian Fischer

Jeff Foertsch

Connor Foss

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William Golden

Jairo Gonzalez Cardenas

Alexander Hartley

James Hollifield - Steinmann (BBMACK)

Gregory Kinstetter

Tyler Kozimor

Thomas Kozlowski III

Fionna Kuhn

Zig Kusnierz

Blackarachnia Lavigne

Alexandria Lee

Chris Liabotis

Leon Luo

Lynsey M

Mark Major

Robbie Rombie McGregor

George Melita

Stephen Meyerink

Jacob Montalvo

Joerg Mueller-Kindt

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Jonathan Ondriezek

Harley Osborne

Austin Parish

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Sidney Richardson

Michael Ripka

William Stuart Robertson

Marten Schenk

Chris Schulte

Steve Sitjar

Joshua J. Slone

Jakob Soto

Mathew Stickles

Jim Stirrup

Mohammed Taher

Claire Turner

Anthony Velez

Ashley Washington

Steve Wright

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Al Yang

A predominantly black screen that plays host to a door-opening sequence. Have you ever thought about just how many times youve seen the mysterious door enveloped in the shadows? A door of uncertainty, suspense and oftentimes horror. Will you survive?

I remember the first time I experienced the Resident Evil style of survival horror. I was in high school at the time, and I went to the local game store to pick up a copy of the game along with the strategy guide. I was a spoiled youth and my parents supported my gaming hobby as long as I was a good kid. I didnt know much about this game other than what Id seen in magazines at the time, so it was a leap of faith with Capcom. I loved fighting games so I knew the company mainly for games like Street Fighter and awesome arcade experiences such as Final Fight but a scary 3D game on the new PlayStation console? This was even before the genre was defined as survival horror. This was an age of discovery.

I can see it clear as day. Everything about the game is ingrained in my mind. Alongside it, the memories of my youth are embedded in these experiences like it was just yesterday. Thats how much of an impact Chris, Jill and the incident in the Arklay Mountains had on me. I remember discussing the upcoming Capcom horror game with my gaming friends during art class and the skepticism from everyone because theyd never played anything like it.

All that changed after a few weeks, once we got to play the game. There was genuine horror and fear embedded in our gaming DNA. We hadnt felt this way before. One morning, before heading out to school, I remember showing my older sister the opening scene, where you encounter the first zombie. She screamed and cowered in fear, and had nightmares for quite some time after that. Everything in this era of gaming was new. It paved the way for an interesting future and taught me skill sets that would benefit me in my gaming life which had parallels with real life, oddly enough. I mean, I was just a young kid. How was I supposed to know I needed a memory card for this game? I hadnt needed it for fighting games or for Ridge Racer but I sure needed it after playing six hours straight and losing my progress while getting skewered in the underground laboratory. Lesson learned? Plan ahead.

Impressions and experiences are everything. It was during this mighty age of gaming that I decided I wanted to work within the video game industry and be part of something that I enjoyed. I never looked back. Over the years I was lucky enough to get to know Alex Aniel, or cvxfreak as he was known on internet message boards, and eventually met him at one of the many gaming events around the world. My fondest memory, however, is of us exchanging ideas and discussing the industry in the most unlikely of places. At the Capcom booth during E3 2017, we bonded over games new and old as we sat in their VIP area. I always knew he was a big-time Resident Evil fan and collector. I guess you can say his influence sort of rubbed off on me. Almost like a virus.

I dont get scared of video games anymore. Im more afraid that I wont have time to enjoy them. Im writing this a mere few weeks before Capcom releases the reimagined adventure of Resident Evil 2 for a new generation of gamers.

Once you get past the loading screen that is the door in the darkness, youll see that the doors lead to infinite opportunities and possibilities for the future. Long live Resident Evil .

Mark Julio

January 2019

I can still remember the excitement I felt one late winter afternoon in 2015. I was visiting the San Francisco Bay Area for the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), where members of the game industry gather in one place in their pursuit of newfound knowledge, ranging from insider information on new technologies and products to potential new business partnerships. I work in the video game industry, and 2015 was my fifth year of making the pilgrimage. Though I now live in Tokyo, the Bay Area is where I was born and raised, and where my family lives. GDC is something Ive always viewed as a homecoming paired with the joys and stresses of networking.

On this particular day in early March, before heading over to GDC in downtown San Francisco, I had a special assignment: to visit the US office of Capcom, the Osaka-based developer and publisher of video games and other amusement products including Resident Evil , known in Japan as Biohazard . Technically, most of the magic happened over in Osaka, not at the US branch, but still, it was a moment of personal excitement to finally visit the company that made this iconic series.

Like many of my contemporaries (I was born in 1987), I have loved video games for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I discovered that many of my favorite games were made in Japan, which eventually led to my decision to study Japanese upon entering university in the US in 2005 and move to Tokyo two years later. Even earlier in the 2000s, I wrote free online walkthroughs for various Resident Evil games, which represented my first work in the industry. Then, in late 2010, right before graduating from my masters program in Tokyo, I interned at localization company 8-4, where I observed how various companies in the industry collaborate to bring games to audiences globally. The following April, I joined a game developer, where I worked on localization and production for two years. In January 2014, I went on to establish Brave Wave Productions with my best friend, Mohammed Taher, to help him achieve his goal of connecting Japanese retro game music composers with fans all around the world.

The whole time, I remained a Resident Evil fan. Over those years, I played all the versions and frequently engaged with the games large community through social media. So, perhaps the reader can imagine just how utterly thrilled I was when I stepped through the entrance of the offices of Capcom USA in San Mateo. This was the home of Resident Evil and, for the first time ever, I was welcomed inside. If I could have told my thirteen-year-old self that this day would eventually come, I am sure he would have completely lost it.