Resident Evil (PlayStation)

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Remind me to never visit Raccoon City. Allow me to elaborate.

Rewind to mid 1990s. PlayStation is popular but also still a new contender. One of its latest titles is called Resident Evil. After receiving a healthy income tax refund I splurge and get myself a new PlayStation and a few games including Resident Evil, knowing absolutely nothing about any of the game gear I just bought.  
 

Before going home I stop by an audio shop and gawk at all the fancy home stereo gear by Pioneer, Sony, Kenwood, JVC, and others.  Being a Pioneer fan I spent most of what was left of my income tax on a nice Pioneer setup with 5.1 surround sound.

I get home and set everything up. I dim the lights and turn on the PlayStation with RE in it. New game running through a new surround system should be killer.  
 

I lasted until the two dogs jumped through the windows in the mansion shortly after staring the game.  I turned on the lights and immediately stopped playing RE.  It took me a very long time to play it again.  I believe this  is the first time I’ve played it two decades.  Now it seems corny and not as scary mostly due to how the original PlayStation has not aged well.

So now I’m visiting Raccoon City for the first time and … I wouldn’t recommend going there for a vacation…not even to visit family.

[MaximumRD]

Thanks for posting, great memory that relates to one of my best and most beloved memories, such a similar experience but with an opposite reaction 😏so I had to respond because of my own similar experience yet a very different reaction! 

Setting the scene....

I was about 5 years old I recall peeking over my mother's shoulder though I was supposed to be sleeping, she was watching Vincent Price in House on Haunted Hill but with every peek I could get in I would stare intensely wide eyes in awe, I found the fake skeleton terrorizing the woman fascinating more than scary. I was fascinated with various classic Horror from The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring Charles Laughton to Boris Karloff Frankenstein, safe to say as I got older the years I was not the kid playing sports or pretending to be a cowboy or spaceman, no I was the Wolfman. Any scares to be found for me were always fun and exhilarating. I mention all this to begin to give contrast to your experience and indeed yours is an experience I have seen by many but I tend to fall in the other category I think 😁If anything getting older I would crave something that could in fact scare me, a reader of various Horror magazines and articles and research I also learned a lot about how the grisly FX were managed, fascinated by blood made of corn starch or practical makeup FX by early pioneers, the downside is understanding all the tricks and inside outs of Horror FX did take some of the magic away in that pretty much any horrific scene I would view in a move I would look at it more like "Oh yeah, hah, I see what they did there....." not exactly the most fun way to watch Horror movies and shows....

Before RESIDENT EVIL....

I recall playing a few games in the Horror genre (of course CAPCOM would introduce the new genre of survival Horror) obviously anything 8 or 16 bit though Horror "themed" with some suitable chiptunes and atmospheric locations was fun but nothing more, I never experienced the original Alone in the Dark. I did play some text-based and some point n click horror-themed games on the AMIGA computer like DARK SEED (1992) which definitely was a major bump up in the atmosphere, music and of course grisly Giger-esque visuals, I loved it but again nothing that would actually "scare me" so much as immerse me in a gothic and atmospheric entertaining game and that was fine by me, truth be told I was sure that was about the limit of what a video game could do, I didn't expect it to scare me but I still enjoyed the escape they provided. 

And then came Resident Evil for the PS1....

Much like you @Atari 5200 Guy I brought home a copy of Resident Evil for PS1 and I also prepared for full effect, now I only had my little 14-inch Commodore 1084s monitor though a small display it was sharp, vibrant and I sat directly in front of it with headphones plugged in, not surround maybe but that would not matter as I would learn, lights out also in preparation to make it as atmospheric as possible, I also recall going down that one hall, pretty sure I had already gone down it once so it was not an area I really expected anything and then like you, SMASH! Those decaying Dobermans came crashing through the window chasing me, to this day I recall a sudden hard thud of my heart seemingly the thumping increasing rapidly 😲I THINK I just ran but then was forced to fight, I may have even died because I was just caught off guard and not sure if at that point I had mastered the "Tank Controls". I DO clearly recall before continuing being absolutely stunned, literally amazed that a game, not a movie but a damn video game actually managed to make me jump and for a moment actually scared me and got my pulse going! How was this possible? 

This is where we differ though, where for you it was something you had no interest in returning to for a long time for me, well, not only would I continue, get better, be more cautious and now fascinated with what was around every corner but I enjoyed every single minute of it! Completed it a few times eventually and of course got the amazing sequel. "Survival Horror" was not cemented in my mind as my no.1 favourite video game genre. Emulation lets me revisit many of my favourite classics on any platform. While I do not play many full AAA games I play some demos as well many, many indie Horror games. Even a lot of free offerings on PC with amazing graphics provide some pretty amazing and atmospheric Horror games. Occasionally some of them even give me the creeps, I keep chasing that adrenaline rush I first experienced with those Resident Evil dogs yet it's funny, as realistic as graphics can be, as atmospheric and well designed, though it has come close, I have experienced a sense of "dread" yet I don't think any have ever impacted me as that original jump scare by those dogs in Resident Evil and I am not sure anything ever will, I would guess it's like any first experience, perhaps not being on guard at all and not thinking it was even possible to be scared by a game helped that first Resident Evil game achieve what nothing has since but it's been a lot of fun and continues to be fun trying. 

The second I was hooked on "Survival Horror" 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by MaximumRD

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I appreciate these old Resident Evil games now more than I did then.  The genre has had a long run.  I also remember Parasite Eve and spent many hours on it.  
 

At least now I am enjoying the Resident Evil experience with less fear.  I don’t like the lack of ammo.  Every bullet in this game is precious.

Thank you for sharing your story. I enjoyed reading it.  Resident Evil was my first PlayStation game experience. I had it hooked up to an RCA 20” TV.  So my first PlayStation experience was with RE.  

[Atari 5200 Guy]

14 hours ago, MaximumRD said:

I enjoyed every single minute of it!

Working on the first one now.  I have to admit the voice acting now seems a bit overdramatized.

14 hours ago, MaximumRD said:

and of course got the amazing sequel

I got lucky.  Someone here threw away a bunch of PlayStation consoles and three RE games for them.  I have that sequel and the third one called Nemesis.  I have played the second one a bit since having them and it has been fun.  I’m playing in Arrange mode so I have unlimited ammo.

 

[MaximumRD]

21 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

Working on the first one now.  I have to admit the voice acting now seems a bit overdramatized.

I got lucky.  Someone here threw away a bunch of PlayStation consoles and three RE games for them.  I have that sequel and the third one called Nemesis.  I have played the second one a bit since having them and it has been fun.  I’m playing in Arrange mode so I have unlimited ammo.

 

Well that's putting it nicely, classic R.E. voice acting is renowned for being horrible 😂all part of the campy fun these days. The first 3 games are great.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

It’s interesting to see how far voice acting in video games has come.  I remember how Wing Commander 3 and 4 had some well made live scenes but I believe those came after RE.  Regardless it gets the job done.