Transcript of Birth of Biohazard, a 'behind the scenes' video of Resident Evil 1 (English)

The Concept

The tape starts with the intro of BH1. Random scenes from the game are shown until you cut to the title screen entitled "Birth of Biohazard", then Shinji Mikami presents the concept of BH1. This lasts 6 minutes.

Chief Director, Shinji Mikami

The concept of the game was to create a constant feeling of anxiety and to make the game very, very scary. Our first idea was to put a feeling of dread forward in order to create a harrowing experience that would distance itself from conventional video games. This feeling of anxiety was realized with the assistance of the new generation of consoles (the Playstation) that helped achieve the remarkable graphics. This feeling of anxiety was our principal objective.

The Characters

A voice-over presents the different characters. Each of them is first shown in the form of concept arts, then with the pertinent videos from the intro. Nevertheless, these videos are a little longer than the ones we see in the game. The presentation finishes extracts game from the gameplay.

Chris Redfield

The pilot of Alpha team comes from New York.

He has extremely competent piloting skills, but was discharged from the U.S. Air Force three years ago and transferred to Raccoon City where he joined STARS. Nobody knows why.

He has also been on several missions with Barry Burton.

He is very observant and knows how to keep a low profile. What’s more, his skills at shooting have made him the elite marksman of his team. His only real problem is his temper, which reveals itself from time to time.

Jill Valentine

Alpha team’s demolition expert.

According to her, her motives to join the STARS are: "I can not bear crimes that jeopardize innocent lives" but we believe that her true motives are the following ones, "She wants to live events that give her a purpose". She is skilled with her hands and shows certain talents in the defusing of explosives. She is equally gifted when it comes to locks, not that anyone knows where she learnt her skills. But her knowledge of bomb disposal is very useful to the team.

Barry Burton

Alpha team’s weapons specialist.

Sixteen years of experience and an exceptional knowledge of firearms reinforce his skills well beyond that of what is needed to exercise his trade. His sense of justice is very developed and he always carries on him a photo of his wife and daughters. He is very close to his family.

Rebecca Chambers

Bravo team’s medic.

She is the bravo team’s newest member; she is 18 years old and shows herself to be very intelligent. She has no previous experience in a Special Forces group but her extraordinary knowledge in biochemistry was enough to allow her to join STARS. Rebecca may not pay attention, as she is nervous in expectation of her first mission.

Albert Wesker

A head researcher for the big pharmaceutical corporation Umbrella, he was promoted to captain of STARS. He is a person who remains calm and makes sure everyone knows what they are doing. In a time of crisis, he always preserves his self-control and gives clear orders to his troops. He is respected due to these qualities nevertheless.

The Design

During the interview with Mr Takeuchi, several artworks of the characters from BH1 are presented in close-up. On the TV screen behind him, a Cerberus is shown first then pictures of it attacking Rebecca.

Main Designer, Jun Takeuchi

Design

In the game, the traits of the military and police forces are mixed together in a single team, which I wanted to show unique police force. In two words, be realistic. I consider that to have characters that are "cool" and realistic comes across well on the screen. Usually, all the uniforms resemble each other but I wanted to show the personality of the characters through their uniform. This is done in old war films, where the headstrong carry distinctive signs on their uniforms in order to emphasise their personality. Each uniform expresses itself of a different manner; for the female characters, it emphasises the shape of their body and makes them seem faintly sexy. For the men it is better to show their savageness, thanks to a big knife for example. The players see this knife and think "Whoa! This guy has a big knife! Therefore he must be dangerous!" I modified the design of all the uniforms so that the players feel the personality of the characters, thanks to their mode of dress.

The Universe of the Game

While the voice-over gives the definition of survival horror, one can see extracts from BH1 where Jill confronts different monsters. At the end she is finally to killed by the Black Tiger.

The game Biohazard unfolds itself in the near future of the USA and shows an accident that actually could happen. The scenario is very detailed and makes the player think that he is an actor in his own film. The development team used a system of multiple scenarios that will convert the actions of the player into a storyline.

Therefore, the players will not be able to discover the complete storyline by playing just the one time. The principal difference between Biohazard and the other RPG or action games is that the main objective of the game is not to kill all the enemies. In this game, the important one is "to be afraid". The enemies will attack you with all their force and the player will have to wonder, "How do I survive?" before thinking about how to eliminate them. This is the definition of this kind survival horror, where the errors and inattention of the player are reflected in the game and can be fatal.

The Horror

Small part with Shinji Mikami that gives his definition of horror. Extracts of the intro when Joseph is attacked are shown during his speech.

Chief Director, Shinji Mikami

Horror

I wondered how to enrich the world of video gaming. To express the anxiety, I am myself concentrating on the enemies and I created a universe around them. There were many games resembling Urban Legend or Ghost Story at this point in time and I wanted make my own mark on them by creating a fear never again achieved by other games. I wanted to express easily the understandable anxiety of the pain caused by the attack of a dog. My principal objective was to create attacks by enemies that actually existed.

The Monsters

Voice-over presents all the monsters of the game, one after the other. Each time we have extracts from the game showing the monster in action.

Zombies

Infected by a variant of the T-virus, the zombies are researchers or workers who worked in the mansion.

The zombies that traverse the mansion are motivated by an insatiable hunger. Some of them wear their civilian clothing and have the capacity to open doors. Do not underestimate them!

Cerberus

This bio-organic weapon had its DNA recombined by the T-Virus. Seeing its outward appearance, it appears to be bigger than a normal dog but the virus has considerably amplified its strength and ferociousness.

Hunters

A bio-organic weapon based on the human body that was modified by the T-Virus. The name of this enemy originates from its tactic of hunting in groups and its talents of a hunter.

Yawn

This guinea pig was created by recombining its genes and then accidentally infecting it with the T-virus. The accident created a huge and ferocious monster.

The Spiders / The Black Tiger

In the beginning of the development of this bio-organic weapon, these monsters were created by recombining its genes. But their usage was limited and research was halted. Nevertheless, the original form of the T-Virus was discovered thanks to these experiments.

Plant 42

The T-Virus was injected into this plant and rendered it enormous.