Due to the game's reveals being treated as common knowledge by every subsequent entry, all spoilers are unmarked. Proceed with caution.

Resident Evil (Bio Hazard^note Later games in the series would spell the title as one word (Biohazard). in Japan) is a horror-themed game released for the PlayStation on 22 March, 1996, and the first entry in the Resident Evil franchise. Shinji Mikami conceived the game when his superiors at Capcom requested an updated version of their horror classic Sweet Home (1989). With graphics and game design inspired by Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil spawned one of Capcom's most iconic franchises, which now includes several video game sequels and spinoffs as well as other media tie-ins. This game also gave us the term "Survival Horror".

On July 28th, 1998, the fictional Midwestern town of Raccoon City has recently seen a spate of cannibalistic murders in the nearby Arklay Mountains, resulting in public outcry to stop them. Bravo Team, one half of the town’s Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) squad, has flown out in a helicopter to investigate the area, but after one day of radio silence, the other half, Alpha Team, goes out to find them. Alpha Team finds Bravo Team’s helicopter crashed in the middle of the forest, with the pilot dead and no sign of anyone else. They investigate the surrounding area, but are suddenly attacked by a pack of rotting, feral dogs.

Joseph Frost is mauled to death and Brad Vickers bails on the group in their helicopter, forcing the other survivors to run for their lives. The remaining four – sharpshooter Chris Redfield (Scott McCulloch), B&E specialist Jill Valentine (Inez Jesionowski), weapons specialist Barry Burton (Barry Gjerde), and team leader Albert Wesker (Pablo Kuntz) – find an isolated mansion and take shelter inside it. They agree to split up in order to find any Bravo Team survivors and another escape route, but it turns out that the mansion is crawling with a variety of different hazards. Flesh-eating zombies roam the hallways, and the architect, being a fan of spy movies, has set up various different booby traps around the building. Playing as either Chris or Jill, it is up to you to save your comrades and discover the truth behind the cannibal murders…

Gameplay has the player explore the mansion and its surrounding areas by using Tank Controls to move between fixed camera angles, collecting supplies and key items needed to solve puzzles and unlock doors; to heighten tension, ammo and healing items are limited, forcing the player to pick their battles and evade monsters when possible, and limited inventory space forces players to store spare items in various boxes around the mansion. Each character also has a slightly different experience — Chris has more health and has Bravo Team survivor Rebecca Chambers (Lynn Harris) as a supporting protagonist, while Jill has eight inventory slots to Chris' six, a lockpick that immediately opens several doors, and Barry as a supporting protagonist.

In true Capcom fashion, the original Resident Evil received numerous re-releases. The Sega Saturn and PC both received ports of the original game with some exclusive new content in 1997, while the PS1 received a revised edition titled Resident Evil: Director's Cut (which added a new difficulty setting with different item and enemy placements and came packaged with a playable demo of Resident Evil 2). Capcom released a third edition for the PS1 in 1998 (Resident Evil: Director's Cut: Dual Shock Edition) that added vibration and analog support for the DualShock controller as well as a different soundtrack. The Nintendo DS received its own version of the game in 2006 titled Resident Evil: Deadly Silence; this version added an enhanced Rebirth mode, numerous touch screen puzzles, and multiplayer game modes. The original game would be re-released on GOG.com in June 26, 2024, with Steam following suit as a Surprise Release on April 1, 2026.

In 2002, Capcom produced a completely revamped version of the game for the Nintendo GameCube in an effort to bring the main series to Nintendo's new home console. This new version featured revamped character models set against full-motion backgrounds, CGI cut scenes (which replaced the cheesy live-action versions from the original), a brand new soundtrack, wholly redone (but still cheesy) voice acting, updated gameplay mechanics, and story line revisions that bring it in line with the sequels released up to that date. The remake was exclusive to Nintendo consoles for many years (it was re-released for the Wii in 2008) until Capcom announced an HD remaster of the game for the PlayStation, Xbox and PC platforms as a digital download. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in Japan in November 2014 (the former has an exclusive physical release in the region), while the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions achieved complete global saturation alongside the overseas releases of the other versions in January 2015. Upgrades from the GameCube version include fully remastered graphics, the ability to switch between widescreen and "standard" screen sizes, an option to choose between the original's "tank controls" and a modern control scheme inspired by more recent entries in the franchise, and B.S.A.A. outfits for Chris and Jill. A Nintendo Switch version was released on May 21, 2019.

Along with the second entry in the series, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City uses this game as partial source material.

Resident Evil contains the following:

• Ability Required to Proceed:
  • You won't get anywhere without those keys, cranks, or crests, and some of them require you to solve a puzzle before you can even get the items.
  • The flamethrower in Chris' scenario is required to proceed further in the underground caverns due to certain doors only unlocking when you place the weapon on the latches.
  • The battery needed to give the elevator leading to the heliport power is done in this way so that you will have one free space in your inventory to pick up the signal flares, which you need to signal Brad to rescue you. The flares also double as a way to keep one slot open in your item list so that you have room to pick up the rocket launcher during the final Tyrant fight, which you need in order to beat him. However, in Director's Cut's Arrange Mode, you get the battery sooner, which means that you will have to plan in advance for that.
• Action Girl: Jill, Alpha Team's B & A specialist and a Master of Unlocking, stated in some material to be a former member of the Delta Force.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Sort of. Chris canonically has brown hair, but the actor who plays him in the original game's live-action sequences is a redhead.^note Although not naturally. A fan interview found here reveals that he's got naturally dark brown hair. He gave them permission to dye his hair for the live-action scenes, but they used straight peroxide to bleach it and it ended up almost red. It wasn't apparent in some versions of the live-action sequences, due to being changed from color to black-and-white to hide the '80s grade amount of blood and gore.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese version of the original version uses "Icy Gaze" and "I Won't Let This End as a Dream..." as the opening and ending theme, both sung by Fumitaka Fuchigami.
• Always Night: The game begins sometime in the evening and finishes at dawn.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: The covers for all versions of the game (the original release, Director's Cut, the remake, Deadly Silence) have differences overseas. The Japanese versions all use a minimalist approach, such as having a shot of the empty main hall for both Director's Cut and the remake. The North American versions meanwhile, emphasize the horror and action you should expect, to the point of exaggeration. For example, Deadly Silence depicts Jill dual wielding a pair of pistols, something that is impossible to do in-game.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: In Chris' campaign, depending on whether or not you get Richard the serum in time and/or get poisoned in Yawn's first fight, you can briefly play as Rebecca when getting serum for Chris and mixing V-JOLT in the residence to destroy Plant 42.
• And Then John Was a Zombie:
  • Taken literally with John, the Umbrella scientist who writes a letter found in the lab detailing how he is slowly turning into a zombie.
  • In Arrange Mode and Deadly Silence's Rebirth Mode, Forest Speyer will reanimate as a zombie and attack you when examined (but not if Barry's with you in Jill's campaign). He is slightly faster and tougher than regular zombies thanks to his combat training and protective clothing.
  • A zombified Wesker appears as an enemy in the Saturn version's Battle Mode.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: After completing the game, a closet key is added to the item boxes on future playthroughs, which unlocks a hidden room in the mansion that allows you to change into an alternate costume, depending on the version:
  • The original PS1 version gives Chris a leather coat and tie, and Jill a black sleeved crop top.
  • The PC version has palette swaps of the PS1 costumes, turning Chris' coat blue and Jill's top red.
  • The Saturn version has altered S.T.A.R.S. uniforms with new colour palettes: Chris has a blue uniform with a black vest over it, while Jill has a green beret, shoulder pads, and trousers with a blue shirt exposing her midriff.
  • The Director's Cut gives Chris a white T-shirt with green shoulder straps and combat bottoms, and Jill a sleeveless S.T.A.R.S. blouse, jeans, and knee-length leather boots. In Arrange Mode, these outfits are the default, the closet is unlocked from the start, and Rebecca gains a red palette swap of her uniform.
  • Deadly Silence gives Chris a ninja costume and Jill a sexy cop costume. The port also requires the player achieve the best ending to unlock the closet key, and wearing Chris' outfit gives Rebecca a blue cheerleader outfit.
• Anime Theme Song: The original Japanese PS1 version has two vocal songs: an opening theme titled "Kouri no Manazashi" ("Icy Gaze") and the ending theme "Yume de Owarasenai..." ("I Won't Let This End as a Dream..."). Other versions, including the Japanese re-releases (such as the original Director's Cut and the Saturn port) use the instrumental "Still Dawn" instead. Both Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya admitted that the songs were only included in the Japanese version due to a contract Capcom had with a record company for Mega Man 8, which was released shortly afterward and featured both vocal intro and ending themes. The developers didn't want any vocal songs in the game, since they felt they clashed with the horror atmosphere they were trying to set up.
• Antepiece: In Chris' campaign, the room containing the hexagonal crank also has a flamethrower on a display rack next to the door. A new player will most certainly be tempted to grab it, at which point they find that the display is also tied to the door lock, so they can use the weapon in that room, but will have to set it back down to leave again. This is to tip off players that they'll want to take the next one they find with them too, since it'll be needed to unlock another door elsewhere in the caves.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Did you get poisoned by an enemy, but the last known blue herbs you spotted or stored in a box are a distant jog away? Look around your current location or the adjacent room. Chances are, there are some conveniently placed blue herbs right around the corner. Unfortunately, this is not the case if you get poisoned by Yawn during the first encounter; since blue herbs haven't started appearing yet, you'll have to trek back to the west wing's safe room for serum.
  • The exit to Black Tiger's chamber is covered in thick spider webs that can be burned away with Chris' flamethrower or Jill's incendiary grenade rounds. If you run out of ammo for either weapon, the knife can also be used to cut the webbing. In the likely event you don't have your knife, there's an extra one in the room so you don't have to backtrack to an item box.
  • The kneeling animation that plays when collecting an item is skipped for the rocket launcher, which is very appreciated considering the Tyrant can close the gap very quickly and would constantly hit you out of the animation otherwise.
• Apocalyptic Log: Tons of these are scattered around to provide backstory, clues, and general atmosphere. Also, the saving mechanism consists of using ink ribbons on typewriters, technically making an apocalyptic log of the player's exploits.
• Arrange Mode:
  • The Director's Cut adds Arrange Mode, which rearranges enemy and item placements.
  • Deadly Silence has Rebirth Mode, which adds puzzles that utilize the Nintendo DS' touchscreen and microphone.
• Artistic License – Biology:
  • Yawn is repeatedly described as being poisonous. Since Richard is dying from the snake biting him and not the other way around, this would make it venomous.^note For those asking what's the difference, according to proper medical/scientific nomenclature, poison is ingested, while venom is injected through a bite.
  • In real life, every attempt to keep great white sharks in captivity has ended in abject failure - after a few days, the sharks seem to enter a state of depression where their natural aggression gets ramped up to eleven. The behavioral pattern can perhaps be Hand Waved since they're ostensibly zombie sharks, but Great Whites also require huge aquariums to themselves and a lot of live prey.
  • The wasps are clearly Japanese giant hornets, which wouldn't be found as natives anywhere near the American Midwest.
• Artwork and Game Graphics Segregation: Jill's bonus outfit in the PS1 version looks different to the official illustration. While in the artwork her jeans are blue and her belt buckle is square, in-game her jeans are dark gray and her belt buckle is round.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever:
  • Yawn is an infected snake that's grown to about the length of a bus.
  • The Web Spinners are infected spiders that have grown to the size of a pony, and there's an alpha spider, the Black Tiger, that's about two or three times their size. Possibly justified, at least in the Black Tiger's case, as Umbrella was trying to create a bio-organic weapon out of them, as with Neptune (giant sharks).
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • The Flamethrower that Chris can get is indeed awesome, but it burns through all of its fuel very quickly. It is really only useful in one boss fight and even then you have to get right up to the boss and risk getting hurt, and there are no refills for the fuel.^note There is an unused 3D model of one in the original version's files, however. The Rebirth Mode in Deadly Silence puts a Flamethrower in the mansion basement that has the same purpose in the original mode (opening a door), but you get to roast several zombies along the way.
  • From Umbrella's perspective, the Neptunes, a fabulous example of the company's For Science! attitude. Though the experiment was technically a success as it proved that the T-Virus works on marine organisms, the researchers then found that... well, there's not much you can actually use giant zombie sharks for. And then there's the issue of transporting the things. So the poor creatures were just left in a big aquarium in the basement to live out their wretched unlives.
• Badass Normal: All of the main characters. Greatly supported by this live action cast intro sequence.
• Bait-and-Switch: The game initially implies that the source of the zombies is supernatural in some way. There are a lot of odd notes, the mansion has a nonsensical layout to it, and the monsters and zombies are all called demons on more than one occasion. They are eventually revealed as genetic experimentation done by the Umbrella Corporation.
• Bee Afraid: In the guardhouse, one of the rooms is infested with mutated bees and you have to approach a nest in order to get the key underneath it. Luckily, the bees barely do any damage with their sting and serve as nothing more than a minor annoyance.
• Big Bad: More directly in this game, Albert Wesker. He intentionally leads S.T.A.R.S. to their doom, gets Barry to work for him under threat to his family, and even shoots Rebecca. All as part of his plan to steal the research for the BOWs and sell them out from under Umbrella.
• Big Boo's Haunt: The mansion could be considered a more "mundane" version of this. No ghosts, just zombies and some other critters.
• Big "NO!":
  • In the live-action intro, Chris shouts, "No! Don't go!" when the helicoptor flies off.
  • Wesker lets one out before getting skewered by the Tyrant's claws.
• Bittersweet Ending: Even the very best ending has some bitterness to it. Though S.T.A.R.S. has uncovered the cause of the cannibal murders and potentially stopped them by destroying the Spencer Mansion, the majority of the team is dead, their leader turned out to be the one who orchestrated their whole situation, and Umbrella is still manufacturing B.O.W.s. In Chris's best ending, Barry is MIA, and possibly KIA while all of his Bravo friends are dead and in Jill's, the entire rescue mission turns out to be All for Nothing, as every Bravo team member is either dead or missing, with a couple of Alpha's tacked on as well.
• Black Dude Dies First: Played with. The first Bravo Team casualty found by the player is Kenneth J. Sullivan, the only black member of S.T.A.R.S. However, Joseph Frost is the first character to be killed onscreen and before that, Alpha Team found Bravo Team's pilot dead in their crashed helicopter (Edward Dewey in the PS1 version, but shown in the remake and RE0 to be a different character named Kevin Dooley). When put in canonical order, the deaths are: Edward Dewey, Forest Speyer, Joseph Frost, Kenneth J. Sullivan, Richard Aiken, and Enrico Marini. Since the gunshot heard at the beginning is Kenneth's just before he was eaten, the black guy died fourth.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: The game is notorious for its bad translation and Z-grade acting. Subsequent games — and the remake — toned this down, mainly due to better budgets. Some lines actually became iconic and were kept as continuity nods. What's more ironic about this is that, apparently, they didn't have someone on-staff for the original game to provide a proper translation. They just wrote the dialogue in Japanese and translated it into English as best as they could. Adding to the irony was that English voice actors were used throughout the game, and yet, the cast read from a script that obviously had improper English.^note Pablo Kuntz, Wesker's voice actor, has gone on record stating that this is because the cast had all been living abroad in Japan for years by the time recording took place. By then, they had gotten used to the locals speaking in oddly phrased English and thus didn't see anything odd about the lines they were asked to read.
• Block Puzzle: Four puzzles require you to push statues or boxes around.
• Blown Across the Room: In the Tyrant's second phase, it makes a charging claw-swipe attack that will send the player across the arena and deal massive damage if it connects.
• Body Horror: The zombies and the B.O.W.s. Particularly the mammalian monsters, as they are actively necrosing.
• Bold Inflation:
  • Barry is particularly prone to this.
  • Wesker gets a moment of this earlier on, where he seems to be channeling Barry:
  Wesker: STOP IT! Don't OPEN that DOOR!
• Bonus Feature Failure: The Director's Cut contains many improvements over the original 1996 version. However, despite what the subtitle implies, it still retains all the censorship of the earlier version, apparently due to a localization error.
• Border Patrol: Attempting to leave the mansion through the front door has a Cerberus attempt to break inside the main hall before the protagonist shuts the door again.
• Boss-Altering Consequence: You have the option of using V-Jolt against Plant 42. Using it as Jill lets you skip the fight entirely, while using it as Chris significantly weakens it.
• Bottomless Magazines: Completing the game in under three hours unlocks a rocket launcher with infinite ammo. The Director's Cut adds a magnum with infinite ammo, unlocked by completing Arrange Mode with the best ending. The Ingram and Minimi only available in the PC versions also have infinite ammo.
• Bowdlerise:
  • The intro cutscene was heavily censored and altered by taking out scenes with blood in the Western releases. The PC version, some PAL releases of Director's Cut, and some copies of the North American Saturn version contained the original cutscene. Notably, Chris' intro and ending were altered, both which originally has him lighting a cigarette. The Japanese version, however, did have the uncut cutscene albeit in black-and-white to hide the amount of blood and gore.
  • There's a brief snippet of the first game's zombie dropping Kenneth's severed head when Chris/Jill finds him. This was cut from the international releases until Deadly Silence.
  • A smaller edit was to make severed heads and limbs instantly vanish upon hitting the ground. Originally, they were to remain visible. This was even taken out of the original Japanese retail version, so only the Japanese demo version, Japanese Saturn port, and the PC edition left this detail in. By that same token, getting decapitated by a Hunter originally made it clear that they kill the player character by snatching their head clean off; when fully uncensored they're still holding the head in their claws as the screen fades to white (both details can be seen here).
• Bragging Rights Reward: Finishing the game in three hours or less unlocks a rocket launcher with infinite ammo. You know what would be handy on a speedrun? A powerful weapon which would quickly finish any impassable enemy, and didn't require you to spend time looking for ammo. This is downplayed in the Director's Cut releases; beating Arrange Mode with just the Golden Ending grants you an infinite ammo Colt Python, which you can then use to do an easy speedrun.^note Be careful of what you skip on that speedrun, since the Infinite Python is not unlocked in perpetuity and getting less than the Golden Ending on a replay will remove it from your inventory on the next New Game Plus, forcing you to unlock it again.
• Broad Strokes: How the rest of the franchise takes this game's events. Canonically, all four protagonists (Chris, Jill, Rebecca, and Barry) survive the Spencer Mansion Incident and escape with Brad, but it's impossible to get this outcome in-game since each player character's partner is absent from the other's campaign (Barry doesn't make it inside the mansion in Chris' campaign, Rebecca never shows up in Jill's). The novelization actually does its best to try and reconcile all of the members of S.T.A.R.S. being in the mansion at once.
• But Thou Must!:
  • Attempting to leave the mansion from the front door will have the player character confronted by a zombie dog. A Pre-Rendered Cutscene plays where the dog sticks its head through the door and the player character hurriedly yanks it closed. They'll refuse to try opening it again after that.
  • After poorly playing "Moonlight Sonata" the first time, Rebecca will ask Chris if she can stay and practise. If the player tells her "no" she'll stay and practise anyway, against Chris' objections.
• Camera Abuse: In a couple of locations, you can literally break the fourth wall by turning your gun to the camera and shooting, at which point bullet holes will appear on the glass of the "camera". This is harder to do in one location in Advanced/Arrange Mode due to the slightly different camera angle.
• Captain Obvious:
  • "It's a weapon. It's really powerful — especially against living things!" Why, thank you for that very insightful observation, Mr. Burton, but that's sort of the definition of a weapon. If it was for non-living things, it'd be called a tool. Although, Barry probably meant that the acid rounds would be more effective against Yawn and the Hunters rather than the undead (as in "non-living") zombies and dogs.
  • Depending on when she gets there, Jill may run into Barry in the room where Martin Crackhorn's letter is found, likely destroying evidence on Wesker's orders since only half of it is found. After reading the remaining half of it, Barry then asks Jill what she makes of it...to which Jill just remarks that she's "been thinking there's something WRONG with this HOUSE". Barry's pause and somewhat strained "...Right..." comes across as "Gee, I hadn't considered that yet, Sherlock!".
• Character Death: Edward Dewey's hand is found near the Bravo team's helicoptor. Joseph Frost is eaten by Cerberi in the forest. Kenneth J. Sullivan is eaten by a zombie in the mansion. Forest Speyer is pecked to death by zombie crows in the mansion. Richard Aiken dies from venom poisoning and blood loss after being attacked by Yawn. Enrico Marini is shot in the chest by Albert Wesker in the caverns. Rebecca Chambers and Barry Burton can be killed by Hunters if you don’t make the right decisions. If you don’t save them from the cell in the lab, the player character you didn't choose will be left for dead.
• Choice-and-Consequence System: There are several interactions that determine whether the player character's partner (Rebecca for Chris, Barry for Jill) will survive, as well as an optional side quest to save the other playable character from the cell in the lab by finding three MO disks needed to unlock it.
  • Rebecca: Chris' interactions with Rebecca depend on whether he first meets her at the medicine room or the attic. If you first meet her at the medicine room and either allow Rebecca to tag along when she asks or get Richard some serum in time, she will survive; otherwise, after returning to the mansion with the helmet key, a new encounter will occur. If Rebecca was first met in the medicine room and you go straight there to see her, she will survive; but if you got the battery first, you'll hear Rebecca screaming, as a Hunter is attacking her outside said room and will kill her if you don't intervene in time. Meanwhile, if you first met her in the attic, you'll hear her scream as a Hunter attacks but find her in the second floor study instead. Regardless of which room you first met her in, Rebecca will die off-screen if you enter the caves without finding her the second time.
  • Barry: After killing Yawn, there is a sequence where Barry lowers Jill down a hole in the floor to a hidden passage, only to drop the rope and leave to find another. If the player leaves the room themselves without waiting for Barry, they will encounter him fatally wounded by a Hunter outside the lab; otherwise, if the player waits for him, this sets up an encounter between Jill and Barry in the caves. Barry will ask two questions: if Jill wants to go with him, and if she wants him to go first. Saying yes to both questions will guarantee Barry's survival. If you say no to the second question (Yes/No or No/No), Barry will walk off before a gunshot is heard in the direction he went; following him will show a Hunter is attacking, and you must kill it to save him. If you say no to the first question and yes to the second, then Barry will be found fatally wounded outside the lab.
• Clown-Car Grave: Zombies will sometimes pop up in rooms after you have already cleared that room and even any surrounding rooms. Where are they all coming from? Yes, they can open a few doors, but there are still instances where the player character will come from a completely zombie free area, and then have a zombie come into the room from right behind them.
• Company Cross-References: There are numerous nods to the game's spiritual predecessor, Sweet Home (1989), including but not limited to:
  • The introduction of the game's first zombie, which is a reference to the "Man" enemy's intro.
  • The door loading screen, which is almost completely lifted from the older game.
  • The use of a slide projector for exposition of the mansion's dark history.
  • Jill's lockpick, which is identical in use to Emi's special key.
• Conveniently Interrupted Document: The letter written by Martin Crackhorn is normally missing its top half. This is subverted if you find the letter quickly enough, as it will still be intact and you can read the first half to find out that the author couldn't meet with the note's intended recipient because a "guy in sunglasses" forbade it.
• Creepy Cave: Near the end of the game, the protagonists explore a series of caves accessed from the courtyard of the Spencer Mansion, which are inhabited by infected snakes, Hunters and Web Spinners. The largest of these spiders, the Black Tiger, is fought as a boss.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • Joseph is mauled to death by zombie dogs.
  • A zombie chews Kenneth's head off, and he was alive and conscious for most of it. If the player triggers the alternate encounter with Barry, the zombie has torn off Kenneth's lower body.
  • Forest is killed by being pecked to death by infected crows. This is after he was already heavily injured by either the zombies or Cerberuses.
  • Richard dies from a combination of blood loss and envenomation.
  • Edward Dewey gets it even worse than Joseph, who at least was still whole last we saw of him, as it's heavily implied that he was literally torn to shreds by the same pack of Cerberuses.
• Custom Uniform: Every single S.T.A.R.S. member wears a different uniform that follows a basic style, but the individual looks and color schemes are all unique, including M69 flak vests in half the colors of the rainbow.
• Cutscene Incompetence:
  • Chris is the only one to actually lose his handgun in the opening intro.
  • Jill has an unerring ability to get herself in trouble and needing Barry to save her, such as with the ceiling trap or if she gets bit by Yawn in the first fight.
  • When Enrico is shot and killed right in front of them, common sense would dictate that Chris and Jill/Barry immediately pursue the shooter and, considering the confined space and limited escape routes of the cave they're in, have a good chance of identifying and even capturing him. Instead, they just mope over his corpse and let the shooter get away.
  • If you trigger either of the "zombie attacks Jill and Barry" scenes at the start of the game, it takes three shots from his Colt to put it down — if you can get your hands on the gun's cousin, it's normally a One-Hit Kill to any enemy in the game. Made worse in the remake because, whilst he blows the zombie's head off in the original game, it now survives the shots and goes back to where you first met it.
• Cutscene Power to the Max:
  • A few cutscenes show Hunters and even zombies opening doors by using the door knobs, something they're completely incapable of doing in-game outside of a small handful of scripted instances. In the remake, the zombies and Hunters just bust the doors open by slamming into them instead. Then there is Barry kicking in a locked door, something neither Jill or Chris will even attempt.
  • If you ask Barry to take point ahead of Jill in the underground cavern, you'll see a cutscene of him blasting a Hunter out of the air in mid-leap and then finishing it off with another shot from his magnum while it's on the ground. Thanks to the Hunter's plentiful invincibility frames whenever it's attacking or downed, it's not possible for the player to recreate either of these feats during gameplay.
• Damsel in Distress: Rebecca, a new recruit to Bravo Team, who is almost completely helpless and even has a scripted event where she gets killed off by a Hunter if you don't arrive in time. This is slightly rectified in the remake.
• Descending Ceiling: The origin of the immortal "Jill Sandwich" quote. Jill can grab the shotgun early and escape with Barry's help, whereas Chris, who has no backup up to this point, will have to replace the shotgun with a broken replica, Raiders of the Lost Ark-style.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • The grenade launcher's acid rounds are less effective against poisonous enemies.
  • There is a locked door in the mansion that requires a pass code to open. This part cannot be cheesed by guessing random numbers or by consulting internet tips for the correct numbers, as when the players examine the door without having the pass code, the game will simply state that they don't have the pass code so they have to return later.
• Difficulty by Region: The Japanese version of the original game has an auto-aiming function, more ink ribbons, more ammo available and enemies took less shots to kill. The overseas versions were made harder so that the game would be harder to complete during a rental. Thankfully, the overseas versions of Director's Cut has the auto-aim option added back and the non-Dual Shock Ver. uses the enemy health of the Japanese version.
• Distress Ball: Both Jill and Chris are subjected to this at various points; Jill needs Barry's help to escape the ceiling trap, though it's possible for him to not show up, forcing you to do the puzzle to keep the trap disarmed, and she also needs his help to kill the first zombie at the start of the game. There's also a possible scene with Plant 42 where Jill gets snared by the monster and Barry comes in with a flamethrower, killing it. Chris gets captured by Plant 42 when he encounters it, thus requiring Rebecca to make the poison needed to kill the roots in order to save him. Chris can also have an optional scene where Rebecca is suddenly trapped by a Hunter and will die if he doesn't kill the creature quickly.
• Doomed by Canon: The Rebirth Mode in Deadly Silence allows Chris or Jill to give Richard CPR to save him, but he'll still die anyway. Succeeding the CPR minigame has Richard give you a hint about a secret in the clock in the dining room.
• Dull Surprise: None of the characters save for Barry say their lines with much enthusiasm or emotion in general.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Jill actually had long hair under that beret of hers, as seen in the endings. But thanks to that beret, and her alternate outfits giving her her now familiar bob, it can be a surprise to see all of that hair tumbling out when she does pull off her cap.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Early versions of the game lack the "Explicit violence and gore" warning at the start of the game, not being added until the Dualshock Version.
  • The live action opening and ending sequences in the original PlayStation version. They were redone entirely in CGI in the remake in order to bring it in line with the rest of the series. It wouldn't be until the Resident Evil 3 (Remake) that live action would be used again. Additionally, a cast roll call is included, something no other game has done since, not even the remake.
  • This is the only game in the series where there are no automatic weapons^note Unless you're playing the PC version, which adds a Minimi machine gun for Chris and a MAC10 for Jill as unlockable weapons. or weapon upgrades, although given the setting, it wouldn't make much sense. This game also lacks the "near-death" animations (i.e limping) that appears in some form in every other game, had very limited ammo, and oddly enough, it probably has the most enemies that can inflict poison on you.
  • The game lacks a proper physics system for pushing zombies off you when they bite you. You shove them away, but they slightly stagger back and can potentially latch onto you yet again. It wasn't until Resident Evil 2 that pushing zombies can knock them back quite far, onto the floor, or even get shoved into other zombies and make them stagger at the same time.
  • This is the only game in the mainline series to not have a stalker-type enemy in the game. Starting with the next game, there would be at least one boss that relentlessly pursued the player, either through scripted encounters or freely stalking you.
  • The "check" function for items allows you to examine the item as a 3D model with some flavor text, only needed to use receive a pair of plot coupons. This feature was dropped in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, but was brought back in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica and the remake. Resident Evil 7 would bring it back permanently going forward.
  • There's no quick turning, and a button press is required to climb stairs. This would continue in Resident Evil 2, but with the release of 3, quick turning has been a feature in every game since, while other than Code: Veronica, walking up stairs no longer needs any extra input.
  • All weapons, except for the Rocket Launcher and the Grenade Launcher, are labeled with real life weapon names. The sequels gradually shifted gun names to be the standard generic names (Handgun, Shotgun, etc.) and then shifted towards the A.K.A.-47 trope to avoid licensing issues. Likewise, the grenade launcher was called a "bazooka" before future games and the remake would stick with grenade launcher as the name.
  • The game is the only one to have difficulty that is based on the characters; Jill = Easy (8 inventory slots, lock picking desks and certain doors Chris needs a key for, she can brute force her way into getting the shotgun early, and an exclusive weapon) and Chris = Hard (6 inventory slots and a flamethrower that has limited use, more enemies and they take more damage, less ammo and other resources, some resources are locked in desks that require keys to open, and he needs Rebecca's help with a couple of puzzles). Jill compensates a bit by having less health than Chris. The remake ironed this out a lot by making enemy health and placement consistent across both characters, and giving Chris some advantages like higher headshot chances and faster running speed. The rest of the series made all characters equal in performance apart from some sensible gender-related distinctions like durability and strength.
  • The environments in the original game are extremely bright and colorful, being heavily inspired by the Overlook Hotel and Sweet Home (1989). Later games, including this game's remake, would have a more conventional horror aesthetic.
  • The mansion having traps that could kill you was an element that wasn't used again until Resident Evil – Code: Veronica and later where the traps made more sense. It was Hand Waved by the developers saying that Spencer loved spy novels and wanted his mansion to have hidden rooms and traps. The idea of a mansion having deathtraps was a concept used in Sweet Home, which is where the developers got their inspiration from when it came to creating this game. Likewise, the characters in this game refer to the zombies and other bioweapons as "demons" on occasion whereas they just call them zombies or monsters in later games. Sweet Home had demonic creatures.
  • There's no mention of Oswell E. Spencer owning the mansion nor George Trevor building it. Hence it was not originally called the Spencer Mansion. Unusually, these details were actually planned to be in the original game, but the in-game file containing the information, George Trevor's diary, was cut, and wouldn't be added even in the uncensored remakes, although a physical representation of the diary would be given as a Japan-exclusive bonus to fans who pre-ordered the Sega Saturn port of the game. The details would finally be given an in-game representation in the remake.
  • Umbrella is suggested to be a small enough enterprise that Chris had never even heard of it before, despite their operations being based out of Raccoon City. The sequel would quickly establish that Umbrella is a huge, multinational corporation with a global reach, while the labs and corporate offices in Raccoon are but one branch of the company.
  • The monsters themselves were fairly mundane compared to later games, possibly as a result of them being based on monsters or creatures from horror movies. Later games would have more bizarre and original creatures.
  • In this game and this game only, the Cerberuses were brown coated Dobermanns. Every game since then they were black.
  • Health dropping to yellow would still be labeled "Fine". Later installments would use "Caution" for both yellow and orange health, though Resident Evil 2 (Remake) would go back to using "Fine" for yellow health.
  • Being poisoned wasn't obvious unless you checked your health directly and even then, the color did not change. Later games would change your health to purple when poisoned and your character would always limp.
  • Most games in the series give you a graded rank at the end of a completed game, which also determines what you can unlock. The first game did not have such a system and the method used to unlock the rocket launcher with infinite ammo was based on how long you took to beat the game.
  • Handgun ammo is portrayed as a pistol magazine (incorrectly called a clip) rather than a box of bullets like the rest of the series. Unlike later games, the compatibility issue is moot since everyone who uses 9mm is carrying the same model of handgun the magazines are made to fit. The remake kept the loaded magazines for old times' sake.
  • The original Japanese version of the game used J-Rock style opening and ending themes by Fumitaka Fuchigami. Later versions went with instrumental pieces by the game's composers.
  • While there is still a mid-game temporary character swap, it's only for one character (playing as Chris may make you switch to Rebecca briefly) instead of both character scenarios having such set-pieces, and it's entirely optional.
  • The final fight with the Tyrant on the helipad is dependent on what ending you're going for, with the fight being skipped if your character's partner (Barry/Rebecca) is dead. Later games force you to fight the final boss no matter what. Requiem is the only other game that allows you to skip the final boss depending on what ending you picked.
  • The "Orders" file has the Umbrella Corp sign off as "White Umbrella." Later games had them a lot more open with naming themselves, including the remake's version of this file.
  • In Chris's campaign, he only has a knife at the start of the game due to him losing his gun on his way to the mansion, though he would find Jill's gun very early on. Later games would always start the player character with a handgun or at least justify not having one the first few minutes of the game.
  • There is a greater map of the Spencer Mansion and its surroundings when you look at the map. No other game has ever done this other than 7 through 9.
  • Player characters had no animations for standing still (unless they enter their idle stance if the controls aren't touched for a few seconds), which made them look like they weren't breathing. Later games would give player characters breathing animations in their idle state.
  • You cannot swap ammo for the grenade launcher. If you want to equip a different ammo from the one you have equipped you have to spend whatever ammo is loaded in the gun. Later games would swap ammo types at any moment.
  • The overall feel of the first game had a sense of mystery mixed with horror as you explored the mansion grounds and slowly uncovered what happened. The sequels would shift more towards action and tension where there's more emphasis on surviving and escaping, with unraveling the mystery becoming secondary.
  • You can't combine multiple stacks of the same items between your inventory and the item box. You have to move the multiple stacks to your inventory and manually combine them yourself. Later games would let the player combine items inside the item boxes.
  • Similarly, every piece of ammo you pick up is an individual item, even if you grab another magazine of handgun bullets with two other magazines in your inventory. To actually pool your resources together requires combining them as items, creating one large stack supply that has no actual cap on how much can be in it, though you'd likely never see enough ammo in the game to realize that without Training Mode doubling the ammo pickups. As soon as the Director's Cut the game would make each ammo type automatically gather into their own inventory stacks or at least directly present the option on-pickup, and starting from 2 onwards the games cap those stacks after a certain amount of ammunition gathered to start a new one as a consequence of having too much of one ammo type.
  • The game made heavy use of Impending Doom P.O.V., using no less then 5 examples. No other RE game would use it more than once.
  • The player characters only had one voice clip for pain when hit by enemy attacks. They would get multiple voice clips representing pain in the other games.
  • The hilariously bad voice acting was due to the developers having almost no money left to hire actual talent plus said developers trying to translate from Japanese to English themselves, which created a lot of awkward line reads. While the sequels would still have some level of cheesiness for the voice acting, they greatly improve upon it compared to the first game.
• Easier Than Easy:
  • Both versions of the Director's Cut have a difficulty mode called Training Mode, with double ammo, double ink ribbons and fewer monsters, along with a secret option to enable double ammo and ink ribbons in Advanced/Arrange Mode.
  • Some versions of the original (including the one currently available on GOG and Steam) make Jill's campaign even easier by removing the Ink Ribbon mechanic, though only on the first playthrough.
• Elite Mooks: Hunters appear inside the mansion once you've explored the Residence, replacing many of the (much slower) zombies.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Chris is an ex-USAF fighter pilot and Jill is ex-Delta Force. S.T.A.R.S. itself is essentially the Raccoon Police Department's equivalent of a SWAT team.
• End-Game Results Screen:
  • Clearing the campaign in the original game ends with a picture of Jill or Chris continuing with their normal lives after the Mansion Incident along with the player's accumulated play time and total number of saves. Jill is shown relaxing in her apartment with her hair down, while Chris is watching a news report about Umbrella on a giant screen in the city.
  • The result screens in the Director's Cut Dual Shock Ver. shows Chris going out on a night walk and Jill shopping.
• The End... Or Is It?: When you beat the game without saving your supporting character (Barry for Jill and Rebecca for Chris), you'll get an extra cutscene after the credits roll that shows that the Tyrant is still alive, watching as you escape in the helicopter.
• Enter Solution Here: An upstairs door in the mansion in the original version only opens with the correct code, and only after the player learns it in-game. However, the player doesn't actually enter the code; the door opens automatically. Also, only Jill can get the code.
• Everybody's Dead, Dave: Whether you choose Chris or Jill, you still spend most of the game running around on your own. Whenever you find another member of your team, they're almost always either dead or dying (except for each other and Rebecca/Barry). You can end the game with the playable character and Brad being the only survivors as well.
• Everything Trying to Kill You: The original and remake had the most ways to be killed in the series. Monsters, traps, poisoning, and even going the wrong direction in the aqua ring could result in an instant game over.
• Evil Is Hammy: Once he reveals himself to be the traitor in the original version, Wesker begins talking a lot more bombastically.
• Face-Revealing Turn: Famously, the first zombie encountered in-game.
• Fake Difficulty: Though still demonic spiders in every appearance, Hunters are at their worst in the original version for one major reason: they are completely invincible when leaping at you for the entirety of their attack animation, and while downed and/or rising to their feet. Note this is, in fact, an example of malice on the developers' part and not a programming bug, because the Japanese demo does allow you to shoot Hunters out of the air in mid-leap, meaning the ability was deliberately taken out of the final version just to make things harder. The remake takes away these invincibility frames and forces Hunters to actually play fair, making them considerably easier to fight despite otherwise not toning down their strength or aggression.
• Fanservice:
  • One of Jill's unlockable costumes in the Deadly Silence port is a Stripperiffic police uniform consisting of a dark blue five-point cap, a light blue midriff- and cleavage-bearing top, black hot pants, and fingerless gloves, basically turning her into Poison. It makes her Resident Evil 3 tube top and miniskirt look conservative by comparison.
  • Downplayed with the new default outfits for Chris, Jill, and Rebecca in the Director's Cut; each of which remains sensible enough to not be silly for the situation, but seemingly makes a point of looking especially flattering on each respective wearer. Chris trades his tactical vest for black shoulder armor and a tight T-shirt to emphasize his Heroic Build, Jill ditches the beret and gets a new sleeveless blouse and tall black boots that draw attention to her sizable bust and shapely legs, and Rebecca's outfit is similar to her original, but with a red color scheme and sporting a pair of tight hot pants to show off the stems.
• Faux Action Girl: Rebecca, who despite saving Chris a couple of times from Yawn's envenomation and Plant 42, cowers from a lone Hunter and can go the whole game without firing a shot. She doesn't even have the excuse of REmake Rebecca, who had been pushed to her limit by then, as this game saw Alpha Team come in as soon as Bravo Team went down.
• Final Girl: Jill, if Barry dies and Chris is left behind. Likewise, Rebecca is the sole survivor of Bravo Team.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Chris' and Jill's S.T.A.R.S. membership cards at the character select screen have Brian Irons' (the police chief from Resident Evil 2) signature on them.
  • A note left for Ada Wong can be found in both versions, but in the original game, the password to unlock the laboratories is MOLE.
• Game-Favored Gender: Jill is the easy difficulty - she’s even labeled as such on the character select in the original Japanese version (Director’s Cut adds separate properly-labeled difficulty levels, making her Easier Than Easy in that version). Her only major flaws are the fact that she runs and readies her weapons slower than Chris and can take fewer hits. Some re-releases (such as the PC version giving both Chris and Jill automatic weapons) and the remake tones down the discrepancy. Her advantages, on the other hand, include:
  • Basic Easy Difficulty modifications - she faces less enemies, her handgun does more damage (note that there’s no RNG headshots in the original version, so this goes pretty far), and she gets more ammunition.
  • Having eight item slots; Chris has six.
  • A lock pick as her personal item, which allows her to bypass a few doors and access to any locked drawer. Chris needs to find the Sword Key and a few small keys for these, which is a hassle with his smaller inventory space.
  • Starting off right away with her gun; Chris loses his, and he has to find the zombie eating Kenneth and report it back first (Jill's gun will be on the floor for him to take).
  • Can get the grenade launcher, which is probably her biggest advantage, since she'll already have a One-Hit Kill weapon handy for when Hunters start showing up, and she gets it quite early. Chris has to make do with just the shotgun until he can fight his way to the Colt Python. Chris does briefly get an exclusive flamethrower, but it runs out of fuel quickly, is really only available to use against a single boss, and he needs to discard it shortly afterward anyway to proceed through the game.
  • If you take her to get the shotgun right after finding the first zombie, she doesn't have to detour and find the broken shotgun first (the shotgun weighs down a ceiling trap); Barry will rescue her if she does so. Chris has to obtain the broken shotgun no matter what, so he'll need to get through about the first quarter of the game —and either kill or evade a majority of the mansion's enemies in the process— before getting his hands on the working version.
  • She can avoid directly fighting Plant 42 with Barry's help; depending on your actions, Barry will also instantly come to her rescue if Yawn poisons her (although she can also be left to find the serum on her own).
  • Barry himself is far less prone to danger than Rebecca is. The only time he falls into trouble is if you (optionally) split up with him in the undergrounds or don't wait for him to get a new rope after the second Yawn fight.
  • On a meta level, if you feel squeamish about visiting the first zombie, you can try to leave the dining hall, and the zombie will come in for Barry to kill.^note Say goodbye to the free ammo on Kenneth's body if you do this Chris will always have to see the zombie and either fight or run from it.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: There is one other advantage to playing as Chris if you remember that Rebecca is a Combat Medic. Go to her and she will heal you up.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The Black Tiger, which is a giant Australian funnel web spider. There is zero buildup to it, not even a file. The only hint that you get to its existence is its boss theme blasting when you enter its room.
• Giant Spider: The Web Spinners make their first appearance in the guardhouse then take up residence when you return to the mansion. Advanced/Arrange Mode has a surprise in that it adds more of them.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Umbrella Corporation who is responsible for unleashing the various abominations.
• Grenade Launcher: Jill gets one from Forest's corpse.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • When you encounter a fountain with hollows on its east and west sides that contain carvings of an eagle and wolf, respectively. By now, you've already obtained the Last Book Vol.1 and Vol.2 but have no clue what to do with them. It turns out that you have to examine them in the inventory screen and rotate it at the right angle to open them (something that no other puzzle in the game requires you to do), revealing the needed medals. The remake makes it a little easier to guess the solution, given that, way earlier, you had to check the back of a book to get the Sword Key.
  • The Multiple Endings. Depending on your actions and where you explore, you could have your support character killed off as early as mid-game. For example, answering no to both of Barry's questions in the caves will get him killed by a Hunter shortly after you run into Enrico. There's another scene in the game where Jill gets trapped in a hole and Barry runs off telling you to wait until he comes back, which is exactly what you need to do in order to save him and get the good ending. There's just one isue: the game lets you control Jill the very moment he leaves and the next thing you find is a secret passage to an unexplored area, and considering it takes a good while for him to show up again, there is no indication that you should wait for him to come back. It's worse if you played through as Chris the first time, since that secret passage is where you're supposed to go in his scenario.
  • If you make it to the mansion's west wing inside of 3 minutes to save Rebecca, she will not be found outside the 1F save room under attack by a Hunter like usual, nor will she be upstairs in the east wing's study. Don't worry, it's not a glitch; she's still hiding in the save room where you first met her, but you'll have to actually go inside and check on Rebecca before the game counts her as being rescued. This can easily throw a player who's gotten used to finding her either under the stairwell or upstairs in the opposite wing, especially since a new player is highly unlikely to get to her so quickly if they hadn't consulted a walkthrough ahead of time.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: One possibility if you fall victim to Plant 42 is having it pick Chris or Jill up by the waist with one of its tendrils and slowly pinch them in half.
• Hand Wave:
  • Chris, Jill, Barry and Rebecca all survive the Mansion Incident. This is 100% accepted canon in the sequels. However, in every iteration of RE1 available (the original, the Director's Cut, the remake, Deadly Silence, the RE1 scenarios of The Umbrella Chronicles and the HD remaster), it is impossible to have Barry and Rebecca in a scenario simultaneously, and Capcom has never offered a concrete explanation for what happened in their surviving aside from, "They just did." A pachislot adaptation of the game that finally features all four of them together exist, at least.
  • A comic book adaptation of the game takes a Mind Screw approach. During a recap with all four S.T.A.R.S. members present, Chris states that he found Jill in a cell in the Umbrella lab. When Jill tries to correct him that she rescued him, he cuts her off.
• Hard Mode Perks: Advanced/Arrange Mode is technically the hard mode of the Director's Cut, as it not only switches up item placements but also enemy placements as well. However, you can obtain the Magnum long before reaching the Residence, and beating this mode with the good ending grants you a Magnum with infinite ammo. Additionally, your starting Beretta 92FS is replaced with a Beretta 92FS Inox, which has a likelier chance of landing headshots.
• He Knows Too Much: Enrico knows that Umbrella set the S.T.A.R.S. team up to die and that there's a double-crosser in their ranks. Wesker kills him before he can reveal more.
• Hidden Supplies: The save points in the game are mostly hidden, out-of-the-way places with good lighting and calming music where your supplies are stashed. After you've been battling zombies for a while, finding a safe place to relax can be an incredible relief.
• His Name Is...: Enrico is shot by an unseen assailant (Wesker) moments after he reveals there's a mole.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Chris is much bigger than 5'3" Rebecca and Barry is much larger than Jill, who is of average height.
• I Have Your Wife: Wesker claimed to have Barry's family as leverage in order to get him to work for him. However, while gloating, he admits that it was entirely a bluff, which Barry overheard before knocking him out. It still doesn't stop the family moving to Canada to hide after the whole ordeal.
• Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: Selecting your character affects the game's difficulty. Jill can carry more items (eight instead of six), has an exclusive weapon (the grenade launcher), earlier access to some rooms thanks to the lockpick and can completely skip at least one boss battle thanks to Barry. On the other hand, Chris can sustain more damage than Jill and has Rebecca around to heal him, but Jill's advantages outnumbers Chris'. The difficulty of each character are actually shown in the Japanese version from the get go (Jill = Easy, Chris = Hard), but they're not as obvious in the overseas versions unless you've played the game before.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The cause of Wesker's "death" is being impaled on a Tyrant's claws in all scenarios except for Jill's best ending.
• Impending Doom P.O.V.: The game made a habit of this. No less then five examples occur:
  • A quick, live action intro shows Chris being attacked and (possibly) killed by some unknown monster in a dark hallway. It's shown from the perspective of the said monster and all we see and hear is Chris's horrified reaction.
  • The same shot is repeated when the pack of Cerberus attack Joseph.
  • When traversing the Aqua Ring, the Neptunes burst onto the scene trailing behind Chris or Jill.
  • The most famous use is when the Hunters first appear, as the one that attacks as soon as you make it back into the mansion after grabbing the Helmet key would be reused several times throughout the series.
  • The one zombie that comes down the basement stairs and into the kitchen is seen from its perspective.
• Infinity -1 Sword: Jill's Grenade Launcher is this. You can find a good amount of ammo for it (assuming you only use it on boss monsters or tough enemies like the Hunters) and you'll probably be using the weapon far more often than the Magnum due to ammo for it being very scarce. Most people save the Magnum for the Final Boss. For Chris, most people get more mileage out of the Shotgun (since the Grenade Launcher isn't available to him. On the other hand he gets a lot more ammo for the Shotgun as a result; pretty much every Small Key drawer has Shotgun Shells in it) while still saving the Magnum for the bigger nasties.
• Infinity +1 Sword:
  • The Rocket Launcher is needed to kill the Final Boss, and beating the game in three hours or less lets you start a new game with the weapon plus infinite ammo for it. Most enemies will die in a single hit because rockets are just that damn powerful and explosive. Sadly, it can't kill crawling enemies, so you'll still have to bring a gun with you.
  • The Magnum revolver is the only other weapon in the game as powerful as the Rocket Launcher, as it too will kill most enemies in a single shot. Getting the Golden Ending in Advanced/Arrange Mode even rewards you with an infinite ammo version.
  • The full-auto weapons from the PC version are essentially reskinned, fast-firing versions of the Beretta, meaning they pack significantly more firepower per shot compared to the automatic weapons featured in later games and they stunlock enemies. Even the fearsome Hunters are reduced to a complete joke with these guns.
• Instant Container: Subverted with the V-Jolt puzzle. Using empty jars in the room to mix the chemicals is part of the puzzle, as you actually have to mix ingredients in multiple jars to then combine to make the final chemical.
• Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence:
  • Those locked doors sure would be an easy bypass if you could kick them in like Barry does in one cutscene.
  • This applies to enemies to some extent. The player can use certain barriers and crates to prevent enemies from reaching them, even though they could be only two-feet tall. This actually make the knife useful in the early game, as the statue in the second floor dining room and the banister the next room over prevents zombies from grabbing you, but not you from stabbing them. Furthermore, zombies and Hunters are blocked by staircases until you climb them.
• Irony: Brad's retreat in the original game actually helps S.T.A.R.S more than it hurts them — Joseph was already being attacked by the time he left, most of Bravo Team were already dead before Alpha Team even showed up, Richard is doomed no matter how the player attempts to save him, and the Mansion Incident actually leads to the exposure of Wesker as The Mole and the discovery of Umbrella's heinous actions. In fact, the only reason why Rebecca escapes alive is because Alpha Team was left behind, meaning his cowardice actually saved a life.
• It's the Only Way to Be Sure: The laboratory has a self-destruct device, though whether it is intended to prevent the virus from spreading or to destroy the evidence is uncertain. Knowing Umbrella, it may have been for both reasons.
• Kick the Dog: Specifically invoked in one instance: while Rebecca is in disbelief over Wesker admitting to his deception and killing off all her friends, she's shot in the chest. Fortunately, she survives thanks to her bullet-proof vest.
• Kill It with Fire: Fire grenades are the best weapon against Plant 42.
• Lame Pun Reaction: After killing Plant 42, Chris will make a truly dreadful pun regarding it ("So much for him! We got to the ROOT of that problem!") Rebecca just stares at him before changing the subject.
• Large Ham: In a game filled with horrendously cheesy voice acting, Barry takes the cake. Almost all of the game's memes come from him, although Chris and Wesker have their moments too.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Basically every reveal in this game is well known by the future games in the series.
  • The Umbrella Corporation is responsible for the cannibal murders after developing the Tyrant Virus. Considering Umbrella is one of the most iconic aspects of the franchise and their legacy shapes events long after they're shut down, this is unavoidable.
  • Albert Wesker works for Umbrella.This is also unavoidable, given his famous appearance as the Big Bad of Resident Evil 5 and the W.S. Anderson films as well as his villainous role in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
  • Chris, Jill, Rebecca, Barry, and Brad are the only ones to survive the Spencer Mansion incident. Though you can't save all five in any one scenario, it's confirmed in the sequel that this was canon.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Shortly after Alpha Team makes it inside the mansion, Wesker declares they should split up. While it makes sense since he's working against the others, it doesn't exactly explain why everyone just blindly goes along with it.
• Live-Action Cutscene: The title screen, opening, and ending cutscenes are all recorded in live-action.
• Lock and Key Puzzle: Several puzzles require you to collect items from widely separated locations.
• Lonely Piano Piece: There is a piano in the mansion, and Jill and Rebecca (for Chris) use it to melodically play Moonlight Sonata (so they can unlock a hidden door).
• Made of Iron: The most basic attacks involve zombies trying to chew out Chris or Jill's throat, and it still takes three to five hits to kill them.
• Major Injury Underreaction: More due to the hilariously lifeless line-readings of Richard's actor in the original; he reacts to the blood spurting from the giant snake-bite on his shoulder with a soft little "ouch" that sounds more like he banged his hand against something.
• Malaproper: Both Chris and Rebecca refer to the V-Jolt herbicide as a "potion", although that word specifically refers to a concoction meant to be drank, which the V-Jolt —a poisonous chemical to be poured on Plant 42's root— very clearly is not. It's not an in-universe sign that they're dumb so much as is it is that the scriptwriter lacked a strong command of the English language.
• Malevolent Architecture: The mundane version, as there are a few deathtraps, ridiculous puzzles, and secret passages scattered around.
• Man-Eating Plant: Plant 42 was contaminated and mutated when the Neptune tank was broken, flooding one lab with T-Virus contaminated water. It managed to devour several researchers in the confusion before people figured out what was going on. Fortunately, it's immobile. Unfortunately, it covers most of the Residence and its main bulb takes up most of a room.
• Master of Unlocking: Jill, given by Barry.
• The Medic: Rebecca. She will treat Chris if he is injured.
• Mini-Game:
  • The Saturn port was the first title in the series to feature a minigame in the form of Battle Game, which was later resurrected and refined in RE2 and Code: Veronica. Said minigame featured a few unique enemies such as a zombified Wesker and a golden Tyrant.
  • Deadly Silence adds Master of Knifing mode and two multiplayer minigames. These minigames are the only time in the series where Bravo Team members other than Rebecca are playable characters.
• Mirror Scare: In the Advanced Mode in the Director's Cut version, looking in the mirror in the bathroom causes a zombie to sneak up behind the character.
• The Mole: Wesker is an Umbrella employee leading the S.T.A.R.S. team to destruction to test the B.O.W.s.
• Monogender Monsters: All the zombies in this game are male.
• More Dakka: The PC-exclusive Ingram submachine gun and Minimi machine gun are unlockable weapons for Jill and Chirs, respectively. They both have infinite ammo and are fully automatic.
• Multiple Endings: While the game always ends with Brad Vickers returning and rescuing the player via helicopter, the exact ending sequence varies depending on whether you were able to save your partner and/or the other playable character (who is locked in a cell in the lab, and will be left for dead if you don't free them). If your partner dies, the self-destruct sequence isn't activated and the Spencer Mansion, along with the Tyrant and the rest of the B.O.W.s inhabiting it, will remain intact, while if you do, the mansion is blown up and the Tyrant is killed with a rocket launcher. The DualShock Edition changes the music to be triumphant or tragic depending on if the mansion is destroyed, which can seem odd if the protagonist realizes they left the other character to die in their cell during their closing dialogue. Because of this, there are seven different ending cutscenes, which vary from the player being the Sole Survivor to S.T.A.R.S. accomplishing their mission and rescuing everyone they can.
• Mythology Gag: The American version of the box art for the Deadly Silence port depicts Jill dual wielding a pair of pistols, something which is impossible in the game, but was something she did in the novelization of the game.
• Next Sunday A.D.: The game was released in March 1996 and takes place in July 1998. With RE2 being released in January 1998 and taking place in September of the same year, the near-future angle would be dropped until Resident Evil 6.
• No Body Left Behind: Dead bodies will despawn after you leave the room.
• No Final Boss for You: If your partner dies, the mansion's self-destruct sequence is not activated and Brad will immediately rescue you after the signal flare is launched. Since the Tyrant is never fought in this scenario, it will survive, watching the helicopter fly away.
• Non-Standard Game Over: If Chris is poisoned by Yawn and you previously met Rebecca in the safe room, you'll play as her as she journeys to get some serum and cure Chris. Taking too long will result in Chris dying, causing a Game Over.
• Not Quite Saved Enough: Regardless of whether you get Richard some serum in time, the protagonist arrives too late to save his life.
• Not So Invincible After All: Invincibility cheats do not protect you from One-Hit Kill attacks such as Hunters' head swipes or boulder traps. A possible explanation is that these specific hazards are programmed to directly kill the player instead of actually dealing damage, so cheats that give infinite health or prevent any damage from being taken don't protect you.
• Off with His Head!: Hunters and Chimeras can both instantly kill the player character this way; the former by decapitation with their sharp claws, the latter by pulling the victim up to the ceiling and ripping it off.
  • In Chris' campaign, Rebecca can be decapitated by a Hunter if you hear her scream and don't rescue her in time.
  • In Jill's campaign, if she saves Barry, Wesker is killed off-screen by a Chimera after sneaking to the lab's power room to initiate the self-destruct sequence, with Jill able to find his decapitated corpse if she goes that way.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Wesker blackmailed Barry into helping him under threat of hurting his family. Ironically, he was bluffing, which backfires when he gloats about it to Jill in front of Barry.
• Old, Dark House: The Spencer Mansion, a post-gothic revival style building in the middle of the forest that was designed to be labyrinthine by its creator. The grounds extend further out from the main building to encompass a guardhouse, hunting lodge, and underground laboratory, and there are dozens of rooms, locked doors, elaborate puzzles, antique clutter, secret passageways, and flesh-eating monsters roaming the halls.
• Out of the Frying Pan: Alpha Team escape from a pack of Cerberi in the open forest by taking shelter inside a woodland mansion, only to discover that they have sealed themselves in with a much larger variety of hazards out to kill them.
• Pain and Gain: Tyrants are designed to have a secondary T-Virus mutation when seriously injured, increasing their strength and durability. The only way S.T.A.R.S. are able to kill one at the end of the game is with a rocket launcher.
• Permadeath: Thanks to the game's Multiple Endings, nobody is safe from a potential demise.
  • If you refuse Rebecca's plea to come with you (which only occurs if you first met her in the safe room with the serum), she will be attacked by a Hunter in either the mansion library or the hallway outside the aforementioned safe room, and can die if you don't save her in time.
  • Barry can be found mortally wounded by a Hunter in the caverns if you split up from him earlier by saying "no" to both his questions. If you escape the passage under the lesson room yourself rather than waiting for Barry to return with rope, he will instead be killed in the lab after the Tyrant is dealt with.
  • If you don't save the player character you didn't choose from their cell in the lab, they will be left for dead, and either perish in the mansion's self-destruct sequence or starve to death with nobody to rescue them.
• Personal Space Invader: Zombies attack by grabbing the player and chewing at their shoulder. Chimeras will also attempt to drag the player up onto the ceiling and eat their head off.
• Personality Blood Types: The intro includes small character bios, including blood types: Chris and Wesker are O, Jill is B, Rebecca is AB, and Barry is A.
• Plotline Death: Richard dies even if you get him serum in time; whether you succeed at this task only determines whether Rebecca can be attacked by a Hunter later (and even then, only if Chris first met her attending to Richard) and whether Jill gets his radio sooner.
• Raising the Steaks: The Spencer Mansion contains a large variety of animals mutated by the T-Virus, with the justification that Umbrella were developing experimental B.O.W.s there. Zombie dogs, named "Cerberus" in this game, are a series mainstay, but there are also zombie crows (although considering they only attack under specific circumstances, it can be hard to notice that they're zombified), zombie wasps, the giant Black Tiger spider, zombie sharks (named "Neptune"), and Yawn the giant snake.
• Respawning Enemies: There are 3 zombies in the lab's main "hub" area that will respawn the first few times you pass through, making it a good idea to put away the bazooka or magnum temporarily and switch to something with less valuable ammo to clean the place out. Likewise, the lab's power room will refill with Chimeras at least once after you've killed them, but it's only required to enter there once. The pathway after the pool also has a never ending supply of adders falling out of the trees, and the Guardhouse has the one room with the nest of bees that will never stop producing more of them.
• Retronym: The Steam port is titled Resident Evil (1996) to differentiate it from the 2002 remake, which was simply titled Resident Evil.
• The Reveal: This game has two, both of which are well known by now due to the length of the franchise and future games treating them as common knowledge.
  • At the time of release, many players would have had the frame of mind that the monsters inhabiting the Spencer Mansion and surrounding forest were of the supernatural kind, and if mad science was involved, that it was a Frankenstein-style experiment gone wrong. Only once you reach the lab does it become clear that the cause was actually something pop culture hadn't considered before: corporate, capitalist-driven mad science gone wrong, with the Wham Shot of a slideshow showing that every horrific monster you faced is a carefully manufactured and branded product being sold as a weapon of war.
  • Albert Wesker is The Mole for Umbrella, having deliberately lured S.T.A.R.S. into the Arklay forests to orchestrate the deaths of the entire team just to help cover up the Spencer Mansion Incident.
• Reverse Grip: Jill wields her knife in this manner, which also gives her a slightly higher attack speed with it than Chris.
• Rewatch Bonus: Barry acting strange around Jill makes more sense once you discover that Wesker's blackmailing him.
• Say My Name: Chris will scream Rebecca's name if he sees her get decapitated by a Hunter.
• Schmuck Bait: If you try to leave the mansion through a front door, a tremendously bad idea considering that the opening showed Alpha Team being chased by zombie dogs, you'll be treated to a cutscene of a dog poking its head through the door and screeching before the player character quickly shuts it again.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: In the uncut version, Joseph as he's being mauled by Cerberi.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Joseph dies, Brad immediately takes off, stranding the rest of Alpha Team in the forest. However, he does return to rescue the player and any survivors at the end of the game.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: The mansion is rigged to explode in order to either prevent a major biohazard outbreak or destroy evidence. If you saved your partner, this mechanism is triggered,
• Shaky P.O.V. Cam: The first appearance of the Hunter, and the zombie that attacks the player in the kitchen.
• Shout-Out: See here.
• Skippable Boss:
  • You can skip Yawn's first fight by running around it and collecting the Moon Crest, although it remain in the attic until you trigger the second fight.
  • In Jill's campaign, if you poison Plant 42 with V-JOLT, when you enter the room, Barry will arrive and finish the monstrosity off with a flamethrower.
  • There is nothing stopping you from removing all the webbing blocking the door in Black Tiger's room and running through without killing it. All you need is the flamethrower, flame rounds, or a knife, albeit the latter takes longer and will leave you open to attack. With good reflexes, you can also lure Black Tiger into spitting at the door and dissolving the webbing for you.
  • If your partner died before reaching the lab, you will only face the Tyrant once, as Brad will rescue you immediately upon launching the signal flare.
• Sleep Cute: Any ending where both Chris and Jill survive has the latter fall asleep on the former's shoulder; it's justified if Jill was the player character, since she'd been fending for her life against monsters the entire night. In Chris' best ending, Rebecca does this as well.
• Smoking Is Cool: The original Japanese version shows Chris smoking during the uncensored cast roll. Other versions attempt to censor this by overlaying a still of Chris standing still over the footage, but the audio is still the same, and you can still hear Chris flicking his Zippo open and lighting the cig.
• Solve the Soup Cans: The game is riddled with these, with many puzzles requiring key items that are themselves locked behind key items or puzzles in other rooms. The game handwaves this by explaining that the Spencer Mansion's owner was an almost otaku-like devotee of old spy movies and had the resources to hire an architect who could design a place that would live up to their dreams.
• Sound of No Damage: In Deadly Silence, during the knife fight against Yawn in the guardhouse, attacking it when it has its mouth closed will create a harmless spark and the sound of scraping metal as if the snake's body is armored.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The Japanese PS1 version features an alternate ending credits in which a montage of character and monster deaths are shown while a triumphant J-Rock song (Fumitaka Fuchigami's "Yume de Owarasenai..."/"I Won't Let This End as a Dream...") is played. The PC version uses the localized track "Still Dawn" but keeps the more violent credits montage. Both are strangely incongruous.
• Speed Run Reward: Finishing the game in three hours or less unlocks a rocket launcher with infinite ammo for the New Game Plus. In the PC versions, the rocket launcher becomes the reward for clearing the game without making any saves; instead you will get the infinite ammo Ingram for Jill and Minimi for Chris if you beat the game in under four hours.
• Squashed Flat: While the shotgun trap has the capability to crush Chris to death on his route, on Jill's route she can be saved by Barry before she becomes a Jill Sandwich. However, this is only if Jill did not encounter Barry after they split up in the main hallway; if Jill did encounter Barry or has already obtained the Armor Key (which unlocks the Broken Shotgun storage room), he will not appear, and Jill must also use the Broken Shotgun to avoid being squashed.
• Static Role, Exchangeable Character: The Hero of the story is either Chris or Jill; whoever you didn't pick you find in a cell near the end of the game. A different member of S.T.A.R.S. fills the role of support for each of their campaigns; Barry for Jill's story and Rebecca for Chris'. Barry goes M.I.A. in Chris' story while Rebecca doesn't appear at all in Jill's.
• Stop Poking Me!: In Deadly Silence, Jill and Rebecca will jolt and look around if you tap their breasts or buttocks, while Chris will react in an annoyed way if you tap his hair or be surprised if you tap his butt.
• Story Branch Favoritism: While Jill and Chris generally have the same gameplay, their stories are quite different with Jill getting most of the lion's share. Jill has a lot of interactions with Barry and he can save her hide twice (once from the ceiling trap, letting her bypass the shotgun exchange puzzle, and the other having him burn Plant 42 with the flamethrower, skipping the fight entirely). You also get to see Barry acting suspiciously around Jill due to Wesker blackmailing him, which adds some conspiracy to the story. If Barry gets killed, his death is played up as very tragic when he leaves behind a photo of his family. By comparison, Chris doesn't interact much with Rebecca and the two of them are more focused on trying to escape the mansion. If Rebecca dies, her death is heavily downplayed compared to Barry's and she's quickly forgotten. However, none of their scenarios are the "canon" one, as the sequence of events that all sequels build upon can't be achieved in either playthrough (i.e. Barry was blackmailed by Wesker and turned on him to save Jill, yet Wesker holds Chris alone responsible for ruining his plans, while Chris, Jill, Barry, and Rebecca all made it out alive together on the rescue chopper).
• Sunglasses at Night: Wesker is given these simply for Rule of Cool and to establish his badass credentials.
• Super Soldiers: This is the whole point of the Tyrant and B.O.W. program in general.
• Super Title 64 Advance: The subtitle of the DS version (Deadly Silence).
• Survival Horror: This game both originated the term and popularized the genre.
• Swallowed Whole: Yawn has a One-Hit Kill where it grabs the player character and devours them. There's a slight chance of it doing so once the player's health is at Caution, but once you're in Danger it's pretty much the only attack Yawn will use.
• Take Your Time: When the self-destruct system is activated, the announcement system will constantly blare that you need to evacuate. You can take as much time as you need. Only when you get to the elevator leading to the heliport you will actually need to hurry up thanks to the countdown timer appearing.
• Threatening Shark: The Neptunes, mutated great white sharks.
• Title Drop: There was supposed to be one, but you'd never notice thanks to the "Blind Idiot" Translation:
  Chris: Now, the worst possible situation has occurred: The failure of the experiment created a virus, a biological weapon, polluting the entire lab.^note He was actually supposed to say "Biohazard".
• Timed Mission:
  • Jill/Chris has a limited amount of time to get Richard the serum. While you won't get a game over if you take too long, you will miss out on his radio and pistol ammo (Jill) and Rebecca could potentially be in danger later in the game (Chris).
  • If Chris is poisoned by Yawn, you play as Rebecca to get the serum to Chris. However, taking too long will result in Chris dying from the poison and earning you a game over.
• Too Awesome to Use: The Magnum revolver has only 24 spare rounds, meaning you have to be sparing about how much of the game's Demonic Spiders you want to use them on. Acid rounds are also very rare, with only two pick ups in the whole game, and one of those is a gift from Barry^note A gift he can take with him if Jill's inventory is full at the time.
• Unique Enemy: Zombie Forest in Director's Cut and in Rebirth Mode in Deadly Silence.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: If you examine the hole in the room right after you've killed Yawn, Barry will walk in while the giant snake's corpse is dissolving, possibly even through it, and ask "Jill, have you found anything interesting?"
• Updated Re-release:
  • The Director's Cut, released as compensation for RE2 being delayed, which came bundled with a demo for said game. It added Arrange Mode (altered item and enemy layouts) and Beginner Mode (health, firepower, ammo, and ink ribbons are all doubled), altered camera angles in some areas, new enemies such as a reanimated Forest Speyer, and an auto-aiming feature which has the player snap to face nearby enemies when aiming. The handgun is also changed from a standard Beretta 92F to a custom 92SF Inox, which has a better fire rate and a small chance to blow zombies' heads off, a mechanic which would be featured in later games as "critical headshots".
  • The DualShock Version, an updated version of the Director's Cut which added analog stick support, vibration feedback, and a new soundtrack composed by Takashi Niigaki. It also came with a bonus disc containing downloadable save data, unused Japanese dubs of the live-action cutscenes, and gameplay footage from the cancelled RE1.5 build.
  • Deadly Silence, a Nintendo DS remaster made for the franchise's 10th anniversary, which improved the graphics and added touchscreen support, as well as gameplay improvements like skipping door animations, the quick turn, giving the knife a dedicated button, and tactical reloads. The remaster makes use of the handheld's various features and is split into "Classic Mode", which recreates the original experience, and "Rebirth Mode", which includes more enemies and "Knife Battle" minigames which see the player use the stylus to swing their knife and fend off monsters. Deadly Silence also features wireless LAN support, which allows multiple players to either work together to escape the mansion or compete to see who can kill the most monsters.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: It's possible to abandon Rebecca to a gruesome death at the hands of a Hunter in Chris' campaign, whether by not bothering to look after hearing her scream or by leaving the room after you see the Hunter cornering her.
• Violation of Common Sense: Considering the circumstances, the piano puzzle is this. Why would Jill and Rebecca stop to play the piano while trapped in a building filled with dangerous monsters, cut off from the outside world, while their friends are dying by the minute?
• Waiting Puzzle: After killing Yawn, Barry will lower Jill down a hole, but then drop the rope and leave to get another one. While there is a hidden exit that allows you to escape, you need to wait until Barry returns if you want him to survive.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Depending on who you choose, either Rebecca Chambers or Barry Burton will be completely absent from the storyline; in Chris' campaign, Barry is separated from the others before reaching the mansion, with Wesker implying he didn't make it and Jill letting out a Little "No" before Kenneth's gunshot distracts everyone. In Jill's campaign, on the other hand, Rebecca makes absolutely no appearance.
  • Speaking of Rebecca, aside from being one of the playable characters in Resident Evil 0, she hasn't been mentioned in the mainline games since the Spencer Mansion Incident, save for a mention in Chris' diary in RE2 and a short interquel in The Umbrella Chronicles. It's eventually explained that she chose to take a supportive role in the war on bioterrorism by continuing her university education and becoming a virologist, and would appear as a protagonist again in the Vendetta and Death Island movies.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Raccoon City is stated to be "somewhere in in Midwestern America"... except the high, mountainous terrain doesn't really match that region of the country. Fanon sometimes puts it in Pennsylvania or Colorado, which makes a lot more sense geographically, and the overall vegetation and rolling mountains tend to lean more towards Pennsylvania.
• With This Herring: At the start of the game, you only have a loaded pistol, a spare magazine, and a knife. Chris doesn't even start with a gun, having lost his in the opening. Justified, since none of Alpha Team (barring Wesker) expected to be trapped in an isolated location with flesh-eating zombies and just ran a marathon to escape a pack of Cerberi while firing wildly at them.
• Women Are Wiser: Implied. Both Jill and Rebecca can play the piano (although the latter needs practice first) and mix V-JOLT, and the former also has a lockpick to open several doors in the mansion immediately; supposedly, she also has experience defusing bombs. Meanwhile, Chris somehow loses his sidearm in the opening cinematic, and needs Rebecca's help for the piano and V-JOLT.
• You Are Too Late: By the time Alpha Team arrives at the mansion, most of Bravo Team is either dead or dying.
• You Have to Burn the Web: In Black Tiger's chamber, you can use Chris' flamethrower or Jill's flame rounds to burn through a webbed-up door.
• You Shouldn't Know This Already: Jill can enter the residence's drug storeroom immediately and collect the empty bottles, but even if you know the instructions or can correctly deduce them from the formula on the wall, you won't be able to make V-JOLT until you first find the report listing its composition. Justified, since Jill understandably wouldn't know what to do with any of the chemicals otherwise.
• Zombie Gait: The game plays this straight; the zombies even have the ability to occasionally make a Deadly Lunge.
• Zombie Puke Attack: Zombies sometimes attack this way if the player runs by them near a staircase, or otherwise isn't able to be grabbed (e.g., if the zombie is on a slightly lower platform).