What does "Resident Evil" mean to you?

[RE4-Station]

Do you think of it as the the "Residents" are "Evil"?
or do you think of it as Evil always residing sort of like "The Evil Within"
are there more way's to interpret the title?
What are your thoughts on this?

Anyway the hype for the upcoming RE4 Remake got me feeling like:

 

[ethomaz]

You mean the title?

Well when I played the first game I had around 13 years old and no English knowledge.
So for me Resident Evil in my mind was Residence Evil like a house/residence with evil things.
The PS box art showed a house/massion.
And you played in a house/manssion.

So everything made sense.

That makes me related it to a movie.
Red Rose adapted from Stephen King book.

When I grew up I realized it was only me that saw the title with that meaning because Resident is not the same as Residence.


But for me Resident Evil will always be a house where evil things exists/happens.

PS. I always find no sense in the original Japanese title... Bio Hazard... I loved the Resident Evil name.

 

[RE4-Station]

You mean the title?

Well when I played the first game I had around 13 years old and no English knowledge.
So for me Resident Evil in my mind was Residence Evil like a house/residence with evil things.
The PS box art showed a house/massion.
And you played in a house/manssion.

So everything made sense.

That makes me related it to a movie.
Red Rose adapted from Stephen King book.

When I grew up I realized it was only me that saw the title with that meaning because Resident is not the same as Residence.


But for me Resident Evil will always be a house where evil things exists/happens.

PS. I always find no sense in the original Japanese title... Bio Hazard... I loved the Resident Evil name.

yeah pretty much the title of the series.
I find it so weird that we all accept it as not being weird at all and to me RE7 in japan has the weirdest RE name because it is has Resident Evil as it's subtitle which has to be up there with one of the more out there sub titles in gaming! Biohazard 7: Resident Evil

 

[ethomaz]

yeah pretty much the title of the series.
I find it so weird that we all accept it as not being weird at all and to me RE7 in japan has the weirdest RE name because it is has Resident Evil as it's subtitle which has to be up there with one of the more out there sub titles in gaming! Biohazard 7: Resident Evil

Here is Resident Evil 7: Bio Hazard, no? Or just Resident Evil 7?

I always felt Bio Hazard is off for the serie.

 

[Yossarian]

I thought that biohazard makes more sense but resident evil is a better title

 

[laynelane]

I've never analyzed it much because I know they changed it from Biohazard when releasing the games outside of Japan. Maybe they thought Biohazard as a name would turn people away, but it does fit the series better. Before I knew that bit of history, I thought it was named RE because everything in the first game occurs in a mansion - one that looked like just a rich man's home on the outside, but had so much evil hidden within.

 

[ethomaz]

Before I knew that bit of history, I thought it was named RE because everything in the first game occurs in a mansion - one that looked like just a rich man's home on the outside, but had so much evil hidden within.

I was not the only one

 

[ksdixon]

It sounded like a bad translation of Evil House, as in the Spencer Mansion. Then by the time RE2 was out everyone knew it was Biohazard in Japan, but renamed in West cause of some band name iirc.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I've never analyzed it much because I know they changed it from Biohazard when releasing the games outside of Japan. Maybe they thought Biohazard as a name would turn people away, but it does fit the series better. Before I knew that bit of history, I thought it was named RE because everything in the first game occurs in a mansion - one that looked like just a rich man's home on the outside, but had so much evil hidden within.

IIRC they changed the title from Biohazard to Resident Evil because of legal issues. Here's a snippet from a Distractify article:

In a 2009 interview with GamesRadar Plus, then-Senior Director of Capcom U.S. Communications and Community Chris Kramer mentioned that it would be "next to impossible" for Capcom to trademark the English translation of the Japanese title in the U.S.

"As an example, I pointed out that a crappy DOS-based game had just come out in the U.S. called Biohazard ... and that we'd never be able to secure the mark," Chris told GamesRadar Plus. "As a result, the head of marketing held a company-wide contest to come up with a new name for the game."

Among the entries that the marketing team received was the name "Resident Evil." The title was reportedly conceived due to the simple fact that the game takes place in an enormous and dangerous mansion that horrible monsters inhabit. In other words, evil is a resident here. While Chris himself wasn't a fan of the name, he was enthusiastically outvoted by the rest of the marketing team.

Basically I'm assuming Biohazard was too generic a name for them to successfully trademark outside of Japan.

It sounded like a bad translation of Evil House, as in the Spencer Mansion. Then by the time RE2 was out everyone knew it was Biohazard in Japan, but renamed in West cause of some band name iirc.

No the band name thing was actually with the MegaDrive; Sega couldn't trademark MegaDrive for the American market because a band already had the name so they had to come up with another one.

 

[ethomaz]

Among the entries that the marketing team received was the name "Resident Evil." The title was reportedly conceived due to the simple fact that the game takes place in an enormous and dangerous mansion that horrible monsters inhabit. In other words, evil is a resident here. While Chris himself wasn't a fan of the name, he was enthusiastically outvoted by the rest of the marketing team.

That is amazing to know... my 13 years old self is redeemed.

BTW Resident Evil is so much better than Bio Hazard.

 

[KiryuRealty]

That is amazing to know... my 13 years old self is redeemed.

BTW Resident Evil is so much better than Bio Hazard.

It really isn't.

The zombie outbreak was due to a biohazard escaping the laboratory.

Resident Evil suggests supernatural elements, of which there are NONE in the whole series.

 

[rofif]

The title - Resident, like a person or entity living in a home... and that resident guy is evil.
as for games - I expect puzzles and serious but stupid (in a good way) plot and characters

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

It really isn't.

The zombie outbreak was due to a biohazard escaping the laboratory.

Resident Evil suggests supernatural elements, of which there are NONE in the whole series.

I mean, you're technically right. But the funny thing is, RE/Biohazard as a franchise was inspired by Sweet Home, which was heavy on supernatural elements.

So an argument could be made that both titles are appropriate, just in different contexts.

 

[Remij]

One of the GOATs.

 

[KiryuRealty]

I mean, you're technically right. But the funny thing is, RE/Biohazard as a franchise was inspired by Sweet Home, which was heavy on supernatural elements.

So an argument could be made that both titles are appropriate, just in different contexts.

Yes, and the Resident Evil title comes from a line of dialog in Sweet Home, "This is a place of residing evil", which appears n the game, which I have finished, and the movie, which I have seen.

But Biohazard is still a better title for the game series.

 

[Darkknight2149]

I always assumed the western title had to do with every day people being turned into monsters (zombies, Plagas, ETC).

 

[KiryuRealty]

I always assumed the western title had to do with every day people being turned into monsters (zombies, Plagas, ETC).

Nope. Deliberate reference to a movie and game that never ended up leaving Japan.

 

[MayorReynoldsTV]

Resident Evil means RE-4 and all versions of them. While 7 was solid, I don’t feel like it fits. It perplexed me that many younger people, through no fault of their own, love these new Resident Evil titles but don’t have knowledge of or the affinity for the original games.

 

[Darkknight2149]

Resident Evil means RE-4 and all versions of them. While 7 was solid, I don’t feel like it fits. It perplexed me that many younger people, through no fault of their own, love these new Resident Evil titles but don’t have knowledge of or the affinity for the original games.

I got classic Resident Evil vibes playing Resident Evil 7 (especially while exploring the Baker house). It felt like a good combination of being fresh and surprising, while also returning to the series roots in a way that goes for the jugular.

Resident Evil: Village also feels like a blend between the originals, Resident Evil 4, and Resident Evil 7. I'm currently playing through Shadows of Rose and I'm getting strong Resident Evil 1 Spencer Mansion vibes, while also reminding me a little bit of the castle in Resident Evil 4. After the Rose DLC, it's easy to see what a Resident Evil re-remake would look like.

The ones that don't feel like Resident Evil to me are 5-6 and the animated films, which were just action games with the brand name. But I think Capcom did a good job course-correcting since 2015.