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'Resident Evil'

Also in 1996, the series 'Resident Evil' began with its first game for the Playstation. Made by Capcom it follows the story of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in the midst of a zombie outbreak in Raccoon city. The story was immediately popular and so Capcom continued the story through to the next game, and so on until today where the series is on its sixth main instalment. Here is a time line of the games from the beginning. 

Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 have been placed on lists of the best video games ever made.

Novels and Comics

Also sprung from the original game release, novels and comics were released alongside the game in 1996. S.D. Perry has written 6 titles each following the main narrative but addressing different peoples stories and giving background to the main narrative in the game.

A comic was released in 1997 by Marvel comics, which was a single issue which was sold alongside the game. However another series of comics was released by Wildstorm in 1998 which was a monthly comic. This only lasted for 5 issues.

Films

There have been 5 live-action films following the game series, all produced and written by Paul W.S. Anderson. Instead of following the games narrative solely, they follow the story of another character named Alice. However, main characters from the game series are featured such as Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield etc. Making over $600 million worldwide, the films have been a major success, and even holds the world record for the 'most live-action film adaptations of a video game'. It is also described as the most successful movie series which is based on a video game. The films are as follows:

• Resident Evil (2002)
• Resident Evil: Apocolypse (2004)
• Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
• Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
• Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
• Resident Evil 6 (TBA)

There have also been CGI movies based on the games narrative:

• Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)
• Resident Evil: Damnation (2012)

Merchandise

There has also been a widespread amount of merchandise for the series, and its popularity is now so massive there are even large cosplay groups dedicated to the series. There is even a Resident Evil themed restaurant open in Tokyo.