Starting today, Capcom are celebrating 20 years of the Resident Evil series by releasing several developer interviews, the first of which features an interview with producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi.
Since becoming a producer for the series, Kobayashi has worked on the GameCube remake of the first Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 6 and has also been involved in both the feature films and CG movies.
Having begun his career at Capcom as a programmer while the first game was in development for the PlayStation, Kobayashi expresses his own surprise at how he’s still working on the series 20 years later, crediting fans for its longevity.
I never thought I’d still be working on the series 20 years later. We owe the global success of the series to you, our incredible fans.
Kobayashi also provides his own thoughts on how, thanks to how much the industry has changed over two decades, each game in the series has its own unique identity, encouraging fans who have perhaps not played the older or more recent titles to give them a go.
Each title in the series has its own tone, and while people may like one over another, the creative teams are just as passionate no matter which title. So if you’re a Resident Evil fan but there are titles in the series you’ve not played, I would love it if you’d take the time to check them out. Hopefully the 20th anniversary will give you a chance to think about the whole series. Thank you and I look forward to your continued support of Resident Evil!
It’s hardly a surprise that Kobayashi wants fans to judge each individual game in the series on its own merits. Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 2, for example, are vastly different games that, while sharing the same series name, are considered to belong to two entirely different genres.
Resident Evil veterans may be less enthusiastic about the newer games (Resident Evil 6 wasn’t particularly well received by anyone, mind), but there’s no denying that the series has one of the most wide-reaching appeals of any franchise due to the huge changes its undergone over the years.
But where is the series headed next? Capcom are yet to officially announce a Resident Evil 7, but have got re-releases of Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6 on the cards for the near future. And of course, there’s the complete remake of Resident Evil 2 on the horizon.
Expect to hear more on that one at this year’s E3.
