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** In ResidentEvil6, Sherry has [[TookALevelInBadass grown up to become an]] ActionGirl.
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* SaveGameLimits: Typewriter ribbons. JustifiedTrope as part of the player character's personal ApocalypticLog. Lampshaded by Jill Valentine's verbal situation report when starting or restoring a game. A sitrep that ends with "I'm still...''alive''..." in a wondering tone complete with dramatic echo.
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* SaveGameLimits: SaveGameLimits / SaveToken: Typewriter ribbons. JustifiedTrope as part of the player character's personal ApocalypticLog. Lampshaded by Jill Valentine's verbal situation report when starting or restoring a game. A sitrep that ends with "I'm still...''alive''..." in a wondering tone complete with dramatic echo.
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* ''Resident Evil: Damnation'' (announced), starring Leon.
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* ''Resident Evil: Damnation'' ''ResidentEvilDamnation'' (announced), starring Leon.Leon and Ada.
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** Something about the way Wesker walks suggests he was a fan of [[TheDarkKnight The Joker]].
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** Something about the way Wesker walks suggests he was a fan of [[TheDarkKnight [[Film/TheDarkKnight The Joker]].
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Most recently, the Resident Evil game franchise released a CGI movie called ''[[ResidentEvilDegeneration Resident Evil: Degeneration]]''. Unlike the live-action films, this is set in the video game canon, taking place one year after ''[=RE4=]''. The seventh installment of the game's main series was released February 7, 2012.
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Most recently, the Resident Evil game franchise released a CGI movie called ''[[ResidentEvilDegeneration Resident Evil: Degeneration]]''.''ResidentEvilDegeneration''. Unlike the live-action films, this is set in the video game canon, taking place one year after ''[=RE4=]''. The seventh installment of the game's main series was released February 7, 2012.
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* ''[[ResidentEvilDegeneration Resident Evil: Degeneration]]'', which follows Leon and Claire.
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* ''[[ResidentEvilDegeneration Resident Evil: Degeneration]]'', ''ResidentEvilDegeneration'', which follows Leon and Claire.
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** BadassAbnormal: Wesker, starting with ''Code Veronica''. He is shown performing moves akin to those seen in ''TheMatrix'', up and including dodging bullets.
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** BadassAbnormal: Wesker, starting with ''Code Veronica''. He is shown performing moves akin to those seen in ''TheMatrix'', ''Film/TheMatrix'', up and including dodging bullets.
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** BadassLongcoat: Wesker, Mr. X, and Nemesis. Leon gets one as an alternate costume for completing ''[=RE4=]''.
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** BadassLongcoat: Wesker, Mr. X, and Nemesis. Leon gets one as an alternate costume for completing ''[=RE4=]''.
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* BoldInflation:
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* BoldInflation: BoldInflation:
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** One of the novels has a scientist who seeks to cause this. He is stopped by Rebecca.
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** One of the novels has a scientist who seeks to cause this. He is stopped by Rebecca.
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** Also, the Ashford clan, a whole family of [[EvilBrit evil Brits]], including Code Veronica antagonists Alfred and Alexia Ashford.
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** Also, the Ashford clan, a whole family of [[EvilBrit evil Brits]], including Code Veronica antagonists Alfred and Alexia Ashford.
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* {{Handcannon}}: Many pistols -- and especially the [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolvers]] -- are ridiculously oversized. Heck, in [=RE4=], one of the unlockable weapons is even [[ShoutOut named]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Handcannon"]]. In general, magnums tend to cause more damage than things like grenade launchers or point-blank shotgun blasts.
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* {{Handcannon}}: Many pistols -- and especially the [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolvers]] -- are ridiculously oversized. Heck, in [=RE4=], one of the unlockable weapons is even [[ShoutOut named]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Handcannon"]]. In general, magnums tend to cause more damage than things like grenade launchers or point-blank shotgun blasts.
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* KillItWithFire: Molotov, incendiary grenades, and flamethrowers in each game up to ''5''.
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* KillItWithFire: Molotov, incendiary grenades, and flamethrowers in each game up to ''5''.
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* RecklessGunUsage: Early games had this in droves, though the most recent examples (''Degeneration'' and ''Resident Evil 5'') have an almost obsessive focus on [[UsefulNotes/GunSafety gun safety]] in the cutscenes. In-game, however, the characters do run with their guns down and safe, until you hold the button which readies them.
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* RecklessGunUsage: Early games had this in droves, though the most recent examples (''Degeneration'' and ''Resident Evil 5'') have an almost obsessive focus on [[UsefulNotes/GunSafety gun safety]] UsefulNotes/GunSafety in the cutscenes. In-game, however, the characters do run with their guns down and safe, until you hold the button which readies them.
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** Same goes for Barry, Carlos, Billy. Funny enough, thanks to D.I.J.'s diary, we ''do'' know what happened to the actual mouse from ''Code Veronica''.
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** Same goes for Barry, Carlos, Billy. Funny enough, thanks to D.I.J.'s diary, we ''do'' know what happened to the actual mouse from ''Code Veronica''.
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** [[ZeroPunctuation What happened to the pirate merchant guy?]]
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield:
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield:
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** [[ZeroPunctuation [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation What happened to the pirate merchant guy?]]
*WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: WhereTheHellIsSpringfield:
*
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** ''Revelations'' - Parker and Jill are only on the Zenobia in order to track down Chris and Jessica, and they have absolutely no idea that the ship is overrun with Ooze and other B.O.Ws.
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** ''Revelations'' - Parker and Jill are only on the Zenobia in order to track down Chris and Jessica, and they have absolutely no idea that the ship is overrun with Ooze and other B.O.Ws.
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* AustralianWildlife: The Black Tiger actually does exist, it's called a funnelweb and is eve deadlier. The name also happens to be a snake.
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* ''Resident Evil: Damnation'' (announced), following Leon
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* ''Resident Evil: Damnation'' (announced), following Leonstarring Leon.
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And now also a Trading Card Game!
The new Character Sheet is [[Characters/ResidentEvil here.]] Feel welcome to help.
The new Character Sheet is [[Characters/ResidentEvil here.]] Feel welcome to help.
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Attempts to create a ''Resident Evil'' "expanded universe" have mostly failed. This includes several separate comic books from DC's Wildstorm imprint, such as an anthology magazine (five issues, 1998-1999), the four-issue limited series ''Fire and Ice'' (2000-2001), and a six-issue limited series simply called ''Resident Evil'' (2008); a series of six novels by S.D. Perry, four of which are adaptations (''The Umbrella Conspiracy, City of the Dead, Code: Veronica,'' and ''Zero Hour'') and two of which are (notorious) original works (''Caliban Cove'' and ''Underworld''); and a number of manga and manshua. Weirdly, the core games often seem to go out of their way to contradict the events of the novels and comics.
The new Character Sheet is [[Characters/ResidentEvil here.]]
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* ChildProdigy: Characters in the ''Resident Evil'' series have a habit of packing more into their lives before they hit 21 than most people go through in a lifetime. Wesker, William Birkin, Rebecca Chambers, and particularly Alexia Ashford all play this trope straight, but even the main protagonists tend to have training or skills that they shouldn't given their ages. The most notorious case thereof is with Jill, who has a wildly implausible military background for a woman who's 23 when the series starts.
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* {{Stripperiffic}}: Most of the female characters' alternate outfits.
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* {{Stripperiffic}}: Most of the [[ThirdPersonSeductress female characters' characters]]' alternate outfits.
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trope renamed at TRS
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* LateToTheParty: Nearly all of the protagonists of each installment arrive at their respective settings after the initial viral outbreak. Exceptions include Jill in ''[=RE3=]'', Claire and Steve in ''[=REC:V=]'', and most of the ''Outbreak'' player characters.
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* LateToTheParty: LateToTheTragedy: Nearly all of the protagonists of each installment arrive at their respective settings after the initial viral outbreak. Exceptions include Jill in ''[=RE3=]'', Claire and Steve in ''[=REC:V=]'', and most of the ''Outbreak'' player characters.
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* TheOtherDarrin: It is ''incredibly'' rare for the same voice actor to portray a character more than once in this series, with the noteworthy exceptions of Claire and Ada. Jill in particular changes voice actresses constantly.
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The premise of the original Resident Evil was that the Umbrella Corporation was conducting sinister experiments in a mansion outside of the [[TheMountainsOfIllinois "Midwestern"]] town of Raccoon City, and a team of SWAT-like police called the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, or STARS, stumbles onto it in an investigation of several cannibalistic murders. Further games expanded on this premise, and it has since become one of the most successful action-horror games series of all time in addition to [[TropeNamer coining the term]] ''SurvivalHorror''. The movie franchise, starring MillaJovovich, is also moderately successful and has spawned four movies (so far).
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The premise of the original Resident Evil was that the Umbrella Corporation was conducting sinister experiments in a mansion outside of the [[TheMountainsOfIllinois "Midwestern"]] town of Raccoon City, and a team of SWAT-like police called the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, or STARS, stumbles onto it in an investigation of several cannibalistic murders. Further games expanded on this premise, and it has since become one of the most successful action-horror games series of all time in addition to [[TropeNamer coining the term]] ''SurvivalHorror''. The movie franchise, starring MillaJovovich, is also moderately successful and has spawned four movies (so far).
movies, with a fifth slated for release in September 2012.
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** Also of note is the zombies themselves. In the PSX games at least, the cutscenes show them to be almost completely impervious to bullets, shambling quickly towards their prey regardless of the dozens of bullets going into them. In the actual game, the zombies are much slower and easier to kill. Also, the cutscenes show the main characters taking the zombies out with just one or two bullets. This combines PlotArmor and AlmostLethalWeapons.
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** ''Operation Raccoon City'' was stated from the beginning to be an alternate-reality scenario.
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* GenreShift: From 1996 to 2002, the series was a survival-horror franchise that featured massive conspiracies, with each installation raising more questions than it answered, and spawning a weird and insular but highly dedicated fan community. Beginning with ''Resident Evil 4'', and more strongly with ''Resident Evil 5'', the series is a deliberate blend of action and horror, with some games and scenarios tilting more toward the horror end of the spectrum than the other. This has simultaneously fractured and vastly expanded the online fan community.
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* AbortedArc: The endings and epilogues to 2 and 3 impied that nearly every character where going to meet and fight to stop Umbrella. The only real thing to come out was Claire and Chris reuniting in CV. The rest? Chris and Jill reunite offscreen, Barry has not been seen yet, Hunk and the G-virus disappear and Umbrella goes down offscreen from the stock market.
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* NoFlowInCGI: The original games were pretty bad at this. Claire's ponytail was pretty much the only concession that things attached moved differently.
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* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Sure, B.O.W. (bio-organic weapon) [[XMeetsY combines]] FunWithAcronyms and NotUsingTheZWord, but apparently no one at Capcom realized that ''all'' bioweapons are organic -- at least until Umbrella starts weaponizing [[StarTrek Vulcans]].
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* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Sure, B.O.W. (bio-organic weapon) [[XMeetsY combines]] FunWithAcronyms and NotUsingTheZWord, but apparently no one at Capcom realized that ''all'' bioweapons are organic -- at least until Umbrella starts weaponizing [[StarTrek [[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcans]].
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* ''Film/Resident EvilRetribution''
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* ''Film/Resident EvilRetribution''
''Film/ResidentEvilRetribution''
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* ''Resident Evil: Retribution''
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* ''Resident Evil: Retribution''
''Film/Resident EvilRetribution''
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** It also seems that nearly every person involved with Los Iluminados has a last name that starts with an "S". Dr. Salvador, Osmund Saddler, Ramon Salazar and [[spoiler: Luis Sera]].
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* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOperationRaccoonCity'' announced for {{Xbox 360}} and Playstation3.
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* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOperationRaccoonCity'' announced for {{Xbox 360}} and Playstation3.
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Resident Evil (known in Japan as ''Biohazard'') is a SurvivalHorror and science fiction video game series. It has since branched off to become a media franchise consisting of comic books, novelizations, four films, and a variety of collectibles (including action figures, strategy guides and publications.) Developed by {{Capcom}} and created by ShinjiMikami, the series has sold 34.5 million games as of February 27, 2008.
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Resident Evil (known in Japan as ''Biohazard'') is a SurvivalHorror and science fiction video game series. It has since branched off to become a media franchise consisting of comic books, novelizations, four five films, and a variety of collectibles (including action figures, strategy guides and publications.) Developed by {{Capcom}} and created by ShinjiMikami, the series has sold 34.5 million games as of February 27, 2008.
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Games in this series include:
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[[/index]]
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* ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse''
* ''Resident Evil: Extinction''
* ''[[ResidentEvilAfterlife Resident Evil: Afterlife]]''
* ''Resident Evil: Extinction''
* ''[[ResidentEvilAfterlife Resident Evil: Afterlife]]''
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* ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse''
''Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse''
*''Resident Evil: Extinction''
''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction''
*''[[ResidentEvilAfterlife Resident Evil: Afterlife]]''''Film/ResidentEvilAfterlife''
*
*
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* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Alternate outfits are used as rewards in every main series game.
** ''Resident Evil 3'' gives Jill her STARS uniform from the original game, as well as Regina's outfit from ''DinoCrisis''.
** ''Resident Evil 3'' gives Jill her STARS uniform from the original game, as well as Regina's outfit from ''DinoCrisis''.
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* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Alternate outfits are used as rewards A staple in every main the series game.
** ''Resident Evil 3'' gives Jill her STARS uniform fromsince the original game, as well as Regina's outfit from ''DinoCrisis''.1996 original.
** ''Resident Evil 3'' gives Jill her STARS uniform from
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** ''ResidentEvilGaiden''
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** ''ResidentEvilGaiden''''VideoGame/ResidentEvilGaiden''
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[-Note: With the exception of ''Gaiden'', each game in the series now has its own page, as do the films. If a trope or an example of one only applies to one game in the series, or only to the films, put it on that page.-]
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[-Note: With the exception of ''Gaiden'', each Each game in the series now has its own page, as do the films. If a trope or an example of one only applies to one game in the series, or only to the films, put it on that page.-]
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[[quoteright:350:~~VideoGame SurvivalHorror ThirdPersonShooter~~]]
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[[quoteright:350:~~VideoGame SurvivalHorror SurvivalHorror, ThirdPersonShooter~~]]
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[[quoteright:350:~~ VideoGame SurvivalHorror ThirdPersonShooter ~~]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:~~ VideoGame SurvivalHorror ThirdPersonShooter ~~]]
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/residentevil_1976.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Do you mind? I'm trying to eat here."]]
[[caption-width-right:350:~~ VideoGame SurvivalHorror ThirdPersonShooter ~~]]
Resident Evil (known in Japan as ''Biohazard'') is a SurvivalHorror and science fiction video game series. It has since branched off to become a media franchise consisting of comic books, novelizations, four films, and a variety of collectibles (including action figures, strategy guides and publications.) Developed by {{Capcom}} and created by ShinjiMikami, the series has sold 34.5 million games as of February 27, 2008.
The premise of the original Resident Evil was that the Umbrella Corporation was conducting sinister experiments in a mansion outside of the [[TheMountainsOfIllinois "Midwestern"]] town of Raccoon City, and a team of SWAT-like police called the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, or STARS, stumbles onto it in an investigation of several cannibalistic murders. Further games expanded on this premise, and it has since become one of the most successful action-horror games series of all time in addition to [[TropeNamer coining the term]] ''SurvivalHorror''. The movie franchise, starring MillaJovovich, is also moderately successful and has spawned four movies (so far).
Most recently, the Resident Evil game franchise released a CGI movie called ''[[ResidentEvilDegeneration Resident Evil: Degeneration]]''. Unlike the live-action films, this is set in the video game canon, taking place one year after ''[=RE4=]''. The seventh installment of the game's main series was released February 7, 2012.
Games in this series include:
[[index]]
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis''
** ''[[ResidentEvilGunSurvivor Resident Evil: Survivor]]''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica''
** ''ResidentEvilGaiden''
** ''Resident Evil: Survivor 2 - Code: Veronica''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0''
** ''Resident Evil: Dead Aim''
* ''ResidentEvilOutbreak''
** ''Resident Evil Outbreak File #2''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5''
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' for the Nintendo3DS.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilMercenaries3D'', also for 3DS.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOperationRaccoonCity'' announced for {{Xbox 360}} and Playstation3.
[[/index]]
The live-action film series includes the following films:
* ''Film/ResidentEvil''
* ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse''
* ''Resident Evil: Extinction''
* ''[[ResidentEvilAfterlife Resident Evil: Afterlife]]''
* ''Resident Evil: Retribution''
There are also two CGI movie spin-offs:
* ''[[ResidentEvilDegeneration Resident Evil: Degeneration]]'', which follows Leon and Claire.
* ''Resident Evil: Damnation'' (announced), following Leon
And now also a Trading Card Game!
The new Character Sheet is [[Characters/ResidentEvil here.]] Feel welcome to help.
----
!!This series is the TropeNamer for:
* MasterOfUnlocking
----
!!This series provides examples of:
[-Note: With the exception of ''Gaiden'', each game in the series now has its own page, as do the films. If a trope or an example of one only applies to one game in the series, or only to the films, put it on that page.-]
* AbnormalAmmo: Gas, acid, and freeze rounds for grenade launchers.
* ActionCommands: Becoming quite popular after ''[=RE4=]'' and ''Umbrella Chronicles''. Especially in PressXToNotDie form.
* ActionGirl: All the playable female characters, not including Ashley and Sherry.
* ActionizedSequel: The clearest example is the fourth game, but even the second game had more of an emphasis on fighting than the first. The original gave you very little ammo, so you could only really use it when you had to. The second game, on the other hand, gives you a whole lot more, to the point you could probably kill everything in the game and still have ammo left over.
* AlliterativeName: Barry Burton, Alfred, Alexia, and Alexander Ashford.
* AllThereInTheManual: A lot of supplemental info can be gleaned from the manuals, novels, and other associated media.
* AlwaysNight: For all the early games, which last through the night and end at dawn. Finally averted in ''4'' and ''5'', which both start in the day time. The sun going down is a signal that things [[ItGotWorse are about to get worse]].
** Actually averted in ResidentEvil3. It starts during the daylight hours; you just can't tell because of the camera angle and the fact that half the city is on fire, so the sky is filled with smoke.
** During Claire's final part in Code Veronica, when she battles the Nosferatu, it's dawn or very early morning. During Chris's game, it's mid morning, and when he rescues Claire, it's high noon.
*** Which is tricky considering they're in Antarctica, below the Antarctic circle. A region which alternates days/nights of ''six months each''.
**** More specifically, Antarctica in December, which should be bright out and roughly 15-25 degrees F. Instead, it's apparently cold enough to freeze a room full of water in a few hours.
* AmericaSavesTheDay: {{Lampshaded}} in ''[=RE4=]'' and ''[=RE5=]''. And still played straight.
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: A staple in the series.
** VideoGame/ResidentEvil0: And Edward Dewey becomes a zombie.
*** And James Marcus becomes the Leech Queen.
** [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil Resident Evil Director's Cut and Remake:]] And [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091108082807/residentevil/images/4/4a/Ct93_lg.jpg Forest Speyer]] becomes One Dangerous Zombie.
*** [[http://www.residentevilhive.com/Misc/RE1WeskerZombie.jpg And Albert Wesker becomes a zombie]] in the Saturn version's survival mini-game.
** VideoGame/ResidentEvil2: And [[http://www.residentevilhive.com/Misc/BradVickersZombie.jpg Brad Vickers]] and [[http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/29408-resident-evil-2-dual-shock-version-windows-screenshot-police.jpg Marvin Branagh]] become zombies. Oh, and William Birkin mutates into a monster.
** VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica: Steve Burnsides and Alexia Ashford both mutate into T-Veronica type monsters.
** ResidentEvil4: Ramon Salazar, Bittores Mendez, Jack Krauser, and Osmund Saddler turn into Plaga-fied monsters.
** ResidentEvilOutbreak: In the [[DownerEnding Bad Ending]], your player character can turn into a zombie while escaping by helicopter in the first Outbreak. Said characters also show up as zombies in certain scenarios in both Outbreak games.
** Resident Evil: Dead Aim has Morpheus Duvall transforming into a Tyrant.
** ResidentEvil5: Ricardo Irving transforms into a giant sea monster, Excella into a goliath-sized living abomination of tentacles, and Albert Wesker goes OneWingedAngel.
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Alternate outfits are used as rewards in every main series game.
** ''Resident Evil 3'' gives Jill her STARS uniform from the original game, as well as Regina's outfit from ''DinoCrisis''.
* AnyoneCanDie: In a shower of shocking gore. If they are really lucky, they'll stay dead, because [[CameBackWrong if not]]...
* ApocalypticLog: A way of saving the games, and way too many logs left by the various researchers and doomed citizens in the games.
-->"4 -- Itchy. Tasty."
* AristocratsAreEvil: A good number of the series antagonists come from Aristocratic backgrounds, such as Ozwell E. Spencer, the Ashford family, James Marcus, and Ramon Salazar.
* ArtifactTitle: The name "Resident Evil" is a reference to the evil residing in the mansion in the first game. Since none of the other games take place in said mansion...
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Conservation of mass? What's that?
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Some animals are zombified by the T-Virus, but others just get really ''big''. Examples include spiders, centipedes, scorpions, sharks, and crocodiles.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Quite a few weapons.
* BackFromTheDead: Wesker and plenty of monsters have this quality.
* {{Badass}}: Most of the cast, and in different types.
** BadassAbnormal: Wesker, starting with ''Code Veronica''. He is shown performing moves akin to those seen in ''TheMatrix'', up and including dodging bullets.
** BadassLongcoat: Wesker, Mr. X, and Nemesis. Leon gets one as an alternate costume for completing ''[=RE4=]''.
** BadassNormal: To save space, let's just say every main hero.
* BareYourMidriff: A few bonus outfits.
* BattleCouple: With the fact that almost every partnership in the game is male-female, there are cases where it isn't hard to stretch it into this.
* BeMyValentine: Jill.
* BewareTheSuperman: The later installments of the series tend to boil down to {{Badass Normal}}s with {{Charles Atlas Superpower}}s vs. parasite-empowered superhumans.
* BigBad: At first the Umbrella Corporation, but Wesker seems to have emerged over the last several games as the series' main antagonist and puppet master.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Some of the smaller ones are bigger than Jill's ass, and they grow in size from there, to the point where one game has a spider so large it could crush a tank.
* BigDamnHeroes
* BilingualBonus: In ''[=RE4=]'' and ''5''.
* BlindIdiotTranslation: The first game featured an awful lot of English typos, grammatical errors, and just plain goofy phrases that slipped through the QA net (including, not least of all, "Welcome back to the world of [[TropeNamer survival horror]]"). It did get better in subsequent games as the sequels got better budgets. The irony, of course, is that not one of the games ever had a Japanese language version in the first place. Even in Japan, the vocals are all done in English with Japanese subtitles.
* BlondesAreEvil / BlondGuysAreEvil: Pretty much every blonde character except Ashley, Leon, and Sherry is a villain. In fact, if ''[=RE5=]'' is to be believed, [[spoiler:[[FaceHeelTurn turning evil]] literally turns you blonde.]] Did someone at Capcom have a blonde ex-girlfriend?
* BodyHorror: And how!
* BoldInflation:
** "What '''IS''' this?"
** "'''Wooah!''' This hall is '''dangerous'''".
** "It's a '''weapon.''' It's '''''really''''' powerful, '''''[[CaptainObvious especially]]''''' [[CaptainObvious against living things]]."
** "Just... '''take - a - look - at - ''this!''''' It's '''Forest'''. Oh my '''COD'''."
** "'''DON'T''' - OPEN - THAT - '''DOOR!!'''"
* BossInMookClothing: Hunters and Lickers in the first few games, chainsaw wielders in ''4'' and ''5''. ''[=RE5=]'' has the Licker Betas. Super long reach, essentially one hit kills, very fast draining of health.
* CanonImmigrant: The Red Queen, a computer system from the movies, appears in ''The Umbrella Chronicles''.
** Not only that, but if you look closely, you'll notice Alice's rejuvenation chamber during the extra mission.
** The laser trap room right before Saddler's weird little throne room in [=RE4=] was definitely lifted from the first RE movie.
** ''Umbrella Chronicles'' also has the first movie's laser hallway. No, seriously, it's ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IECAbuRI1SA the]]'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IECAbuRI1SA laser hallway from the movie]].
* CapcomSequelStagnation: Somewhat averted by ''Resident Evil 4''. ''Revelations'' averted it further by returning more to the survival horror roots of the series, whilst still retaining gameplay akin to that of ''4'' and ''5''.
* CaptainObvious: Barry Burton, Ingrid Hunnigan.
* CaramelldansenVid: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr3esd05w-4 Behold!]]
* {{Casanova}}: Leon, Luis, and Carlos.
* CashCowFranchise
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Back in the day, Chris Redfield just wasn't as good as Jill Valentine. Oh, he had higher stamina, sure, but he couldn't carry as much, and he didn't get access to the grenade launcher like Jill did. He fared a little better in ''Code: Veronica'', on account of getting some cooler toys to play with and a possible ten inventory slots, but still got the crap knocked out of him by Wesker in the end. As of ''Resident Evil 5'', he can knock enemies through closed doors with a right hook and is fully capable of killing a man by ''punching him in the ass''.
* TheChewToy: To quote President Evil's RE plot analysis FAQ, "someone on the development team hated Brad's guts."
* ChekhovsGunman: Chris is this to his sister. Thanks to his training, Claire survived Raccoon City, Rockfort Island, and Harvardille.
** Jill Valentine counts as "Chekhov's Gunwoman". [[spoiler:She was infected with the [[TheVirus T-virus]] in Resident Evil 3, but was cured thanks to Carlos Oliveira synthesizing a cure. Following her [[HeroicSacrifice tackling Wesker through a window]], Wesker discovers the T-virus antibodies in her bloodstream, which he would later use to further his experiments with Uroborous.]]
* ChineseGirl: Ada Wong and Fong Ling.
* ClippedWingAngel: This happens a lot in the series. Birkin from ''[=RE2=]'', Nemesis in ''[=RE3=]'', Tyrant Morpheus in ''Dead Aim'', Alexia in ''Code: Veronica'', Saddler in ''[=RE4=]'', and [[spoiler:Wesker]] in ''[=RE5=]'' all transform into giant monsters that are noticeably slower, dumber, and less effective than their superhuman normal forms.
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Wesker]], in a manner of speaking. Also Alice in the third film.
* ClownCarGrave: Zombies will sometimes respawn in areas where there is no place for them to have come from.
* CombatTentacles: Loads of bosses, but Villager and Soldier Ganados take the cake; their Plagas often manifests itself as a tentacled brain with a huge scythe tentacle. Nemesis also had tentacles, but he only used them as a finishing move until his coat gets burned off, then he used them all the time.
** Uroboros monsters are nothing ''but'' combat tentacles.
* ContinuitySnarl: Capcom's attempts to set at least four different games during the Fall of Raccoon City leads to a lot of continuity errors about the shared locations. Specifically the Raccoon Police Department, which players visit in ''2'', ''3'', and ''File #2'' with critical differences each time.
** The ''Chronicles'' games are rather bad about this, adding new events and filling in holes in the established canon (most notably between ''Code Veronica'' and ''[=RE4=]''), while at the same time also contradicting quite a bit of it. Really, figuring out the true continuity of ''Resident Evil'' is only slightly easier than ''Zelda''. For example, to date, the canon ending to the original still hasn't actually ''appeared'' in any of the games.
** Capcom fully acknowledged this with ''Operation Raccoon City'', as the player can come across the likes of Leon S. Kennedy '''and kill him'''. They've simply said that the game's using RuleOfCool in regards to things like that, and that it's up to the player to decide if they want to play a canon game & leave the timeline intact, or run around screwing up the timeline of the series by killing all of the Raccoon City survivors.
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Chris, Claire, Leon, and Sheva fall under this according to novels and guidebooks, with Jill also possibly qualifying (we don't know what happened to her dad). This, of course, leaves them free to go save the world. No indications are given of Ada's parentage, but judging by her choice in occupation, they're likely either estranged or dead. In fact, the only characters in the entire series with at least one ''confirmed'' parent are Ashley, Steve, Sherry, and the multiple generations of Ashfords (Capcom felt the need to give them an entire family tree).
* CoolHat: Jill likes berets. She switches them for a baseball cap.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The entire executive board for the Umbrella Corporation, particularly Ozwell Spencer. Albert Wesker later qualifies.
* DamnYouMuscleMemory: ''4'' and ''5'' change the buttons each time you do a [[PressXToNotDie Quick Time Event]] to keep you from memorizing the buttons.
** In [=RE5=], this is part of the dynamic difficulty system. The button combinations become more complicated as the difficulty rises.
* DarkActionGirl: Ada Wong, and [[spoiler:Jill Valentine during most of ''[=RE5=]'']].
* DatingCatwoman: Ada Wong and Leon.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Sure, B.O.W. (bio-organic weapon) [[XMeetsY combines]] FunWithAcronyms and NotUsingTheZWord, but apparently no one at Capcom realized that ''all'' bioweapons are organic -- at least until Umbrella starts weaponizing [[StarTrek Vulcans]].
* DigitalDistribution: The mobile phone games, such as ''Resident Evil: Confidential Report''. For the main series, ''[=RE5=]'' is available on Steam.
* DisposablePilot: Happens repeatedly throughout the series.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The main healing item in all the games is "green herbs." Which, when mixed together, are resting as a fine powder on a sheet of rolling paper. This is actually a pretty common method of preparing traditional herbal medicine in Eastern cultures (the games ''were'' made by the Japanese, after all), but in America, it comes off like someone over at Capcom is a fan of the Grateful Dead.
* DoingItForTheArt: One scene in the Remake has a closeup of Wesker's boot, which shows that the top buckles are not laced up.
* DoNotRunWithAGun: More like Do Not Walk With A Gun. The only game in the series which lets you move and shoot simultaneously is ''Outbreak File #2'' and ''Dead Aim'', and then you move so slowly that it's barely worth the effort.
** This is ''finally'' averted with the two 3DS games. You will be able to aim and fire your guns while on the move. Not only this, you can also reload and switch your weapons on the run instead of standing still while performing said actions and praying that nothing hits you for those few precious seconds.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Helicopter pilots have notoriously low life expectancies in this series. The longest one has lived is two chapters. In particular, someone on ''Nemesis'''s design team ''really'' had it in for Brad.
* EasterEgg: Examine Wesker's desk an obscene number of times in ''[=RE2=]'' to find a reel of film containing a picture of Rebecca in a basketball outfit.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Sort of. The different types of grenades are more effective against some creatures than others. A Licker in the second game, for instance, can take two point-blank regular grenades to the face and keep coming for you, but one Acid round will do them in. And fire tends to be particularly effective against plants. The fifth game even features [[FireIceLightning Fire, Liquid Nitrogen, and Electrical]] grenades.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Surprisingly, the ''RE'' world's regular T-virus zombie outbreaks are ''not'' a threat that may lead to this, as they seem relatively self-contained even with minimum government intervention (the ''Extinction'' movie is another story entirely). Also, the plot of at least three of the series' major bad guys (Dr. Marcus in ''[=RE0=]'', Saddler in ''[=RE4=]'', and [[spoiler:Wesker]] in ''[=RE5=]''), although [[spoiler:Wesker]] was the only one who ever came anywhere close to implementing the plan.
** One of the novels has a scientist who seeks to cause this. He is stopped by Rebecca.
* EverybodysDeadDave: Happens to HUNK a lot. To quote the chopper pilot: "Once again, only you survived, Mr. Death." In Chronicles, he abandons squadmates for his own gain.
* EvilBrit: It's worth noting that Wesker's evilness increases in direct proportion to his Britishness as the series goes on.
** Also, the Ashford clan, a whole family of [[EvilBrit evil Brits]], including Code Veronica antagonists Alfred and Alexia Ashford.
* EvilutionaryBiologist: Plenty to go around.
* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: William Birkin and Monica.
* FingerlessGloves: Pick a playable character, any character. Chances are they have fingerless gloves.
* FormerRegimePersonnel: Sergei Vladimir, Nicholai Ginovaef, and Spectre all worked for the Soviet Government prior to it's collapse.
* FullFrontalAssault: Lickers, Regenerators, and Iron Maidens are stark naked. And mean.
** As well as the zombies at the end of any of the first 5 games. They are always tougher and bite harder.
** Alexia.
** Most Tyrants, with the exception of pre-mutation Mr. X, Nemesis, the Ivans, and Thanatos.
* GaidenGame: ''Resident Evil: Gaiden''. It's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin right in the title.]]
* GameBreakingInjury: ''Resident Evil 2'' was the first game to begin having the heroes' body language reflect their overall health. If they took too much damage, then they would start limping and not move as fast as they normally do. If you were low in health and had to run away from a group of zombies or a huge boss, then you were in for a rough night.
** At 1/4 health in ''Resident Evil 5'', you go into the "Dying" status and have to have your partner resuscitate you, while at 1/2 health, you're limping and holding in your guts.
** Particularly powerful attacks can knock you flat on your back in ''Revelations'', rendering you vulnerable and only able to shoot right in front of you with your pistol. You have to hammer Y in order to pick yourself back up.
* GameMod: In ''[=RE2=]'' and ''[=RE3=]'', {{Game Shark}}s could be used to swap around playable character models. Try [[RuleOfFunny running through the whole game as Tofu]] or [[PacifistRun completing 4th Survivor or Extreme Battle modes as Sherry]].
** ''Play'' magazine was rather excited about a rumor you could play as Rebecca in ''[=RE2=]'', thanks to a glitch with the station gate. Can't be done without a GameShark. Or PC reskin mods.
** The PC ports of ''[=RE4=]'' and ''[=RE5=]'' have also developed quite a large modding community, mostly based on reskins and new models, but also occasionally new missions or Mercenaries stages.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Zombies can't shamble through doors you open if they trigger a scene transition, but are shown in a cutscene to be capable of opening gates with enough effort. Subverted later on when they do infact have a chance of ambushing you from the other side of a transitioning door once you go to open it, and later on with Crimson Heads, which follow you through doors until you manage to kill them. In later games (Outbreak), they do follow you through doors, but require some effort. A player can slow things down by holding the door or barricading it, but it'll open.
** In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', there's an exception to this. Opening one particular door in a usually-safe savepoint room results in two zombies moving into the room. Afterward, if you try and open that same door again, Leon or Claire will refuse, saying it's too dangerous out there. And then there's [[ImplacableMan Mr. X]], who won't follow you through doors, but does knock down two walls to get to you.
* GatlingGood: A few of the games let you get your mitts on a huge gatling gun. ''Resident Evil 4'' gives us the ''Chicago Typewriter'', a superpowered tommy gun. ''[[MoreDakka With infinite ammo.]]''
* GhostShip: The Starlight from ''Gaiden'', the Spencer Rain from ''Dead Aim'', and the Queen Zenobia from ''Revelations''.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: A staple of the series. The sewer alligator and the mutated worms come to mind.
* GiantSpider: A staple of the series to invoke fear. [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil The]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 first]] [[ResidentEvil3 three]] used tarantulas, VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica had exotic black widows, ResidentEvil4 gave it a break and had a few normal spiders, and ResidentEvil5, aside from spider-like enemies, had normal (though still big) African spiders. The VideoGameRemake of 1 redesigned the boss spider into the Australian funnelweb, the Lost in Nightmares DLC for some reason had spiders bigger than Jill's ass, and [[ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles the Chronicles]] games have a lovely mix of giant spiders.
* GigglingVillain: Many of them.
* AGodAmI: Several villains.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: Pretty much every game until ''4''.
* GoryDiscretionShot: averted most of the time, until ''[=RE5=]''.
* TheGovernment: pretty much all but confirmed in the later games.
* {{Handcannon}}: Many pistols -- and especially the [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolvers]] -- are ridiculously oversized. Heck, in [=RE4=], one of the unlockable weapons is even [[ShoutOut named]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Handcannon"]]. In general, magnums tend to cause more damage than things like grenade launchers or point-blank shotgun blasts.
* HatePlague: Las Plagas, which also turns the entire society into BeePeople. Why do you think Ashley was kidnapped in the first place?
* HeartContainer: Yellow Herbs in ''[=RE4=]'' and the Degeneration mobile game.
* HellishPupils: [[spoiler:Wesker's cat eyes are the first sign of his self-imposed infection kicking in.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: Done on four separate occasions:
** In ResidentEvil3, [[spoiler:Mikhail sacrifices himself to save Jill and Carlos.]]
** In VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica, [[spoiler:Steve sacrifices himself for Claire.]]
** In ResidentEvil5, [[spoiler:Jill sacrifices herself to save Chris. It didn't quite take, because neither she or Wesker died.]] And [[spoiler:Sheva attempts to sacrifice herself to save everyone from Wesker. Chris stopped her because he was thinking of what happened to Jill.]]
*** If you can trigger the special sequence during the final battle, Sheva holds back from shooting at Wesker because it would hit Chris as well. Chris says do it anyway but Sheva [[spoiler:[[TakeTheThirdOption instead takes out her knife and goes to town]]]].
* HopelessBossFight: Mutant Steve. You can only 180 turn and run away, and you are bound to take at least one hit unless you're very quick with dodging at the battle's start.
** Lisa Trevor and It's first phase are also unbeatable.
** Pretty much every encounter with Nemesis except the final confrontation and one instance where you merely damage it enough to buy some time and flee.
* HumanoidAbomination: Wesker. He keeps the shades on for a reason.
* ICallItVera: The S.T.A.R.S.'s Beretta handgun, christened Samurai Edge. Wesker still has his as of [=RE5=] and [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3 MVC3]].
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Creatures with really big claws, particularly Tyrants, will do this as a finisher. Other notable practitioners are [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 William Birkin]], [[ResidentEvil3 Nemesis]], [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 the Garradors, and Saddler]].
* ImplacableMan: Most bosses, but Nemesis, Mr. X, Lisa Trevor, and Wesker are the most famous.
* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: Every Umbrella facility has a handy self-destruct device. Also, the government bombs Raccoon City into powder to stop the T-Virus from spreading.
* JokeCharacter: Tofu, a sentient brick of tofu who has a knife and wears a combat harness and beret.
** Actually, his/its name is To-Fu.
* JumpScare: Zombies, dogs, and crows crashing through windows. The Nemesis and Mr. X crashing through walls. Zombies reaching through barricades.The player walking through a hallway to find a zombie right in front of them which was previously hidden by the camera angles (Happens quite a few times in [=REmake=]).
* JustEatHim: Several of the monsters, particularly those of the [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant-animal]] type, will do exactly this as a finisher.
* KillItWithFire: Molotov, incendiary grenades, and flamethrowers in each game up to ''5''.
* LargeHam: Alfred and '''''WESKER!'''''
** '''CHRISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS'''
** '''MIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE! LEEEWWWIIISSS!'''
* LastNameBasis: Wesker. That may as well just be his driver's license -- "Wesker."
** Krauser, Salazar, and Saddler also count.
** A variation in ''4'': Salazar never uses Leon's first name. He only ever calls him "Mr. Kennedy" or even "Mr. Scott Kennedy".
* LateToTheParty: Nearly all of the protagonists of each installment arrive at their respective settings after the initial viral outbreak. Exceptions include Jill in ''[=RE3=]'', Claire and Steve in ''[=REC:V=]'', and most of the ''Outbreak'' player characters.
* LightGunGame: The ''Gun Survivor'' and ''Chronicles'' games.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: And how. A full list can be found [[http://projectumbrella.net/articles/Profiles here]]
* LovecraftianSuperpower: Even those human (or formerly human) villains who do go outright OneWingedAngel with mutation will generally have strange claws or CombatTentacles.
* MadeOfIron: Most of the cast, really, since the most common enemy attack involves zombies chewing through your jugular vein.
** Many of the otherwise-human characters can survive being shot several times with little problem. [[spoiler:Jill Valentine took a ''rocket'' to the face, and simply shrugged it off.]]
* MacGuffin: Chris has two: Leon emails him about Claire's plight in Code: Veronica, and he receives a big one regarding Jill in Resident Evil 5.
* MadScientist: William and Annette Birkin, Albert Wesker, the Ashfords, and James Marcus. The underlings are either extremely wary (they have no choice -- they're usually locked into what facility they're in) or kept in the dark about things.
* MalevolentArchitecture: The series is, at a whole, more or less the platonic ideal of this trope.
* ManEatingPlant: The Ivy plant and Plant 42, the latter of which ate several researchers before anyone noticed. Really goes to show just how much Umbrella really cares about its work force.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Wesker from ''[=RE4=]'' onwards.
* TheManyDeathsOfYou: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHsHjrC6BXY Oh]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdN73jWNV0Q Hell]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xZqT8kaYZQ Yes]].
* MaskPower: Standard wear for the Umbrella Security Service, and most memorably worn by HUNK.
* MasterOfUnlocking: Trope namer. Typically, the female PC has a set of lockpicks as a special item to explain why she can get into places the male PC can't.
* MeaningfulName: What kind of animal is famous for spreading, by bite, a disease that makes the afflicted animals become violent and crazy? [[FridgeBrilliance Raccoons.]]
* MightyGlacier: Several enemies are very slow, but have high durability and damage output to compensate.
* {{Minigame}}: A staple of the series, usually involving short missions where you guide a character around an area and take out as many [=BOWs=] as possible within a time limit.
* TheMountainsOfIllinois: Though Raccoon City is in the Midwest, the climate and topography don't fit. The novelization moves it to Pennsylvania.
* MultipleEndings: Most of the games have this in some form, though ''Outbreak'' and ''File #2'' take the cake with more than 20 possible endings each.
* MysteriousWaif: Lucia from ''Gaiden''.
* NeckSnap: HUNK in ''The Mercenaries''.
** And Chris in ''Resident Evil 5''.
* NeverSplitTheParty: In those games where you're either escorting someone or have a partner, it's generally in your best interest to stay close together. Whenever the plot separates you, it's generally so it can throw a really big monster at one character.
* NobodyPoops: Toilets appear to be very scarce in Raccoon City. An issue of the British publication NGC Magazine {{handwave}}d this saying that the citizens of Raccoon had evolved beyond such base needs, as well as [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] said trope by saying, "And can you blame them? Everytime you nip off for a quick dump there's always a bleedin' zombie in the bath."
** The guardhouse in the original had several apartments, each with a fully equipped bathroom (again including zombies). Reasonable if the guardhouse is a modern addition.
** In the ''Umbrella Chronicles'' Raccoon's Destruction scenario 2, you wade through a subway and visit several bathrooms. Again, they're full of zombies.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Many of the characters bear an uncanny likeness to various celebrities.
** InkSuitActor: Though likely unintentional, Claire Redfield bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Alyson Court, her voice actress. Same deal with Irving.
** Jill's likeness is that of model/actress Julia Voth.
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: In Leon's B scenario and its ''Darkside Chronicles'' recreation, Ada gets slammed against the power generator pretty hard by Mr. X. And it in fact appears that [[HesDeadJim She's dead, Leon]]. But she's back up to throw a Rocket Launcher to Leon during the battle with his final form. It's better than Leon's A scenario, though, where Ada falls down a BottomlessPit and ''still'' shows up to give Claire the rocket launcher.
* NotAZombie
* NoticeThis: Oftentimes, your character will look at objects that could need picking up. Or enemies in the room. Anything else sparkles or is a hidden item.
* NumberedSequels / StoppedNumberingSequels: A weird combination. Completely 100% canon games which meaningfully advance the plot are numbered; subtitled games are {{Gaiden Game}}s or one-offs that haven't received any follow-up. The exceptions to this rule thus far are ''Code: Veronica'' and ''Revelations''.
* OffWithHisHead: Many clawed creatures and bosses will do this as a finisher, depending on the game. Earlier games tend to feature it, while later installments reserve decapitations for zombies (''Code: Veronica'', though, didn't even have that). For example, one of Rebecca's possible deaths in the original ''ResidentEvil1'' was to have her head cut off by a Hunter; the [=REmake=] version of the scene is instead a ShadowDiscretionShot, and the Hunter just cuts her throat. Both ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 4]]'' and ''[[ResidentEvil5 5]]'', though, have heads falling off or [[YourHeadAsplode exploding]] left, right, and center.
** Subverted in ''5''. The chainsaw doesn't cut the protagonist's head off.
* OminousWalk: Ganados and Majini will often run towards you until they get within a certain distance and inexplicably start using this trope. Hunters seem to enjoy this as well.
** Something about the way Wesker walks suggests he was a fan of [[TheDarkKnight The Joker]].
** Tyrants love it, too. Though they at least are still suffering from the effects of being cryogenically frozen. Once they shake it off, they turn into a machine.
* OnceAnEpisode: Just about every final boss has been finished off with a rocket launcher.
** The whole setting of the story is destroyed by a gigantic explosion, 9 times out of 10 caused by a SelfDestructMechanism.
* OneWingedAngel: Pretty much every human BigBad will turn into a horrible abomination against God. However, they are often reduced to ClippedWingAngel in their final form, eg. Birkin and Nemesis.
* OnlySaneMan: Edward Ashford was the only one of the original founders of Umbrella who actually wanted to use the Progenitor Virus for legitimate medical research to benefit humanity. His son and his grandchildren make up for his lack of batshit insanity in ''spades''.
* OverTheShoulderMurderShot: An iconic moment of the franchise. In the first game, a zombie (the first one your ever encounter in the game) does this as he's eating Kenneth. Bonus points for being able to later [[spoiler:find and watch a video of it from Kenneth's perspective filmed on his camera.]]
* PersonalityBloodTypes: Blood types are listed in the intro.
* PersonalSpaceInvader: Zombies and Ganados alike.
* PreMortemOneLiner: Usually reserved for the final boss of each game.
* PrimalFear: Darkness, death, monsters, being trapped (with or without something trying to kill you), being eaten alive, being hunted/chased, etc.
* PsychopathicManchild: Ramon Salazar in ''4'' is most likely about four feet tall with the proportions of a child, though he claims to be twenty. And is he psychopathic? Oh, yes. For an equally strong example in more frame of mind alone, ''Code: Veronica'' has the Ashford Twins, though one of them has an excuse. Their house is full of dolls, music boxes, and more, along with Alfred's fits of immaturity.
** Lisa Trevor is an alternate version of this; she's in her forties, and is wearing the skin of some of her victims as a shroud, but mentally she's a very young child desperately looking for her mother.
* RaisingTheSteaks: Zombie dogs are the most iconic, but there are also zombie bats and crows, for a start. ''Outbreak File 2'' actually had a level taking place at a Zoo, leading to zombie hyenas, lions, and an Elephant.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Author S.D. Perry likes to portray the villains as rapists in the novels, with Irons (which actually fits), Nicholi (nothing suggests he is), and Wesker (only a EpilepticTree in ResidentEvil5) getting this treatment.
* RecklessGunUsage: Early games had this in droves, though the most recent examples (''Degeneration'' and ''Resident Evil 5'') have an almost obsessive focus on [[UsefulNotes/GunSafety gun safety]] in the cutscenes. In-game, however, the characters do run with their guns down and safe, until you hold the button which readies them.
* RenaissanceMan: just look at the backstory of any main character from the first game. ''Especially'' Wesker.
* RetCanon: Until the release of ResidentEvilUmbrellaChronicles, the only time it was ever stated that Umbrella had a computer system called Red Queen was in the Anderson film adaptation.
* RevolversAreJustBetter: Revolvers are usually among the strongest weapons in the games.
* RoarBeforeBeating: The larger monsters (such as zombie elephants, Gigantes, G-Virus larvae, and other loveable pets) do this. Hunters also shriek before doing their one-hit kill move.
* RuleOfSexy: Most of the character's outfits, particularly their alternate ones.
* RunningGag: Valve handles. For whatever reason, Capcom ''loves'' to have the player find and use one in every game (twice in ''Outbreak File #2''). It's even mocked in the movies: you can see a valve handle thrown across the frame by an explosion in the trailer for ''Resident Evil: Afterlife.''
** In the ''ResidentEvil5'' DLC, Chris sees an opening next to a door in Spencer's mansion:
--> '''Chris''': [[LampshadeHanging "What is it with this guy and cranks?!"]]
** Multiple [[BigBad Big Bads]] throughout the series meet their end via [[StuffBlowingUp rocket to the face.]]
** If a helicopter pilot ever shows up in this series, don't expect them to last much longer than a handful of scenes. At best.
* SaveGameLimits: Typewriter ribbons. JustifiedTrope as part of the player character's personal ApocalypticLog. Lampshaded by Jill Valentine's verbal situation report when starting or restoring a game. A sitrep that ends with "I'm still...''alive''..." in a wondering tone complete with dramatic echo.
* SayMyName: Pretty much all of the series. "LEON! HELP!" "ADA!" "BIRKIN!" "ALEXIA!" "JILL!" "BARRY!" "CLAIRE!" "SHEVA!" '''''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec0rRUC4BA8 "CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSS!"]]''''' "WESKER!" And so on.
* SceneryGorn: A given, since it's survival horror.
* SelfDestructMechanism: Just about ''every'' Umbrella laboratory or other important location of biohazard research is subjected to this trope, with the ''final'' final boss fight occurring while the detonation countdown is in effect.
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: In each game, the shotgun is a highly valued weapon because of its high power and spread, which makes it good for both crowd control with the omnipresent zombies, and for knocking down and killing things like Hunters and Lickers.
** ShortRangeShotgun: Played straight, but nearly every enemy is a PersonalSpaceInvader, so you'll hardly ever notice it.
* SigilSpam: The Umbrella Corporation's logo is ''everywhere.''
* SlidingScaleOfUndeadRegeneration
* TheSocialDarwinist: After 15 years of [[CardCarryingVillain Card Carrying Villainy]], they finally throw this in as Wesker's angle with Uroboros in ''Resident Evil 5''.
* SolveTheSoupCans: If the ''Resident Evil'' series featured the original "soup cans" puzzle from ''TheSeventhGuest'', it still wouldn't nearly be the most out-of-place puzzle in the series. The usual justification, if any, is that the people who designed these places were ''insane''. Toned down somewhat from ''[=RE4=]'' onward as part of the GenreShift.
** To give you an idea of how crazy the drinking water is in Raccoon, the RPD's weapons storage is easier to get into than the sewers.
* SongsInTheKeyOfLock: Moonlight Sonata.
** The clock tower music box.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To the [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] Capcom RPG ''VideoGame/SweetHome'', one of the very first SurvivalHorror games. At one point, a phrase close to "resident evil" is used, which has given rise to the thought that the line inspired ''Resident Evil's'' American title.
* SpritePolygonMix: ''0'', ''1'' and its remake, ''2'', ''3'', and ''Outbreak''.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Most of the female characters' alternate outfits.
* StoppedNumberingSequels
* SunglassesAtNight: Wesker ''always'' wears sunglasses, even during night missions. Not that this impairs his ability to shoot a zombie dog out of midair with a single bullet. At range. In the middle of the night. Later, he also uses them to hide the effects of his bio-enhancements, which turn his eyes a reddish-golden color.
** Overlaps with BossArenaIdiocy in ResidentEvil5.
* SuperSoldier: The various Tyrants, Nemesis, Mr. X, the rest of the T series.
* SurprisinglyEasyMiniQuest: Portions where you're controlling a side or sub character usually fall into this.
* SurvivalHorror: Hugely popularized the genre. The first game in the series is actually the first game to coin the very phrase.
* TankControls: The game forces you to turn separately from moving forward and backward. One of the most well-known offenders.
* TearOffYourFace: A few enemies throughout the series can do this (for example the [[BigCreepyCrawlies novistators]] from ''4'' if they kill Leon with an acid-to-the-face attack).
* TechnicallyLivingZombie: The Ganados and Majini, as well as some of the T-Virus affected monsters, but not the zombies themselves, who are explicitly described as having died.
* TentacleRope: In the remake of the first game and ''Code: Veronica''.
* ThemeInitials: Ada Wong and Albert Wesker. Bit of a stretch, but the Birkins' first names are Annette and William.
* TimedMission: Crops up every now and again in the canon games, usually paired with the SelfDestructMechanism.
* TransformationTrauma: Most of the many OneWingedAngel mutations.
* TrueCompanions: There's a bit of ShipTease found in some of the games, but in general this is the relationship between Chris and Jill. [[spoiler:Jill is willing to sacrifice herself to save Chris from Wesker. While Chris is on his next mission, the moment he gets wind she might still be alive, he drops everything else to find her.]]
* TheUnfought: Albert Wesker is this until [=RE5=]. In the first game, he [[spoiler:either gets apparently killed by the Tyrant's claw or Barry's gun, but [[NeverFoundTheBody his "corpse" disappears]]. In all of the subsequent games, he is often mentioned and/or appears, implying he's the one setting up the events, but is never fought proper. Chris eventually gets back at him at the end of 5.]]
* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Played straight in that you usually can't take guns, protective vests etc. from dead bodies, but at least you can usually search bodies for ammo.
* UnwillingSuspension: Ada at the end of ''[=RE4=]''.
* UpdatedRerelease: ''Resident Evil: Director's Cut'', ''[[ColonCancer Resident Evil: Director's Cut: Dual Shock Edition]]'' ''Resident Evil 2: Dual Shock Edition'', ''Resident Evil Code: Veronica Complete'', the GameCube remake of ''Resident Evil'', and ''Resident Evil: Code: Veronica X''; ''Resident Evil 4 {{Wii}}''. For a while there, it seemed it was Capcom's goal to release every game in the series for every system available.
** And now there's ''Resident Evil 4 HD'' and ''Resident Evil: Code: Veronica X HD'' for download on PS3 and {{Xbox 360}}.
* VideoGameRemake: A Gamecube remake of the original in 2002.
* VillainousBreakdown: Most notably Wesker at the climax of ''5''.
* TheVirus: Several viruses, but only the T and G viruses and Las Plagas are TheVirus in the trope sense.
* VirusMisnomer: Most viruses, but the T-Virus takes the cake.
* WasOnceAMan: Most of the monsters you kill.
* WeaponOfChoice: You can be almost certain that the final boss is going to be finished off with a rocket launcher shot to the face.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: In ''ResidentEvil5'', some of Wesker's MotiveRants indicate that Wesker seems to genuinely intend to save the world. His method of doing so? Releasing the Ouroboros virus into the atmosphere.
* WhatHappenedToMommy: One of the child test subjects in the remake of the first ''Resident Evil'', as well as William in ''[=RE2=]''. This is also [[spoiler:Sheva's motivation for joining the BSAA in ''5''.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Rebecca Chambers hasn't been seen since the first game, despite having canonically survived the events and also being the ''only'' Spencer Mansion survivor who hasn't played a role in any of the subsequent games (and also despite managing to be the main character in the ''Resident Evil 0'' prequel).
** Same goes for Barry, Carlos, Billy. Funny enough, thanks to D.I.J.'s diary, we ''do'' know what happened to the actual mouse from ''Code Veronica''.
** Interestingly, the only peripheral character that actually had any development in a subsequent game is Ada, who you're sort of supposed to think died at the end of 2.
** [[ZeroPunctuation What happened to the pirate merchant guy?]]
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield:
** Raccoon City is stated as being in the Midwest, but the presence of [[TheMountainsOfIllinois high mountains]] makes this very unlikely. {{Fanon}} places the city in either Colorado or Pennsylvania, the only mountainous states that can be described as being remotely Midwestern, and the latter being where the novelizations placed it.
** The Spanish-speaking European country in ''[=RE4=]'' is never explicitly stated, and WordOfGod says that this was deliberate. However, the fact that a) it's a Spanish-speaking European country, b) a satellite shot showed the Iberian Peninsula, and c) Luis is from Madrid leaves very few choices as to what country it is.
*** The currency used in-game is pesetas... though [[DidNotDoTheResearch Spain had already switched to euros at the time the game is set in]], it's believable that the cult and parasitic infection in that area did [[FridgeBrilliance isolate it from the outside world and its currency change]].
*** However, they all have Mexican/Latin American accents, which don't match up with the supposed location. LA recording studios are going to have a lot easier time finding Mexican voice actors than Spanish.
** Kijuju, the setting of ''[=RE5=]'', is only described as being in Africa. The only hint as to ''where'' in Africa it's located is the fact that Sheva is from the BSAA's West African division.
* WhoYouGonnaCall: The [=STARS=] from the first Resident Evil 1, then the entire [=RPD=] after [=STARS=] was disbanded in 2/3. [=BSAA=] in Resident Evil 5/6. There's [=STRATCOM=] in Dead Aim.
* WithThisHerring: You often start out with a weak weapon (unless you're Kevin in ''Outbreak'', but he can barely find any ammo). The games at least attempt to justify this:
** ''Resident Evil 0'' and ''1'' - You are a cop caught in a situation way over your head.
** ''Resident Evil 2'' - You blunder into the ZombieApocalypse without warning.
** ''Resident Evil 3'' - Jill's off the force and doesn't have access to the guns any more.
** ''Code: Veronica'' - Claire starts the game in prison and Chris loses a bag of weapons into the sea.
** ''Resident Evil 4'' - We never see what Leon had in the police car, and it's destroyed before he can return. He's also only going to the village to ask some questions about Ashley, and with that in mind, he's actually carrying a lot more gear than he really needs.
** ''Revelations'' - Parker and Jill are only on the Zenobia in order to track down Chris and Jessica, and they have absolutely no idea that the ship is overrun with Ooze and other B.O.Ws.
** ''Resident Evil 5'' - [[spoiler:Excella is setting you up.]]
** ''Resident Evil: Outbreak'' - most of the characters were just chilling out at a bar when the outbreak got really bad. Kevin and Mark both retain their weapons, as they are a cop and a security guard. The rest have to find handguns dropped in bathroom wastebaskets, beat zombies to death with scrub brushes, or hack and slash with kitchen knives.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Wesker, given the revelation that [[spoiler:he was manufactured by Umbrella to be used as a weapon and was manipulated for his entire life by Ozwell Spencer, up to and maybe even after he died.]]
* WorstAid
* WrestlerInAllOfUs
* XtremeKoolLetterz: ''Resident Evil: Code Veronica '''X''''', the UpdatedRerelease.
* YourHeadASplode: That's if you make a well-placed headshot on a zombie/Ganado/Majini.
* "YouWouldDoTheSameForMe, wouldn't you?"
* ZombieApocalypse: Obviously.
* ZombieGait
----
[[caption-width-right:350:"Do you mind? I'm trying to eat here."]]
[[caption-width-right:350:~~ VideoGame SurvivalHorror ThirdPersonShooter ~~]]
Resident Evil (known in Japan as ''Biohazard'') is a SurvivalHorror and science fiction video game series. It has since branched off to become a media franchise consisting of comic books, novelizations, four films, and a variety of collectibles (including action figures, strategy guides and publications.) Developed by {{Capcom}} and created by ShinjiMikami, the series has sold 34.5 million games as of February 27, 2008.
The premise of the original Resident Evil was that the Umbrella Corporation was conducting sinister experiments in a mansion outside of the [[TheMountainsOfIllinois "Midwestern"]] town of Raccoon City, and a team of SWAT-like police called the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, or STARS, stumbles onto it in an investigation of several cannibalistic murders. Further games expanded on this premise, and it has since become one of the most successful action-horror games series of all time in addition to [[TropeNamer coining the term]] ''SurvivalHorror''. The movie franchise, starring MillaJovovich, is also moderately successful and has spawned four movies (so far).
Most recently, the Resident Evil game franchise released a CGI movie called ''[[ResidentEvilDegeneration Resident Evil: Degeneration]]''. Unlike the live-action films, this is set in the video game canon, taking place one year after ''[=RE4=]''. The seventh installment of the game's main series was released February 7, 2012.
Games in this series include:
[[index]]
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis''
** ''[[ResidentEvilGunSurvivor Resident Evil: Survivor]]''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica''
** ''ResidentEvilGaiden''
** ''Resident Evil: Survivor 2 - Code: Veronica''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0''
** ''Resident Evil: Dead Aim''
* ''ResidentEvilOutbreak''
** ''Resident Evil Outbreak File #2''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5''
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6''
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' for the Nintendo3DS.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilMercenaries3D'', also for 3DS.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOperationRaccoonCity'' announced for {{Xbox 360}} and Playstation3.
[[/index]]
The live-action film series includes the following films:
* ''Film/ResidentEvil''
* ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse''
* ''Resident Evil: Extinction''
* ''[[ResidentEvilAfterlife Resident Evil: Afterlife]]''
* ''Resident Evil: Retribution''
There are also two CGI movie spin-offs:
* ''[[ResidentEvilDegeneration Resident Evil: Degeneration]]'', which follows Leon and Claire.
* ''Resident Evil: Damnation'' (announced), following Leon
And now also a Trading Card Game!
The new Character Sheet is [[Characters/ResidentEvil here.]] Feel welcome to help.
----
!!This series is the TropeNamer for:
* MasterOfUnlocking
----
!!This series provides examples of:
[-Note: With the exception of ''Gaiden'', each game in the series now has its own page, as do the films. If a trope or an example of one only applies to one game in the series, or only to the films, put it on that page.-]
* AbnormalAmmo: Gas, acid, and freeze rounds for grenade launchers.
* ActionCommands: Becoming quite popular after ''[=RE4=]'' and ''Umbrella Chronicles''. Especially in PressXToNotDie form.
* ActionGirl: All the playable female characters, not including Ashley and Sherry.
* ActionizedSequel: The clearest example is the fourth game, but even the second game had more of an emphasis on fighting than the first. The original gave you very little ammo, so you could only really use it when you had to. The second game, on the other hand, gives you a whole lot more, to the point you could probably kill everything in the game and still have ammo left over.
* AlliterativeName: Barry Burton, Alfred, Alexia, and Alexander Ashford.
* AllThereInTheManual: A lot of supplemental info can be gleaned from the manuals, novels, and other associated media.
* AlwaysNight: For all the early games, which last through the night and end at dawn. Finally averted in ''4'' and ''5'', which both start in the day time. The sun going down is a signal that things [[ItGotWorse are about to get worse]].
** Actually averted in ResidentEvil3. It starts during the daylight hours; you just can't tell because of the camera angle and the fact that half the city is on fire, so the sky is filled with smoke.
** During Claire's final part in Code Veronica, when she battles the Nosferatu, it's dawn or very early morning. During Chris's game, it's mid morning, and when he rescues Claire, it's high noon.
*** Which is tricky considering they're in Antarctica, below the Antarctic circle. A region which alternates days/nights of ''six months each''.
**** More specifically, Antarctica in December, which should be bright out and roughly 15-25 degrees F. Instead, it's apparently cold enough to freeze a room full of water in a few hours.
* AmericaSavesTheDay: {{Lampshaded}} in ''[=RE4=]'' and ''[=RE5=]''. And still played straight.
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: A staple in the series.
** VideoGame/ResidentEvil0: And Edward Dewey becomes a zombie.
*** And James Marcus becomes the Leech Queen.
** [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil Resident Evil Director's Cut and Remake:]] And [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091108082807/residentevil/images/4/4a/Ct93_lg.jpg Forest Speyer]] becomes One Dangerous Zombie.
*** [[http://www.residentevilhive.com/Misc/RE1WeskerZombie.jpg And Albert Wesker becomes a zombie]] in the Saturn version's survival mini-game.
** VideoGame/ResidentEvil2: And [[http://www.residentevilhive.com/Misc/BradVickersZombie.jpg Brad Vickers]] and [[http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/29408-resident-evil-2-dual-shock-version-windows-screenshot-police.jpg Marvin Branagh]] become zombies. Oh, and William Birkin mutates into a monster.
** VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica: Steve Burnsides and Alexia Ashford both mutate into T-Veronica type monsters.
** ResidentEvil4: Ramon Salazar, Bittores Mendez, Jack Krauser, and Osmund Saddler turn into Plaga-fied monsters.
** ResidentEvilOutbreak: In the [[DownerEnding Bad Ending]], your player character can turn into a zombie while escaping by helicopter in the first Outbreak. Said characters also show up as zombies in certain scenarios in both Outbreak games.
** Resident Evil: Dead Aim has Morpheus Duvall transforming into a Tyrant.
** ResidentEvil5: Ricardo Irving transforms into a giant sea monster, Excella into a goliath-sized living abomination of tentacles, and Albert Wesker goes OneWingedAngel.
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Alternate outfits are used as rewards in every main series game.
** ''Resident Evil 3'' gives Jill her STARS uniform from the original game, as well as Regina's outfit from ''DinoCrisis''.
* AnyoneCanDie: In a shower of shocking gore. If they are really lucky, they'll stay dead, because [[CameBackWrong if not]]...
* ApocalypticLog: A way of saving the games, and way too many logs left by the various researchers and doomed citizens in the games.
-->"4 -- Itchy. Tasty."
* AristocratsAreEvil: A good number of the series antagonists come from Aristocratic backgrounds, such as Ozwell E. Spencer, the Ashford family, James Marcus, and Ramon Salazar.
* ArtifactTitle: The name "Resident Evil" is a reference to the evil residing in the mansion in the first game. Since none of the other games take place in said mansion...
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Conservation of mass? What's that?
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Some animals are zombified by the T-Virus, but others just get really ''big''. Examples include spiders, centipedes, scorpions, sharks, and crocodiles.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Quite a few weapons.
* BackFromTheDead: Wesker and plenty of monsters have this quality.
* {{Badass}}: Most of the cast, and in different types.
** BadassAbnormal: Wesker, starting with ''Code Veronica''. He is shown performing moves akin to those seen in ''TheMatrix'', up and including dodging bullets.
** BadassLongcoat: Wesker, Mr. X, and Nemesis. Leon gets one as an alternate costume for completing ''[=RE4=]''.
** BadassNormal: To save space, let's just say every main hero.
* BareYourMidriff: A few bonus outfits.
* BattleCouple: With the fact that almost every partnership in the game is male-female, there are cases where it isn't hard to stretch it into this.
* BeMyValentine: Jill.
* BewareTheSuperman: The later installments of the series tend to boil down to {{Badass Normal}}s with {{Charles Atlas Superpower}}s vs. parasite-empowered superhumans.
* BigBad: At first the Umbrella Corporation, but Wesker seems to have emerged over the last several games as the series' main antagonist and puppet master.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Some of the smaller ones are bigger than Jill's ass, and they grow in size from there, to the point where one game has a spider so large it could crush a tank.
* BigDamnHeroes
* BilingualBonus: In ''[=RE4=]'' and ''5''.
* BlindIdiotTranslation: The first game featured an awful lot of English typos, grammatical errors, and just plain goofy phrases that slipped through the QA net (including, not least of all, "Welcome back to the world of [[TropeNamer survival horror]]"). It did get better in subsequent games as the sequels got better budgets. The irony, of course, is that not one of the games ever had a Japanese language version in the first place. Even in Japan, the vocals are all done in English with Japanese subtitles.
* BlondesAreEvil / BlondGuysAreEvil: Pretty much every blonde character except Ashley, Leon, and Sherry is a villain. In fact, if ''[=RE5=]'' is to be believed, [[spoiler:[[FaceHeelTurn turning evil]] literally turns you blonde.]] Did someone at Capcom have a blonde ex-girlfriend?
* BodyHorror: And how!
* BoldInflation:
** "What '''IS''' this?"
** "'''Wooah!''' This hall is '''dangerous'''".
** "It's a '''weapon.''' It's '''''really''''' powerful, '''''[[CaptainObvious especially]]''''' [[CaptainObvious against living things]]."
** "Just... '''take - a - look - at - ''this!''''' It's '''Forest'''. Oh my '''COD'''."
** "'''DON'T''' - OPEN - THAT - '''DOOR!!'''"
* BossInMookClothing: Hunters and Lickers in the first few games, chainsaw wielders in ''4'' and ''5''. ''[=RE5=]'' has the Licker Betas. Super long reach, essentially one hit kills, very fast draining of health.
* CanonImmigrant: The Red Queen, a computer system from the movies, appears in ''The Umbrella Chronicles''.
** Not only that, but if you look closely, you'll notice Alice's rejuvenation chamber during the extra mission.
** The laser trap room right before Saddler's weird little throne room in [=RE4=] was definitely lifted from the first RE movie.
** ''Umbrella Chronicles'' also has the first movie's laser hallway. No, seriously, it's ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IECAbuRI1SA the]]'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IECAbuRI1SA laser hallway from the movie]].
* CapcomSequelStagnation: Somewhat averted by ''Resident Evil 4''. ''Revelations'' averted it further by returning more to the survival horror roots of the series, whilst still retaining gameplay akin to that of ''4'' and ''5''.
* CaptainObvious: Barry Burton, Ingrid Hunnigan.
* CaramelldansenVid: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr3esd05w-4 Behold!]]
* {{Casanova}}: Leon, Luis, and Carlos.
* CashCowFranchise
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Back in the day, Chris Redfield just wasn't as good as Jill Valentine. Oh, he had higher stamina, sure, but he couldn't carry as much, and he didn't get access to the grenade launcher like Jill did. He fared a little better in ''Code: Veronica'', on account of getting some cooler toys to play with and a possible ten inventory slots, but still got the crap knocked out of him by Wesker in the end. As of ''Resident Evil 5'', he can knock enemies through closed doors with a right hook and is fully capable of killing a man by ''punching him in the ass''.
* TheChewToy: To quote President Evil's RE plot analysis FAQ, "someone on the development team hated Brad's guts."
* ChekhovsGunman: Chris is this to his sister. Thanks to his training, Claire survived Raccoon City, Rockfort Island, and Harvardille.
** Jill Valentine counts as "Chekhov's Gunwoman". [[spoiler:She was infected with the [[TheVirus T-virus]] in Resident Evil 3, but was cured thanks to Carlos Oliveira synthesizing a cure. Following her [[HeroicSacrifice tackling Wesker through a window]], Wesker discovers the T-virus antibodies in her bloodstream, which he would later use to further his experiments with Uroborous.]]
* ChineseGirl: Ada Wong and Fong Ling.
* ClippedWingAngel: This happens a lot in the series. Birkin from ''[=RE2=]'', Nemesis in ''[=RE3=]'', Tyrant Morpheus in ''Dead Aim'', Alexia in ''Code: Veronica'', Saddler in ''[=RE4=]'', and [[spoiler:Wesker]] in ''[=RE5=]'' all transform into giant monsters that are noticeably slower, dumber, and less effective than their superhuman normal forms.
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Wesker]], in a manner of speaking. Also Alice in the third film.
* ClownCarGrave: Zombies will sometimes respawn in areas where there is no place for them to have come from.
* CombatTentacles: Loads of bosses, but Villager and Soldier Ganados take the cake; their Plagas often manifests itself as a tentacled brain with a huge scythe tentacle. Nemesis also had tentacles, but he only used them as a finishing move until his coat gets burned off, then he used them all the time.
** Uroboros monsters are nothing ''but'' combat tentacles.
* ContinuitySnarl: Capcom's attempts to set at least four different games during the Fall of Raccoon City leads to a lot of continuity errors about the shared locations. Specifically the Raccoon Police Department, which players visit in ''2'', ''3'', and ''File #2'' with critical differences each time.
** The ''Chronicles'' games are rather bad about this, adding new events and filling in holes in the established canon (most notably between ''Code Veronica'' and ''[=RE4=]''), while at the same time also contradicting quite a bit of it. Really, figuring out the true continuity of ''Resident Evil'' is only slightly easier than ''Zelda''. For example, to date, the canon ending to the original still hasn't actually ''appeared'' in any of the games.
** Capcom fully acknowledged this with ''Operation Raccoon City'', as the player can come across the likes of Leon S. Kennedy '''and kill him'''. They've simply said that the game's using RuleOfCool in regards to things like that, and that it's up to the player to decide if they want to play a canon game & leave the timeline intact, or run around screwing up the timeline of the series by killing all of the Raccoon City survivors.
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Chris, Claire, Leon, and Sheva fall under this according to novels and guidebooks, with Jill also possibly qualifying (we don't know what happened to her dad). This, of course, leaves them free to go save the world. No indications are given of Ada's parentage, but judging by her choice in occupation, they're likely either estranged or dead. In fact, the only characters in the entire series with at least one ''confirmed'' parent are Ashley, Steve, Sherry, and the multiple generations of Ashfords (Capcom felt the need to give them an entire family tree).
* CoolHat: Jill likes berets. She switches them for a baseball cap.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The entire executive board for the Umbrella Corporation, particularly Ozwell Spencer. Albert Wesker later qualifies.
* DamnYouMuscleMemory: ''4'' and ''5'' change the buttons each time you do a [[PressXToNotDie Quick Time Event]] to keep you from memorizing the buttons.
** In [=RE5=], this is part of the dynamic difficulty system. The button combinations become more complicated as the difficulty rises.
* DarkActionGirl: Ada Wong, and [[spoiler:Jill Valentine during most of ''[=RE5=]'']].
* DatingCatwoman: Ada Wong and Leon.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Sure, B.O.W. (bio-organic weapon) [[XMeetsY combines]] FunWithAcronyms and NotUsingTheZWord, but apparently no one at Capcom realized that ''all'' bioweapons are organic -- at least until Umbrella starts weaponizing [[StarTrek Vulcans]].
* DigitalDistribution: The mobile phone games, such as ''Resident Evil: Confidential Report''. For the main series, ''[=RE5=]'' is available on Steam.
* DisposablePilot: Happens repeatedly throughout the series.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The main healing item in all the games is "green herbs." Which, when mixed together, are resting as a fine powder on a sheet of rolling paper. This is actually a pretty common method of preparing traditional herbal medicine in Eastern cultures (the games ''were'' made by the Japanese, after all), but in America, it comes off like someone over at Capcom is a fan of the Grateful Dead.
* DoingItForTheArt: One scene in the Remake has a closeup of Wesker's boot, which shows that the top buckles are not laced up.
* DoNotRunWithAGun: More like Do Not Walk With A Gun. The only game in the series which lets you move and shoot simultaneously is ''Outbreak File #2'' and ''Dead Aim'', and then you move so slowly that it's barely worth the effort.
** This is ''finally'' averted with the two 3DS games. You will be able to aim and fire your guns while on the move. Not only this, you can also reload and switch your weapons on the run instead of standing still while performing said actions and praying that nothing hits you for those few precious seconds.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Helicopter pilots have notoriously low life expectancies in this series. The longest one has lived is two chapters. In particular, someone on ''Nemesis'''s design team ''really'' had it in for Brad.
* EasterEgg: Examine Wesker's desk an obscene number of times in ''[=RE2=]'' to find a reel of film containing a picture of Rebecca in a basketball outfit.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Sort of. The different types of grenades are more effective against some creatures than others. A Licker in the second game, for instance, can take two point-blank regular grenades to the face and keep coming for you, but one Acid round will do them in. And fire tends to be particularly effective against plants. The fifth game even features [[FireIceLightning Fire, Liquid Nitrogen, and Electrical]] grenades.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Surprisingly, the ''RE'' world's regular T-virus zombie outbreaks are ''not'' a threat that may lead to this, as they seem relatively self-contained even with minimum government intervention (the ''Extinction'' movie is another story entirely). Also, the plot of at least three of the series' major bad guys (Dr. Marcus in ''[=RE0=]'', Saddler in ''[=RE4=]'', and [[spoiler:Wesker]] in ''[=RE5=]''), although [[spoiler:Wesker]] was the only one who ever came anywhere close to implementing the plan.
** One of the novels has a scientist who seeks to cause this. He is stopped by Rebecca.
* EverybodysDeadDave: Happens to HUNK a lot. To quote the chopper pilot: "Once again, only you survived, Mr. Death." In Chronicles, he abandons squadmates for his own gain.
* EvilBrit: It's worth noting that Wesker's evilness increases in direct proportion to his Britishness as the series goes on.
** Also, the Ashford clan, a whole family of [[EvilBrit evil Brits]], including Code Veronica antagonists Alfred and Alexia Ashford.
* EvilutionaryBiologist: Plenty to go around.
* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: William Birkin and Monica.
* FingerlessGloves: Pick a playable character, any character. Chances are they have fingerless gloves.
* FormerRegimePersonnel: Sergei Vladimir, Nicholai Ginovaef, and Spectre all worked for the Soviet Government prior to it's collapse.
* FullFrontalAssault: Lickers, Regenerators, and Iron Maidens are stark naked. And mean.
** As well as the zombies at the end of any of the first 5 games. They are always tougher and bite harder.
** Alexia.
** Most Tyrants, with the exception of pre-mutation Mr. X, Nemesis, the Ivans, and Thanatos.
* GaidenGame: ''Resident Evil: Gaiden''. It's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin right in the title.]]
* GameBreakingInjury: ''Resident Evil 2'' was the first game to begin having the heroes' body language reflect their overall health. If they took too much damage, then they would start limping and not move as fast as they normally do. If you were low in health and had to run away from a group of zombies or a huge boss, then you were in for a rough night.
** At 1/4 health in ''Resident Evil 5'', you go into the "Dying" status and have to have your partner resuscitate you, while at 1/2 health, you're limping and holding in your guts.
** Particularly powerful attacks can knock you flat on your back in ''Revelations'', rendering you vulnerable and only able to shoot right in front of you with your pistol. You have to hammer Y in order to pick yourself back up.
* GameMod: In ''[=RE2=]'' and ''[=RE3=]'', {{Game Shark}}s could be used to swap around playable character models. Try [[RuleOfFunny running through the whole game as Tofu]] or [[PacifistRun completing 4th Survivor or Extreme Battle modes as Sherry]].
** ''Play'' magazine was rather excited about a rumor you could play as Rebecca in ''[=RE2=]'', thanks to a glitch with the station gate. Can't be done without a GameShark. Or PC reskin mods.
** The PC ports of ''[=RE4=]'' and ''[=RE5=]'' have also developed quite a large modding community, mostly based on reskins and new models, but also occasionally new missions or Mercenaries stages.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Zombies can't shamble through doors you open if they trigger a scene transition, but are shown in a cutscene to be capable of opening gates with enough effort. Subverted later on when they do infact have a chance of ambushing you from the other side of a transitioning door once you go to open it, and later on with Crimson Heads, which follow you through doors until you manage to kill them. In later games (Outbreak), they do follow you through doors, but require some effort. A player can slow things down by holding the door or barricading it, but it'll open.
** In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', there's an exception to this. Opening one particular door in a usually-safe savepoint room results in two zombies moving into the room. Afterward, if you try and open that same door again, Leon or Claire will refuse, saying it's too dangerous out there. And then there's [[ImplacableMan Mr. X]], who won't follow you through doors, but does knock down two walls to get to you.
* GatlingGood: A few of the games let you get your mitts on a huge gatling gun. ''Resident Evil 4'' gives us the ''Chicago Typewriter'', a superpowered tommy gun. ''[[MoreDakka With infinite ammo.]]''
* GhostShip: The Starlight from ''Gaiden'', the Spencer Rain from ''Dead Aim'', and the Queen Zenobia from ''Revelations''.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: A staple of the series. The sewer alligator and the mutated worms come to mind.
* GiantSpider: A staple of the series to invoke fear. [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil The]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 first]] [[ResidentEvil3 three]] used tarantulas, VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica had exotic black widows, ResidentEvil4 gave it a break and had a few normal spiders, and ResidentEvil5, aside from spider-like enemies, had normal (though still big) African spiders. The VideoGameRemake of 1 redesigned the boss spider into the Australian funnelweb, the Lost in Nightmares DLC for some reason had spiders bigger than Jill's ass, and [[ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles the Chronicles]] games have a lovely mix of giant spiders.
* GigglingVillain: Many of them.
* AGodAmI: Several villains.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: Pretty much every game until ''4''.
* GoryDiscretionShot: averted most of the time, until ''[=RE5=]''.
* TheGovernment: pretty much all but confirmed in the later games.
* {{Handcannon}}: Many pistols -- and especially the [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolvers]] -- are ridiculously oversized. Heck, in [=RE4=], one of the unlockable weapons is even [[ShoutOut named]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Handcannon"]]. In general, magnums tend to cause more damage than things like grenade launchers or point-blank shotgun blasts.
* HatePlague: Las Plagas, which also turns the entire society into BeePeople. Why do you think Ashley was kidnapped in the first place?
* HeartContainer: Yellow Herbs in ''[=RE4=]'' and the Degeneration mobile game.
* HellishPupils: [[spoiler:Wesker's cat eyes are the first sign of his self-imposed infection kicking in.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: Done on four separate occasions:
** In ResidentEvil3, [[spoiler:Mikhail sacrifices himself to save Jill and Carlos.]]
** In VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica, [[spoiler:Steve sacrifices himself for Claire.]]
** In ResidentEvil5, [[spoiler:Jill sacrifices herself to save Chris. It didn't quite take, because neither she or Wesker died.]] And [[spoiler:Sheva attempts to sacrifice herself to save everyone from Wesker. Chris stopped her because he was thinking of what happened to Jill.]]
*** If you can trigger the special sequence during the final battle, Sheva holds back from shooting at Wesker because it would hit Chris as well. Chris says do it anyway but Sheva [[spoiler:[[TakeTheThirdOption instead takes out her knife and goes to town]]]].
* HopelessBossFight: Mutant Steve. You can only 180 turn and run away, and you are bound to take at least one hit unless you're very quick with dodging at the battle's start.
** Lisa Trevor and It's first phase are also unbeatable.
** Pretty much every encounter with Nemesis except the final confrontation and one instance where you merely damage it enough to buy some time and flee.
* HumanoidAbomination: Wesker. He keeps the shades on for a reason.
* ICallItVera: The S.T.A.R.S.'s Beretta handgun, christened Samurai Edge. Wesker still has his as of [=RE5=] and [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3 MVC3]].
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Creatures with really big claws, particularly Tyrants, will do this as a finisher. Other notable practitioners are [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 William Birkin]], [[ResidentEvil3 Nemesis]], [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 the Garradors, and Saddler]].
* ImplacableMan: Most bosses, but Nemesis, Mr. X, Lisa Trevor, and Wesker are the most famous.
* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: Every Umbrella facility has a handy self-destruct device. Also, the government bombs Raccoon City into powder to stop the T-Virus from spreading.
* JokeCharacter: Tofu, a sentient brick of tofu who has a knife and wears a combat harness and beret.
** Actually, his/its name is To-Fu.
* JumpScare: Zombies, dogs, and crows crashing through windows. The Nemesis and Mr. X crashing through walls. Zombies reaching through barricades.The player walking through a hallway to find a zombie right in front of them which was previously hidden by the camera angles (Happens quite a few times in [=REmake=]).
* JustEatHim: Several of the monsters, particularly those of the [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant-animal]] type, will do exactly this as a finisher.
* KillItWithFire: Molotov, incendiary grenades, and flamethrowers in each game up to ''5''.
* LargeHam: Alfred and '''''WESKER!'''''
** '''CHRISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS'''
** '''MIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE! LEEEWWWIIISSS!'''
* LastNameBasis: Wesker. That may as well just be his driver's license -- "Wesker."
** Krauser, Salazar, and Saddler also count.
** A variation in ''4'': Salazar never uses Leon's first name. He only ever calls him "Mr. Kennedy" or even "Mr. Scott Kennedy".
* LateToTheParty: Nearly all of the protagonists of each installment arrive at their respective settings after the initial viral outbreak. Exceptions include Jill in ''[=RE3=]'', Claire and Steve in ''[=REC:V=]'', and most of the ''Outbreak'' player characters.
* LightGunGame: The ''Gun Survivor'' and ''Chronicles'' games.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: And how. A full list can be found [[http://projectumbrella.net/articles/Profiles here]]
* LovecraftianSuperpower: Even those human (or formerly human) villains who do go outright OneWingedAngel with mutation will generally have strange claws or CombatTentacles.
* MadeOfIron: Most of the cast, really, since the most common enemy attack involves zombies chewing through your jugular vein.
** Many of the otherwise-human characters can survive being shot several times with little problem. [[spoiler:Jill Valentine took a ''rocket'' to the face, and simply shrugged it off.]]
* MacGuffin: Chris has two: Leon emails him about Claire's plight in Code: Veronica, and he receives a big one regarding Jill in Resident Evil 5.
* MadScientist: William and Annette Birkin, Albert Wesker, the Ashfords, and James Marcus. The underlings are either extremely wary (they have no choice -- they're usually locked into what facility they're in) or kept in the dark about things.
* MalevolentArchitecture: The series is, at a whole, more or less the platonic ideal of this trope.
* ManEatingPlant: The Ivy plant and Plant 42, the latter of which ate several researchers before anyone noticed. Really goes to show just how much Umbrella really cares about its work force.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Wesker from ''[=RE4=]'' onwards.
* TheManyDeathsOfYou: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHsHjrC6BXY Oh]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdN73jWNV0Q Hell]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xZqT8kaYZQ Yes]].
* MaskPower: Standard wear for the Umbrella Security Service, and most memorably worn by HUNK.
* MasterOfUnlocking: Trope namer. Typically, the female PC has a set of lockpicks as a special item to explain why she can get into places the male PC can't.
* MeaningfulName: What kind of animal is famous for spreading, by bite, a disease that makes the afflicted animals become violent and crazy? [[FridgeBrilliance Raccoons.]]
* MightyGlacier: Several enemies are very slow, but have high durability and damage output to compensate.
* {{Minigame}}: A staple of the series, usually involving short missions where you guide a character around an area and take out as many [=BOWs=] as possible within a time limit.
* TheMountainsOfIllinois: Though Raccoon City is in the Midwest, the climate and topography don't fit. The novelization moves it to Pennsylvania.
* MultipleEndings: Most of the games have this in some form, though ''Outbreak'' and ''File #2'' take the cake with more than 20 possible endings each.
* MysteriousWaif: Lucia from ''Gaiden''.
* NeckSnap: HUNK in ''The Mercenaries''.
** And Chris in ''Resident Evil 5''.
* NeverSplitTheParty: In those games where you're either escorting someone or have a partner, it's generally in your best interest to stay close together. Whenever the plot separates you, it's generally so it can throw a really big monster at one character.
* NobodyPoops: Toilets appear to be very scarce in Raccoon City. An issue of the British publication NGC Magazine {{handwave}}d this saying that the citizens of Raccoon had evolved beyond such base needs, as well as [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] said trope by saying, "And can you blame them? Everytime you nip off for a quick dump there's always a bleedin' zombie in the bath."
** The guardhouse in the original had several apartments, each with a fully equipped bathroom (again including zombies). Reasonable if the guardhouse is a modern addition.
** In the ''Umbrella Chronicles'' Raccoon's Destruction scenario 2, you wade through a subway and visit several bathrooms. Again, they're full of zombies.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Many of the characters bear an uncanny likeness to various celebrities.
** InkSuitActor: Though likely unintentional, Claire Redfield bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Alyson Court, her voice actress. Same deal with Irving.
** Jill's likeness is that of model/actress Julia Voth.
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: In Leon's B scenario and its ''Darkside Chronicles'' recreation, Ada gets slammed against the power generator pretty hard by Mr. X. And it in fact appears that [[HesDeadJim She's dead, Leon]]. But she's back up to throw a Rocket Launcher to Leon during the battle with his final form. It's better than Leon's A scenario, though, where Ada falls down a BottomlessPit and ''still'' shows up to give Claire the rocket launcher.
* NotAZombie
* NoticeThis: Oftentimes, your character will look at objects that could need picking up. Or enemies in the room. Anything else sparkles or is a hidden item.
* NumberedSequels / StoppedNumberingSequels: A weird combination. Completely 100% canon games which meaningfully advance the plot are numbered; subtitled games are {{Gaiden Game}}s or one-offs that haven't received any follow-up. The exceptions to this rule thus far are ''Code: Veronica'' and ''Revelations''.
* OffWithHisHead: Many clawed creatures and bosses will do this as a finisher, depending on the game. Earlier games tend to feature it, while later installments reserve decapitations for zombies (''Code: Veronica'', though, didn't even have that). For example, one of Rebecca's possible deaths in the original ''ResidentEvil1'' was to have her head cut off by a Hunter; the [=REmake=] version of the scene is instead a ShadowDiscretionShot, and the Hunter just cuts her throat. Both ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 4]]'' and ''[[ResidentEvil5 5]]'', though, have heads falling off or [[YourHeadAsplode exploding]] left, right, and center.
** Subverted in ''5''. The chainsaw doesn't cut the protagonist's head off.
* OminousWalk: Ganados and Majini will often run towards you until they get within a certain distance and inexplicably start using this trope. Hunters seem to enjoy this as well.
** Something about the way Wesker walks suggests he was a fan of [[TheDarkKnight The Joker]].
** Tyrants love it, too. Though they at least are still suffering from the effects of being cryogenically frozen. Once they shake it off, they turn into a machine.
* OnceAnEpisode: Just about every final boss has been finished off with a rocket launcher.
** The whole setting of the story is destroyed by a gigantic explosion, 9 times out of 10 caused by a SelfDestructMechanism.
* OneWingedAngel: Pretty much every human BigBad will turn into a horrible abomination against God. However, they are often reduced to ClippedWingAngel in their final form, eg. Birkin and Nemesis.
* OnlySaneMan: Edward Ashford was the only one of the original founders of Umbrella who actually wanted to use the Progenitor Virus for legitimate medical research to benefit humanity. His son and his grandchildren make up for his lack of batshit insanity in ''spades''.
* OverTheShoulderMurderShot: An iconic moment of the franchise. In the first game, a zombie (the first one your ever encounter in the game) does this as he's eating Kenneth. Bonus points for being able to later [[spoiler:find and watch a video of it from Kenneth's perspective filmed on his camera.]]
* PersonalityBloodTypes: Blood types are listed in the intro.
* PersonalSpaceInvader: Zombies and Ganados alike.
* PreMortemOneLiner: Usually reserved for the final boss of each game.
* PrimalFear: Darkness, death, monsters, being trapped (with or without something trying to kill you), being eaten alive, being hunted/chased, etc.
* PsychopathicManchild: Ramon Salazar in ''4'' is most likely about four feet tall with the proportions of a child, though he claims to be twenty. And is he psychopathic? Oh, yes. For an equally strong example in more frame of mind alone, ''Code: Veronica'' has the Ashford Twins, though one of them has an excuse. Their house is full of dolls, music boxes, and more, along with Alfred's fits of immaturity.
** Lisa Trevor is an alternate version of this; she's in her forties, and is wearing the skin of some of her victims as a shroud, but mentally she's a very young child desperately looking for her mother.
* RaisingTheSteaks: Zombie dogs are the most iconic, but there are also zombie bats and crows, for a start. ''Outbreak File 2'' actually had a level taking place at a Zoo, leading to zombie hyenas, lions, and an Elephant.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Author S.D. Perry likes to portray the villains as rapists in the novels, with Irons (which actually fits), Nicholi (nothing suggests he is), and Wesker (only a EpilepticTree in ResidentEvil5) getting this treatment.
* RecklessGunUsage: Early games had this in droves, though the most recent examples (''Degeneration'' and ''Resident Evil 5'') have an almost obsessive focus on [[UsefulNotes/GunSafety gun safety]] in the cutscenes. In-game, however, the characters do run with their guns down and safe, until you hold the button which readies them.
* RenaissanceMan: just look at the backstory of any main character from the first game. ''Especially'' Wesker.
* RetCanon: Until the release of ResidentEvilUmbrellaChronicles, the only time it was ever stated that Umbrella had a computer system called Red Queen was in the Anderson film adaptation.
* RevolversAreJustBetter: Revolvers are usually among the strongest weapons in the games.
* RoarBeforeBeating: The larger monsters (such as zombie elephants, Gigantes, G-Virus larvae, and other loveable pets) do this. Hunters also shriek before doing their one-hit kill move.
* RuleOfSexy: Most of the character's outfits, particularly their alternate ones.
* RunningGag: Valve handles. For whatever reason, Capcom ''loves'' to have the player find and use one in every game (twice in ''Outbreak File #2''). It's even mocked in the movies: you can see a valve handle thrown across the frame by an explosion in the trailer for ''Resident Evil: Afterlife.''
** In the ''ResidentEvil5'' DLC, Chris sees an opening next to a door in Spencer's mansion:
--> '''Chris''': [[LampshadeHanging "What is it with this guy and cranks?!"]]
** Multiple [[BigBad Big Bads]] throughout the series meet their end via [[StuffBlowingUp rocket to the face.]]
** If a helicopter pilot ever shows up in this series, don't expect them to last much longer than a handful of scenes. At best.
* SaveGameLimits: Typewriter ribbons. JustifiedTrope as part of the player character's personal ApocalypticLog. Lampshaded by Jill Valentine's verbal situation report when starting or restoring a game. A sitrep that ends with "I'm still...''alive''..." in a wondering tone complete with dramatic echo.
* SayMyName: Pretty much all of the series. "LEON! HELP!" "ADA!" "BIRKIN!" "ALEXIA!" "JILL!" "BARRY!" "CLAIRE!" "SHEVA!" '''''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec0rRUC4BA8 "CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSS!"]]''''' "WESKER!" And so on.
* SceneryGorn: A given, since it's survival horror.
* SelfDestructMechanism: Just about ''every'' Umbrella laboratory or other important location of biohazard research is subjected to this trope, with the ''final'' final boss fight occurring while the detonation countdown is in effect.
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: In each game, the shotgun is a highly valued weapon because of its high power and spread, which makes it good for both crowd control with the omnipresent zombies, and for knocking down and killing things like Hunters and Lickers.
** ShortRangeShotgun: Played straight, but nearly every enemy is a PersonalSpaceInvader, so you'll hardly ever notice it.
* SigilSpam: The Umbrella Corporation's logo is ''everywhere.''
* SlidingScaleOfUndeadRegeneration
* TheSocialDarwinist: After 15 years of [[CardCarryingVillain Card Carrying Villainy]], they finally throw this in as Wesker's angle with Uroboros in ''Resident Evil 5''.
* SolveTheSoupCans: If the ''Resident Evil'' series featured the original "soup cans" puzzle from ''TheSeventhGuest'', it still wouldn't nearly be the most out-of-place puzzle in the series. The usual justification, if any, is that the people who designed these places were ''insane''. Toned down somewhat from ''[=RE4=]'' onward as part of the GenreShift.
** To give you an idea of how crazy the drinking water is in Raccoon, the RPD's weapons storage is easier to get into than the sewers.
* SongsInTheKeyOfLock: Moonlight Sonata.
** The clock tower music box.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To the [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] Capcom RPG ''VideoGame/SweetHome'', one of the very first SurvivalHorror games. At one point, a phrase close to "resident evil" is used, which has given rise to the thought that the line inspired ''Resident Evil's'' American title.
* SpritePolygonMix: ''0'', ''1'' and its remake, ''2'', ''3'', and ''Outbreak''.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Most of the female characters' alternate outfits.
* StoppedNumberingSequels
* SunglassesAtNight: Wesker ''always'' wears sunglasses, even during night missions. Not that this impairs his ability to shoot a zombie dog out of midair with a single bullet. At range. In the middle of the night. Later, he also uses them to hide the effects of his bio-enhancements, which turn his eyes a reddish-golden color.
** Overlaps with BossArenaIdiocy in ResidentEvil5.
* SuperSoldier: The various Tyrants, Nemesis, Mr. X, the rest of the T series.
* SurprisinglyEasyMiniQuest: Portions where you're controlling a side or sub character usually fall into this.
* SurvivalHorror: Hugely popularized the genre. The first game in the series is actually the first game to coin the very phrase.
* TankControls: The game forces you to turn separately from moving forward and backward. One of the most well-known offenders.
* TearOffYourFace: A few enemies throughout the series can do this (for example the [[BigCreepyCrawlies novistators]] from ''4'' if they kill Leon with an acid-to-the-face attack).
* TechnicallyLivingZombie: The Ganados and Majini, as well as some of the T-Virus affected monsters, but not the zombies themselves, who are explicitly described as having died.
* TentacleRope: In the remake of the first game and ''Code: Veronica''.
* ThemeInitials: Ada Wong and Albert Wesker. Bit of a stretch, but the Birkins' first names are Annette and William.
* TimedMission: Crops up every now and again in the canon games, usually paired with the SelfDestructMechanism.
* TransformationTrauma: Most of the many OneWingedAngel mutations.
* TrueCompanions: There's a bit of ShipTease found in some of the games, but in general this is the relationship between Chris and Jill. [[spoiler:Jill is willing to sacrifice herself to save Chris from Wesker. While Chris is on his next mission, the moment he gets wind she might still be alive, he drops everything else to find her.]]
* TheUnfought: Albert Wesker is this until [=RE5=]. In the first game, he [[spoiler:either gets apparently killed by the Tyrant's claw or Barry's gun, but [[NeverFoundTheBody his "corpse" disappears]]. In all of the subsequent games, he is often mentioned and/or appears, implying he's the one setting up the events, but is never fought proper. Chris eventually gets back at him at the end of 5.]]
* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Played straight in that you usually can't take guns, protective vests etc. from dead bodies, but at least you can usually search bodies for ammo.
* UnwillingSuspension: Ada at the end of ''[=RE4=]''.
* UpdatedRerelease: ''Resident Evil: Director's Cut'', ''[[ColonCancer Resident Evil: Director's Cut: Dual Shock Edition]]'' ''Resident Evil 2: Dual Shock Edition'', ''Resident Evil Code: Veronica Complete'', the GameCube remake of ''Resident Evil'', and ''Resident Evil: Code: Veronica X''; ''Resident Evil 4 {{Wii}}''. For a while there, it seemed it was Capcom's goal to release every game in the series for every system available.
** And now there's ''Resident Evil 4 HD'' and ''Resident Evil: Code: Veronica X HD'' for download on PS3 and {{Xbox 360}}.
* VideoGameRemake: A Gamecube remake of the original in 2002.
* VillainousBreakdown: Most notably Wesker at the climax of ''5''.
* TheVirus: Several viruses, but only the T and G viruses and Las Plagas are TheVirus in the trope sense.
* VirusMisnomer: Most viruses, but the T-Virus takes the cake.
* WasOnceAMan: Most of the monsters you kill.
* WeaponOfChoice: You can be almost certain that the final boss is going to be finished off with a rocket launcher shot to the face.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: In ''ResidentEvil5'', some of Wesker's MotiveRants indicate that Wesker seems to genuinely intend to save the world. His method of doing so? Releasing the Ouroboros virus into the atmosphere.
* WhatHappenedToMommy: One of the child test subjects in the remake of the first ''Resident Evil'', as well as William in ''[=RE2=]''. This is also [[spoiler:Sheva's motivation for joining the BSAA in ''5''.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Rebecca Chambers hasn't been seen since the first game, despite having canonically survived the events and also being the ''only'' Spencer Mansion survivor who hasn't played a role in any of the subsequent games (and also despite managing to be the main character in the ''Resident Evil 0'' prequel).
** Same goes for Barry, Carlos, Billy. Funny enough, thanks to D.I.J.'s diary, we ''do'' know what happened to the actual mouse from ''Code Veronica''.
** Interestingly, the only peripheral character that actually had any development in a subsequent game is Ada, who you're sort of supposed to think died at the end of 2.
** [[ZeroPunctuation What happened to the pirate merchant guy?]]
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield:
** Raccoon City is stated as being in the Midwest, but the presence of [[TheMountainsOfIllinois high mountains]] makes this very unlikely. {{Fanon}} places the city in either Colorado or Pennsylvania, the only mountainous states that can be described as being remotely Midwestern, and the latter being where the novelizations placed it.
** The Spanish-speaking European country in ''[=RE4=]'' is never explicitly stated, and WordOfGod says that this was deliberate. However, the fact that a) it's a Spanish-speaking European country, b) a satellite shot showed the Iberian Peninsula, and c) Luis is from Madrid leaves very few choices as to what country it is.
*** The currency used in-game is pesetas... though [[DidNotDoTheResearch Spain had already switched to euros at the time the game is set in]], it's believable that the cult and parasitic infection in that area did [[FridgeBrilliance isolate it from the outside world and its currency change]].
*** However, they all have Mexican/Latin American accents, which don't match up with the supposed location. LA recording studios are going to have a lot easier time finding Mexican voice actors than Spanish.
** Kijuju, the setting of ''[=RE5=]'', is only described as being in Africa. The only hint as to ''where'' in Africa it's located is the fact that Sheva is from the BSAA's West African division.
* WhoYouGonnaCall: The [=STARS=] from the first Resident Evil 1, then the entire [=RPD=] after [=STARS=] was disbanded in 2/3. [=BSAA=] in Resident Evil 5/6. There's [=STRATCOM=] in Dead Aim.
* WithThisHerring: You often start out with a weak weapon (unless you're Kevin in ''Outbreak'', but he can barely find any ammo). The games at least attempt to justify this:
** ''Resident Evil 0'' and ''1'' - You are a cop caught in a situation way over your head.
** ''Resident Evil 2'' - You blunder into the ZombieApocalypse without warning.
** ''Resident Evil 3'' - Jill's off the force and doesn't have access to the guns any more.
** ''Code: Veronica'' - Claire starts the game in prison and Chris loses a bag of weapons into the sea.
** ''Resident Evil 4'' - We never see what Leon had in the police car, and it's destroyed before he can return. He's also only going to the village to ask some questions about Ashley, and with that in mind, he's actually carrying a lot more gear than he really needs.
** ''Revelations'' - Parker and Jill are only on the Zenobia in order to track down Chris and Jessica, and they have absolutely no idea that the ship is overrun with Ooze and other B.O.Ws.
** ''Resident Evil 5'' - [[spoiler:Excella is setting you up.]]
** ''Resident Evil: Outbreak'' - most of the characters were just chilling out at a bar when the outbreak got really bad. Kevin and Mark both retain their weapons, as they are a cop and a security guard. The rest have to find handguns dropped in bathroom wastebaskets, beat zombies to death with scrub brushes, or hack and slash with kitchen knives.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Wesker, given the revelation that [[spoiler:he was manufactured by Umbrella to be used as a weapon and was manipulated for his entire life by Ozwell Spencer, up to and maybe even after he died.]]
* WorstAid
* WrestlerInAllOfUs
* XtremeKoolLetterz: ''Resident Evil: Code Veronica '''X''''', the UpdatedRerelease.
* YourHeadASplode: That's if you make a well-placed headshot on a zombie/Ganado/Majini.
* "YouWouldDoTheSameForMe, wouldn't you?"
* ZombieApocalypse: Obviously.
* ZombieGait
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