Umbrella are Cyberdyne Systems
Coming back to Umbrella, they are to the Resident Evil games what Skynet is to the Terminator franchise. And when I say Skynet, yes I do mean Cyberdyne Systems…it’s just more people will know what I mean when I say Skynet. Both The Terminator and Resident Evil universes feature apocalyptic near world ending crisis’s that are the result of Government contracted evil corporations. In the Terminator franchise, it’s the company Cyberdyne Systems who develop the Skynet artificial intelligence for military purposes that almost wipes out the human race, and in Resident Evil, it’s the Umbrella Corporation who create the biological weapons the T-Virus.
Gelzer
Next up, let’s talk about the original plan for Resident Evil 1. Shinji Mikami, who was the game developer who was famously tasked with creating this horror game for Capcom because he didn’t like horror or to be scared created an early idea of the plot which is very different to the game that released as Resident Evil.
Mikami’s original idea for the game would feature humans who were cybernetically enhanced. The character who would eventually be renamed Barry Burton, as he became in the final release of the game was originally a character called Gelzer, and he was a Arnold Schwazenegger looking dude who had lost an eye and had it replaced with an infared scope.
So yeah, an Arnie looking dude with one robotic red eye is instantly very very terminator like. The original plan for Resident Evil had of course been inspired by Capcom’s earlier NES game Sweet Home, which of course was based on a movie of the same name. So, if Mikami’s original vision had come to pass and we’d had paranormal enemies rather than zombies, the game that would become Biohazard may have ended up as Ghosts vs The Terminator.
Of course, as history would tell us, the character Gelzer was scrapped and no characters were cybernetically enhanced with an infrared eye. But this change didn’t stop Arnold Schwarzenegger’s turn as the T800 still paying inspiration to the first Resident Evil game.
Verugo is a Terminator
Resident Evil 4, introduces us to the villain Verdugo. Verdugo is the Spanish word for executioner and yes, executioner is basically a synonym for terminator. The comparisons to Terminators continue as like Terminators, Verdugo is first shown disguised as a human, but like the Terminator is later revealed to be scary and a monster underneath the initial human like appearance. Also like a Terminator Verdugo has red glowing eyes and the upper half of his head isn’t unlike the robot skeleton inside a T800. Also like the T1000 he can attack you by stabbing a sharp spear like appendage through the ceiling.
Whose Line is it Anyway?
In the Terminator Reese says the famous line ‘come with me if you want to live’. This is perhaps the most iconic Terminator quote after ‘I’ll be back’ and is repeated several times throughout the series. This is also famously the first thing that Reese says to Sarah Connor when they meet.
Like this, in Resident Evil the Umbrella Chronicles, in the section based on Resident Evil 3, we see Carlos save Jill and then say to her ‘come with me’.
Another similar moment comes in Resident Evil 2 when Leon first meets Claire Redfield. Just like when the T800 first meets John Connor in Terminator 2 and tells John to ‘get down’, when Leon first meets Claire his first words to her are ‘get down’ as well.
Biker Chicks
Speaking of introductions, the first time we meet both Claire Redfield in Resident Evil 2 and Sarah Connor in The Terminator, they are introduced riding a motorcycle.
Faces of Fear
Back to Code Veronica, when defeating the final boss, Alexia, the face of Alexia becomes distorted as she realises that she is defeated. This looks like the T1000 face melt in T2 when it knows it’s defeated and finally melts in the molten steel.
Nice Night for a Walk
In Resident Evil 5 there is a death sequence that is possible where Albert Wesker can punch through Chris’s gut to kill him much like Arnold Schwarzenegger punches his fist through the gut of one of the punks he first meets in the original Terminator film.
Santa Claws
In Resident Evil 2 there is a scene where Leon and Ada are on a cable car and William Birkin stabs his sharp claws through the top of the train. This is very reminiscent of when the T1000 stabs his pointy spear like arms through the top of elevator in Terminator 2. In both the film and the game, the characters can shoot up to the enemy, but in both cases it’s best just to dodge.
Making an Entrance
Back to Resident Evil Code Veronica and we see Albert Wesker emerge from wreckage just as the Terminator does at the end of The Terminator. This continues the theme that Wesker is heavily based on the Terminator for his inspiration.
Get to the Chopper
Speaking of Resident Evil Code Veronica, the look of the helicopter chase at the start of that game is similar to the T1000’s attack at the good guys whilst in a helicopter in Terminator 2.
Both Resident Evil 2 and Terminator 2 have a helicopter crash.
Monologues and Music
A big theme of the Terminator films is that in the future, the human race are almost completely wiped out by Skynet unleashing nuclear bombs across the world. Sarah has nightmares about nuclear bombs going off in Terminator 2 and the music and sound that accompanies it really adds to the effect of how devastating this all is. The end of Resident Evil 3 Nemesis sees Racoon City wiped off the map by a nuclear bomb in much the same way that Sarah dreamed of the bomb. The soundtrack is also similar.
Freeze
Back to Resident Evil 4, and here’s something I missed earlier when speaking about our good friend Verdugo. Just like the T1000 gets frozen with liquid nitrogen in Terminator 2, you can knock over cannisters and freeze Verdugo in Resident Evil 4. And just like the T800 shoots the frozen T1000 and shatters him, if you grab your rocket launcher and shoot the frozen Verdugo, you too can shatter him and watch him explode into hundreds of pieces in Resident Evil 4.
Uh Uh Uh
Perhaps my favourite Terminator reference in a Resident Evil game comes in Resident Evil 5. This is a blink and you’ll miss it reference, but it’s so cool. When fighting Wesker, he will sometimes wag his finger to say no no, naughty naughty just like the T1000 does at the end of Terminator 2. The fact that Wesker looks like the T-1000 and does the same villainous mocking with the finger is a brilliant little Easter egg. But now I’ll wait for everyone to tell me this was actually a reference to the Chunk looking dude from Jurassic Park…
Hasta la Vista Baby
In Resident Evil 4, Leon says ‘Haste la wego’ to Mendez before setting him on fire which is similar to Arnie saying haste la vista baby to the T-1000 in Terminator 2.
I think it’s worth pointing out that both the Resident Evil and Terminator franchises are decades old now, and as such there have been many people take over the reigns to be in charge of both franchises. The first Resident Evil game came out in 1996, so at the time of writing is just under thirty years old. Meanwhile, the first Terminator film came out in 1984 which means its forty years old at the time of this exploration.
I mention this because the influence of the Terminator films is most evident in the early years of the Resident Evil franchise, but that I have found connections between the two from the very first Resident Evil game that released in 1996 all the way up to Resident Evil 5 that released in 2010. As the Resident Evil games have been remade, with remakes of Resident Evil 1, 2, 3 and 4, some of these have in turn also featured connections to the Terminator films, but this is primarily because they are recreated the original Resident Evil games, rather than being done as intended specific Terminator references.
And so there you have it! All the references to the Terminator films I could spot in the Resident Evil games. Was this all intentional on Capcom’s part, or are some of these just coincidence or a case of when you look for similarities or parallels you are always likely to find some?
For me I think I’m right in saying most of these were intentionally similar as they were clearly Terminator fans who took inspiration from it. But I’m also the same guy who made a video pointing out how Capcom made Resident Evil 4 as a partial remake of Final Fight 1. You can check out that video below:
The Resident Evil games certainly did take a lot of inspiration from the first two Terminator films, but these weren’t the only films to inspire Resident Evil games. I’ll be back with another video and article to explore what other movies have inspired the Biohazard games another day!
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