Someone Upscaled the Live Action 1996 Resident Evil Opening to 4k

So the original 1996 Resident Evil opening/endings might be one of the poorest aging things in the history of gaming. While the game itself is still a ton of fun to play (I highly recommend the DS port, which enhanced gameplay a bit), there really isn’t saving how unabashedly horrible the live-action elements were. Featuring a cast of actors who weren’t the game’s voice cast (no matter how much people seem to think they were) who deliver some incredible Best of the Worst tier performances, the cheapness and cheese of these sequences have become legendary among fans.

Now, some mad bastard has used an AI machine to upscale it to 4k (they also list 60fps but considering it was barely 15 back in the day there isn’t much that can be done). However bad it was before, it is unspeakably funny now. Note that this is the full-color, uncensored opening from the 1997 UK version of Director’s Cut (while NA’s Director’s Cut was advertised as including it, it did not by mistake).

I actually love this opening a lot, and I suspect many fans do as well. It’s mostly nostalgia of course, but the unmitigated cheese is just so charming. It really does become clear just how bare-bones this video was to create now though, feeling maybe a tick above fan parodies that have been made since. Hell, nobody even knows who Jill’s actress is, she’s only ever been credited as “Inezh” and Shinji Mikami genuinely doesn’t remember anything about her beyond being about high school age. Of course, I do have to give this opening credit for absolutely having the best title call of any Resident Evil game since. It just has such a… punch to it. As bad as it is, it has been replaced so thoroughly by REmake that it’s fun to laugh at (and if Inezh’s big goofy smile is anything to go by, laugh with) now and hopefully we can have some appreciation for how hard they tried even if it is really bad.

Although it is worth noting that this was never intended to be cheesy or silly and that they 100% tried to make it scary and badass, which somehow makes it even more endearing.