While this year's Resident Evil 3 remake is now what comes to most players' minds when the title is mentioned, but one creative, cooped-up cosplayer is paying homage to the original game with a nostalgia-fueled video. Resident Evil cosplayers are often among the most inspired in the gaming community, and this particular cosplay is as inventive as it is charming.
The original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis released in 1999, at first being planned as a spin-off title to bridge the gap between the surprise success of Resident Evil 2 and an eventually scrapped sequel. However, the production of the PS2 led to that proper sequel being scrapped, which led to Resident Evil 3: Nemesis's development rapidly growing in scope and story. The initial plans were to reuse Resident Evil 2's Raccoon City and give an all-new character a starring role, but the sudden shift resulted in fan favorite Jill Valentine taking the spotlight, who players control for the game's entire 6-hour campaign (minus one small section that was greatly expanded in the remake).
Looking to recreate the PS1 classic's sense of survival horror dread while retaining its blurry textures and blocky protagonist, cosplayer Barbara Tamires donned Jill Valentine's iconic blue tube top and leather skirt to hunt flesh-eating zombies in the comfort of her own home in an Instagram video captioned "Resident Evil: Corona Virus." Using a mix of perfectly cut sound design, smart editing, and sound effects that back a rush of nostalgia for anyone who played Resident Evil 3: Nemesis on the PS1, Tamires transforms her home - and herself - into a digitized stage that would have fit right into the game. Picking up and using the early series's iconic items like First Aid Spray and Green Herbs, a shotgun-wielding Tamires recreates the title's stiff walk cycles, door and stair animations, and claustrophobic camera angles on a search for her main objective: her cute dog, who she "equips."
Tamires does an excellent job of recapturing the awkwardness of the early Resident Evil franchise, with her charmingly hand-drawn inventory screen suddenly interrupting the atmosphere with the instantly recognizable menu music. That said, it's a testament to the original's off-putting formula that even her lighthearted fan video surely had some viewers nervous of threats like Nemesis lurking just off-screen to turn her into a Jill Sandwich. While the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes have more or less put to rest the arguments that the survival appeal of the originals was only thanks to the fixed camera and slow pace, this short skit evidences that those elements can add tension to a real-world Jill Valentine's mundane avoidance of infection during quarantine.
Even while Capcom and other studios hurry to pave over their inelegant, polygonal pasts with ambitious remakes like Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy VII Remake, passionate fans and cosplayers like Barbara Tamires show that people still care about the works that made gaming's more polished and profitable present possible. With rumors of a Resident Evil live-action film reboot swarming about, Tamires would be shoe-in if Hollywood decides to go a more retro route than the past movies starring Mila Jovovich.
Source: Barbara Tamires