The latest Japan-exclusive merchandise for the Resident Evil franchise will be familiar to fans of the series, as bath salts based on Green Herbs and Red Herbs are being sold in Capcom Stores. There must be lots of amateur botanists in the Resident Evil world, as there are potted herbs found all over the place, all of which just happen to be useful to people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse.
There are several different types of herbs in the Resident Evil world, bolstering the broad array of items present in the franchise. Green Herbs act as healing items, alongside the more powerful First Aid Sprays that are also found in the game world. Blue Herbs cure poison, Yellow Herbs increase maximum hit points, and Purple Herbs cure poison and heal a little damage. Red Herbs do nothing on their own, but they can increase the potency of other herbs. One of the benefits of the herbs is that they can be combined together, which not only makes their effect stronger but reduces the number of inventory slots they take up.
Resident Evil fans breathe a sigh of relief whenever they find some herbs, and now they can do the same while taking a bath. According to Famitsu, Capcom is selling bath salts based on the Green Herb and Red Herb from the Resident Evil series. These bear the Umbrella Corporation branding, as entering the bath salts market is the kind of crazy thing the company would have done in the old days. The bath salts cost 550 yen each (roughly $5) and they're being sold in Capcom Stores in Japan, as part of the 25th anniversary of the Resident Evil series.
The bath salts aren't the only strange pieces of Resident Evil merchandise sold over the past year, as perfume based on the franchise was sold last month. Resident Evil perfume was based on characters like Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, which meant they likely smelt like boulders and sandwiches.
The iconic items in the Resident Evil franchise are a result of the first game being set in a creepy old mansion. This is why typewriters and ink ribbons were part of the franchise for so long. The gardens of the Spencer Mansion likely spawned the idea of healing herbs as a restorative item in a game with a contemporary setting, but it's hard to imagine a Resident Evil game without them. The fans in Japan who are lucky enough to get their hands on these herbs can finally learn what it smells like when Leon Kennedy is grinding the items into powder.
Source: Famitsu