Resident Evil's Raccoon City: A Complete History - From Sleepy Town to Zombie Nightmare

Survival fearfulness is yet coming home. Raccoon City is the mounting for the classical Resident Evil games, its awesome remakes, and immoderate amazingly applicable spinoffs. As acold arsenic iconic locations successful zombie fabrication go, Raccoon City easy hangs successful the hallowed institution of beatified fearfulness spaces similar the Monroeville Mall and the Winchester pub.

Just arsenic it seemed that Resident Evil had definitively closed the publication connected RC, Capcom announced a instrumentality to the ruins of Raccoon City for the ninth main introduction successful its seminal endurance fearfulness series. For longtime fans, Resident Evil Requiem feels similar it could beryllium a joyous reunion...

But beingness successful Raccoon City tin be… complicated. Infrequent visitors mightiness find themselves asking questions similar “Where americium I?” “What the heck happened here?” "Does the satellite cognize astir the miraculous healing powers of colored herbs?" and “Why bash I person to enactment jewels successful a statue erstwhile I spell to the DMV?”

That’s wherefore we’ve assembled this eventual tract usher to Raccoon City. We’ll research RC’s behind-the-scenes history, sermon everything that went down successful the games, unpack the town’s enduring appeal, and lick a fewer mysteries on the way.

Why “Raccoon City?”

Introduced successful the opening seconds of the archetypal Resident Evil, oregon “Bio Hazard” successful Japan, “Raccoon City” had an important relation to play successful establishing the series.

Resident Evil’s predecessor, the Japan-only Famicom crippled Sweet Home, took spot successful a haunted mansion successful the Japanese countryside. Producer Tokuro Fujiwara wanted to remake the 8-bit cult classical for a caller procreation of consoles, but Capcom nary longer had the rights to the movie from which Sweet Home was adapted.

So Fujiwara and manager Shinji Mikami reworked the conception to halfway astir zombies alternatively of haunted paintings, envisioning the crippled arsenic an interactive fearfulness movie, implicit with a haunting score, cinematic pre-rendered backgrounds, and leap scares a-plenty. Instead of taking inspiration from supernatural, intelligence J-horror specified arsenic Sweet Home, the developers alternatively looked toward the West.

The terrifying streets of Raccoon City successful Resident Evil 3. Image credit: Capcom

Resident Evil intelligibly owes a monolithic indebtedness to George A. Romero, the godfather of the zombie genre who changeable his movies successful the tiny cities surrounding Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Setting the crippled successful a fictional Anytown, U.S.A. allowed Capcom to seizure the vibe of classics similar Dawn of the Dead and make inroads to a Western assemblage much efficaciously than immoderate live-action FMV series with cheesy American actors

Early drafts of Bio Hazard had the enactment taking spot successful a municipality called “Harnbee,” located successful either New Jersey oregon Arkansas. Capcom yet decided to sanction the metropolis aft an animal, which isn’t unusual by itself, arsenic the good folks from Buffalo, New York oregon Dinosaur, Colorado volition archer you. Still, adorable trash pandas look similar an unusual prime for spine-chilling endurance horror.

One longstanding mentation is that Capcom was referencing the taxon of “raccoon dog” called tanuki, which Western gamers mightiness beryllium acquainted with from its beingness successful Japanese folklore and popular culture. These cute small guys look a batch similar raccoons, prevention for immoderate flimsy anatomical differences, and they’ve rather often appeared successful video games. So could “Raccoon City” conscionable beryllium a localized mentation of “Tanuki Town?” It’s not likely.

For 1 thing, tanuki aren’t adjacent raccoons astatine each arsenic acold arsenic taxonomy is concerned. More importantly, the archetypal Bio Hazard refers to its mounting arsenic “Rakūn Shiti,” utilizing the English transliteration of “raccoon” arsenic opposed to “tanuki” oregon “araiguma,” the Japanese connection for the existent species. With Raccoon City, Capcom is precise specifically referring to the North American mammals. But why?

The skyline of Raccoon City. Image credit: Capcom

Raccoons aren’t autochthonal to Japan, but successful the ‘70s, a fashionable anime called Rascal the Raccoon led to tons of Japanese radical importing the small critters to support arsenic pets. This was not a bully idea, arsenic anyone who has to woody with these feral, garbage eating creatures tin archer you, and today, raccoons are classified arsenic an “invasive alien species” that causes millions of dollars successful damages to crops and wildlife each passim Japan.

Were the mindless swarms of flesh-devouring zombies that infest “Raccoon City” inspired by these destructive varmints? Could it beryllium a commentary connected America’s less-than-stellar estimation connected the planetary stage, oregon astatine slightest the behaviour of its astir obnoxious tourists? It’s surely possible, but it’s improbable that a crippled that’s specified a loving homage to American fearfulness films would marque that benignant of dig. The existent reply is astir apt much simple: the mansion is successful a forest, Raccoons unrecorded successful the forest, hence “Raccoon Forest,” which successful crook gave the metropolis its name.

In the end, Capcom wanted to marque a zombie crippled acceptable successful the U.S. and came up with a plausible-sounding spot for it to happen. There’s nary hidden meaning oregon acheronian concealed lurking astatine the bosom of Raccoon City… At least, down the scenes. Within the satellite of Resident Evil, there’s a batch going connected beneath the surface.

Raccoon Rising

Nestled successful the Arklay mountains, bordered by the sprawling Raccoon Forest to the north, was a tiny midwestern municipality called Raccoon City. Founded successful the 1800s, RC was mostly unremarkable until the extremity of the swinging ‘60s, erstwhile its struggling system was revitalized by a firm benefactor that would 1 time bring astir its full destruction.

In 1968, 3 champion buds with a brainsick imagination got unneurotic to signifier the Umbrella Corporation. The plan? To make a superior breed of humans done twisted science. While nary of the profoundly unpleasant men who founded Umbrella had immoderate heavy ties to Raccoon City, Oswald E. Spencer conscionable truthful happened to person immoderate invaluable existent property that would beryllium cleanable for their evil ambitions.

A fewer years earlier, successful 1962, Sir Spencer commissioned a celebrated New York designer named George Trevor to physique his imagination location successful Arklay County. Situated supra a sprawling limestone cavern ample capable to big a concealed underground laboratory, the mansion was to beryllium a recreation of Spencer’s puerility property backmost successful England… with a fewer twists.

The lobby of the creepy Spencer Mansion. Image credit: Capcom

Trevor made his sanction designing intricate buildings with traps, concealed passageways, and tricksy puzzles– the kinds of gimmicks that marque lunatics similar Spencer (and strategy usher writers) squeal. As the mansion neared completion successful 1967, Spencer grew much paranoid, arsenic evil masterminds thin to do. He was convinced that Trevor would uncover his secrets, truthful helium convinced the designer to bring his household to Raccoon City and conspired to hitch them each out.

Spencer infected Trevor’s woman Jessica and girl Lisa with the Progenitor Virus, precursor to the T-virus, the manmade zombie plague that would aboriginal doom Raccoon City. Jessica died, and was entombed beneath the mansion. Lisa survived, but mutated into a shambling, nigh-unkillable monstrosity. Umbrella kept Lisa captive for 28 years, experimenting connected her to nutrient adjacent deadlier concoctions similar the G-virus.

As for aged George Trevor himself, helium coiled up trapped successful a labyrinth of his ain making. According to his diary, portion searching for his household helium really forgot the solutions to the puzzles helium created, which is relatable if thing else. Unable to juggle each the crests, keys, and cranks that unlocked the Spencer Mansion, Trevor died of thirst and starvation heavy wrong the bowels of his last masterpiece.

With those escaped ends somewhat messily tied up, Umbrella was escaped to proceed with its huffy science, thriving wrong a blissfully unaware Raccoon City. The municipality was increasing rapidly, and the jobs provided by Umbrella paid for immoderate much-needed infrastructure. Founded successful 1969, the Raccoon Police Department yet purchased a palatial creation depository to person into its office astatine the urging of aboriginal main (and madman) Brian Irons.

Lisa Trevor. Image credit: Capcom

Now harmless nether the watchful oculus of a deranged serial killer, the increasing colonisation soon enjoyed the benefits of a zoo and its adorable mascot, Mr. Raccoon, a kick-ass nationalist transit system, a grooming schoolhouse for talented youngsters, a university, a bustling downtown buying district, and astatine slightest 1 pro shot team. Give it up for your Raccoon City… Sharks? RC besides hosted a thriving media manufacture that someway sustained 8 newspapers and a TV quality network, each chopped down successful their premier 20 years earlier the pivot to video.

Umbrella kept the city’s economical humor pumping with its legit industries supra ground, but the existent wealth came from the apical concealed probe it conducted nether Raccoon City’s nose. The eugenicist imaginativeness of Spencer and the founders was mostly replaced with the highly lucrative manufacture of creating bio-organic weapons (B.O.W.s) for the highest bidder. Deadly arsenic they are, the Hunters, Lickers, and Chimera Umbrella churned retired by the truckload were simply the beta versions of its eventual creation, the mighty Tyrant.

In the aboriginal ‘90s, Umbrella cemented its clasp connected Raccoon City by pouring tons of wealth into a revitalization task called “Bright Raccoon 21.” It built hospitals and orphanages, renovated the landmark timepiece tower, and recruited a peculiar ops constabulary portion called S.T.A.R.S. successful 1996. It besides took the accidental to conception not 1 but 2 concealed NEST facilities underground, wherever idiosyncratic William Birkin was hard astatine enactment connected the G-virus.

Umbrella owned the mayor, the constabulary department, and employed 40% of the city’s 100,000 citizens. It had infected Raccoon City similar 1 of its patented viruses, transforming the rust-belt concern municipality into a bustling metropolis nether the robust grip of Umbrella.

This didn’t past precise long.

The Raccoon City Destruction Incident

The concern began spiraling retired of Umbrella’s power successful aboriginal 1998, erstwhile unusual occurrences astir Raccoon City started drafting unwanted attention. Strange dogs with wet, decaying soma were spotted successful the woods, and a bid of grisly murders seemingly committed by cannibals had residents spooked astir a imaginable decease cult lurking successful the forest.

The vigor made Umbrella nervous, truthful it called upon its quality cause extraordinaire, Albert Wesker. As the institution antheral successful complaint of S.T.A.R.S., helium was to pb the portion connected a sham probe to cleanable up the messiness and retrieve precious combat data, the azygous astir invaluable commodity successful the Resident Evil universe. Wesker, magnificent bastard that helium is, was plotting to ditch Umbrella astatine the archetypal opportunity, but helium complied with his orders.

On the 23rd of July, 1998, the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team chopper crashed successful the forest, courtesy of Wesker’s sabotage. The antheral successful the shades personally led Alpha squad connected a alleged rescue ngo that trapped them successful the iconic foyer of the Spencer Mansion. As the events of Resident Evil 1 play out, S.T.A.R.S. members Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine conflict done zombies and B.O.W.s, observe the hidden laboratory beyond the manor walls, and larn of Umbrella’s relation successful the slaughter.

As Bravo Team rookie Rebecca Chambers discovered successful the highly mid prequel, Resident Evil 0, the Mansion outbreak was the enactment of Umbrella co-founder James Marcus, oregon rather, a mutated leech posing arsenic the murdered magnate. She reunites with Jill and Chris, lone to beryllium betrayed by Wesker, who unleashes Umbrella’s apex limb connected his erstwhile comrades. Wesker is seemingly skewered by the Tyrant, which is destroyed by a deus ex rocket launcher courtesy of cowardly aviator Brad “Chickenheart” Vickers, arsenic the surviving S.T.A.R.S. members (and a chemically-enhanced Wesker) flight the exploding facility.

Rebecca Chambers and Chris Redfield conflict Umbrella's Tyrant. Image credit: Capcom

Umbrella instantly went to enactment covering its tracks, hushing up immoderate media murmurs and bribing Chief Irons to discredit and disband S.T.A.R.S. The corporation’s containment efforts were astir arsenic palmy extracurricular of the laboratory arsenic successful it, and the walls were closing in. Sightings of monsters successful the Arklay portion continued, increasing ever person to the municipality arsenic summertime turned to fall. William Birkin had seen enough.

The antheral down the mutagenic G-virus was preparing to manus implicit his probe to the U.S. government, successful speech for a cleanable slate and extortion for himself, his woman Annette and girl Sherry. Umbrella caught upwind of his intentions and dispatched a spec-ops task unit to NEST connected September 22nd. In the ensuing firefight, Birkin injected himself with his G-virus, transforming into a assemblage fearfulness monstrosity and releasing T-virus samples among the city’s rats and into the h2o supply. Raccoon City would beryllium overrun wrong days.

The subject descended connected the metropolis successful a failed effort to incorporate the disease, portion Umbrella dispatched its ain backstage mercenary group, the UBCS, to incorporate the situation. Umbrella besides made the astir of the accidental to trial caller B.O.W.s, airdropping a Nemesis pursuer and fistful of Tyrants into the chaos to dispatch unwanted survivors, recapture the G-virus, and research their combat capabilities successful a catastrophe script of its ain design.

By the 28th of September, the RPD had fallen and the service had each but abandoned Raccoon City. Those who remained live did immoderate they could to past the outbreak, often successful episodic scenarios perfectly suited for online co-op sessions. On the 29th, a rookie bull with heartthrob hairsbreadth arrived successful Raccoon City, precocious for his archetypal time connected the occupation and someway unaware of the demolition that lurked within. Welcome to Resident Evil 2.

Leon Kennedy linked up with Claire Redfield, a young pistillate searching for her member Chris, who was disconnected successful Europe doing his ain probe connected Umbrella. Together, the 2 sought refuge successful the zombie-infested RPD, evading “Mr. X” and a mutated William Birkin with assistance from Ada Wong, an cause moving for Umbrella’s unnamed firm rival. Together, they tempest the NEST, rescue Birkin’s girl Sherry, witnesser Ada’s evident demise, decision their tormentors, and haul ass retired of the self-destructing installation connected a speeding train.

Leon holds his crushed against the mutated William Birkin successful the NEST. Image credit: Capcom

Resident Evil 3 revealed that Jill Valentine was trapped successful municipality portion each this was going down, her past flight halted by the relentless Nemesis, programmed to execution immoderate remaining S.T.A.R.S. members. Jill teams up with Carlos Oliveira and his ragtag radical of UBCS spooks to infiltrate the secondary NEST installation and find a vaccine. The Nemesis is destroyed, on with immoderate imaginable T-virus cure, and Jill and Carlos fly the metropolis soon earlier its destruction.

On October 1, the U.S. authorities decided to lavation its hands of Raccoon City by wiping it disconnected the map. The President ordered the motorboat of an experimental thermobaric rocket to destruct the town, immoderate grounds of the outbreak, and each surviving and unliving carnal inactive inside. When the particulate settled, each that remained of Raccoon City was a smoldering crater.

Umbrella’s relation successful the catastrophe was exposed by writer Alyssa Ashcroft, a subsister who revealed the beingness of B.O.W.s to the world. The U.S. President resigned successful disgrace, but the authorities managed to support its dealings with Umbrella nether wraps. Facing prosecutions, lawsuits, and dwindling income pursuing the decease of 100,000 people, the Umbrella corp shriveled and died, leaving Raccoon City arsenic its final, shameful legacy.

The Uncanny City

The fewer little mentions of Raccoon City successful Resi 1 sparked our imaginations, and RE 2 made them a reality. While the sequel mostly took spot wrong the ornate RPD building, RE 2 begins with a bang, throwing Leon and Claire into the burning streets of Raccoon City due and daring them to past the horror. Clambering up occurrence escapes and sprinting past zombie-filled hoops courts was specified a mind-blowing enlargement of scope successful 1998 that we didn’t truly announcement that Raccoon City doesn’t marque immoderate sense. At least, not for an American city.

The pre-rendered backgrounds of the archetypal Resi 2 and 3 are chock-full of narrow, winding streets and mazes of tiny alleys that pb to dormant ends, nary of which are truly typical of a bustling mid-sized midwestern metro. In fact, Raccoon City arsenic primitively envisioned feels a batch similar the commercialized country of a Japanese city– Shinjuku draped successful grimy Western acceptable dressing.

Most Japanese crippled devs successful the ‘90s weren’t fixed the fund to alert crossed the Pacific to bash in-depth probe connected cities successful the United States– Konami famously utilized the Arnold Schwarzenegger household drama Kindergarten Cop arsenic its superior notation erstwhile conceiving the streets of Silent Hill. RC isn’t expected to beryllium an close U.S. city, it’s an imaginary mentation of 1 cooked up via Capcom’s taste osmosis, based connected its impressions of American civilization from afar– it’s nary coincidence that RE 2’s lone accessible gathering extracurricular of the RPD is Gun Shop Kendo. The effect is simply a Raccoon City that feels acquainted capable to Western audiences with a subtle undercurrent that thing is wrong, the uncanny vale effect played retired successful biology design.

The streets of Raccoon City successful the archetypal PS1 mentation of RE2. Image credit: Capcom

This sensation diminished arsenic the bid evolved beyond pre-rendered backgrounds, with the multiplayer-focused Outbreak games returning to a afloat polygonal RC. The somewhat forgotten spinoff has been thrust into the spotlight with the uncover that Resident Evil Requiem volition prima Grace Ashcroft, girl of newsman Alyssa Ashcroft who was a salient playable quality successful Outbreak. It’s a bid worthy revisiting adjacent without the quality to play online, successful ample portion due to the fact that of however it expands Raccoon City. Survivors research bars, hotels, flat buildings, a zoo, and adjacent Raccoon University campus, fleshing RC into a much afloat realized abstraction portion maintaining the gritty, pre-HD vibe.

The advent of the Resident Evil remakes gave Capcom the accidental to update Raccoon City for a caller generation. The awesome RE Engine provided realistic, precocious fidelity graphics, but it feels similar thing was mislaid successful translation. While the metropolis much intimately resembles a thriving midwestern tourer destination, with towering skyscrapers and a much sensible municipality layout, it sacrifices the otherworldly aesthetic of the archetypal games. It feels little similar a waking nightmare and much similar an existent place– adjacent though a real-life Raccoon City is alternatively implausible. Umbrella backing aside, the sheer magnitude of amenities and infrastructure built to service specified a tiny colonisation would astir apt rise immoderate suspicious eyebrows and decidedly jack up the rent prices.

And adjacent if it could beryllium successful our world, that begs our last question: wherever is Raccoon City expected to be? Capcom has ne'er definitively stated its location, and the astir circumstantial the canonical bid ever got was successful the intro to the Resident Evil 3 remake.

The (fantastic) tie-in novels by S.D. Perry explicitly placed the metropolis successful agrarian Pennsylvania, arsenic did the screenplay for George Romero’s legendary unproduced Resident Evil adaptation. The Paul W.S. Anderson movies kept things vague, with immoderate clues that Raccoon City is either adjacent Allentown, PA oregon determination successful Michigan, but astir of the enactment was filmed successful Toronto, Canada. The ill-fated Welcome to Raccoon City movie was likewise changeable successful Ontario, but it excessively declined to sanction the authorities it stood successful for.

RE Requiem pb quality Grace Ashcroft is the girl of Alyssa, a quality from RE Outbreak. Image credit: Capcom

Countless instrumentality theories person emerged passim the decades, utilizing each snippet of lore and a full batch of logical leaps successful an effort to deduce the determination of Raccoon City. Plausible arguments beryllium for Colorado, South Dakota, and adjacent Cleveland, Ohio, but the prevailing proposal is that Raccoon is simply a basal successful for Springfield, Missouri. There aren’t galore mountains successful the midwest, aft all, but the foggy Arklay hills could beryllium interpreted arsenic Missouri’s Ozark region. Springfield besides happens to beryllium situated supra monolithic limestone caverns with plentifulness of country for increasing young B.O.W.s.

There are a fewer holes successful this hypothesis, similar the information that Leon and Claire look from Raccoon City into a sprawling godforsaken that is acold removed from immoderate geographic diagnostic of the Show-Me State. The information is, we astir apt were ne'er expected to cognize precisely wherever Raccoon City is– and possibly that’s what makes it truthful creepy.

Raccoon City could beryllium the increasing municipality up the roadworthy wherever a soulless corp conscionable built a caller billion-dollar information center. It could beryllium the quaint hamlet up by the woods that hosts a mysterious aged location that’s rumored to beryllium haunted. It could beryllium your city, that 1 time you mightiness person to flight successful a hopeless dash for survival. For astir 30 years, Raccoon City has played big to countless mysteries and unanswered questions, immoderate of which whitethorn yet beryllium revealed successful Requiem. But 1 happening has ne'er been successful doubt: Raccoon City is simply a scary spot to be.