Resident Evil

Resident Evil, known as Biohazard (バイオハザード) in Japan, is a successful franchise of horror-adventure video games developed by Capcom. It is credited with popularizing the survival horror game genre, in which the goal is to avoid being killed by monsters, undead and assorted evil creatures bent on attacking the player. The franchise is heavily influenced by George A. Romero's Dead movies.

Books

The Resident Evil video game series has been adapted into a series of novels by writer S.D. Perry. Although the novels follow the game's storyline faithfully for most part, certain details and plot directions from the games are contradicted due to the fact that some of the novels were written before the release of sequels that expanded upon the previous games' storylines. In addition, S.D. Perry has also written two original Resident Evil novels set between the events of certain novels.

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A second series of Resident Evil novels, based on the films, was also written by writer Keith R.A. DeCandido.

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S.D. Perry's game novelization series

• Resident Evil: Zero Hour - Book 0 in the series is a novelization of Resident Evil 0 and is written by S.D. Perry, 2004, ISBN 0671785117.
• ' - Book 1 in the series is a novelization of the original Resident Evil. 1998, ISBN 0-671-02439-6.
• ' - Book 2 of the series breaks from previous novelizations efforts, instead telling an original story set on the fictional island of Caliban Cove. Rebecca Chambers attempts to stop a rogue scientist from spreading a modified version of the T-Virus. A new S.T.A.R.S team is introduced including: David, John, Steve and Karen from the Maine branch. Written by S.D. Perry, 1998, ISBN 0-671-02440X.
• ' - Book 3 is a novelization of Resident Evil 2. 1999, ISBN 0-671-024418.
• ' - Book 4 is another original novel that sees Claire Redfield, Rebecca Chambers and Leon Kennedy attempt to take down Umbrella Corporation before their biological weapons are released. Maine S.T.A.R.S members David and John return from Caliban Cove. 1999, ISBN 0-671-024426.
• ' - Book 5 of the series is a novelization of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. 2000, ISBN 0-671-178496-X.
• ' - Book 6 is a novelization of the original Resident Evil Code: Veronica video game. 2001, ISBN 0-671-78498-6.

Keith R.A. DeCandido's movie novelizations

• Resident Evil: Genesis - Novelization of the first Resident Evil movie. Written by Keith R.A. DeCandido, 2001, ISBN 0-743-49291-9.
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse - Novelization of the second movie, ', the events of which are an alternate storyline in the Resident Evil 3: Nemesis timeframe borrowing some plot concepts. Written by Keith R.A. DeCandido, 2004, ISBN 0-743-49349-4.

Japanese novels

In addition to the above novels, various Biohazard novels has been published in Japan, including translated versions of Perry's and DeCandido's novelizations. The following a list of original novels that has been released in Japan.

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• Biohazard: The Beginning - An original novel released as a portion of the book The True Story behind Biohazard published by Capcom. The story serves as a prequel to the original game, in which Chris Redfield investigates the disappearance of his childhood friend, Billy Rabittson, an Umbrella employee. Written by Hiroyuki Aniga, 1997.
• Biohazard: The Beast of the North Sea (?????????????; Biohazard Hokkai no Yôjû) - Written by Kyu Asakura, 1998, ISBN 4-087-03067-9
• Biohazard: to the Liberty - Written by Suiren Kimura, 2002, ISBN 4-840-22093-X
• Biohazard: Rose Blank - Written by Tadashi Aizawa, 2002, ISBN 4-840-22080-8
• Biohazard - Japanese novelization of the first film unrelated to DeCandido's version. Written by Osamu Makino, 2002, ISBN 4-043-52204-5