Resident Evil: Mikami Talks Disney, Capcom, Nintendo & Abusive Father

The creator of Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami, has revealed in a recent interview with Japanese weekly games magazine Famitsu the early days of his recruitment into the games industry and also about his relationship with his father.

Mikami explained how he passed the entrance exams for Doshisha University in Kyoto after previously failing them for two years straight. He went on to explain his joining of Capcom through firstly attending a job-fair-slash-buffet party that was being held at the local Hilton hotel by the developer which he learned of courtesy of a flyer handed to him by a friend. He added that he mainly went as he wanted to eat at the Hilton for free but once the conversation started to flow with the Capcom staff his motivations became about more than just food.

The renowned developer then applied to both Capcom and Nintendo at the same time and as a result each company's second round of interviews were due to be held on the same day with Mikami in the end choosing Capcom over Nintendo. He admitted that it was likely for the better as he felt he probably had no chance with Nintendo and that he was better suited to a company like Capcom.

Through his ascent in Capcom, firstly by working on licensed Disney properties and then creating Resident Evil, Mikami remarked that this is when things started to go awry for his chosen career. He explained that when Resident Evil 1 had been completed he was promoted to the position of producer which took him away from the development side of the game creating process.

He added that, "There was a time when I wanted to leave Capcom because of that - I joined Capcom in order to create things, and I thought that going away from that would be counter-productive. It was hard, not being directly involved with the development process."

Mikami also added that he set up his own studio, Tango Gameworks, with the intention to allow developers the creative freedom that he was never able to enjoy whilst at Capcom. He added that "There are lots of incredibly talented game developers in Japan, or at least I think there are, so I want to open the gates and give them as much opportunity as I can."

In a very personal manner, Mikami also talked of the relationship with his father when growing up in the 1970s, explaining that the man was very scary and would hit him pretty much daily. He added that his father had to start working whilst in middle school and consequently dropped out of high school to support his family which he respected but that didn't stop him from being such a violent person.

Mikami recalled a memory where he didn't do his homework one night. As a result, his father kicked him out of bed and ended up chasing him in his car whilst Mikami was still in his pyjamas for roughly five to six kilometres. When they had both reached the coastline, his dad drove off without saying anything, leaving the young Mikami to walk home by himself. He added that had the police seen this happening his dad would have probably been arrested due to the bizarre nature of the event.

So now we know, all it takes to create one of the most famous survival horror series of all time is to have your angry father chase you in his car in the early hours of the morning (or something like that).

Source: 1up