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Resident Evil turns 30 this year, and Capcom has been soliciting tributes from a wide range of industry veterans, including former Sony Computer Entertainment executive Shuhei Yoshida.
In a brief video message celebrating the zombie-slaying franchise's birthday, Yoshida reveals that the original game very nearly launched with green blood rather than red – in Japan, at least.
Because there was no industry-standard age-rating system in Japan at the time, Yoshida explains that he was concerned that younger players would buy the game and be disturbed by the red blood.
However, after testing the game with green blood, it was decided that the game "didn't have the right atmosphere," so Capcom added a warning to the box informing buyers that it contains violence and gore.
The game was one of the first to receive a 'Mature' rating from the ESRB in North America, while in the UK, Resident Evil was released with a 15 age rating. The game's introduction sequence was censored for the Western localisation, removing some of the more gory aspects.