Click here for YMMV tropes for the original 1996 game.
- Anti-Frustration Feature: Because of Gameplay and Story Segregation, it is entirely possible to use the Infinite Rocket Launcher in the final battle against Tyrant, and complete the CQC FTW achievement/trophy in the Remaster (where you can only use the combat knife). This is because the achievement only tracks actions that are considered "in-game" actions (such as fighting a random zombie). Actions that are considered "cutscenes" (such as Jill's encounter with the zombie in the bathroom) do not count against the player. The Tyrant needs to be blown up with the rocket launcher to finish the game and so this is counted as a cutscene. The game makes no distinction between the rocket launcher Brad drops, and the Infinite Rocket Launcher, so a player could do the entire game with just the knife, then bring the Infinite Rocket Launcher to the final battle and still get the achievement/trophy.
- Cry for the Devil: Lisa Trevor due to what Umbrella did to her and her family.
- Demonic Spiders: In addition to the Hunters, the Crimson Heads. If you don't decapitate a zombie or burn their body, they will eventually become a Crimson Head. They are faster, stronger, and have claws.
- Fan Nickname:
- REmake or REbirth for the Nintendo GameCube version of the game.
- REmaster for the HD re-release.
- Good Bad Bugs: The North American GameCube version has a glitch that allows Jill to receive 240 of any type of Grenade Launcher ammo. Using this glitch with the flame rounds makes ensuring no Crimson Heads pop up very easy.
- Narm: Chris's pirate-like death scream.
- Newer Than They Think: All mentions of the Arklay Mansion being owned by Ozwell E. Spencer or built by George Trevor were added in this game; these characters weren't even named in the original canon until Resident Evil – Code: Veronica.
- Polished Port: The HD remaster is an HD port of the remake. All the character models were given better textures, the game supports widescreen and HD resolutions, the environments were given better lighting, some of the character expressions and animations were slightly redone to look more natural, and leaderboards were added. To top it off, you have the option to play the game in its original 4:3 aspect ratio and you can also choose to play with modern controls or the classic tank controls. New outfits were added for Jill and Chris based on their "Lost in Nightmares" B.S.A.A. uniforms from Resident Evil 5. The HD remaster adds achievements/trophies as well.
- Remade and Improved:
- The remake is so extensive, it's almost a brand new game. The visual upgrade between the PlayStation and GameCube is massive, the controls improved, some new story bits were added, the existing puzzles were changed extensively (with some new ones), numerous areas of the game were altered (especially the mansion), the new Crimson Head mechanic added tension to re-visiting older areas, and New Game Plus modes (Real Survivor, Invisible Enemy, and One Dangerous Zombie) helped increase replay value. Some alterations were done specifically to Mind Screw PS1 veterans (invoking Wrong Genre Savvy in some cases). Interesting enough, the developers tweaked the game to this extent, because Capcom's initial plan to make a mere "port" (which was finished months in advance) resulted in a functional but boring game. In other words, they rearranged everything as a Self-Imposed Challenge, succeeded, and appealed to newbies and veterans alike in the process. It has so eclipsed the 1996 release that some commentators and fans have begun wondering when "the original Resident Evil" is going to be remade alongside 2, 3, and 4, apparently not realizing that this game is a remake.
- The voice acting in the original game is legendarily terrible to the point of being regarded as So Bad, It's Good. The dialogue in the remake is more natural to listen to, though the voice acting can still be a little cheesy at times, possibly intentionally as a nod to fans of the original game's hokey acting.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Rebecca's treatment in this game changed her from the annoyingly chipper and somewhat daft character in the original game who seemed mostly oblivious to the gravity of her situation into a much more believable and sympathetic character who's tired, scared, and fully aware of the danger she's in but still tries her hardest to soldier on anyway. Since the remake and Zero came out, most fans have gone from not really caring if she ever made another appearance in the series to now looking forward to the times when she does.
- Sacred Cow: The original Resident Evil is considered the forebearer of all Survival Horror games. The remake likewise is considered to be one of the greatest Video Game Remakes of all time.
- Scrappy Mechanic:
- The new feature where aiming at a zombie's head with the shotgun, magnum, and infinite rocket launcher no longer results in an automatic headshot. This means if you have one of the weapons, it will kill the zombie, but their heads will have a random chance to explode. This can be a frustrating ordeal when you want to avoid Crimson Heads, and trying to beat the game as fast as you can. While Jill has a better chance to burn zombies with her grenade launcher, Chris has no such luck, since he has to rely on burning them with his lighter and kerosene, and that is finicky as all hell.
- The final portion of the game where you must reinsert a volatile fuel to reactivate the elevator. The problem with this is that you cannot run. Ever. Good luck trying to zig around enemies if they are still alive. Getting hit by an enemy also results in an instant game over, so it's best to clean house before attempting this, and cross your fingers that no Chimera decide to randomly spawn in during the final stretch.
- One Dangerous Zombie mode. The problem by itself isn't that it means an instant game over if you even accidentally attack the wrong enemy.
It's that you can't turn it off, coupled with the fact that several areas of the mansion are very narrow hallways with few ways around. The one saving grace is that once you leave the mansion and enter the guardhouse, Forest never comes back. The HD re-releases also added in a Very Easy difficulty that outright disables One Dangerous Zombie mode. - Not being able to skip the door opening scenes. Unlike in the original games where they were put in to disguise loading the next area, the improved technology behind the remake allowed the developers to do away with them completely, but they were left in as a stylistic choice after playtesters complained. This would have been a much neater idea if Capcom hadn't evidently forgotten that it was possible to make the door-opening screens optional —as had been done before in the PC port of the 1996 game— and that they could've very easily done so here, too.
- So Bad, It Was Better: The improved dialogue in the remake kills some of the fun for some fans who liked the original Narm Charm ridden dialogue.
- Special Effect Failure: The HD remaster does a beautiful job with the character models by bringing their textures to crisp HD quality and some rooms look even better with their HD renders, along with improved lightning effects. However, some areas were not as fortunate and it's easy to tell when the background was just upscaled from their original low res quality with a sharpening filter slapped onto it. The worst of it comes from the Aqua Ring where the brightness from the lights are somehow even brighter and the sharpening filter was set so high that the background looks completely ruined in artifacts.
- Tough Act to Follow: The remake is widely considered to be one of the best, if not the single best, survival horror games ever made. However, due to the original GameCube version being an Acclaimed Flop, it was one of the factors that caused Capcom to put a stronger focus on action in future Resident Evil games. The series wouldn't return to its classic survival horror roots until several years later with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and the remake of Resident Evil 2.
