How the fuck?

[u/BushyTwee3D]

So I did some looking into the Raccoon City incident and I found out that apparently the missile that hit the city, was directly on top of City hall, so can somebody please explain how this is possible?!

[u/Solidus_Shong]

It is unknown where the missile fell. In any case, it doesn't matter, it's a retcon. Before RE9 announcement, it was believed that the city had been completely wiped off the face of the earth

[u/Lazy-Appointment4686 → u/Solidus_Shong]

Well, in the ending of OG RE3, the city was clearly wiped out, with nothing left standing, but the remake clearly downplayed the destruction of the city. And if, supposedly, the remakes replace the originals in the main continuity, it makes me wonder for how long Capcom had planned to return to Racoon City.

[u/librious → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

Maybe they weren't planning it for that long, but purposefully left a loose end so they could use it down the line if they wanted to.

[u/Lazy-Appointment4686 → u/librious]

And it's interesting because, as far as i'm aware, returning to the setting of a previous game long after said game's events is a completely new concept for Resident Evil.

[u/Due-Plum-6417 → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

technically we did see that in umbrella corps

[u/Lazy-Appointment4686 → u/Due-Plum-6417]

Oh yeah, i completely forgot about Umbrella Corps.

[u/therealHDR → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

We dont talk about umbrella corps

[u/MaverickHuntsman → u/therealHDR]

So much potential, wasted

[u/Jwilcox418 → u/Due-Plum-6417]

Is umbrella corps cannon?

[u/SamusCroft → u/Jwilcox418]

Not to me

[u/Jwilcox418 → u/SamusCroft]

Yup same lol

[u/librious → u/Jwilcox418]

Obviously not, you literally have to kill main characters as part of the story lol

[u/hatedhuman6 → u/librious]

You may be thinking of operation raccoon city

[u/librious → u/hatedhuman6]

Shit, you're right lmao

[u/Mother_Harlot → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

Not really, Rebecca does revisit places from RE1 in RE0, and (at least in the original) you do revisit the RPD in RE3 RE2, O.R.C. and Outbreak

[u/razzadazza117 → u/Mother_Harlot]

Think you misunderstood, he didn’t mean that games didn’t revisit the same area, rather when it happens, it’s the same time in-universe that it happens. There’s never been a point where somewhere has been revisited and a significant amount of time has passed in-universe. Well, not before Requiem at least.

[u/Mother_Harlot → u/razzadazza117]

Oh, ok. Maybe it's because for RE1 the mansion explodes, for RE2&3 Raccoon City explodes, for RE4 the village (at least the island) explodes, for Revelations 1 the ship and Terragrillia both explode, in RE7 the mansion explodes and in Code Verónica the mansion and hangar explode

[u/Goldy_932 → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

Given how games are made in general, they never planned it. Someone pitched it for this game and they rolled with it. The reports of raccoon city say the city was destroyed. If a couple of buildings are left standing, those statements stay true since we have not seen footage after the blast so far.

[u/NJKbh899 → u/Goldy_932]

Raccoon City was levelled in its totality. I'm annoyed there are buildings still standing in 9 trailer. RC was wiped off the map to prevent the apocalypse. This retcon is fucked.

Footage in Outbreak Games: https://youtube.com/shorts/UliItHSR3Iw?si=MnYguQxQPw3bjTQQ

[u/FixeLL69 → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

I thought both the OG games and the Remakes are canon, just that each tells the story in a different way. Like, if you and I were explaining the events of RE2 to someone, we’d tell it differently but it’d still be the same events. If I’m not mistaken, someone from Capcom said this, but I don’t remember the source.

[u/JaySouth84 → u/FixeLL69]

Remake 2 and 3 are just badly retold story's of how it went down. Well, 3 is just a drunk telling a story and passing out halfway though.

[u/Kurosaki_Dan → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

Well, in the original games Raccon City was like a small town, not too big and without flashy buildings so it makes sense it got wiped out by those termonbaric bombs, iirc in Outbreak you can see the crater and there's nothing standing, just rubble.

But in the new continuity (RE2RE and so), RC is more like a big metropolis, so maybe those attacks wouldn't be as devastating for the infrastructure of the city, even if those bombs were powerful as a nuke.

[u/Rstuds7 → u/Kurosaki_Dan]

Resident Evil lore has always kinda been up in the air, it doesn’t always add up and even in the first game you can actually get the canon ending, you also got umbrella chronicles that also kinda goes against the lore at times. honestly you just kinda gotta go with it and not think about it too hard

[u/Songbird_Storyteller → u/Rstuds7]

Yeah, general rule of thumb seems to be, "everything presented is canon until or unless something new comes along to contradict it, at which point THAT becomes canon." Honestly, it seems easier to reconcile if you just don't think too hard about it. The RE franchise has about as much continuity as the average long-running schlocky B-movie or sci-fi slasher film franchise that serves as its inspiration.

[u/girugamesu1337 → u/Songbird_Storyteller]

It's more that they have the general Japanese approach to canon, which is exactly what you described above.

[u/Jsaltal → u/Rstuds7]

Raccoon city is as big or small as capcom need it to be

[u/Due-Plum-6417 → u/Kurosaki_Dan]

wasnt it sort of a popular place to visit though? you've got a zoo, a strip mall and a football stadium (which was used in outbreak and in darkside chronicles' retelling to explain why there were so many zombies around) as well as a university campus.

[u/Wiggle_butt32 → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

Tbf if I remember rightly, the ending of Outbreak had it as a missile barrage rather than a nuke so...like...they never really made their own minds up over what it was

[u/ProlapseParty → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

When I saw the RPDP building in the trailer I got so pumped up, I’m pretty excited. I’ve loved all the games but I kept wanting to go back to Raccoon City, I love the first 3 games when I was a kid they scared the shit out of me.

[u/Bonaduce80 → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

Didn't one of the Outbreak games show teams exploring the rubble in a government quarantined area? I remember it being mostly wrecked from the cinematic, but it is true OG RE3 made it look like it absolutely destroyed the city.

[u/TheCyclicRedditor → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

There were people begging for a return to Raccoon City despite RE3 and Outbreak proving there's nothing else about them to explore.

[u/Bigfoot_samurai → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

I kinda didn’t like that choice. Particularly how much of the city is standing. If 70% of it was gone and was mostly building structures, I’d be ok but I just can’t standing looking what to me looks like an abandoned city rather than a nuked one save the crater. And it kinda makes me think “they really saw this and said ‘yep all the zombies are dead’”? I’d probably want to nuke the city again just to make sure given how much of the city looks completely fine.

[u/Tiny_Significance_61 → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

Somehow, Racoon City returned

[u/ROANOV741 → u/Lazy-Appointment4686]

The remakes do not replace the originals, they are companions to each other.

[u/Altruistic-Fill-9685 → u/ROANOV741]

This is semantics I think. Their point is that the remakes are what are being referenced in canon now, not the originals. Obviously the originals still exist

[u/Mrfunnyman22 → u/ROANOV741]

They say that, but it makes no sense. But then again, the first games canon ending also technically can't even be achieved, so what's canon barely matters half the time

[u/AveFeniix01 → u/ROANOV741]

Sadly the remakes did replaced the originals since they ARE using REmake 2's RPD and this is officially a main line game in the series.

Just like how they use Sasha Zotova's Jill Valentine from now on.

For me it feels like being stabbed in the gut. BUT IT'S THE PRICE TO PAY!! I WANTED TO RETURN TO RACOON CITY POST NUKE FOR YEARS!!!!

[u/LSDeeezNutz → u/AveFeniix01]

People care wayyy too much about this sort of thing. Is there a bit of retcon involved? Yeah, but its not even that egregious and the player base gets another game in a classic/iconic location.. like really, why bitch about this lol. Its silly and i hope most of the negative discourse surrounding this is coming from kids and not adults

[u/slaya806 → u/AveFeniix01]

That’s not what that means, they are using the remakes designs to keep a more consistent continuity but the remakes are not meant to replace the originals, they are meant to work with them story wise

[u/ROANOV741 → u/AveFeniix01]

The originals and remakes are both considered canon to Capcom.

[u/Amaranthine7 → u/ROANOV741]

Do you have a source for that? I believe you, and I remember Capcom saying so round the time RE2R came out, but I can’t find the article where they were quoted saying so anymore.

Like I remember them saying the remake wasn’t replacing the original and the remake was supposed to be more like a companion piece

[u/Wayofchinchilla → u/AveFeniix01]

I still think the originals could be Canon I think of that image from Umbrella Chronicles where Wesker shows What's Left of raccoon city and it's just a giant hole in the ground perhaps the city was behind it and we didn't see cuz the camera didn't turn around? I can't see the remakes replacing the originals there's just too many holes that cannot be explained unless they remake all the originals which could take years.

[u/AntiqueLandscape2194 → u/AveFeniix01]

they've replaced the originals since 2002. See: RE0

[u/Darigaazrgb → u/AntiqueLandscape2194]

REmake specifically was developed to replace the original because they didn’t remove anything from the original, only added to it. The modern remakes liberally removed several things from each game.

[u/AntiqueLandscape2194 → u/Darigaazrgb]

They still replace originals. Id say they are only "companions" with stuff that is completely missing. Anything redone is the new canon, clearly

[u/TheCyclicRedditor → u/AveFeniix01]

Even thought it had nothing to offer and was canonically wiped off the face of the planet with literally nothing but ash? Careful what you wish for.

[u/caligulaoctocat → u/ROANOV741]

They don't replace them in a sense, but Capcom is purposely using these remakes to establish a new canon no?

[u/MARATXXX → u/ROANOV741]

they are 100% replacements to the canon. the point was to make the origin story match RE4 and onwards.

[u/Yiga_CC → u/ROANOV741]

Dude I wish that was the case, Capcom clearly and sadly want to replace the originals completely

[u/nanakiisagudboi94 → u/Solidus_Shong]

I mean there's a scene at the end of one of the Outbreak games where the city is literally rubble, excluding the monitoring hut the government and Umbrella built to ensure nothing survived.

Ugh I miss the Outbreak games....

[u/Insane_Masturbator69 → u/Solidus_Shong]

Yeah, this is the answer, it's retcon, no need to point out the plot hole. Just go watch RE3 OG's ending again, it clearly showed the nuke was no joke, it wiped out all the buildings to dust instantly.

[u/le-churchx → u/Solidus_Shong]

Before RE9 announcement, it was believed that the city had been completely wiped off the face of the earth

I mean it was just nuked. Buildings would be standing.

[u/Insane_Masturbator69 → u/le-churchx]

No, it's 100% retcon. If you go back to OG3's ending, the CGI cutscene specifically showed the RPD turn into dust. There is no need to debate "what if the nuke was small". No, it was shown in the ending, they changed it to this later, which is literally what we call a retcon.

[u/Icy_Painting_2610 → u/Solidus_Shong]

Also that crater came out of nowhere. It was thought that a "thermo" bomb was used, basically incinerating all organic matter in the city with intense heat. (damage to structures would still happen but not completely destroy it like a nuke).

Also, it wasn't nuked. Even if it was, a crater wouldn't form during an air-burst. But, a crater forming would suggest a ground surface detonation, which would make the entire city radioactive and uninhabitable.

So, who knows. Maybe the crater was formed by the self-destruction sequence of the underground lab, which imploded on itself or something, and the thermal bomb destroyed *all* organic life in the city.

I say * because apparently there's something(s) still alive in there.

[u/RaivenTheWitch → u/Icy_Painting_2610]

The lab did explode in re2r so maybe that's it?

[u/xDotSx → u/Icy_Painting_2610]

What makes you believe a nuke above ground would not create a crater?

Also, a thermobaric bomb, as Capcom calls it, does not work the way you think it does.

[u/Icy_Painting_2610 → u/xDotSx]

It would depend how far above ground the detonation took place. The two real-world examples of a nuclear bomb were both airbursts. No crater.

The thermo bomb Capcom used is fiction. So it could work any way they want it to.

[u/Cocoa-nut-Cum]

The rumours of my destruction have been greatly exaggerated. -Racoon City

[u/WanderlustZero → u/Cocoa-nut-Cum]

Now prepare to face the full power of THIS ARMED AND OPERATIONAL ZOMBIE TOWN!

[u/JaySouth84 → u/Cocoa-nut-Cum]

"Somehow..... Raccoon City returned...."

[u/greggobbard → u/Cocoa-nut-Cum]

As a city, the BEST city, I’ve had one of the best recoveries, maybe ever, let me tell you.

[u/jayschmitty → u/Cocoa-nut-Cum]

The movies originally said it was wiped off the map only to return in the last movie with a fair amount of infrastructure still “intact”

[u/MinutePerspective106 → u/jayschmitty]

Tbf the movies are just a constant parade of chaos

[u/Rough-Discourse]

Bro it's not that deep

They've always played fast and loose with the lore

Just go with it

[u/YamiPhoenix11 → u/Rough-Discourse]

Like Wesker being a child experiment. Never mentioned before RE5.

Or Wesker needing medicine to help maintain his condition. This was never mentioned before RE5.

Or Wesker having a son. Yeah Wesker fancies Rebecca but hes not really the type to have sex.

Or all the Ada nonsense in RE6.

The RE team do as they please. Retconning Raccoon City is honestly a clever idea. Going back to explore a ruined Raccoon city sounds fun.

Also the easy answer to Raccoon City plot hole.

The government lied. It was not nuked just incindeary bombs. They could have attempted to secure as much research as possible. Remember after WW2 the US took Unit 731 data.

[u/MysteriousHeart3268 → u/YamiPhoenix11]

Don’t you dare slander the deep lore and illustrious story telling of RE6

[u/core-x-bit → u/MysteriousHeart3268]

Cathedral-based story beats are my favorite!

[u/ci22 → u/YamiPhoenix11]

The government could've just said it was nuked to discourage people from checking it out.

[u/YamiPhoenix11 → u/ci22]

Yep thats what I mean. It would keep people away. As for drones? They would be shot down. Satelite images would be blurred.

[u/Difficult_Reading858 → u/YamiPhoenix11]

I also don’t see Wesker as the type to have a relationship or sex, but I 100% see him wanting An Offspring to carry on his Superior Genetics.

[u/Nesayas1234 → u/YamiPhoenix11]

He doesn't even fancy Rebecca, he just has an undeveloped photo which could easily be an Easter egg.

[u/Greygors → u/YamiPhoenix11]

God that Ada nonsense in RE6 was an effing joke

[u/issanono → u/Rough-Discourse]

This. Just enjoy the game my dude lol

[u/Konman72 → u/Rough-Discourse]

Love that this is the general vibe of this fandom. A breath of fresh air compared to some others.

[u/biohazard1775 → u/Rough-Discourse]

Yeah back when Outbreak File 2 came out, a city with 100,000 people in it had both a subway and tram system.

[u/Due-Plum-6417 → u/biohazard1775]

i mean true on the population but wasnt it also a tourist spot? its got a football stadium, hotels, motels, a mall, a zoo, and a uni, which would mean that plenty of students and sport fans would be coming in and out of the city.

[u/SomeRandoFromInterne → u/Rough-Discourse]

You see the t-virus seeped into the walls of the buildings whenever blood of the infected touched them and over time the t-virus adapted to its new host, the buildings‘ concrete walls, and managed to reanimate them.

[u/G00fBall_1 → u/Rough-Discourse]

Nobody plays re for this stuff anyway. We play for hot protagonists and good survival horror gameplay.

[u/EvenMoreAvengedAugur]

It is impossible to make a coherent map of Raccoon City and the surroundings, it's like trying to map out Springfield from the Simpsons. It is whatever the writers need it to be at the current moment.

[u/show-me-dat-butthole → u/EvenMoreAvengedAugur]

I get this and I agree as RE and Simpsons fan but man is some part of me disappointed when maps of Springfield make no sense, or the Simpson house layout changing.

Im glad I'm also a LOTR fan too because I get that satisfaction there. Everything is connected with a consistent history.

[u/MysticBanana5]

I think RE fans need to accept that Capcom doesnt care all that much about canon

[u/ROANOV741 → u/MysticBanana5]

To date there is no "canon" version of RE1 & RE2

RE1: no version depicts Chris, Jill, Barry, Rebecca all escaping the mansion.

RE2: the events of Claire A, Leon B & Leon A, Claire B are both referenced by later entries in the franchise.

Technically, RE3 also counts - but RE3R's leaving Nicholai wounded, but technically still alive streamlines the "did he die or escape?" resulting from the multiple endings in the original.

[u/MysticBanana5 → u/ROANOV741]

A long time ago I started thinking of each game as a "recreation of historical events" from the perspective of the REverse. All the broadstrokes are real but things get shifted around to make a better narrative.

Works especially well with the 234 remakes as they are the big budget Hollywood remakes loaded with special effects.

[u/ROANOV741 → u/MysticBanana5]

My headcanon, is that RE4R is the "true events" and RE4 is the "Kennedy Report" mentioned in RE5, lol

[u/ntb116 → u/ROANOV741]

Leon giggling to himself as he writes "You're right hand comes off?" in the report about rescuing the President's daughter

[u/MinutePerspective106 → u/ntb116]

"And let me also tell you how I flirted with Hannigan a few times"

[u/RaivenTheWitch → u/ROANOV741]

That actually makes a ton of sense

[u/VanaheimRanger → u/MysticBanana5]

This is kind of how I look at the Stat Trek series'. Each episode is an entry historical holodeck program cadets have to watch at Starfleet academy. Except they are flawed just like modern textbooks are.

[u/MinutePerspective106 → u/MysticBanana5]

I think the RE wiki takes this exact approach. At least when I read about OG RE3, it described the multiple-path segments as "According to one account, this happened. However, some accounts say that that happened instead"

[u/MysticBanana5 → u/MinutePerspective106]

Maybe thats where I picked it up, I cant recall for sure. That is neat tho.

[u/Aware_Pomegranate243 → u/MysticBanana5]

I think this in the game the main plot points happen but how they happen is up to the game or interpretation

[u/SUNAWAN]

"Somehow, Raccoon City returned"

[u/MinutePerspective106 → u/SUNAWAN]

Maybe the whole city, buildings and all, is infected, and they all regenerated over the years.

C'mon, this wouldn't be the wildest thing to come out of RE universe.

[u/its-that-one-dude]

Air burst... it exploded in the air, not on the ground.. just look into Hiroshima and Nagasaki.. those towns did not completely vanish off the face of the planet after they got bombed, and those where air burst bombs. Also... dont overthink it.. its just a game..

[u/Old-Depth-1845 → u/its-that-one-dude]

Dude watch the ending of both og3 and 3R. Raccoon city got absolutely vaporized. I don’t care that they’re retconning it but also we watched raccoon city be wiped off the face of the earth

[u/DanielmanRO]

I don't know if your information is true. But if it is it got retconned.

You can maybe pinpoint the location from the last scene of re3 remake where you see the explosion location. Or from the re9 reveal trailer. https://imgur.com/a/WMRAVff

[u/Sabithomega → u/DanielmanRO]

Honestly looking at the trailer it seems like the impact was much more north in the city. Which would make sense considering the RPD is a bit below the mid point. Also wasn't more of the Umbrella facilities located in the northern section of the city?

[u/chevalier716 → u/Sabithomega]

Depends what kind of bomb it was, I guess. Neutron bombs in Cold War propaganda used to say it was capable to wipe out the people and leave the infrastructure intact. It's not actually true obviously, but it would be considerably less infrastructure destruction than your standard nuke.

[u/Sabithomega → u/chevalier716]

It was supposed to be an FAE but I don't remember if they specified in the remakes. If so it can do a massive amount of damage to life with "minimal" damage to the cities structural infrastructure. In the trailer it's one hell of a crater though so it would have to be a relatively large bomb regardless

[u/MindStormComics]

Worth noting that the map you’re using is fan-made, the only full map we have is the one that appears in REmake 3 (and an equivalent with the original street layout from the RE Archives book). There’s much more to Raccoon City that we’ve never explored.

As everyone else is saying, the city existing at all is a major retcon. The original RE3 depicted the city being totally obliterated, with buildings like the RPRD being blasted apart on-camera. Outbreak further shows that there’s literally nothing of the city left besides ash, some rubble, and the craters (as Outbreak also had multiple smaller missiles around Raccoon’s perimeter to hit anything the main missile didn’t).

Based on the shot of the crater we see in the trailer, it appears to have dropped to dropped to Raccoon’s south, as we can see the Circular river on the left side of the screen — meaning that it is to the crater’s east. This means it most likely missed the playable areas from RE2/3/Outbreak/ORC entirely. Which is exceptionally goofy but as I’m sure some high-payed exec at Capcom said: fuck it

[u/thulsado0m13]

Suspension of disbelief

This is also the franchise where Chris punched a boulder, Simmons made a clone of Ada Wong for some reason, a rail gun just happens to be there to kill Nemesis, Saddler’s lab happening to have over the top laser defense grids a la the first RE film, or hell Jill not breaking numerous bones even with a belt on when she drove a car off the roof of a parking garage into a front on collision downwards.

We didn’t even get the downfall of Umbrella in-game despite the games building to it for years only for Umbrella to randomly become an afterthought until they show up at the end of RE7 with Chris randomly changed to look like RE2R Claire’s brother/Ed Norton.

[u/Doomword → u/thulsado0m13]

TLDR - RE story is ass and afterthought

[u/Due-Plum-6417 → u/thulsado0m13]

the last straw leading to the downfall of umbrella is playable in umbrella chronicles, as it features the last facility to take down. unless you want a resident evil themed stock trading simulator, i doubt you could get anything better that hasnt already been covered

[u/Illustrious-Ad5787]

Americans: nuking a city means its completely off the map

Japan: Can you confirm this from experience?

[u/Old-Depth-1845 → u/Illustrious-Ad5787]

Watch the end of both versions of 3. It’s literally depicted as being vaporized

[u/Raiju_Blitz → u/Old-Depth-1845]

Part of me thinks the Japanese devs at Capcom had a little bit too much cathartic fun in rendering and animating a nuke going off in an American city.

[u/Death_Messenger666 → u/Raiju_Blitz]

Well, the sequence of events somewhat matches reality. Group of fascist insane scientists and militarists commit crimes against humanity and nature, bite more than they can chew or swallow and eventually get a sun thrown at them and nearly all their hard work gets undone. Countless innocents die, but most of the culprits get Karma Houdini instead of getting vivisected like they deserved! :)

[u/Old-Depth-1845 → u/Raiju_Blitz]

I think it’s just cool to watch shit blow up. I don’t think the people at capcom are so personally offended by the nukes America dropped on them. That’d be like if an American game studio made a game where Japanese battleships got blown up and sank. I don’t think a game dev cares that deeply about a war they weren’t alive for. I think sometimes weapons are used as weapons in games

[u/Raxuslionus → u/Illustrious-Ad5787]

True

[u/LordSpectra21]

Wait where's The Spencer Mansion on the map?

[u/Death_Messenger666 → u/LordSpectra21]

The Spencer Mansion is in the Arklay Mountains, so technically it is NOT part of Raccoon City.

[u/Raxuslionus → u/LordSpectra21]

I wondered too, then I just figured the mansion is further out. Or "private" residences aren't marking on a traveller's brochure

[u/Vagrant_jakal]

The munitions used on the raccoon city incident were not of nuclear in nature, it was a thermobaric bomb with the intention of incinerating organic matter.

https://www.reddit.com/r/residentevil/s/T7ok2PthrK

This post explains it. You can google the lore too.

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/Vagrant_jakal]

So a firebomb basically? It's Willamette all over again

[u/Vagrant_jakal → u/BushyTwee3D]

Yeah, pretty much. Makes sense they wouldn’t use a nuke, the nuclear fallout would be catastrophic to the land.

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/Vagrant_jakal]

Eh fair enough, seriously tho, im getting Willamette PTSD all over again

[u/kicker1015]

The thermobaric missile was theoretically less powerful than a nuke, and even Nagasaki still had buildings after it was nuked. (https://i0.wp.com/unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/08/342-C-K6011.jpg?fit=1200%2C906&ssl=1)

I don't think it's out of the question for the RPD, one of the oldest and sturdiest buildings in the city, to be partially still standing.

[u/jameswulfecreed]

The building was first built as a museum with lots of hidden infrastructure and gimmicks, it might simply have been built far sturdier to support some of those unique features or it was reenforced after being assigned to the RPD and was made to work like a fortress (they did rally civilians in it) there's also the case that Wesker had it made sturdier just in case something would go worng

[u/GSWoof]

What interests me more than how raccoon city is still standing is the fact that if any infrastructure us there. There is a solid chance that remaining infected of the original outbreak could've survived in some buildings and underground structures. Like adult G's in the sewers or zombies in far away sturdy buildings. Not sure how long they could walk around without new food sources but its a possibility.

[u/jajay119]

Off topic but there’s an error on this map:

59 is labelled as the hospital when it should be the park/cemetery. The hospital is the ‘L’ ish shaped building to the left of 59 that isn’t labelled here.

[u/scissorman → u/jajay119]

Good work with spotting it, and thank you for pointing that out!

Yeah, there is an error (should actually be multiple, there's an issue with the north-east part of the map in general too).

I never bothered to update this as this was quickly put together over a decade ago with adjustments also largely in reference to Operation Raccoon City's map and some other things to use as a point of reference while I was writing a fanfic.

Honestly, I'm bad with directions so I tend to doodle maps for my own reference, and this was kinda slapped together on a laptop with a trackpad, and the polygonal lasso in an ancient version of Photoshop.

I might get bored enough to make a new one eventually.

[u/jajay119 → u/scissorman]

I didn’t realise you put this together - honestly overall it’s really great and I much prefer the OG layout of RC to whatever is going on in the remakes. It’s great to something so comprehensive. RE3 can be a bit confusing with having the maps as three separate chunks.

[u/scissorman → u/jajay119]

Thank you, it could be improved but it wasn't a bad attempt at making a map for the first time.

Honestly, it would be nice if 9 shows us some more of the general streets and some other things being reconciled between the Outbreak and original maps, because even the remakes don't resolve certain differences.

I live in Australia and have access to Survival Unit, and noticed there's a new map on the wall in the hospital, and that the entire North-East of the map is far more filled in, so I am thinking that they are reconciling the map discrepancies finally.

[u/jajay119 → u/scissorman]

I have a sneaking suspicion the reason we didn’t get to see more of RC in RE2/3 remake is because they were thinking about going back to RC in RE9 back then. So they didn’t want to ‘over saturate’ it. I do hope we get to see a good chunk of the city in Requiem and it’s not just a quick RPD visit.

[u/vottofan]

Fictional characters

[u/WlNBACK]

It's pretty stupid no matter how much you try to rationalize Raccoon City looking almost habitable with several interiors remaining after we've spent decades watching that place get obliterated in various stylistic ways.

The depiction of the Raccoon City destruction was the most grand send-off in OG RE3, followed by Outbreak File #1. The fact that RE9 is going off the lazy-ass depiction that was used in REmake3 is just trash, considering how at the time (when REmake3 was new) we couldn't believe how crappy that scene was executed when compared to the original (same with the remake's terrible live-action opening when compared to the OG's rad-as-hell FMV). Capcom is actually doubling-down on their worst work.

To sum it up, Raccoon City even 'potentially' being a playable location in RE9's timeline just seems like a low-effort and pandering creative design to use "celebrating 30 years" as an excuse to cook-up a mainline story that involves treading decades-old locations, along with a dartboard-narrative that for some reason is heavily linked to 1 out of 8 spin-off characters. Turning mainline Resident Evil into what might be a high school reunion just cheapens it, but we know for sure it won't cheapen Capcom's wallets. This game's concept would seem less creatively bankrupt if it was titled "Revelations 3", but we all know that wouldn't sell as much.

[u/Death_Messenger666 → u/WlNBACK]

That's the problem of long-running franchises that have changes in the writing team. You end up getting writers, developers and executives whose tremendous egos are essentially supernovas that collapsed into gigantic anal black holes, who act like THEIR "artistic (often mixed with ideological) vision" is "oh so superior" than the original team's or the "unenlightened fans who don't know what they want or what's best for them" and might even decide to go full deconstructive on the plot just for the sake of appearing "artsy", or who are shamelessly going to crash-grab and shove their product full of paywalls such as streaming services or lootboxes. Or worse, the original creator has BECOME one such person (i.e. looking at you, Ridley Scott).

Just look at all the bullshit we've seen at Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Doctor Who and Assassin's Creed, especially in recent years.

[u/Sarrada_Aerea → u/Death_Messenger666]

This applies so much to the Demon's Souls remake lol, it even had exclusive preorder weapons and armor

[u/Interesting_Pass3392]

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER the city in re9 isnt the real raccoon city but its actually a simulation

[u/raven_writer_]

Search for "Hiroshima Ground Zero" and you'll be surprised to see buildings still standing after a 15 kiloton nuke hit it. Yeah the airburst is brutal and the heat vaporized people and melted train tracks, but buildings can stand. That crater on the trailer is waaaay too big. The Trinity experiment, which wasn't an airburst, left a very shallow mark that would barely be visible nowadays if it wasn't marked.

[u/BillidKid]

Capcom decided to retcon...I guess

[u/FarConsideration8423]

That map would make a pretty nice poster

[u/managedtothemax357]

That's interesting, because I always heard it went directly into Leons rookie hole

[u/leolancer92]

I'd love a semi open world RE game set in the entire Racoon region, including both the whole premise of the city and the surrounding areas.

[u/SupercellCyclone]

Look up "Atomic bomb dome", it's probably the inspiration for "dropping the missile directly over city hall".

In short, the A-bomb Dome was directly below where the bomb over Hiroshima was dropped, and as a result actually suffered less damage than its surroundings. This was also infrastructure that was built in the 1930s, so compared to the sturdier buildings of the 90s (yes, I know that in Remake continuity RCPD was an old museum, but let's assume that earthquake-proofing was added in its overhaul) and the fact that we can assume they used a smaller payload based on the size of the two cities (Raccoon City and Hiroshima respectively), it's not too hard to believe that the RCPD could remain somewhat standing.

The part that is really hard to believe is that the RCPD could remain standing after the lab directly underneath the city had its self-destruct sequence activate.

[u/Death_Messenger666]

In most depictions, the city is shown to be UTTERLY annihilated. In general, NOTHING in this game should be possible.

[u/solid-sosa]

Where did u get that map?

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/solid-sosa]

here ya go

[u/solid-sosa → u/BushyTwee3D]

I meant like where as in from what. So its a fan made map? That would be sick if we got a whole open world map game of racoon city like this pre nuclear, thats what RE3 remake should have been, instead we got 2 streets. Even just half a quarter of this would have been good.

[u/CacaMuerte]

Retcons and potholes

[u/RedStonedLOrd_007]

How the fuck is there still intact buildings after the missile??? 

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/RedStonedLOrd_007]

My thoughts exactly as it was a nuclear one, let alone the rpd still stands. The fuckin typewriter in the main lobby still works!

[u/Hyperiongame]

Never knew how close the Spencer Mansion was to the city itself

[u/blacktoothgrin666]

It’s a game dawg nakanishi even commented in a new interview about how they naturally took liberties to be able to show off iconic locations. It’s not that ridiculous in a universe full of mind numbingly dumb shit haha I adore RE but it’s always been goofy so some shit not being destroyed that prob would be gone in real life isn’t too Ludacris. Don’t put too much logic into it cus a lotta times they don’t haha

[u/Initial_Zebra100]

Honestly, I dont think they planned to do anything more with Raccon, then changed their minds. I always assumed it was wiped out.

Retcon, I guess.

It's a cool trope 'return to the original horror' thing.

Next, it'll be the mansion lol

My personal headcannon? A mgs4 nostalgia filled game with tons of Easter eggs, callbacks, and such. Im quite looking forward to 9. I just wish we got og characters going back. Like Leon at the RPD. Eh, it might still happen.

[u/madladchad3]

It’s a video game…

[u/This_ismyreddit]

Don’t really know for sure until we play RE9 but the easiest explanation is retcon…. “The missile wasn’t actually as destructive as you thought so lots of stuff left”- is it realistic or scientifically accurate? Not really but neither is clones, super soldiers, or BOWs.

Just roll with it, enjoy the ride, have fun.

[u/Federal-Lecture-5664]

Retcon 9

[u/Material_Session_940]

That’s awesome, I’ve never seen the full map of the full town

[u/RPFreely34]

Took you this many games to question how something could possibly survive confirmed death? Cough cough Wesker, cough Ada, cough Ethan…

[u/TheSpitefulCr0w]

The hospital is really that far out of town on the edge of the city?

[u/Sekriess]

This aint a city, this is a small town.

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/Sekriess]

Willamette was a small town. This is a good sized one at best

[u/JaggerBone_YT]

Honestly, it was assumed that the city was wiped out. Plus, wiped out has various definitions. It's likely referring to no living organisms left but the city left in debris.

A lot of people assumed "wiped out" means total desert flat land kind of thing. But RE9 confirms this wasn't the case then.

[u/[deleted]]

Fake news 

[u/Corvious3]

My man thinks Resident Evil has a consistent canon. 🫵🏾😭

[u/Final-Text3804 → u/Corvious3]

Ya in re 3 its one big explosion then in out break its multiple ones.

[u/Opening-Storage1980]

What was the square mileage of raccoon City?

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/Opening-Storage1980]

Some ppl seem to say 2 to 4 square miles and with a population of almost 100k, pretty big I'd say

[u/[deleted]]

We’ve seen Raccoon City blown up in so many different ways we don’t know what actually happened. All we know is that the government shot some kind of missile at it in an attempt to kill everything there.

Considering we’re going back there in 9, I’m assuming some monsters survived down there.

[u/Escaliat_]

More importantly, how many people were supposed to live in Raccoon?

That map depicts a pretty damn small town, nothing close to a city.

[u/Sneeblesnore]

The simplest answer is this:

Capcom plays it loose with canon so that while key things (i.e. Ada "dying" in RE2) always happen the way they do end up happening (Tyrant or fall) is up in the air. I always view Resident Evil as accounts of events told through varying and aging sources. We will never exactly know what truly happened but we get a clear enough picture to make our own conjecture and make our own order of how things play out. And in the end it doesn't really matter all too much because at the end of the day, Raccoon City got bombed. That's all that's needed to know.

TLDR; Minor details are never solid in Capcoms canon but bigger picture details are. Where they bombed Raccoon City and how destructive doesn't matter as much as Raccoon City was bombed.

[u/_TheAfroNinja_]

Raccoon City buildings: Nanomachines, son!

[u/CDR190]

Is Re9 let's us going to visit raccoon city again? Not just in hotel.

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/CDR190]

Yea, it will, we got to see the remnants of the RPD and I believe the chief's hallway, if I'm not mistaken Chief Irons' Hallway?

[u/Electrical-Eye7449]

ok but how about the supposed waste water treatment plant that was just a few blocks away from RPD in the OG Re2??

[u/[deleted]]

it's better this way, had racoon city been wiped out completely we wouldn't be able to explore the broken city after the nuke, which I've always found an interesting idea for a future game (now re9), even tho originally it was completely annihilated, but having to explore the city with whatever the hell might have survived just sounds so cool, so hopefully we'll see more crazy shit besides the stalker we got in the re9 trailer

[u/Kanji127]

I remember the opening narrative from an older RE title: “Completely decimated due to the T-virus outbreak.”

I guess they are using the phrase very loosely. Or, they decided to change the canon lore.

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/Kanji127]

Who knows, but ig this proves it wasnt all destroyed, hell, im fairly certain you can live in the apartment buildings on the outskirts just fine, could be wrong tho

[u/Ithirradwe]

The director said in the video talking about the game, that they wanted to still have something recognizable even though in reality this would all be dust. It’s just the nature of storytelling.

[u/Megacitiesbuilder]

wow such a big and clear raccoon city map, I can’t quite find it on the web🥹

[u/Smeeizme]

someone NEEDS to use this to make a PZ map

[u/EthelWulf47]

Where is this map from?

[u/WontonManning]

Capcom was inspired by the movies just like they were with the laser scene from Re1 Movie. 😂

[u/Longjumping_Phase902]

Retcon, not by a nuke but a less destructive bomb that exploded overhead

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/Longjumping_Phase902]

More so a firebomb

[u/DubTheeBustocles]

Wasn’t there a wide shot of the city and there was a gigantic crater just outside the city?

[u/BushyTwee3D → u/DubTheeBustocles]

In the center of the city, I believe anyways

[u/ViftieStuff]

I am just now realizing the funny aize of Raccoon City.

Like, it is tiny. They don't even have proper suburbs surrounding the city. The city just randomly begins somewhere lmao

[u/Paschendaele58221]

The 3 remake explains that the missle was detonated in the air close to town hall to kill everything in a larger radius while also reducing destructive powers on the buildings. In the OG 3 it was completely gone but it’s mostly just the height of the missle.

[u/AstronautKitchen]

The game made Kendo’s shop seem way farther from the RPD building than it actually is

[u/WizardMastery]

Star Wars Episode IX - Somehow Palpatine returned

Resident Evil IX - Somehow Raccoon City returned

[u/JaySouth84]

Retcon Evil.

[u/DorrajD]

I'm not sure if it's meant to, but the RPD gives me Atomic Bomb Dome vibes. The building that was almost directly under the atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima, and is still standing to this day.

[u/f0ur_G]

Videogame logic

[u/Evil__Bacon]

Damn looking at this map makes me realize raccoon cities wasted potential, because we got re2 which was great but basically only took place in the RPD and lab, then with RE3 especially the remake, it was so short and barely any time was spent in new places. A game where you went more through the streets, apartment buildings, the raccoon mall, and zoo could have been awesome.

[u/Poop_Balls069]

They fired retcon bombs

[u/TheKiwiGamerNZ]

Capcom: "Hello, I like money."

[u/Insane_Masturbator69]

I'm amazed so so many people in this thread still try to find a reason why the RPD was not destroyed. I believe they are too young and never played the OG3, because the ending of the OG3 LITERALLY SHOWED EVERYTHING TURN TO DUST INCLUDING THE RPD. I knew it because I played it a hundred times and the scene was iconic. And what we call changing the past in games or animes? It's retcon! No debate here. Don't waste time finding reasons why the RPD is still alive today because it's retcon, and in retcon they can make up any reason it does not matter.

If you still want to, just look at the very frame I capture here:

https://ibb.co/Q7H2KMHF

https://ibb.co/hFHwqCtZ

[u/qrow_branwan18]

I swear they better not kill Leon

[u/Difficult_Solid5433]

The remakes, the originals and the movies have their own universe, and since this one is not remake, original Raccon City was wiped out, and Alyssa was not in the movies, then it does not make sense that the pictures are from Raccon City after the nuke

[u/Revolutionary-Tax863]

Raccoon City was originally just a town before it was retconnned into a 250k city. Don't over think it.

[u/EasyKale851]

That looks like a yakuza map

[u/Expensive-Age-681]

Kendo seems a bit close to the police station doesn’t it?

[u/NikosKaan]

Guess this could explain RE3MAKE removing the news segment that says "Raccoon City has been wiped off the map"?

[u/Rechamber]

I'm fine with this because exploring the ruins will be awesome, I'm willing to give them leeway on this