Japanese
American
Capcom were unable to use the name "Biohazard" outside of Japan due to issues with getting the name trademarked. So for the American version, the game was called "Resident Evil".


Japanese
American
The intro was heavily edited. Early on in it, Chris Redfield explains that several people have been found mutilated near Raccoon forest. In the Japanese version, a dead body is shown at this point, but in the American version, it was replaced with a newspaper.


Japanese
American
Another example of this. There is also a third newspaper cutting in the American version.


Japanese
When the intro is showing all of the game's characters, there is a shot of Chris smoking in the Japanese version. This shot was removed from the American version.


Japanese
American
At the Japanese version's character select screen, the difficulty level is displayed under the character (Jill is easy, Chris is hard). This text was removed from the American version.


Japanese
American
Ink ribbons are used to save your game. They come in packs of 6 in the Japanese version, but cut down to only packs of 3 in the American game. This was apparently done to give players less chances beating the game on rental, so they'd have to buy it for themselves instead.


Japanese
When you get to the first zombie in the game, a short FMV sequence plays. The Japanese version contains a part where a half eaten head drops to the floor. This was cut out of the American version.


NOTES

-The Japanese version has auto-aim, which is not in the American version.

-Other parts of the intro censored in the American version include a shot of a severed hand being shown and Joseph's death.

-The inter-connecting item boxes were at one point taken out of the American version, so items put in one item box would not appear in another. This was changed back after negative feedback from testers. The idea would eventually be re-visited as a bonus mode in the Resident Evil remake available on Gamecube and Wii.

-The Japanese version uses English voice acting with subtitles. All of the dialogue was allegedly re-recorded into Japanese -hackers have found a limited amount of Japanese audio still on the disc.

-The Japanese version also has a vocal ending theme during the credits. This was replaced with a new song for the American version which doesn't feature any lyrics.