Key Takeaways
- Piglet’s Big Game director confirmed Resident Evil was an inspiration for the horror comedy game.
- Design documents reveal the developers’ intention to create a kid-friendly horror atmosphere like Luigi’s Mansion.
- The game aims to make players feel uneasy with subtle horror elements, balancing tension with relaxation and laughter.
The director of Piglet’s Big Game, a surprisingly creepy PS2 and GameCube game that went viral earlier this November, confirmed that Resident Evil was one of its inspirations. Piglet’s Big Game recently became the subject of curiosity when footage of the game was spread online, with many horror game fans comparing its atmosphere to Resident Evil or Silent Hill. According to the director, Capcom’s survival horror franchise was indeed an inspiration for the horror comedy Piglet-themed game.
Piglet’s Big Game is a movie tie-in game that was released back in 2003 on the PS2, Nintendo GameCube, PC, and Game Boy Advance. The storylines and gameplay of these versions all differ: the PC game is a point-and-click adventure title that sees Piglet needing to help Rabbit make soup, while the GBA, GameCube, and PS2 versions all focus on a story where Piglet needs to be brave by entering the dreams of his friends. The PS2 and GameCube versions suddenly skyrocketed in popularity when gamers rediscovered the game, as it focused exclusively on the “creepy” elements of Piglet’s Big Game, featuring locales and even samples that wouldn’t look out of place from Resident Evil‘s Spencer estate. Following the game’s newfound resurgence, the director of Piglet’s Big Game shared some of its design documents and planning notes, including the mention of how it was inspired by Resident Evil.
Related
6 Nintendo GameCube Horror Games Almost No One Remembers
These GameCube horror titles are almost completely forgotten nowadays, but are they worth returning to for fans of the genre?
These documents were shared by Pascal Stradella on Twitter, the co-founder of Doki Denki and Phoenix Interactive, as well as the director of Piglet’s Big Game. In the basic game overview document, it notes that Piglet’s Big Game is to take inspiration from Luigi’s Mansion for style and tone, aiming to be a kid-friendly horror comedy game. The second inspiration is Resident Evil, not in terms of gore, but in terms of mechanics. A highlighted part of the design document emphasizes that Piglet’s Big Game is a cartoony Resident Evil that deals with problems in a comedic way.
Piglet’s Big Game’s Main Inspirations were Resident Evil and Luigi’s Mansion
Another design document shows off the director’s intentions and how it intends to be a horror comedy game. Since the game is similar to Luigi’s Mansion in terms of tone, the idea was not to frighten kids, but to make them feel uneasy, giving the player just enough to make them feel on edge as they play. As such, there were more subtle approaches to the game’s horror atmosphere, such as including unsettling sounds instead of showing the player scary images. The most important part, based on this document, is to balance the moments of tension with relaxation and laughter.
Since the game went viral, used copies of Piglet’s Big Game have skyrocketed in price. While the hype is unlikely to last forever, there are a lot of gamers that want to check out Piglet’s Big Game and see if it lives up to the hype as “Baby’s First Horror Game.
-
Resident Evil
Resident Evil is a long-running survival horror franchise developed by Capcom. Spread across numerous mainline and spin-off entries, the series is known for it’s third and first-person action horror, zombie-related monsters and references, and challenging puzzles.
-
Luigi’s won a mansion! The bad news is that it’s crawling with ghosts…and Mario seems to be trapped inside… Luigi’s in for a spooktacular surprise as he creeps into the pitch-dark mansion he won, armed with only a flashlight and a vacuum custom-made for sucking up ghosts.
Ghosts lurk in every nook and cranny. You’ll have to master the Poltergust 3000 to vacuum them all up! Jewels, coins and cash are hidden throughout the mansion—and finding it all will the worth your while… You’ll have to solve the mansion’s many mysteries to catch a gallery of quirky ghouls, such as the fire-belching Mr. Luggs.
Deep inside the mansion hide elusive boss ghosts like Bogmire, each with ghastly powers and a ghostly bone to pick with Luigi! After collecting special medals, you’ll be able to shoot fire, water, and ice from your vacuum to unearth secrets and thwart extra-eerie ghosts!
