December 10 will likely always be an important day for long-time fans of the Resident Evil franchise, given that it was the day that Capcom finally confirmed the highly-anticipated remake of Resident Evil 3. At Sony's State of Play, Capcom also unveiled the first-ever trailer for the remake, which showcased Jill's new look, alongside Carlos Oliveria, Brad Vickers, Nikolai Zinoviev, and other characters from the original game.
Resident Evil 3 remake's first trailer also confirmed the design of the game's characters, which were previously leaked a week ahead of Capcom's official confirmation of the game. While many welcomed the more realistic outfits of Jill and Carlos, several players were not happy with the design of the iconic Nemesis, especially with the fact that the S.T.A.R.S. hunter now sports a nose, that was not present in the original game. However, Jill's return to the spotlight has also resurrected one of Resident Evil's most popular jokes that cemented the franchise's place in the culture of gaming, the Jill Sandwich.
Jill Sandwich is one of those jokes that has been making rounds online ever since the dawn of the internet and became a popular meme with the rise of social media. In its early days, Jill Sandwich was a common joke between Resident Evil fans and was mostly spread through email and posts on various Resident Evil-related forums.
However, to the unfamiliar with the reference, the phrase's origins can be traced as far as 1996, which long-time fans of the franchise would know was when the first Resident Evil was released to the original PlayStation. It is a known fact that the first Resident Evil game has since become an iconic title in the video game industry. Although the game did not invent survival-horror, Resident Evil was the one that pioneered the genre and made it popular.
However, it is also a known fact that Resident Evil was plagued with bad dialogue due to translation issues. When playing as Jill, players who obtained the shotgun but failed to replace it with the broken shotgun would witness the cutscene that showed Jill trapped in a room with the ceiling quickly descending upon her. This is where Barry Burton comes in as he kicked down the door and pulled Jill from her near-death experience. In a cutscene that followed, Barry uttered the phrase, "That was too close! You were almost a Jill sandwich!", and thus, Jill Sandwich was forever engraved in the hearts and minds of Resident Evil fans and made a lasting impact that is stronger than the first zombie encounter in the game.
In 2002, Capcom developed a remake of Resident Evil that brought upgraded visuals, an additional storyline, and yes, a far superior dialogue. Luckily, Capcom did not completely omit Jill Sandwich from the game but rephrased it to make it sound more natural and realistic. In the same scene, Barry can now be heard saying the phrase, "That was a close one. A second late, you would have fit nicely into a sandwich." Whether or not the remake did a better job in the original when it comes to this scene is still a point of debate among Resident Evil fans.
Outside the original game and the 2002 remake, Jill Sandwich continued to make appearances in subsequent Resident Evil and Capcom games. In the Mercenaries Reunion mini-game in Resident Evil 5, Capcom gave Barry Burton a special melee attack called "Barry Sandwich." In Resident Evil Revelations 2, the joke was also included as an easter egg. During a scene where Claire Redfield was almost crushed by some sort of machinery, Moira Burton, Barry's daughter, asked Claire if she was okay, to which Claire responded with "I was almost a Claire sandwich," in a monotonous sarcastic tone. Outside of Resident Evil, a shop called Jill's Sandwiches can be found in Capcom's open-world survival-horror game, Dead Rising, which is obviously a tribute to Resident Evil's most popular meme.
Now, in the upcoming remake of Resident Evil 3, it is still yet to be known whether or not Capcom would pay homage to the ever-popular Jill Sandwich joke. However, it is worth pointing out that Resident Evil Resistance will feature a character called Martin Sandwich, who was already turned into memes by the Resident Evil community. It is currently unclear whether Martin's last name was inspired by the popular joke, but interestingly enough, Martin is an engineer and mechanic that has the ability to make traps. Given that Resident Evil's sandwich joke is mostly connected to traps, this might be Capcom's way of reintroducing the joke to newcomers to the Resident Evil franchise.
Also during Sony's State of Play, Capcom confirmed that Resident Evil Resistance will be included in the remake of Resident Evil 3. However, it is still unclear whether Resistance will be the only game mode to be included in the remake, given that the original Resident Evil 3 includes a mini-game called The Mercenaries: Operation Mad Jackal, which is a time-based unlockable mode that follows Carlos Oliveria, Nikolai Zinoviev, and Mikhail Viktor.
Resident Evil 3 remake is set to release on April 3, 2020, for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
