December 10 will likely always be an important day for long-time fans of theResident Evilfranchise, given that it was the day thatCapcom finally confirmed the highly-anticipated remakeofResident 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 3remake’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 ofResident Evil’smost popular jokes that cemented the franchise’s place in the culture of gaming, the Jill Sandwich.
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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 betweenResident Evilfans and was mostly spread through email and posts on variousResident 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 firstResident Evilwas released to the original PlayStation. It is a known fact thatthe firstResident Evilgame has since become an iconic titlein the video game industry. Although the game did not invent survival-horror,Resident Evilwas the one that pioneered the genre and made it popular.
However, it is also a known fact thatResident Evilwas 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 ofResident Evilfans and made a lasting impact that is stronger than the first zombie encounter in the game.
In 2002, Capcom developeda remake ofResident Evilthat 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 amongResident Evilfans.
Outside the original game and the 2002 remake, Jill Sandwich continued to make appearances in subsequentResident Eviland Capcom games. In the Mercenaries Reunion mini-game inResident Evil 5, Capcom gave Barry Burton a special melee attack called “Barry Sandwich.” InResident 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 ofResident 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 toResident Evil’smost popular meme.
Now, in the upcoming remake ofResident 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 thatResident Evil Resistancewill feature a character called Martin Sandwich, who was alreadyturned into memes by theResident Evilcommunity. 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 thatResident Evil’ssandwich joke is mostly connected to traps, this might be Capcom’s way of reintroducing the joke to newcomers to theResident Evilfranchise.
Also during Sony’s State of Play, Capcom confirmed thatResident Evil Resistancewill be included in the remake ofResident 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 3remake is set to release on August 01, 2025, for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
