The Resident Evil franchise is often very closely linked with the early days of the survival horror genre, but while 1996's Resident Evil definitely helped to popularize the genre, it didn't invent it. The survival horror genre is believed to have officially been born with the release of 1989's Sweet Home, a Japanese horror movie tie-in game that saw players try to make their way through a haunted house with very limited ammunition and health. Sweet Home was a major inspiration for the first Resident Evil, but it wasn't the only one, with Alone in the Dark also being at the forefront of Shinji Mikami's mind.