Hello, I m Adrian, and today we re taking an in depth look at Chris Redfield's fighting
style in the Resident Evil video game series! Chris Redfield made his debut in the original
1996 Playstation game that started the franchise, Resident Evil. He went on to appear in several
installments in the long running series and was most recently seen in Resident Evil Village.
The goal of these videos is to figure out just how many fighting styles our combatant is familiar
with by analyzing the specific moves featured in their footage and pairing them with the
martial art or fighting style which most aptly represents those moves. There is a huge amount
of crossover in martial arts techniques, and a technique that is present in one fighting style
may also be present in another, such as the roundhouse kick being present in multiple martial
arts. But in order to not give combatants multiple fighting styles for the sake of variety, I have
instead opted to list the most apt fighting style that best represents that particular character,
technique, or set of techniques. Also, there are various degrees of knowing a fighting style, and
although one may know elements of something, this doesn't mean I'm saying the fighter I'm talking
about is a master in every style I mention. I highly recommend playing the Resident Evil games
as this video will analyze footage from Resident Evil, Resident Evil Remake, Resident Evil: Code
Veronica, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles,
Resident Evil: Revelations, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard,
Resident Evil Village, as well as a couple other games. That being said, do take this as your
spoiler warning. Fighting Styles that Chris Redfield may know in any other form of media,
such as novels, animated films, live action films, or cross over games, such as Fortnite
or Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, do not count. And to be hyper specific, I'm aware that the CG
films are canon, and take place within the story line of the main games. But this isn't a question
of canonicity, it's a question of format, of the medium. That would be like including novelizations
and graphic novels in a film analysis. Or video games in a movie analysis. In this case, we'll
be looking at the Resident Evil main storyline games, not the films, nor the animated films,
regardless of them being canon or not. Without further ado, let's take a look
at how many fighting styles Chris Redfield knows! Before Resident Evil even begins, Chris had been
with the United States Air Force and trained with a variety of weapons, including knives.
He was also known for his skills in hand to hand combat and marksmanship. So what CQC style does
the Air Force use? The answer is a little complex. During the early fifties, Emilio "Mel" Bruno,
a highly accomplished martial artist, designed a CQC program for the Air Force which would
eventually become Air Force Combative Measures. It was a comprehensive 155 hour course that
combined training from several fighting styles. It was dropped in 1966 to reduce training time,
and it wasn't until 2007 that the Chief of Staff of the Air Force ordered a review of all hand to
hand combat. This new CQC system would eventually become a shortened version of the US Army
Combatives program known as Air Force Combatives. For more information about Combatives, please
see my Jill Valentine Fighting Styles video. In any case, what happened during those 41 years
of not having a standardized hand to hand training program in the Air Force?
The remaining instructors kept teaching their own independent spins on what they had learned
from the Air Force Combative Measures Instructors Course and would pass that on. Since Chris was in
the Air Force well before 2007, he would have been part of this kind of training.
We now find ourselves in the beginning of the first Resident Evil. Chris is part of an elite
team known as Special Tactics and Rescue Service and just narrowly escaped an attack
in the Arklay mountains, finding himself trapped in the maze-like Spencer mansion.
He encounters zombies, but having never before seen them, he barely fights back.
Due to his experience with combatives, he is trained in using different weapons including
the handgun in both the original game and the remake. He can also shove them away and use
his elbow to shove them backwards, but it's not exactly a strike just yet. In the remake
he still shoves them away, and he can also use his knife in combat and in self defense.
In Code Veronica, which takes place after the mansion incident, he's gained a bit more
confidence in his techniques with zombies. He no longer just shoves them back, he begins to throw a
reverse elbow strike, no doubt from his combatives training. When attacked from the front, his shove
is much more aggressive as well. Like Jill, he also stomps on the enemy given the chance.
In terms of hand to hand combat, he gets a chance to demonstrate his skills when he goes up against
Albert Wesker. And things do not go well. At all. Wesker kicks him, and punches him - repeatedly.
Chris tanks the hits, but is unable to counterattack. This is significant in terms of his
hand to hand combat development as he realizes he is going to have to undergo much more training to
be able to stand a fighting chance against Wesker. What is important to note is that Chris did have
training, he just didn't get a chance to show it as he was completely overpowered by Wesker.
As seen in the Umbrella Chronicles, a retelling of the events in the Resident Evil games, Chris can
throw a hook at his enemy followed by a spinning side kick. In Darkside Chronicles Chris can bash
the enemy with a spinning backfist, a side kick, a straight up cross, and a roundhouse kick where he
follows through. The backfist and kicks indicating training in Karate, which make sense considering
that Karate was one of the styles that was taught in the original Air Force Combative Measures.
The hooks and crosses do have roots in boxing, something that Chris started to expand his
training on as seen by his main melee move in Resident Evil: Revelations which takes place
after Code Veronica. His training in boxing becomes much more apparent in Resident Evil 5.
By looking at him you can tell that he spent a considerable time amount of time at the gym
bulking up. And this is no coincidence, according to the Art of Resident Evil 5, Chris's increased
muscle mass was to show that he had trained heavily in order to fight Wesker bare handed.
Unfortunately, when Chris and Jill confronted Wesker, things once again didn't go well. He
was expecting a guy who could fight, he certainly wasn't expecting someone with superhuman speed,
strength, and reflexes that can dodge bullets. But he still gives it a shot. He executes a
great karate style punch. He throws a spin hook kick, he tries punching him again several times.
But every time Wesker either dodges the attack or brutally counters it. He finds himself in
a one armed choke and Jill proceeds to save his life by tackling Wesker out of a window.
And this is where the main story of Resident Evil 5 begins,
and we can see more of his skills in Mercenaries mode, as well as Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D.
His two strongest hand to hand styles remain a combination of Boxing and Karate.
In terms of boxing, he is capable of throwing devastating hooks and uppercuts
that send his enemies reeling. And with arms the size of tree trunks, that is probably not that
unbelievable. Chris's biggest Boxing combo, and one that shows that all his training paid off,
shows up right here. Left hook, right hook, you can readily see his boxing training.
However, Chris still relies on his Karate training as well. First up we've got a very strong
backfist. And this Karate punch right here is the same one we saw with Wesier previously.
It's Karate style because note how when he throws the punch, his other arm retracts by the waist.
This sort of push pull mechanism is readily seen in Karate among other martial arts. He's
even got a stronger variation that fuses a bit of boxing into it with the wind up,
but still ends up being Karate due to that aforementioned positioning of the other arm.
In terms of kicks, he's got the same stomp he's been using since the beginning, but
considering he did want to defeat Wesker, the only technique that could possibly achieve that is the
Indeed, the legendary push kick. I've said waaay too much about this kick already,
but if you'd like to hear more about it, check out my Captain America fighting skills video.
Chris does start to demonstrate knowledge of grappling techniques in resident Evil 5.
There's a variation of the rear naked choke, but more significantly, he executes this technique.
For context, he tanked several hits from a brainwashed P30 enhanced
Jill. He needed to counterattack, but he didn't want to harm Jillm and what better
way to accomplish that than to turn to what is known in martial arts as the gentle way: Judo.
Chris counterattacks Jill with this technique. In Judo this is known as a tai otoshi, or body drop.
It's got plenty of variations depending on the situation, but it's main components are pulling
your opponent off balance with your hands and then placing your leg so that your opponent
trips over it. Chris exhibiting knowledge of Judo fits in line with his training.
Judo was also a part of the Air Force Combatives curriculum. Emilio Mel Bruno, the man mentioned
earlier who was primarily responsible for designing the program, was a Judo teacher
and retired as a 6th degree Judo black belt. It must be said that in resident Evil 5 Chris
managed to successfully move a gigantic boulder by literally boxing with it.
You heard that right, this man was strong enough to punch a boulder into lava.
This even got referenced in Resident Evil Village. But despite the larger than life moments such as
this, Resident Evil has always had it's foundation in zombies. The zombies have
taken many forms in the long saga, but always retain signature elements. And if you'd like to
learn about how to draw those elements, I highly recommend Robert Marzullo's class on Zombie Art.
Not only will you get an excellent primer on the principles of drawing, such as outlining, to the
technical details, like how to add texture, you'll also get a helpful guide behind creating a zombie,
like starting with a realistic human before adding zombie details. His techniques and thoughts apply
to every kind of illustration and I found myself incorporating them into my drawings as well.
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In Resident Evil 6 Chris maintains several of the same techniques we've seen before, including
the backfist, the karate punch, the stomp, and the rear naked choke. He also shows some of his
combatives training by using his firearm as a striking weapon and this brief shoulder check,
as well as this elbow strike. Staying in line with his combatives trianing,
Chris also incorporates other elbow strikes including the 12-6 elbow.
Knees are also part of Karate and modern day US Army Combatives, and it is safe to assume
they were part of the included training back when Chris was in the Air Force,
which is why Chris is finally using those techniques, no doubt due to his further
training in combatives by the time we are in RE6. Chris does display extraordinary strength in this
instance by throwing a standard roundhouse with plenty of follow
through and landing right back into place. A technique I was extremely surprised to see
Chris throw was this martelo de negativa. For more information on this technique,
check out my Ps4 Spider-Man Fighting Styles video The best style to group it to is Capoeira, an art
that uses the ground to add in as much power as possible to your kicks. Chris probably wanted to
strengthen his ground fighting arsenal, something we see indications off in his fight with Leon.
He begins the fight by swinging at Leon with his boxing training, and quickly reads Leon's incoming
spin hook kick so he ducks out of the way and responds with a an elbow strike. Leon blocks it,
so Chris goes in to delivering knee strikes. A good observation here is that since he is
finally kneeing a human opponent and not a hideous monster, you can see how closely his technique
resembles the knee strikes taught in Combatives. Leon tries to use an elbow strike and a backfist
on him but fails, and Chris takes the opportunity to dive in for a tackle.
And here is where we go into a whole other style for Chris, and that is Wrestling. What Chris is
doing here is known as shooting in for a double leg takedown. In a normal wrestling match its
required that one of your knees be on the ground to slam your opponent on to the mat with control.
But considering this is a fight and not a wrestling match, Chris goes in a little
higher. Ideally Chris wanted him to land on the ground, but Leon stuffed the takedown
by redirecting Chris's strength. But moving just like a wrestler,
Chris quickly and comfortably places an arm on the floor and re positions himself to take
Leon's back. Leon slips out of his grasp, so Chris turns to Judo to finish the fight,
this time throwing a classic ippon seoi nage by trapping Leon's arm and flipping him over him.
Making a brief detour into Resident Evil Revelations 2, Where Chris is a playable
character in Raid mode and wears his Resident Evil 6 uniform, he's main melee attack is the same
uppercut in Revelations. He can also use a katana if certain conditions are met. But since every
other character in raid mode can also equip and use said katana as well, this means the ability
to use the sword is absorbed from this special item, it's not due to the individual's skill or
training with it. Chris will thus not receive any sword fighting style in his final tally.
We now find ourselves in Resident Evil 7. Since we're in a first person perspective our viewpoint
is a bit limited, but for extra context I've provided clips of his moves from previous games.
We can still see his Karate style punch from first person, as well as his incredibly
powerful uppercut, the classic resident evil zombie stomp, and the legendary push kick.
In Resident Evil Village, Chris can strike the enemy with a weapon. He's still a fan
of his karate style punch as well. And going back to his combatives background,
he easily executes this pistol disarm with an elbow strike and kicks his opponent to the ground.
This was briefly mentioned in the beginning of the video, but Chris has always had extensive
training with the knife. And considering how he's continually learned new hand to hand techniques,
the same also applies to knife techniques. Just like Leon and Jill before him,
Chris will also receive Kali as a fighting style due to his extensive expertise and
varied techniques with the knife. In conclusion, how many fighting
styles does Chris Redfield know in the Resident Evil Series? They are:
This episode of Fighting Styles was sponsored by Skillshare.
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is Godzillarex and its in the description below Thanks for watching. What do you think of the
Resident Evil games? What other character should I analyze next? Let me know in the comments below,
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