This gamer is ready for Halloween with horrifyingly huge Resident Evil collection

Time is running out to get your Halloween decorations up, but over in Texas, USA, Dakota Aguilar is already sorted: his house hosts the largest collection of Resident Evil memorabilia. This dedicated gamer has packed 1,462 bits of Resi-themed gear into his home – to the point that, if you visit, you’ll be sleeping under Resident Evil bedsheets in the guest room!

Dakota’s love for Capcom’s groundbreaking survival horror series began between late 2004 and early 2005, when he got some Resident Evil games for Christmas and his birthday. “Not long after that I discovered eBay, and that was pretty much it,” he said. “Any money that wasn’t being used to help my mom pay the bills at home, I saved up to build up my collection."

Dakota told us that getting his world record was “a dream come true” after all the hard work and dedication putting his collection together has required. “There were moments when things were very difficult for me both personally and financially and I started to question, numerous times, if this was even worth it,” he said. “Looking back on it now, 22 years later, and being able to hold that record title in my hand? I would say yeah, it was worth it.”

When asked if the collection had taken over his life, Dakota looked around at the walls lined with Resi posters, models, and toys, and gave a cheeky smile. “Well, I would say… nah!” But more seriously, he says that the collection started as a fun hobby, and became a passion. “I wouldn’t say it’s taken over my life, it’s a part of my life. It’s part of who I am, and I’m pretty proud of it.”

And so you should be, Dakota! But he’s clear that it wouldn’t have been possible without the support he’s received along the way. “I just want to say to all those people: You know who you are, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.” His biggest thanks go to Mackenzie, his wife. “She has done so much for me, and rooted for me and pushed me to lengths I never thought I could go,” Dakota said. “She’s been an absolute true blessing in my life.”

Indeed, part of the reason that Dakota’s collection means so much to him is that he met Mackenzie because of it. She’s a fellow Resi fan, you see, and some of Dakota’s most treasured items remind him of her.

Dakota and Mackenzie are starting a family as they mean to go on. Congratulations!

One is a statue of Jill Valentine, a player character in the first Resident Evil game from 1996, and the star of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) - which so happens to be Dakota’s favourite game. When Mackenzie found this out, she sent him the statue as a gift, back when they were just friends online.

Cut to a while later, and Dakota was planning a special surprise. With the help of actors Joe Whyte and Heidi Anderson-Swan (who voiced the characters Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in the 2002 Gamecube remake of Resident Evil), along with Matthew G. Taylor (who played the mutated villain Nemesis in the 2004 movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse), Dakota pulled off the perfect Resi-themed proposal. Whyte gifted him a signed prop knife in honour of the occasion, and it, too, is one of Dakota’s favourite items.

And as well as his love for his wife, Dakota isn’t shy about sharing his love of Resident Evil. He prefers the earlier games, which had a fixed camera view and used what are now called “tank controls”, over the third-person action stylings of the more recent entries in the franchise. He’s particularly aware of how important the series is to gaming culture, describing the first game as “literally a one-of-a-kind experience.”

“There was no other videogame like it. Resident Evil back then wasn’t trying to follow trends, it was setting them,” he said. “Because of that formula we got the survival horror genre in gaming, and there’s a lot of franchises and other videogames that owe a lot to Resident Evil.”

Dakota, when you’re right, you’re right, and you’re not wrong. And while I’ve been a little sappy when writing up Dakota’s well-earned world record story (who doesn’t love a wife guy?), this is supposed to be a Halloween post! The Resident Evil games are perfect spook-‘em-ups for this time of year, following the outbreak and spread of a virus that mutates humans and animals into rabid zombies and other fierce foes. The scary aspects are part of what drew Dakota to the series in the first place.

“Being able to play as someone trying to escape a nightmarish hell, surrounded by all sorts of monsters, creatures, and experiments – abominations – crazy stuff like that,” he said, “and also being able to play as a unique character like Chris, Jill, Leon or Clare, each of them with their own exciting traits and personalities… All of that just blended together, it was just perfect.”

Dakota’s advice for anyone trying out the series for the first time is to start with the main story games, before Resident Evil 4 (Resi 4 being the 2005 entry to the series that a lot of people cite as their favourite – but Dakota is right again, you’ve got to work your way through!). He remains upbeat about the future of the series, too.

“Just like the viruses, it has gone through so many transformations,” he said, adding that, “at the end of the day, it’s always going to have something for everybody.”

So congratulations and happy Halloween to Dakota and his whole family - proving that horror can be full of heart. And, you know, zombies.

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