Hunter

The Hunter series is a form of genetically-engineered Bio Organic Weapon created with the mutagenic effects of the t-virus, based on foreign DNA being introduced to human embryos.

Description
Hunters are bipedal reptilian-like creatures with large claws and teeth, and are noted for their loud shriek. They are actually B.O.W.s (Bio Organic Weapons) designed by the Umbrella Corporation by combining a fertilized human ovum with reptilian (or in the case of the 'Gamma' model, amphibian) DNA and then implanting the t-virus into the resulting creature.

Hunters are noted as being among the most successful of Umbrella's B.O.W. lines to date, as they were relatively easy to produce, possessed decent fighting capability, and were fairly reliable when programmed. This led to some branches of Umbrella attempting to create lines of B.O.W.s specifically to rival the success of the Hunter; the Anubis was an official attempt to challenge the success of the Hunters.

Types of Hunters

 * MA-121 Hunter α
 * MA-121 Hunter β
 * MA-124 Hunter γ
 * MA-125 Hunter R
 * Enhanced Hunter
 * Sweeper
 * Hunter Elite

Hunters in gameplay
The original Hunters (or the "Alpha" models, as they've been retroactively coined) appeared in the original Resident Evil, when the player returns to the main mansion after exploring the Residence thoroughly, replacing many of the zombies in the mansion. First-time players are normally taken surprise by the Hunters, with their agility and resistance to regular firearms (in contrast to the slow zombies). Moreover, a Hunter is capable of killing the player's character by decapitation (in the Game Cube remake of Resident Evil, the Hunters slit the throat of Jill or Chris instead of decapitating them). As a result, the Hunters have become one of the best-known creatures in the series. In Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, when the player plays as Carlos Oliveira, Hunters are introduced in the game as one is seen decapitating a zombie, which shows that the Hunters will even kill zombies that get in their way (this may explain why certain areas in the Spencer Estate originally occupied by zombies, are taken over by Hunters, provided if the player has not eliminated these zombies).

Several kinds of Hunters have appeared in almost every Resident Evil game (with Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 being three of the few, if not only, exceptions).

Trivia

 * In the Sega Saturn version of Resident Evil the Hunters are replaced with an exclusive B.O.W known as the Tick which instead of claws features two sickle like hands, a brown body two antennas and a new sound effect. The Ticks have never been seen in another Resident Evil game.


 * In the novelisations of S.D. Perry, the licker was given an origin story as being created as a competitor to the Hunter line.
 * They appear to be based on the Deep Ones in the H.P. Lovecraft short story 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth'.
 * The Hunter is set to return in the upcoming Resident Evil: Revelations who are set to appear in Keith Lumley and Quint Cetcham's scenario.