I love the first Resident Evil game too, it is my favorite even though I have played them all up to Code Veronica on the Dreamcast. I stopped after that because I didn't have any consoles newer than the Playstation 2 at the time (and I was kind out of the whole "survival horror" genre).
Such a great game. I need to get the remake on Gamecube (I picked up the console and Mario Kart Double Dash for $10 at a yardsale a few years ago). So many games on that console that are ignored.