The Chainsaw Man (sometimes known as Dr. Salvador) was a specific type of larger chainsaw-wielding
Ganado. They wore typical
Ganado villager attire as well as a burlap bag over their head with eye holes cut out, presumably to hide their face and to provide a small degree of protection. They were been infected with a
Plaga parasite and as such they were incredibly strong, manic, incredibly violent and were taller than the average human male.
There is a female variant of the Chainsaw Man named the
Chainsaw Sister.
They carried a petrol-powered chainsaw as a weapon using both arms and could be heard revving it's engine if close by. If an enemy was sighted, it ran towards them with the chainsaw held aloft with the sole aim of decapitating them, all while screaming at the top of their lungs.
Due to their robustness, they took many shots to kill. They were classed as mini-bosses in the game and
Leon's starting handgun was not a recommended tool to take them down, as the burlap bag on their head prevented headshots being effective. A much better weapon would have been explosives or the shotgun, for example.
If
Leon is attacked by a Chainsaw Man there is a scene where he is decapitated by a chainsaw to the neck which quickly cuts to black and results in a Game Over screen. In some territories such as Japan, this is censored as decapitations cannot be shown. In those versions the scene does not simply cut to black sooner - the decapitation itself is not built into that version of the game.
In the game there are also two female equivalents named the Chainsaw Sisters (sometimes known as Bella Sisters) - they are similar to the Chainsaw Man in which they are villager Ganados with an obscured face and a chainsaw. However, they can attack much faster so are more dangerous. Also, instead of a burlap bag they have their faces wrapped in bandages.
Also, in The Mercenaries (a non-canonical
Resident Evil 4 minigame) there was a beefed up version of Chainsaw Man named the Giant Chainsaw Man. He was larger and more ferocious than the regular Chainsaw Man at over 7ft tall, and wielded two chainsaws which had been chained together which also appeared to be faulty as they emitted sparks and black smoke. Regular Chainsaw Men and Chainsaw Sisters appeared in the mode also. There were also enemies in
Resident Evil 5 clearly influenced by the Chainsaw Man named
Chainsaw Majini - they were slightly smaller but were equally as powerful.
Finally, the Chainsaw Man was featured in a lot of the marketing for
Resident Evil 4, in particular the original GameCube release of the game featured a black and red forest scene with the Chainsaw Man in the distance as it's box art. Plus many magazine spreads and promotional posters at the time featured
Leon and the Chainsaw Man. Nintendo also released a special edition version of the GameCube console which came with a Chainsaw-shaped controller designed by NubyTech - one of the most bizarre gaming controllers. The company also released an altered version for the PlayStation 2 when that version of the game was released.
In the
Resident Evil 4 Remake, the Chainsaw Man has had its name simplified to Chainsaw Villager.
