Go Fanboy - Everyone Has A Favorite

The Darkstalkers legacy first uprooted from Capcom back in the early 90's, when Street Fighter II games were still cleaning up in the arcades like clockwork. Capcom wanted to try something new with their 2-D fighting games, and thus, Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors was born.

Basically, it could be considered as a "Street Fighter vs. Monster Mash" style of game, as it includes numerous creatures fighting against one another, like a vampire, a Frankenstein-style monster, a cat-woman (mmmm, Felicia) and an abominable snowman, among others. The original actually did pretty well in arcades, leading to two sequels and plenty of collectible items, like $90 action figures from Japan and artwork aplenty. The Darkstalkers' finest hour came in the form of Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge for the Sega Saturn, which became one of the best games for the system. Vampire Savior: Darkstalkers 3 would follow for the Playstation and Sega Saturn (in Japan- it never saw a US release), and now we have the latest Darkstalkers game, Vampire Chronicle, a collection of sorts that will certainly leave Darkstalkers fans in a digital ecstasy.

Not that Vampire Chronicle is going to be that easy a game to find. It was originally considered to be an exclusive-selling item for Sega's online game store in Japan, D-Direct. Worse yet, Ebay prohibits the sale of Dreamcast imports, for one lame-brained reason or another. Fortunately, shops like NCS and Express.com have been getting the games in pretty steadily, so you should have no trouble finding one there.

So, is Vampire Chronicle worth importing for your Dreamcast collection? Well, for Darkstalkers fans, there's merely no question to that. For the rest of you, however, feel free to check out the breakdown below...

Visuals:: If anyone can do 2-D fighting, it's Capcom, and that's no surprise there. Like the Street Fighter games before it, Vampire Chronicle looks like a bold 2-D fighting game with its vividly drawn and animated characters, its dramatic 2-D backdrops (just wait till you check out the final Fetus of God background- wow), and its surprising use of haunting colors and emotion in its characters.

Sometimes, the game looks a bit underdrawn, but overall it remains just as wonderful-looking as any other Darkstalkers effort, right down to Felicia's cute little "catch the butterfly" animation at the end of a round or Donovan's fierce taunt. There's even some background action with some of the characters, like an accompanying child or dog that cheers or jeers the action.

If I had one complaint, it's that the game is fashioned more like Vampire Savior than the other two Darkstalkers games, even if you have the option to modify your fighting style like the original Darkstalkers games. It's not 128-bit power by any means, but Capcom keeps tradition well balanced with a great-looking game that will appeal to 2-D fanatics everywhere...and may just grab a few more out of interest.

Audio:: Capcom's starting to get better with their soundtracks...it's actually kind of cool. The Vampire Chronicle soundtrack is a well-mixed one, with an excellent array of dramatic and techno tunes to make you yearn for the soundtrack. Sure, there's the occasional weird tune, but you can't win 'em all, now can you? The sound effects are just as great as always, right down to the hum of Bulleta's (aka BB Hood's) machine gun and Pyron's demonic laugh. Throw in some good punching effects and occasional projectile sounds and you've got another good audio experience from Capcom. Just watch out for that weird song, like I talked about.

Gameplay/Control:: Again, 2-D perfection from Capcom. You've got some pinpoint control that works best with the ASCII SNK and Capcom pads, but does alright with the typical Sega controller as well. There's also several gameplay quirks to play around with, as you can choose from any kind of Darkstalkers control settings and combo meters to vary your game quite nicely. Care to try the original settings? Or maybe you'd like to go all out and see what "Savior 2" has to offer? The decision is yours. The challenge is pretty good near the eight-star setting and will keep you fighting until you bring down Jedah, the final boss. If Capcom keeps making great-playing 2-D games like this one, they'll truly never fade away from existence.

Extras:: Sadly, this is where Vampire Chronicle is a bit lacking. We can't take advantage of the Matching Service (online play) because it's an exclusive in Japan (groan), and the lack of extra modes and unlockable secrets make this game somewhat limited in the long run. Still, there are a lot of characters to choose from within the game, and playing against friends always results in a good (if somewhat spooky) Friday night...or any night, for that matter.

Overall:: Not one of Capcom's finest releases, as the likes of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 easily overshadows it in terms of depth and replayability, but Vampire Chronicle is still a sharp-playing fighting game with enough features and versus action to be worthwhile for the extra import bucks. It may be awhile before we even hear about a US release, but I think it'd be worth it, just for the sake of seeing Felicia smile after catching that butterfly. And you have to be a Darkstalkers fan to understand...heh...