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WARNING: Darkstalkers 3 features probably some of the most goriest and sexual imagery of the whole series. While nothing too graphic is here, I still say that this blog is kind of NSFW and not for the squeamish. You have been warned.

Well, we're here. After two entries, we have reached the third of the Darkstalkers. I don't know what's with Capcom fighters and their third entries being usually ones of great acclaim but Darkstalkers 3 fits that bill well. It's also the strangest, creepiest, goriest, and sort of most sexual out of all of the games that only gets weird after its initial release. Be wary ye who shall enter because Darkstalkers 3 will twist your mind.

Mechanics

Darkstalkers 3, Vampire Savior: Lord of the Vampire in Japan, premiered in arcades in 1997. After a nearly two year wait from Night Warriors, Darkstalkers 3 had came back with vengeance. Darkstalkers 3 was radically different from predecessors featuring 4 actual new characters, new backgrounds, and host of new mechanics. All of the important changes Night Warriors brought to Darkstalkers (having multiple bars of meter, EX moves, EX moves) still remained. However, the biggest change was to the round system. The first two Darkstalkers games followed the normal ebb and flow of fighting games where you would have two rounds. When the life bar of your opponent was depleted, the round was over, and you both get two full bars health back until someone won the match. Darkstalkers 3 is different with its damage gauge system.

The damage gauge system removes rounds for two life bars, each one marked by a bat at the top of the screen. When bar goes out, another one comes right back in, and you keep continuing to fight. You don't get a new bar health, even if you were the one to beat your opponent. You can however recover health. A small part of your health bar will flash white after getting attacked. If you can avoid getting hit for a short amount of time, that health will recover on its own slowly. You can even move around in the brief moment before you opponent gains their health back which you can use for set ups. Think of the damage gauge system like how “rounds” work in Marvel Vs. Capcom only instead of tagging in a teammate, your just tagging yourself again. The damage gauge system makes fights in Darkstalkers 3 much faster and more technical. You had to be quick on feet to optimize your character's strength and succeed in a fight.

Another new important mechanic comes is dark force system. Remember in the previous blog I mentioned Anakiris' Pharaoh Split and Morrigan's Astral Vision would be important in Darkstalkers 3? This is why: Dark Force allows each character to tap in a unique ability for a limited time at the cost of one bar. Some were allowed more combo potential similar to the Street Fighter Alpha 2's custom combo technique and Street Fighter Alpha 3's V-ism meter system. Other dark force techniques allowed for unique abilities like unlimited flying, hyper armor, special arena changing gimmicks,or special attacks. There is a down side to dark force though: after time runs out on dark force, some characters will have a “cool down” animation that will leave them vulnerable. Though careful planning and spacing, it is possible to avoid that negative aspect of dark force.

 

There a few new offensive options in Darkstalkers 3 too such as tech hits. Tech hits allowed players to break grabs and recover faster. They also allowed players to utilize a push back mechanic similar to the one in the Marvel Vs. Capcom series would eventually use. Guard canceling makes a return and some characters can do special command guard cancels. Speaking of moves, let's talk about one character's new EX move which is a large part of Darstalkers 3 weird legacy.

 

Darkstalkers 3 gave many new moves to the existing cast both in the form special moves as well as EX moves. However some of the new moves...were odd. Take for example, L. Raptor's Hell Dunk in which he turns his opponent into a basketball and proceeds to slam into a hoop. What the most amazing thing about Hell Dunk is that every character has their own basketball sprite, a testimony to Darkstalkers' amazing level of detail to their sprite animations. But Hell Dunk would pale in comparison to the new EX move Demitri would get.

 

Yes, I'm sure many of you know what I am talking about but for those don't (and this is your last warning because its about to get seriously weird) I'm referring to Demitri's Midnight Bliss attack. An unblockable grab attack where Demitri produces a rose, gives its to the opponent and either turns a guy into a girl or a woman before he drains them of all their blood ending with him blowing them up. Yes, oh yes its real.

 

What's stranger is that it turns some of the women into “sexier” versions of themselves, some become younger, and with Morrigan into...something.

 

It's truly a bizarre move that's effectiveness is only matched by its really short range. However, nothing really matches the bizarre factor in Darstalkers 3 than the new characters that were introduced.

 

 

Characters

Darkstalkers 3 has the most characters introduced in the first game at four. While that doesn't sound like a lot, each of them brings something very new the game and is definitely apart of the legacy of Darkstalkers 3.

 

Jedah Dohma

Jedah Dohma is the main antagonist of Darstalkers 3 was ressurected after the events of Night Warriors. Jedah is a Makai high noble demon who believes that Makai is falling apart. The only way to save the demon world is for all the souls that in habit to join as one. He creates a “container” for all of these souls called Majigen and sends out a call for all souls to be saved by joining as one.

Despite Jedah's noble sounding intentions, Jedah is not as noble as he sounds. Jedah is very ruthless and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. Jedah is definitely different from most of the Darkstalkers in the game. His design is much more inspired by anime conventions that a horror archtype. His main outfit is styled after a gakuran, a Japanese traditional jacket that many young men wear at school. The only difference is the red slits near the shoulders which aren't fabric but blood. Jedah's primary weapon in the game is actually blood which are in most of his attacks. Jedah is insanely powerful and is hard to kill. He demonstrates this in one of his attacks in where he decapitates his own head to only grow it back.

It's at this time I should mention Jedah's stage, Creatior's Fetus. I know what your thinking, it couldn't be what it sounds right? Well...

On top of that, Jedah truly fleshed out thanks impart to the frighteningly smooth voice actor, Isshin Chiba, who you also know as the voice of Jin Kazama from Tekken. Jedah is one of the more graphic Darkstalkers whose morbidly strange attacks are only matched by his play style.

 

Jedah is a master at controlling space, especially the air. Jedah's dash floats him over the head of his opponents making for some good cross ups. He as a good projectile attack that stays on the screen for a few seconds locking down opponents in place. It gives him a good opportunity to use his EX attacks both of which are command grabs that do fair amount of damage. On top of that his Dark Force ability allows him to hover in the the air for a brief time.

Lilith

I'm sure many of you already know who Lilith is. She has tagged a long with her “sister” Morrigan through most of her Vs. series appearances. Though Lilith's canonical origins are worth noting because of how bizarre they are. Lilith’s story actually begins with Morrigan or rather begins years before Morrigan. Berial, Morrigan's adoptive father, found the energy that would eventually become Morrigan. He noted that she was going to be powerful, too powerful with the amount of current energy she has to even control. So he partition some of the energy off and sealed it away. However, the power began to develop its own mind. When Jedah was resurrected, he found the power that Berial sealed off and gave it a body which would be come Lilith. In exchanged for a body, Jedah asked Lilith to gather as many souls as she could for the Majigen. In both Morrigan's and Lilith's endings, Lilith join with her “sister” as one body as Morrigan. Lilith's child-like body is a possible result of her childish outlook on the world. Despite her child-like demeanor, Lilith is actually much more violent than Morrigan. Many of her attacks, including her normal throw, can cleave opponents in half.

Lilith's is an odd Darstalker. You could call her a sprite clone of Morrigan as she shares many similar attacks but also a bunch individual attacks to her own. She is also much weaker in comparison to Morrigan as well as the rest of the Darkstalkers cast. However she does have a few tricks that does maker stand out. Her fireball, soul flash, is very durable despite its size and works a great anti-air attack. Her jumping heavy punch works as great tool to cross players due to her dash not as being well as Morrigan's. One of her best tools is her EX attack Luminous Illusion, Lilith's version of Morrigan's Darkness Illusion. She also has two Dark Force moves, one that makes a copy of herself and sends it behind the opponent while the other sends it behind Lilith, causing an V-ism shadow. One of Lilith's odder moves though is a Gloomy Puppet Show, a two bar eating EX move where Lilith puts on a bunny bustier (and this isn't the odd part yet). The real odd part of the move is that becomes a rythem based minigame where you have to time the ryhthem to button presses to maximise damage. It's not a very useful move because of that as well as it costing two bars to do.

B.B. Hood/Bulleta

B.B. Hood, Bulleta in Japan, is another Darstalker that needs no real introduction as many people know who she is from her exploits in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. With that being said B.B. Hood is still one of the most interesting Darkstalkers because she isn't one or rather is a monster archetype. Hood, rather is a normal human girl with a very dark heart. Taking up the profession of a Dark Hunter, a person who hunts Darkstalers for profit. Hood's heart was so dark, that Jedah invited her into the world of Makai (something most normal humans can do) to gather more souls for the Majigen. Hood's only objective in life is to make more money at whatever the cost. In that respect, Hood is roughly based on a the serial killer archtype in horror films like a Norman Bates: a innocent look facade (in this case, inspired by Little Red Riding Hood) that hides a very dark, monsterous personality.

B.B. Hood is a zoning type character. She has multiple projectile attack that she can shoot at high or low. On top of that she as command grab and an air grab when people get close. Her Dark Force attack allows her to produce projectiles with any button press, locking down opponents.

Q-Bee

The last of the new characters, one of my favorite, is Q-Bee (which is short for Queen Bee). Q-Bee is the ruler of the race of soul bees in Makai. They feed off of souls, however, their population is dwindling. However, after Jedah was resurrected, he promised to give them all of the souls they could eat in exchange for helping him with the Majigen. Q-Bee might seem like an original monster made up for Darkstalkers but their have films dedicated to the strangely niche genre of monster like Q-Bee. Films like Roger Corman's The Wasp Woman, for example. Really what I like about Q-Bee especially regarding her design is how everything about her is a facade. She has a human face but is not her real one. Her real eyes, for example, are not the ones on her face but ones on her head. She's even not really that tall, she much smaller but only looks like a human to attract potential victims. The level of detail devoted to her is astounding as is also creepy. Very, very creepy especially when you factor in her very weird attacks.

Q-Bee sort of a rush down character who has many ways to say on you. Her dash is interesting because not only does it allow her to hover in the air but homes in on her opponent where ever they are are at. She has a two vastly different command grabs and a strange homing attack that is great for getting in. Her Dark Force ability allows her to fly unlimited for a brief time and coupled with her homing dash means that she can cause some serious trouble. The only down side to Q-Bee is her limited options with her EX Attacks. Both are decent attacks but are hard to connect with opponents.

 

Updates and Compilation Games

 

Technically we gone over all of what in compassed Darkstalkers 3. However, after its original release Capcom did issue two updates to the game. While that seems normal especially with Capcom, the updates for Darkstalkers 3 were really...odd. You see Darkstalkers 3 has pretty much the entire cast of Darkstalkers minus Huitzil, Pyron, and Donovan. All three of those characters had a canonical reason for not being the game. Nevertheless, Capcom's first update to Darkstalkers 3 added back and removed all four of the new characters in the Japan only updated called Vampire Hunter 2.

Despite it being called Vampire Hunter 2 (Night Warriors in the West), its played like Darkstalkers 3 just featuring the cast of Night Warriors. The new characters were given adjustments such as new moves, new EX attacks, and their own Dark Force Attacks. Huitzil was given the biggest change as now he had a non-playable character that accompanied him like Anita and Donovan. Huitzil was given boy named Cecil who projects after Cecil awakens a damaged Huitzil who thinks they must project him. At the end of the arcade mode, instead of fighting Jedah you fight Pyron (although you still fight him in the disturbingly weird Creator's Fetus) and all characters share the same ending minus Pyron.

If you think think this update is weird, then brace yourself because Capcom released a second update for Darkstalkers 3 in Japan called Vampire Savior 2.

This time the three characters that were added in Vampire Hunter 2 were added at the expense of three characters that were present in the prior two games. Jon Talbain, Sasquatch, and Rikuo were taken out and replaced by the four new characters in the original Vampire Savior (Darkstalkers 3). The game played like Darkstalkers 3 and you still fought Jedah but every character sans Jedah had the same ending. By now some of you are probably confused because if you played the home version of Darkstalkers 3, included all of the characters from the previous Darkstalkers games. That's because the home version of Darkstalkers 3 is actually called Vampire Savior EX in Japan, a compilation of all three versions of Vampire Savior with endings for all of the characters. Both Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2 were possibly planned for the West (the title for Night Warriors 2 was found on the arcade ROM of Vampire Hunter 2) but were probably scrapped with the port of Vampire Savior EX.

Even with what we have gone over already, the weird tale of Darkstalkers 3 updates still continued even after the release of Darkstalkers 3/ Vampire Savior EX. In Japan, the Dreamcast got Vampire Chronicle for Matchmaking in 2000. Vampire Chronicle basically Darkstalkers 3 but allow players to play four different styles from the Vampire series (Vampire, Vampire Hunter, Vampire Savior, Vampire Savior 2). It was also the first game in the series to feature online play. The West wouldn't get to play Vampire Chronicle until four years later (during the games 10^th anniversary) when it came to the West as Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower for the PSP. While the game didn't have online, the game did have a challenge mode (Chaos Tower) and art gallery.

However Japan would one more Darkstalkers collection with a very interesting surprise. Vampire Collection premiered for the PS2 in Japan in 2005. This collection allowed player to play all five games in the Vampire series. However, included in Vampire Savior 2 was one new character, Dee.

 

Dee is a “what if” scenario for Donovan, going off of is Night Warrior/ Vampire Hunter ending. What if Donovan gave into his vampire heritage, what would he become? Dee is a strange sprite remix of Donovan and Demitiri. He has his own portrait made by Bengus and even ending where he faces an older Anita. He's never been featured outside of this port of Vampire Savior 2 and Capcom has repeatedly stated that they no plans to port the collection in the West.

Last Tuesday, marked the arrival of the latest Darkstalkers Port, Darkstalkers Resurrection. It this compilation pack, the original arcade versions of Night Warriors and Darkstalkers 3 were re-released featuring GGPO, a fighting game optimized net code made by fans. Ironically, many people had been playing these two games with GGPO for years earlier with the assistance of arcade emulation software such as MAME.

Darkstalkers 3 is truly a bizarre end point for the Darstalkers series but an eventual one. Despite making many mechanics that Street Fighter would later use, the first two Darkstalkers still fell underneath its shadow. By the time third game, Darkstalkers was literally now its own beast. Today, many in hardcore fighting game community praise Darkstalkers 3's depth, speed, and mechanics. There are yearly tournaments in Japan dedicated to Vampire Savior (Darkstalkers 3). However, the legacy that Darkstalkers would carve out with Capcom would expand beyond just the three (or five) games in the series. Get out your curly mustache combs because tomorrow we're looking at Darkstalkers' legacy on the Marvel Vs. Capcom and Capcom.