Darkstalkers: Resurrection

Welcome to the Darkstalkers Resurrection Collection! This is your all access pass to the most legendary monster bash in fighting game history, the one that took gothic horror, anime insanity and a killer soundtrack, and mashed it all into an stylish arcade cabinet. We're talking about the goated monster roster that forever changed the game with its speed, its swagger, and animations that are still fresh decades later, this trilogy is a masterclass in style and substance. So, let's break down the legacy, one monstrous fighter at a time.

The first game, Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (or just Vampire in Japan), has a pretty simple story: this big fiery alien named Pyron shows up to conquer Earth, and his arrival wakes up all these legendary monsters. They all have their own reasons for fighting, like the vampire Demitri wanting to take over the demon world, or the werewolf Jon Talbain just trying to cure his curse. Gameplay-wise, this is where CAPCOM did something different. They took the solid STREET FIGHTER foundation and cranked the speed and craziness way up. Characters have these insane special moves and can even run along the walls and ceilings. The sprites are huge and packed with personality, you can see Felicia's ears twitch or Lord Raptor strum his chest like a guitar. It set the stage with an unforgettable cast and a look that was instantly iconic.

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Next up is Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (or Vampire Hunter). This is more like a beefed up version of the first game, but it's packed with so many improvements it feels like its own thing. The plot continues with Pyron as the big bad, but they add two awesome new fighters. You get Donovan, this brooding dhampir monster hunter with a giant sword, and Hsien-Ko, a hopping Chinese jiangshi with stretchy arms and cool talisman attacks. The biggest change was adding the Dark Force system, which is basically a temporary power up that gives each character a unique game changing ability, like Morrigan summoning a bunch of bats or Bishamon pulling out a second sword. The game just feels smoother, faster and more strategic, letting you create some truly nasty combos. Oh, and they made the bosses Pyron and Huitzil playable, which is awesome.

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The third and final main game, Darkstalkers' 3: Jedah's Damnation (or Vampire Hunter: The Lord of Vampire), changed almost everything. First, the story shifts to a new villain, Jedah Dohma, this elegant and creepy noble who wants to merge all souls into one. The roster got a major shake up, losing some classic characters (in the arcade version) but introducing some of the most memorable ones, like the adorably creepy little girl with a gun, Baby Bonnie Hood, and Morrigan's bubbly pink haired other half, Lilith. They completely overhauled the mechanics too. They removed traditional blocking, you now have a guard button that pushes you back, and health doesn't recharge between rounds, which makes every hit matter. The pace is frantic, the combos are insane and the graphics are at their absolute peak, with even more detailed and fluid animations. It's the deepest and most intense game in the series.

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For the home versions of the first two games, Darkstalkers 1 hit the PlayStation and Sega Saturn with solid ports that recreated the arcade experience well, while Darkstalkers' Revenge had a particularly praised Sega Saturn port that was nearly arcade perfect. However, the original arcade versions for 1 and 2 are objectively better due to perfectly responsive controls and zero loading. As for Darkstalkers 3 tho, the PlayStation version is the most complete content version because it includes every single playable character characters from across the arcade revisions like Donovan and Pyron with unique story endings. However, it still has noticeable loading times before fights and slightly less responsive controls compared to the original arcade versions.

 

Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (PlayStation)

 

Darkstalkers 3: Jedah's Damnation (PlayStation)

Looking at the whole package, it's wild how much these games did for fighting games in general. They were a testing ground for ideas that later showed up in STREET FIGHTER ALPHA and the MARVEL VS. CAPCOM games. The character designs are legendary, mixing monsters with charm and sex appeal in a way that created a massive cosplay and fanart scene. Even tho the series never got the huge sales numbers of STREET FIGHTER, it earned a fiercely loyal cult following. The music, with its rock and synth tracks, perfectly matches the gothic punk aesthetic. Sure, the stories are simple excuses for these monsters to fight, but the endings gave each character so much personality, from heartfelt to just plain weird.