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Darkstalkers Resurrection
Capcom fans may recognize characters like Morrigan or Felicia, as they appear in games like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Super Puzzle Fighter. But few may be familiar with the Darkstalkers arcade fighting franchise they hail from. In fact, Morrigan has starred in more spin-off games than actual Darkstalker games at this point. Fortunately for longtime Darkstalkers fans and those eager to check out the series, the second and third entries are being bundled with extra features for the downloadable market.
Capcom says Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge and Darkstalkers 3 are the two most popular games in the series. The company passed up including the first game due to how similar its sequel ended up being, claiming it would’ve been redundant. Even without the first game, the bundle includes an impressive amount of content. Darkstalkers: Resurrection features both games, online lobbies, the ability upload replays, and a vault of unlockable concept art. My favorite new feature is a graphical filter similar to Fighting Force: Double Impact. With it, you can switch between smooth or pixelated visuals, turn simulated scan lines on and off, and alter the perspective to emulate looking at an actual arcade cabinet.
My hands-on time with the game marked my first time with the series, and I enjoyed myself. Seeing the whole roster together - along with the fighters that never appeared in Marvel vs. Capcom - made the series’ theme click. The cast features stylish, twisted versions of classic Halloween monsters and other creatures from mythology. A gigantic Frankenstein’s monster bashes enemies with mutating, electrified limbs. A dancing zombie that looks like it’s straight out of the Thriller music video morphs rivals into a basketball hoop and slam dunks on them. My favorite creature is Talbain, a man cursed to become a werewolf who attempts to suppress his lycanthropic tendencies by learning martial arts. Ultimately, this just results in a deadly werewolf that wars a gi, knows kung-fu, and is proficient with nun chucks.
The gameplay itself feels as snappy and satisfying as Capcom’s other excellent fighters. Darkstalkers stakes its territory somewhere between Street Fighter’s technical combos and Marvel vs. Capcom’s high flying mayhem. Players use a combination of light, medium, and heavy kicks or punches to punish opponents. Standard hadouken and shoryuken motions activate special moves like fireballs and uppercuts. Anarkis is a mummy which can summon falling sarcophaguses to crush challengers. An approachable tutorial is available for players that want to learn their favorite character’s strengths, but aren’t completely necessary.
Darkstalkers: Resurrection’s two-in-one deal is a heck of a deal for fighting fans. At the bargain price of $14.99 or 1200 MS points, the package is hard to resist even for casual fighting fans. The colorful, monster mash cast is different enough from other games in the genre without being cheesy, and may be enough to draw in new fans to the franchise when the game launches on PSN March 12 and XBLA March 13.
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