"Stick to Vampire Savior"

To start, Vampire Savior 2 is the ''sequel'' to Capcom's 1997 masterpiece Vampire Savior. In Vampire Savior (VS), Capcom originally planned to have every single Darkstalkers character that appeared in the previous two Darkstalkers titles (Vampire in Japan, hence the title, Vampire Savior) incorporated into VS. Due to technological limitations at the time, they were unable to do so as VS pushed the CPS-2 system to its limit. Capcom wanted to keep the three new characters they added, Jedah (the driving force behind the game, AKA the Dark Messiah), Q-bee, and Lilith, so they had to crop some other characters: Donovan, Huitzil (Phobos in Japan) and Pyron. Realizing that they could turn this into a money-making opportunity, Capcom created one of their most disappointing games, VS2.

Gameplay- 9/10
It plays EXACTLY like VS, which is the best part about the game. The Darkforce and ES/EX Special systems are still intact, as is the Capcom ''Magic'' combo system. The characters are arguably the most well balanced of any Capcom game, which greatly adds to the playing experience.

Story- 4/10
It has the same story as VS (Jedah and his really scary Super Baby, the 'Fetus of God' out to save the race of Darkness) which is pretty vague in the game. The mid-boss feature is still in, which helps broaden the storyline, but Capcom made a HORRIBLE mistake (all about that in the ''Replayability'' section) which cripples the story. Also, it never explains why Huitzil has that kid with him; he might have had him in Nightwarriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Vampire Hunter in Japan), but I never played that one.

Graphics- 9/10
Same graphics as VS, meaning great character animation, and really awesome and interesting backgrounds (the ''Tower of Arrogance'' is the standout level in this game). The animations seen in certain moves like Dimitri's Midnight Bliss are great as well. However, for whatever reason (maybe to try to pound it into people's skulls that this is supposed to be a sequel) Capcom recolored EVERYTHING differently. For example: Anakaris's default color is yellow and blue, right? Right. But for some really odd reason, Capcom made it GREEN in VS2. Pyron is blue, Lilith is yellow, everything is just plain fucked up. This goes for the background levels as well, but it really isn't THAT noticeable compared to the character re-colorizations. Also, Capcom was too lazy to give Donovan his own background. His ''Revenger's Roost'' level is the EXACT SAME as Dimitri's , minus the fat Vampire's in the background (but you already got the impression that they didn't care at this point, didn't you?)

Sound- 10/10
Come on, its Capcom. They always have good music. It's the exact music from VS, with the exception of the added sound effects for Donovan, Huitzil and Pyron.

Replayability- 0/10
Yup, ZERO out of ten. Why? Well you know the HORRIBLE mistake that I mentioned earlier? Here it is: Capcom scrapped the unique endings. For whatever reason Capcom took them out. No matter what character you beat the game with, you get the EXACT SAME ENDING. And its not even a GOOD one to boot. It's a shame too, because that was one of the great parts about VS, the cool character endings. So once you beat the game one time, there is NOTHING to look forward to.

Misc-
Two things that Capcom added to VS2 are the ability to play as Hannya (Oboro Bishamon?) and ''Marionette Mode.'' They aren't that remarkable as they don't really DO anything gamewise. Hannya/Oboro Bishamon has a pretty cool opening animation, and so does Marionette Mode, but other than that, nothing.

Bottom Line:
Vampire Savior 2 is just another example of Capcom trying to milk a game series for all their worth without paying any attention to the quality of the end-product. Since the chances of you finding a VS2 arcade machine is QUITE rare (it was never released outside of Japan), I don't have to warn you about saving your money, but in case you are tempted to download it for your * insert favorite arcade emu here *, you are better off getting Vampire Savior.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/02, Updated 01/31/02