"The brawl is on. Again."

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INTRODUCTION
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”A flower of blood blossomed in the darkness.
I like it...” - Demitri

In Japan, the Darkstalkers (“Vampire”) series has attained a respectable critical and fanfare acceptance. Vampire Savior 2 – The Lord of Vampire is a solid proof of this statement. Despite its name, this Japanese game is by no means a sequel to Vampire Savior (VS). Actually, it is only an alternate version of the original VS game.

The most obvious difference which sets this game apart from the original is that it features three new characters who were missing in the first game: Pyron, Donovan and Phobos (all of them popular characters of older Darkstalkers games and surprisingly not featured in VS). Everything else has remained nearly unchanged. Thus, basically, VS 2 is an attempt to please the fans of the aforementioned characters and it is not a whole new Darkstalkers game. But do not be discouraged. Whether you played the original or not, Vampire Savior 2 is a solid 2D fighting game that has enough good points to keep enthusiasts of the genre entertained.

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STORY
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”If your soul exists to perish,
grant it to me...” - Jedah

An ancient Darkstalker, the Dark Messiah Jedah, has been resurrected in the barren outskirts of Makai, the demon world. He foresaw into the future that the world was on the verge of its destruction, with endless wars and catastrophes. Reliant that no one but himself could save the world, he comes up with a manner to save all forms of life.

With nothing but benevolence in mind, Jedah creates a black void container called “the fetus of god” (a lovely baby demon you will have the opportunity to meet if you manage to reach the last level). His plan is to absorb all souls of the the living beings and store them all in the fetus, so that they will not fight each other. Obviously, Jedah will be the ruler of them all (a little reward for being so nice). In Vampire Savior, you can choose the side you will fight: some of the Darkstalkers are supporting Jedah’s plan, while others are against it and seek Jedah’s death, as well as his throne. Even Jedah himself, the last boss, is a selectable character from the beginning.

As you can notice, there is nothing new to the plot. The story of VS 2 is exactly the same of the original VS. As a matter of fact, it is somewhat worse. This time, the character specific endings are gone. All the Darkstalkers have the same ending sequence when you defeat the last boss, which is a shame, for the outcome of the stories (featured in VS) were all interesting and were a great addition to the gameplay experience.

Story: 7/10

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GAMEPLAY
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”Cry! Scream! Beg! Agonize! Suffer! Weep! Die!” - Bishamon

Vampire Savior 2 – The Lord of Vampire is a 2D fighting game developed by Capcom, thus, I am sure you know what to expect here. There are 15 characters at your disposal. All of them are known monsters or mythical creatures taken from legends around the world (a vampire, a zombie and a succubus, just to name a few) redesigned in a more comic approach. Returning characters are Demitri, Victor, Anakaris, Felicia, Bishamon, Hsien-Ko (Lei Lei), Lord Raptor (Zabel), Morrigan, Queen Bee, Lilith, Baby Bonnie Hood (Bulleta) and the dark lord Jedah. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the alien Pyron, the vampire slayer Donovan and the aztec robot Phobos (Huitzil) now join this motley crew. Nevertheless, the three least favorite characters among Japanese gamers are gone: Jon Talbain, Sasquatch and Rikuo. Supposedly, by that time Capcom did not have the technology to enhance the CPS-2 board so that it could support every character in the game without making some simplifications (animation loss or, even worse, slowdown). Consequently, instead of ruining the gameplay greatly, they simply removed those unfortunate characters.

Choose your Darkstalker and you have the opportunity to choose either a normal mode or a turbo mode. Switching to the turbo mode allows you to play the game in a lightning fast speed. In supplement to this, there is now the possibility to select auto defense if you are squeamish. The controls are very simple and effective, and the special attacks are easy to pull off. There is also an auxiliary energy meter at the bottom of the screen, labeled “super”, that slowly fills whenever you perform a move. When this bar is full, you can pull off super moves. These are also promptly executable and their command inputs are easy to memorize.

Vampire Savior 2, as the original, is bursting with new options to enhance the gameplay experience of the Darkstalkers series. For one, instead of having the traditional three-rounds battles, each fight now takes place in one long continuous round, similar to Killer Instinct. Whenever the life bar of one character is depleted, instead of stopping the fight to proceed to the second round, the life meter of the defeated fighter completely refills, yet the life meter of the winner remains unchanged. In case the winner has his energy depleted, the same thing happens to him. If any warrior gets defeated twice, the fight is over. You see, actually there are three rounds, but they are continuous. It is a way to make the battles faster and to take the advantage that the player got in the first round into the next one.

Another interesting new feature is the temporary damage. Now, some of the attacks, mostly blocked moves and combos, will make your life bar turn white instead of red. These white areas slowly regenerate, allowing your character to get back some of the lost energy, considering, of course, that you can manage to escape from other attacks in the meantime.

Also new is the ability to unleash “Dark Force” maneuvers. These special moves require a part of the special bar and they have a different effect depending on which character has performed it. For instance, by activating Morrigan’s Dark Force, a mirror image of her will appear for a short time, right behind the opponent. As she acts accordingly to the original, you may hit your enemy with Morrigan and her image at the same time, causing heavy damage to the adversary.

Not everything is perfect, though. Vampire Savior 2 is, just as VS 1, considerably harder than the previous games. Sometimes, it is too hard for its own good. And yet, albeit it may sound a paradox, another drawback is that the game is too short, featuring only seven battles in one-player mode. Easier battles, as well as more of them, would certainly create a more enjoyable experience, especially for casual gamers. One last warning: VS 2 looks and plays a lot like X-Men vs Street Fighter, with 20-hit super combos, aerial raves and screen-clearing special moves. Thus, know that this flashy and combo rich gameplay may be a turnoff sometimes.

Gameplay: 8/10; Replay: 8/10; Controls: 10/10

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AUDIO & VIDEO
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”Taste the bittersweet tune of eternal darkness” – Demitri

Vampire Savior 2 pushes the CPS-2 board to its limits. Really. The characters are large and very well drawn. The backgrounds, which are consisted of misty chambers, dense forests, a living train, among others, are colorful and detailed, yet it is a shame that there are no character specific stages. As a bonus, the color palette of the backgrounds have been improved from VS, and the backgrounds do transmit a more dense and dark approach, coherent to the atmosphere of the game. The music is mostly techno and fits the gameplay very well, always intense and fitting the relentless action. The voice acting, although they do not vary much from the grunts and groans always played in fighting games, are incredibly well done, as well as the sound effects. Particularly, Jedah’s wicked laugh is something that deserves a special attention.

Nevertheless, concerning the audio and video department, what really shines in Vampire Savior 2 is the high quality of the animation. It is smooth, fast and every single frame of animation is incredibly well done. Granted, every punch, kick or any other move is exaggerated and nothing realistic. Lord Raptor, for instance, is a zombie that can run in mid air, teleport himself, he can take a sword out of his ribs and can change his foreleg into a chainsaw. Within fractions of seconds. Not to mention one of his special moves, in which a little imp that fights alongside him engulfs the enemy, turns the unlucky soul into a basketball and throws it to Lord Raptor, so that he can play with it and dunk it. Weird...but mostly impressive.

Graphics: 9/10; Sound: 9/10

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CONCLUSION
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”Is it over yet?
The night has only just begun...” - Demitri

Vampire Savior 2 may be only an enhanced version of the original and not a completely new gaming experience, but, indeed, it is very well rounded and worth checking out. Fans of the series will certainly enjoy it, whether they had played the original or not. Despite minor flaws, its solid gameplay and great fighting engine shall please both experienced gamers and casual players alike. As Vampire Savior 2 is a mid 1997 release, the arcade machine is not very easy to find anymore. In the territory of the home consoles, there is a Playstation version called “Darkstalkers 3”, which compiles both VS and VS 2. It is nothing mindblowing, though, because the Playstation cannot handle this much of 2D intensity and, thus, the games suffers from serious animation loss. So, the best option to play VS 2 in all its glory in a home console is the Saturn version, a nearly perfect port, due the Saturn’s 4 mega cartridge help, and also labeled as “Darkstalkers 3”. Anyway, fighting games enthusiasts will not get disappointed, whether they play Vampire Savior 1 or 2, or the counterpart, Darkstalkers 3.

Overall: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/12/02, Updated 10/12/02