Darkstalkers (Vampire) series appreciation thread

Looking at this post back then, and his point about Alpha 3 and 3s being hated by a majority of fans on here. :rofl:

Anyways, I have loved the Vampire series since I played Darkstalkers on the playstation, I really enjoyed the characters, and I also played Vampire Savior at the arcade(Darkstalkers 3 on playstation), I’ve always liked the characters better then those of Street fighter(Aside from Akuma/Cammy), they were much more interesting, and the combat felt very close to the Alpha series, with it’s own spins on it.

In the past few years I started taking up fighting games more seriously, I picked up a main, Lilith is my main of the game. I don’t play a character based on how good they are, even when serious, I pick a character I like, and am comformtable with.(I know when not to use a character who can’t do anything on the other hand though, like Dan.)

Just means I have to try that much harder then the person who has the better character.

He seems like a really cool guy, he doesn’t abuse his status, and he actually enjoys playing fighting games, unlike Justin who is just in for the money.

Glad someone of his stature in the community is supportive of Alpha 3 and Darkstalkers.

My friend had D2 and D3. D3 was soooo much fun and we would play that with are skills of not doing any special moves. I would love to find the game and play it again so I can actually figure out how to play it.

The Darkstalkers series is readily available to play on MAME emulation, or you can buy the CPS-2 hardware and find the arcade boards online.

The cheapest LEGAL solution that provides arcade-perfect ports is the PS2 Japanese collection, Vampire: The Darkstalkers Collection. it’s been through 3 print runs and the most recent and cheapest version is still available through import shops in the US and Asia.

Seriously, NCSX.com and Play-Asia.com should still have the latest print of the PS2 Darkstalkers collection in stock or should be able to special-order it.

You have to have a modded American PS2 to play it OR a Japanese/Asian PS2. The Darkstalkers Collection was never brought over to the US because Capcom didn’t think there was a big enough audience for it in North America.

As someone who has played every version of Darkstalkers on all the systems it’s been released on (including the PSP port), the PS2 DS Collection is the one to get. If you have a Sega Saturn, DS2 and DS3 on that system are second-best.

The other important distinction about the PS2 DS Collection is that also includes Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2 – the minor tweaks of Vampire Savior released only in Japan and included as extras on Darkstalkers 3 for the PS1. In addition to VH2 and VS2, the PS2 DS Collection also has special arranged versions of the Darkstalkers games in it (probably “dip-switched” games) and an art gallery of artwork produced for the game series.

Wouldn’t you still need some type of JAMMA setup along with an arcade monitor? Or at least a converter of sorts (like a supergun)? Or am I missing something completely?

To play any arcade game, you have to get a customized setup unless you want to pay through the nose for a stand-up cabinet. When you see what the prices are like on this, a $300 MAS Supergun set-up doesn’t sound so bad after all!

MAS systems seems like the place to go for the closest to an “all-in-one” solution.

There really isn’t one “all-in-one” solution for the CPS-2. You’re talking at least $300 hardware (MAS solution) without even getting the boards and CPS-2 specific stuff. Somebody else can correct if I’m wrong in my understanding here, but I believe the CPS-2 is additional gear or an adaptation of standard JAMMA hardware that has its own special wiring, too. The wiring (“kick harness”) is CPS-2 special to allow the hardware to register 6-action buttons. If you’ve done a stick mod, you’d recognize some of the details of the wiring (it has Quick Disconnects for the action buttons). Remember, most arcade games never used as many buttons as a Capcom fighting game. I think SNK only used 4-action buttons partly to be economical and save on hardware costs for the Neo Geo/MVS systems.

Capcom briefly marketed its own console system for the home with cart ports of its arcade games but that was Japan-only and I think the system was only around for a few years in the mid to late 1990s. They did mostly CPS-1 games and maybe a few CPS-2 ports like the Super Street Fighter games. If I remember correctly, the Capcom system was about the cost of a Neo-Geo back then – roughly $600.

But yeah, you definitely need a customized console or cabinet to hold all that hardware and reduce dust exposure.

Most of the available CPS-2 games can be had for pretty cheap now, though. A lot less than what you pay for a top-of-the-line stick! Online dealers say the Japanese boards are generally cheaper than the American/Canadian boards because they get used more often and depreciate in value faster. I don’t know about that but I did see some good prices on a few games I’d like to get better ports of myself!

The monitor’s not absolutely necessary. You can get convertors for TV or use a computer screen with the right adaptors.

I’m not an electronics expert and am only posting what I understand. I’m sure there are people that post here that can find cheaper solutions that work well but they generally do a lot of electronics work – some of them are electrical engineers or at least certified electricians which means they understand more than 90% of us do for sure about this gear – and have been dabbling with this stuff for years. I do think, however, regardless of whether you buy from MAS or somebody here, you have to go through an honest channel and buy gear that WON’T destroy your hardware and wipe out your game investment. As it is, the CPS-2 PCB game boards have that pesky “suicide battery” built into them and more than a few people have had to jump through hoops to revive “dead” game boards after the built-in battery died. The battery is the main thing I’d be concerned about when buying game boards from online dealers.

Sorry, didn’t mean to come off as ignorant. I thought you knew something I didn’t in regards to playing games from a CPS-2 A/B board.

I actually own several arcade cabinets, all of which are JAMMA, with the exception of a Mario Bros Nintendo cab. I run CPS-2 and CPS-3 hardware on a couple of them. I think I probably paid less for each cabinet than any type of supergun setup, and I very much prefer the stand-up style of play as opposed to running a JAMMA adapter into my TV.

If you’re ever considering an arcade setup at home, then I would check my local craigslist/classifieds before bothering with the supergun or MAS setup. I have scored cabinets as low as $150 each, already with 6-button layouts! It’s only a matter of patience.

And just to keep this thread relevant, I just put a bid on Vampire Hunter CPS2 ‘A’ and ‘B’ board for $30! Don’t outbid me, fuckers.

I take it you’re not bidding on e-Bay, then?

I haven’t seen Vampire Hunter boards there – at least when I bothered to look.

I did find a vendor selling VH2 on a website, though. I’m more interested in that game than VS2 or Savior itself.

VH is a lot more common than Nightwarriors (English version ported to the Saturn in the US), though. It was THE big fighting game for well over a year in Japan in the mid-1990s. Lot of boards were built. They can be had cheaper than the English versions as I understand it.

Nightwarriors did show up in Europe, though. Why Capcom never released it out of test in the US is something I’d like to know. (I’m guessing the American Nightwarriors prototype/test machine is probably the source for the MAME code since it wasn’t exactly populating domestic arcades.) I guess they didn’t feel confident the game would do well? They sure felt confident enough about Vampire Savior, though!

Why this series never got a good shake in the American arcade community is beyond me. A lot of things about the Darkstalkers games are technically better than the Street Fighter Alpha series starting with the control response, the crazy amount of animation, and the variety of characters. I don’t hate Alpha, per se, but it was hardly pushing the CPS-2 board that far…

darkstalker series needs a DLC version like MvC2… i think this game is way under rated and much fun…

Hell Bring on a mash up… capcom universe the game :slight_smile:

I am curious, is VS1 favored over VS2 in Japan? Also, who were the top 3 in VS1?

I always thought VS1 was the one most played.

And wasn’t it like Sas, Zabel, and Jedah? Rikuo is pretty beefy imo but I never hear of him.

No one plays VS2. Lack of air chains and other stuff make it a lot less fun.

Wasn’t it also lack of a standard version?

I remember reading there were like 2-3 different version all with different rosters

Personally,

I preferred VH2 to VS2 but I was never crazy about the new characters introduced in Vampire Savior.

My favorite game is still the second one, Nighwarriors/Vampire Hunter/DS2.

The first game in the DS series has so many issues with awkward controls, character balance, and that awful energy bar for super moves that I hardly touch it in the compilations. The PS1 version of Darkstalkers/DS1 was also one of the 5-worst all-time Capcom console ports, too. The only Capcom ports that were butchered worse were the Vs. team-up games they TRIED to port to port to the PS1 as well as Marvel Super Heroes (on BOTH the PS1 and Saturn it was a disaster) and X-Men: COTA (playable on Saturn, ultra-slow on PS1).

I would love it if Capcom went back and did an arcade-perfect port of the games that never got 100% ports (X-Men:COTA and MSH in particular) but licensing issues (Marvel wants too much $$$ for their characters’ likenesses) and popularity questions (do enough people want to play WarZard which they never saw in their country???) dog a lot of possible releases…

The Vampire Savior engine was used with 2 other games in addition to itself.

The basic differences in Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2 are that Vampire Hunter 2 deletes the new characters introduced in Vampire Savior and goes with an all Vampire Hunter cast (Donovan and Pyron are in the game) while a few of the older characters (Pyron and Donovan for sure – probably Jon Talbain/Gallon, too) got deleted from Vampire Savior 2.

I’m not aware of the chaining issue in VS2 but I’ve always known that characters were deleted from VS1 and VS2. All of the characters are present in the Sega Saturn port of VS1 but you don’t face all them in combat against the computer since that game follows the arcade version. You CAN play as any of the characters in arcade mode, though.

I don’t think you can airchain in Savior2, also Dark Force is different in that it gives characters extra attack power (some characters retain their special abilities) and some different moves/ES/EX properties.

Haven’t played Hunter2 in awhile.

I’ve gotten back into Vampire Chronicles recently: [media=youtube]4wDVsfZUZLc&feature=channel_page[/media] , I think even though that title isn’t used for competitive play (as far as I know) it has a lot of options and combinations because of how they set it up; if I’m lucky maybe I will find some competition to play it with.

http://www.capcom-unity.com/ask_capcom/go/thread/view/7371/18569387/Any_Chance_Of_A_DarkStalkers_HD_Remix_Capcom?num=10&pg=1

Show your support, y’all. Sven asks “Would you like to see this?”

Now really is that a question lol? But it’s an interesting comment that makes me wonder. Who knows?

IMO Vampire Savior 1 is the one of the best games i’ve ever touched and is better than a majority of the shit that gets played out there cough SF4 cough…BITE ME!!!

VS actually pioneered a lot of the features in today’s fighters. Air blocking, IAD, magic series chains, EX moves, etc. Even the pacing was another level. Sad that it never got really popular outside Japan.

Hey what are the dipswitches in PS2 VS that you need to turn on to make it close to cps2?

I wish Morrigan’s normals hitboxes retain their range/size from VH.

All the DS games are great. When DS first came out in 94 I’m sure it blew away SFII fans with it’s colorful animations and over the top sprites. Even to this day it aged really well.

If you want to get into it and have a psp I recommend the Chaos Tower game - great place to start and can be had for $5-10.