Archview #20 : Darkstalkers 3

 Number 20? They said I´d never get here. But I did.

  DarkStalkers 3 is a 1 on 1 2D fighting game from Capcom. It´s commonly referred to as "Street Fighter with monsters", but I disagree, DarkStalkers 3 is nothing like Street Fighter, heck, later Street Fighter games took elements FROM Darkstalkers. For instance, there are no rounds, not in the traditional manner, instead, you get two life bars, and once one is depleted, there´s about a second in which neither character can attack, but can move, and then the second "round" starts, and the winner doesn´t get a health refill.
 What it does share in common with Street Fighter is the six-button layout, consisting of Jab, Strong Punch, Fierce Punch, Short,  Forward and Roundhouse. Just like Street Fighter, special moves and EX are done by imputting motions with the direction pad and pressing attacks. Something that Darkstalkers had, before SF 3 and 4 borrowed it, are enhanced attacks, by using some meter and pressing two attack buttons, you can enhance your special moves. Darkstalkers also introduced the Advancing Guard, years before Tatsunoko VS Capcom and MVC 3 used the mechanic. There´s also "Dark Force", you can choose between Change or Power(Both with different properties), and by using one or two energy bars, depending on what type you picked, you can use them in battle, bestowing upon your character special gimmicks and access to new attacks. Interestingly, unlike other fighting games, you can accumulate an infinite amount of energy bars, which lends to the faster speed of this game. Rounds can end in less than 10 seconds, even white health recovers extremely fast, if you don´t get hit.

 There´s 18 different characters, and around 5-7 secret "variations" of some characters, which is a decent amount of characters, specially taking into account how different each character is from the others. From their special moves, to all their different animations, characters in Darkstalkers are full of personality. However, there are few game modes, there´s Arcade, Training, VS and Original Character. Original Character allows you to edit the name and color of a character of your choice, and enhance him as you fight dozens of enemies. This mode is how you unlock the art gallery and the special options... and the special options are worth it, you can make the game play like Vampire Hunter or Vampire Hunter 2, besides allowing other game-changing options. They are worth it.
 The graphics are colorful and vibrant. While the animation isn´t as good as the Arcade version, it still looks good, except Pyron. Pyron got the short end of the stick this time. Regardless, there are loads upon loads of animations and unique "states", like Cut in Half, Burned, Under Demitri´s Attack, under Jedah´s inflation, etc. The music is not my cup of tea, but it doesn´t sound bad, but I´d wish they had harder-sounding tunes to fight with. The translation is a bit iffy at times, but it doesn´t get in the way of the gameplay.

 Darkstalkers 3 is a solid fighting game, it´s only real drawback is the lack of modes, but you can toy around with the ES and DX option in order to shake up the gameplay, so it´s not a bad trade off.
 It´s an 8 out of 10