Customer Reviews

Darkstalkers 3

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Darkstalkers 3 - Circa 1998

GOOD:
- Good Balanced 2D fighter
- An old school fighter that really stands out art style or theme wise

BAD:
- Loading times, short but still there
- Not much bonuses
- The games art style or theme is not for everyone

WILL IT FIT YOUR TASTE:
- Really off the wall looking/acting fighters based on old Hollywood "B" movie monsters but with anime look and feel
- Surprisingly plays similar to Street Fighter Alpha

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Samurai Showdown 4
- Guilty Gear (original)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Practicality same game on Sega Saturn and Playstion Portable
- Darkstalkers franchise has been through a few names the original was called Darkstalkers and the second was called Night Warriors
- Darkstalkers 3 has all Fighters and moves from Darkstalkers and Night Warriors

Back in the mid-90s when the Street Fighter II series was starting to ramp down, folks were on the lookout for the next big fighting game hit. At my local arcade at the university student center, the first Darkstalkers game was a very interesting breath of fresh air. Although the characters were very bizarre, cartoonish horror icons, the gameplay and graphics were (at the time) stunning. The Darkstalkers was important because (along with the Marvel titles) they paved the way for the improved Street Fighter series, Street Fighter Alpha.

But Darkstalkers was popular and important in it's own right. Many of the Darkstalkers characters were added to Marvel vs. Capcom 2, for example, and characters like Morrigan and others were classics. Darkstalkers was popular enough to rate several manga, anime, and more recently a series from acclaimed comic book company UDON.

Darkstalkers 3 was the last game in the Darkstalkers series, and arguably the best, not least because it included all the characters ever to grace the series. Although the PS1 was notorious as a poor choice to play Capcom's fighting games, when Capcom was on their game, they were able to make pretty darn good conversions to it, albeit with some minor sacrifices in load times and reduced frame animation. This game, along with Street Fighter Alpha 3, was one of the best translations for the PS1 that they did. The animation is pretty smooth, the controls and moves are spot on with no lag, and the load times aren't that bad.

If the game had been ported to the Dreamcast, or if we got a Darkstalkers collection on the Xbox or PS2, no doubt they could be better, but since we don't have those, I don't have any reservations recommending this title to anyone who likes 2-D Japanese fighting games.

Very well done.

Darkstalkers 3 is the cream of the crop among Capcom's massive list of 2-D fighters. Marvel vs Capcom 1&2, Marvel vs X-men, Street Fighter vs Marvel, Marvel Super Heroes, etc. It dosen't matter because of one great universal rule...if you know the moves from the original SF you can play these games. What sets DS3 apart is it's upgrades in the gameing experience. Until now (if you were good enough) if could link hyper combos after knocking an opponent down. DS3 offers you the chance to not only "hit 'em while they're down", but chance to do a hyper version of that move. That's the basic theme of DS3. Classic Hollywood monsters driven by a Street Fighter engine with all the moves you know and love. The icing on this cake though is: hit 'em with a special move, a hyper special move, or a hype combo. That's why any true capcom junkie loves this title...

This game was good at first,but after a while it gets boring, Unlike usual fighting games that I could play hours on end. I do,however,think it was clever that they tried to mix horror and put it into a fighting game. All the characters and more are back from the arcade version, but the lack of frames compared to the arcade version will disappoint you.The main reason I got this game was because I enjoyed playing Marvel Vs. Capcom, and it had not yet come out on the Playstation.My favorite character was Morrigan,so the main reason I got this game was for Morrigan.

First I'd like to say I enjoyed this game, while not as well known as the Street Fighter series the Darkstalkers series is by far more enjoyable. The cast of charactos is diverse and the animation is much like that of the Vs. series, Wacky and over the top. The downside is it's hard to appriciate on the playstation. When compared to the first darkstalkers on playstation the charactor animation actually got worse!!! It's choppy and even upgrading the speed to turbo you can still see the painfully obvious missed frames. That said it in NO WAY compares to the Sega Saturn Night Warriors (the second in the Darkstalkers series). Sure there are more charactors and some pretty backgrounds in this, but they also suffer from poor animation!! If you have a Sega Saturn just stick with Night Warriors, if not then this is the best your gonna get. It's sad how the playstation mars the graphix of 2-D fighters like this, If you can look past the playstations downfalls this is one of the most fun fighters to date.

Ordered on a Friday, expecting at least a 5 day wait because of business day shenanigans. I was surprised to see it in my mailbox by tuesday!
The game disc and case were in great shape, looking brand new despite being labeled "used". The manual was included and looked good, and was a lot
of help to understand the game. Overall, a great buy, thank you Amazon.

I have to say that I enjoyed this way more, than Street Fighter Alpha 3. I bought both games at the same time, so I guess I can make a comparison. The character in DS3, I feel, are VERY unique. Each plays differently and you need time to really learn them. While Alpha 3 has way more characters, the variety is kinda limited. Some characters are so difficult to learn there's no point to learn them. AI is definitely cheap in both games but in Alpha 3, it's more so. Gameplay is Darkstalkers is way easier to learn than Alpha. I literally spend a whole month learning to play Alpha, and I was still getting spank by the AI. I did the same with DS, I was doing the spanking. I was definitely less frustrated with DS. Also I highly enjoy the Original Character mode (think a shorter World Tour mode). Bottom line, Darkstalkers is a great underrated game that deserved it's praise.

Also, I still want a Darkstalkers 4 game, Capcom.

check out the Darkstalkers Art books that JUST CAME OUT.

Udon has done a great job with these new books.... plus, they will be out of print soon, so get yours today!

What makes this game great is the character design! On no other 2D-fighting game will you find characters that look and feel more complete than on this game!!!

OH, and the moves are cool, too!!!

The arcade version of Darkstalkers (Vampire Hunger/Saviour)was a great, dark fighting game with a lot of atmosphere that doesn't translate real well to the Playstation. The variety of characters is quite good and the game play is identical to that of other Capcom fighting titles (i.e. Street Fighter). The amount of characters available is what saves this game. It lacks the classic factor of Street Fighter, but lacks the improvements of 2D fighters like Mortal Kombat. If you can find it cheap, it may be worth the cost, but the quality of this game does not demand that you buy it. Fighting game fans who want a large selection may enjoy it, but if you want a good 2D get SF or MK or move on to the 3D's with something like Soul Blade.