Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire

1997 · Fighting · Arcade

About Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire

Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire (1997) is the third Darkstalkers game, released at home as Darkstalkers 3, a Capcom fighter that replaced rounds with a single bout and two life bars.

Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire in Depth

Instead of rounds, each fight is a single bout. Every fighter has two life bars with markers, like Rare's Killer Instinct; when one bar empties, the fighters reset their positions as if a new round had started, but the winner keeps whatever health they had left. Part of the damage taken shows in white and can be recovered if the player avoids being hit again. The Dark Force System spends meter to give each character a unique special ability for a limited time.

The roster carries over from Night Warriors, minus Donovan, Huitzil and Pyron, and adds four newcomers: Jedah, Lilith, Q-Bee and B. B. Hood. Dark Talbain, an evil double of Jon Talbain, is his final opponent and a hidden playable character; Oboro Bishamon is a hidden boss; and Shadow lets the player take over the fighter just defeated for the next match. The story centres on Jedah Dohma, a noble of the demon world of Makai who has returned from the dead and creates a pocket dimension, Majigen, drawing in worthy souls to feed his new world.

Making Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire

Capcom released Vampire Savior in Japanese arcades in 1997, and Game Machine listed it as the country's second most successful arcade game in its 15 June 1997 issue. Next Generation found it fun but "nothing special" next to Night Warriors, while GamePro said that despite being more of Capcom's 2D formula it "holds up beautifully"; both praised its animation and special moves. In 1998 it came to the Saturn in Japan and to the PlayStation as Vampire Savior: EX Edition, released in the West as Darkstalkers 3, which IGN called one of the best 2D fighters on the console. It was later remastered in Darkstalkers Resurrection and included in the 2022 Capcom Fighting Collection, and Eurogamer likened it to Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike as a second sequel in which Capcom "tends to go the full distance".

Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire Trivia

It was going to be called Darkstalkers: Jedah's Damnation outside Japan; the US arcade title became Vampire Savior: World of Darkness.
Two Japan-only updates, Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2, came out simultaneously in September 1997 with different rosters.
The Japan-only Saturn version needed Capcom's 4 MB RAM cartridge and reproduced the arcade animation more faithfully than earlier home versions.
The PlayStation's Darkstalkers 3 compiled all three arcade versions and all 18 characters.
GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann called it "easily the best fighter Capcom has put out in years".