Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge

More supernatural street fighter-esque shenanigans.

Capcom's been on quite a roll lately, with good translations of X-Men and Street Fighter Alpha. Now, the third entry in this fighting fest is NightWarriors: DarkStalkers Revenge which is the little-seen sequel to the original DarkStalkers. For some reason, Part Two was never officially released here in the States, but it enjoyed great popularity in Japan.Two new characters have joined the action and you now have the ability to play as Heitzil and Pyron, the two bosses from Part One. Hsien-Ko is a Chinese ghost-chick while Donovan is a Dark Hunter who tracks down people like her and the rest of the DarkStalker cast.

The original DarkStalkers was the first game in the series of animation-style graphic fighting games from Capcom, which, apart from strong play mechanics, is their specialty. NightWarrior continues the tradition and the Saturn version seems to be an almost exact replica of the arcade graphics. When you first look at NW, you'll be amazed by how fluid it looks, and by the tight control.Trademark Capcom features include a power-up meter, chain combos and guard reversals which preceded Alpha counters and which require no power-meter energy.

The music is simply amazing, with coolly arranged versions of the arcade tunes which you'll find yourself instantly enjoying.The sound samples are a bit off and sound a bit distant, but much better than the sound quality in X-Men, though not as good as S.F. Alpha. There are 14 characters to select from and all are armed with a huge array of moves and specials. At first, it will appear that some characters haven't changed much from Part One, but once you sit down with it for a while, you'll find it hard to go back to Part One. Among the improvements are the ability to stomp on your opponent on the ground a la Virtua Fighter and the ability to charge up your super meter almost endlessly.The number will indicate that the highest number is nine, but you can continue past that, although you can only release one level of super meter power at any given time.This game will be available by the time you read this and we'll have a review next month, but I can safely say that this is going in my Saturn collection.

This is a great day for Saturn owners. While those who have a PlayStation are anxiously awaiting Dark Stalkers, Saturn folks can ease back with the sequel, Night Warriors! The original had ten characters with two unselectable bosses, while the update boasts a total of 14 playable characters, including two brand new fighters and a new super-meter system. Okay, enough comparisons. How does the game itself rate? Fantastic! The animation is amazing and looks arcade-perfect. Gameplay is the tight control you've come to expect from Capcom, which adds up to a must-purchase for fight fans and Saturn owners.

Graphics - 9

Sound/FX - 8

Gameplay - 9

Rating - 9