Fighting Your Way Through Halloween: Darkstalkers 3 - The Characters... (Part 2)

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So, it's time for part two of our introduction to the weird and wonderful 'Halloween-friendly' characters of Capcom's insanely good 2D fighter, Dark Stalkers 3. We've already met our seasonal archetypes-- a mummy, a werewolf, a vampire, a Frankenstein-type monster, a machine gun toting fairy tale character, two confusingly saucy 'succubus' demons and a... *cough* ...haunted suit of Samurai armour...

Now it's time to meet the rest of the roster of  'Vampire Savior: The Lord Of Vampire' for the Sega Saturn!

Sasquatch: is of course the mysterious ape-man of the North American continent. Also known as Big Foot (the same name as his tribe). Sasquatch is an original creature to have in a horror-based fighting game, but unfortunately his race are depicted as something of  a bunch of stupid behemoths, daft enough to be lured to their doom by the offer of lots of bananas! A shame, as I can't think of him showing up in many other video games, and as everyone knows, Sasquatch are intelligent, even noble creatures, which is why they've never been caught by the razor sharp minds and keen cryptozoological instincts of the Finding Bigfoot team on Animal Planet.

Sasquatch's most notable ability is being able to turn water to ice by passing it through his body! Having huge feet (all the better to stomp you with) can also be quite beneficial when facing other creatures of the night...

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Pyron: is an alien form the planet Hellstorm, a planet noted for it's love of war and violence. Pyron is a formidable boss character, left out from the arcade release of the game, but brought back into the fold for the later console release. Unstoppable by normal attacks, he can fly into the air, withstand the hardest of onslaughts and dodge bullets. He can assimilate the size and characteristics of each of his enemies, and he is only susceptible to certain magical attacks.

Q Bee: An insectoid creature with a sting in her tail, Q Bee is the queen of the 'Soul Bee' people. Rather than sucking the nectar from flowers, Q bee sucks the souls from those unlucky enough to cross her path. For her size, she is terrifically strong. She is also able to shapeshift between
bee and humanoid form, can commandeer the seething, swarming anger of any bee colony in her vicinity and has more of a waspish rage, than a honey flavoured disposition...

Rikuo (or Aulbath in Japan): is an aquatic monster based on the titular creature from Universal Studio's 1954 monochrome horror classic, 'The Creature From The Black Lagoon'. As you might expect, Rikuo has an affinity with other water based fauna such as fish and frogs, the form of which he can also assume. Being away from water has a debilitating effect on Rikuo, but on the other hand, being rained on when it's pissing down, has curiously restorative properties for Rikuo. Which is why he enjoys visiting Manchester in the North of England so much ...

Huitzil (or Phobos in Japan): is a hulking robot, invented and constructed by the alien Pyron many millions of years ago. One of the squadron of robots sent out to kill the dinosaurs, (now you know how they died out...) Huitzil was put into a deep stasis for millions of years, until he was eventually 'discovered' and put to use by the Aztecs in approximately 520 AD. Huitzil has a small companion in the shape of a Mayan boy called Cecil, whom he believes he is sworn to protect, due to a malfunction in his ancient circuitry.

Lord Raptor (or Zabel Zarock in Japan) is a supposed English rock musician who joined the ranks of the undead when he was caught channelling a Satanic chant in one of his rock songs, If this dude is not inspired by Iron Maiden's Eddie, then I'll eat my own entrails. I hope I'm not incorrect, however, as eating my own entrails would compromise my deeply held vegan principles...

Felicia: Is a sort of were-cat (if that's an actual thing), a feline humanoid, who is one of the very few female characters in Darkstalkers 3... Again, she seems to be character designed to tap into the hormonal consciousness of spotty frustrated teenage boys. I cant help thinking of those god-awful photo filters, which seem to have made big cat eyes, pointy cat ears and black whiskered noses the must have accessories for any young woman's self portrait in 2017!

Hsien-Ko: One of the stranger characters in Darkstalkers, Hsien-Ko is definitely, slightly out of place in the Halloween themed line up, as she is an unfamiliar archetype to Western gamers. She will be familiar to Asian gamers as the hopping vampire of Chinese myth... and also to those familiar with Capcom's crossover titles such as the Saturn's 'Super Puzzle Fighter Turbo 2' or 'Marvel vs, Capcom 3' on current consoles. A 'cute' character until her giant metal fists start to whir spin and punish, anyone who has tried to oppose Hsien-Ko in one of her many cross-over appearances will know how hard she is to beat!

Donovan Vain: A half vampire-half human hybrid (like Blade) who uses his power to hunt other Darkstalkers. Like giant robot Huitzl, Donovan  feels obliged to look after a small compatriot, this time, in the guise of a young emotionless girl called Anita.

As well as the amazing characters and furious fighting action contained within this title, there are also some gorgeous settings and backdrops for the combat to take place, which underscore and accentuate the horror feel of the game. The only thing I'm missing now is local opposition-- a human challenger to spar against! Maybe my very own Darkstalker will arrive before the 31st!