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Review : Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower for the PSP
Right about now everybody and their cat knows that the Sony PSP takes handheld 3d graphics to a whole new level but how does it handle good old classic 2d animation? Pretty damn well. I made sure to get a copy of Capcom's masterful 2-D fighting game Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower for the PSP.
I have never hid the fact that I love 2d fighting games with a bizarre fanatical passion that the majority of post-Playstation era gamers have a hard time following. This is one of top three 2d animated fighting games of all time faithfully reproduced on the PSP with lots of unlockable stuff and wireless networking. Think of it as the best Street Fighter style fighting game but with Anime versions of classic movie monsters. It has a balanced cast, over the top character design, great music and despite having tons of games at our disposal playing my friend BBQ a nice game of Darkstalkers just does not get old.
This is not a new game by any means. It is the third Darkstalkers 2d fighting arcade game that has been on the Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, and the PSOne. The tower challenge is nice and I am sure the Wifi networking is slick but this is still about 99% the same game as when Darkstalkers 3 : Dark Savior first came out in the arcade and Saturn. But you know what? That is just fine by me because it is a perfectly faithfully handheld version of one of the truly perfect fighting games with all the moves, sounds, animation and gameplay that make it a classic. The PSP has a nice screen, a fast disk drive and a whopping 32-megs of ram. That is eight times the Sega Saturn version with the expansion cart and sixteen times the ram for the PSOne version.
The game is originally stretched to fill the PSP wide screen but you can change it back to it's normal 4x3 aspect ratio. The artwork looks stretched and a bit blurry on the full screen mode. Hitting off super moves and combos using the PSP's top L and R buttons take a bit to get to used to. It looks like they changed some of the more slutty things that Lilith says after she wins but all the blood and violence is here. Oh yeah and each player needs to have a copy of the game for a Wifi battle. The loading times is just as quick as the Dreamcast version.
The PSP is quite capable of making a faithful handheld version of just about every 2d fighting game out there. I am optimistic about the Japanese game developers making some more 2-D games for the PSP. What I would pay for a PSP version of Capcom vs SNK 2 or SVC Chaos? This is a game for old school gamers that love our 2d-fighting games. If you have a PSP and you love 2d fighting games than this is worth your money even if you have Darkstalkers 3 on other platforms. I don't think the mainstream US game market got a good chance to enjoy this game so I am glad to see it on the PSP. I am also super glad that the US PSP can play Japanese games just in case the US game publishers decide to not bring 2d games to the US and I have to import them. That is one of the final things that sold me on the PSP.
This is a game for old school gamers that love our 2d-fighting games. If you have a PSP and you love 2d fighting games than this is worth your money even if you have Darkstalkers 3 on other platforms.
Jake at April 1, 2005 
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Comments
"this is one of top three 2d animated fighting games of all time"
hmmm . . . makes me wonder what your top 5 are. Here's mine (in no order)
Last Blade 1
Samurai Shodown II
King of Fighters 98
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Posted by: ray at April 2, 2005 5:43 PM
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Street Fighter Alpha 3 are my other ones.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at April 2, 2005 8:56 PM
Actually the game was called Vampire Savior originally. Then in American arcades it was called Jedah's Damnation. And the character Jedah is a "Dark Messiah," which I guess is the same thing as a "Vampire Savior," maybe. Is it the same as the Dreamcast version where you can pick your fighting style from any of the earlier Darkstalkers games? That's zombastic!
Posted by: BBQ at April 3, 2005 2:23 PM
Isn't Capcom pushing this one as all three Darkstalkers titles in one? I know that's how it plays, although I don't know if the endings are different depending on which game you choose at the title screen. And then there's that Chaos Tower mode, which adds some kind of RPG element to the game. What's the deal with that? I haven't had the time to try it much. Too busy playing Metal Gear Acid.
Posted by: Evilninja at April 3, 2005 7:15 PM
Well there are different fighting modes from the older games but there is not the same backgrounds.
Chaos Tower mode is not really RPG elements but just a collection of challenges in order to unlock more 2d Capcom art.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at April 4, 2005 12:05 AM
Not to be rude, but there's no way on Earth that the PSP version of Darkstalkers Chronicles has access time comparable to the Dreamcast or Saturn versions. You have to wait twelve seconds for a match to start... I know this, because I counted them while I was twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the match to start!
That's in sharp contrast to the Saturn version of Vampire Savior, where the fights began almost as quickly as you could press the start button. The Dreamcast version had minimal access times, too, if I recall. If the PSP version of Darkstalkers Chronicles could be compared to anything at all, it would be the Saturn version of NightWarriors, which took 10-15 seconds to load each match.
JR
Posted by: ManekiNeko at April 28, 2005 4:12 AM
Oh it is not that long. I guess I'll have to count but it still is a really good version of the game.
I would pay serious money for a PSP version of Street Fighter III 3rd Strike or Capcom VS SNK2
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at April 28, 2005 10:32 AM
