Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Arcade)

Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge
Also known as: Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge (JP) Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Platform: Arcade (CPSII) Released internationally: March 1995 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused sounds. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prerelease article

The sequel to Darkstalkers, Night Warriors made the previous game's two boss characters playable, added two new characters, refined the game's systems and added many new moves. Some materials that were used in the game's location test builds remain unused in the finished version, along with various other abandoned ideas.

To do: Regional differences (names, etc.) Huitzil backwards throw. Split Debug Menu stuff into subpage and consolidate with Darkstalkers 1. Water sparks in Rikuo's spriteset, probably from when his bubble was a shield. Early screenshots scanned from Gamest magazine to add to the prerelease page Bugs such as: One where the game would sometimes crash when Demitri was hit by a throw move. Another where combos of 100 or more hits would cause text corruption. And another where the first two digits of the high score would disappear, much like in the original Darkstalkers.

Sub-Page

Prerelease Info

Debug Menus

To do: Further investigate and document these menus and their controls.

Even more debug menus remain intact in this game than its predecessor. Set RAM address FF8000 to 211E at the normal test menu to access this master "SCR & OBJ Test Menu". Use the Player 1 Joystick and Player 1 Light Punch to select a submenu. Pressing Player 1 Start and Player 2 Start simultaneously will return to this menu from most of the submenus.

(Discovery: N.)

Char Move Test

This is the same character animation debug tool present in the previous game, with the difference that the Atari Edit mode is now functional:

It seems to function similarly to the Move Chara mode, but with displays for hitbox and attack-related data:

SIZE-X: X origin/radius of selected hitbox.

SIZE-Y: Y origin/radius of selected hitbox.

HE: Head hurtbox ID.

BO: Body hurtbox ID.

FT: Leg hurtbox ID.

WK: Weak point box ID? This might be a leftover from Street Fighter II, and seems to have been repurposed into clash boxes for projectiles.

AT: Attack hitbox ID.

FM: Pushbox ID.

HIT TYPE: Hit ID, used to differentiate successive hits within multi-hit attacks.

DAMAGE No: Base damage number.

DM ADJ-1: Random damage adjustment for high health.

DM ADJ-2: Random damage adjustment for low health.

DM TYPE: Type of damage state opponent is put into upon hit.

SPECIAL: Attack class. 000 = Normal, SP = Special, SSP = ES/EX.

UNI ATTACK: 1 = Pursuit attack, capable of hitting opponents lying on the floor.

HIT MARK: Presumably the type of hit spark used upon hit.

GUARD: Blockability flags. J = jumping, N = standing, S = crouching.

HS No: Unknown.

Scroll 1 Mini Block Test

A metatile viewer for the 1st background layer.

Scroll 1/2/3 Block Test

A viewer for assembled parts of the respective background layer.

Scroll 1/2/3 Move Test

A scrolling viewer for fully-assembled background layers.

Scroll 1 2 3 Move Test

A scrolling viewer with all 3 background layers linked together.

Object Extra Test

Not functional. Selecting it reloads the "SCR & OBJ Test Menu".

Darkstalkers Leftovers

A whole boatload of graphics from Darkstalkers such as select screen graphics go completely unused in Night Warriors, as per direct inheritance.

Location Test Materials

Blizzard Sword

In the location test versions of the game, Donovan's Blizzard Sword special was completely different from the version seen in the finished game. Rather than firing a snowflake projectile that traveled in a shallow arc, it caused Donovan's sword Dhylec to fall from the top of the screen, covered in ice. The sprites for this version still exist unused in the finished game.

This version is also featured on the game's official flyer.

Kill Shred

Location Test	Final

Donovan's Kill Shred special sends his sword Dhylec spinning through the air at the opponent. However, in the location test version, it spun in a different orientation as compared to the finished game.

Location Test	Final

Furthermore, rather than staying at the center as in the finished game, this version's hitbox clung to the spinning edge of the sword, thus covering a much larger area and making the attack much more effective.

Final Guardian

Huitzil's Final Guardian move causes him to turn into a gun turret and fire several exploding shots. However, in the location test version of the game, the move caused Huitzil to summon a backup robot which would turn into the gun turret, which Huitzil would then fire. Video of this version of the move can be seen in the promotional video to the right at around 2:45.

Sprites for this version still exist in the finished game.

Location Test	Final

The backup robot has a slightly different design from Huitzil, noticeable in the face and chest. So when the move was changed to have Huitzil himself turn into the turret, all of the sprites (except one) were modified accordingly. Both versions exist within the game's data.

This frame originally intended for the support robot's arrival and departure is actually still used in the beginning of the move's animation in the finished game despite not being redrawn.

This Huitzil pose for operating the turret also still exists.

Like the Blizzard Sword, this version also ended up on official flyers.

Water Jail

According to All About Vampire Hunter, Rikuo's Water Jail move originally entailed using the bubble as a shield rather than a trap:

A slightly different bubble animation left over from this stage remains in the data. Compared to the one used in the finished game, it is slightly flattened out and stuck to the ground at the bottom, suitable for placement around a standing Rikuo.

Location Test	Final

Great Gerdenheim

In the location test builds, Victor's Great Gerdenheim powerup super allowed him to launch lightning bolts by pressing medium or strong punch while it was active. Leftover from this in the final game are three launching animations, for standing, crouching, and jumping states. The animations are the same as his far standing, crouching, and jumping medium punches, but with slower timing and without offensive hitboxes.

Attract Mode

The last scene of the game's attract mode demo before the title screen shows an image of Demitri posing dramatically with his cape flowing as he launches a swarm of bats at the camera. Design documents released to the public in 2022's Capcom Fighting Collection show that this scene was intended to be a bit more elaborate:

The scene was to begin with Demitri in the foreground as a silhouette wrapped in his cape, similar to the previous game's attract mode. Pyron was to be looming behind him with a modified version of his victory portrait that would blend into a red backdrop.

Pyron would gradually fade into the backdrop, and then Demitri would then change to the dramatic pose and unleash the swarm of bats.

Both the modified Pyron portrait and the cape-wrapped silhouette Demitri graphics exist along with all of the other graphics used in the attract mode, complete with palettes. Demitri seems to be an exact copy of the Darkstalkers graphic, albeit with part of the bottom cropped off to accommodate a slightly lower position on screen.

Vampire Savior 2 & Vampire Hunter 2 would eventually use the two Demitri graphics in succession as outlined here in their attract modes. A resized version of the modified Pyron portrait is also used during the sequence of rapidly-flashing character images.

Unused General Effect Graphics

Ground Slam Hitspark

A hitspark seemingly intended for moves in which the opponent is slammed against the ground exists unused. Unlike the rest of the hitsparks drawn in this style which play two animation sequences in succession, this one flips between the two sequences on a frame-by-frame basis.

Sparkles

A pair of falling sparkles, in small and large varieties, goes unused.

Angled Speed Lines

Many angles exist for the speed line sprites seen on dashing characters, although only the straight horizontal ones are actually used.

Alternate Speed Lines

Stored next to the normal speed line sprites is what appears to be a set of alternate, animated speed line sprites. They are also drawn in multiple angles.

Unused Character Graphics

Donovan Change Immortal Block

What appears to be a blocking animation for Donovan's transformed Change Immortal form. Normally when Donovan is using this move he cannot block and reacts to being hit as he normally would when in midair. Leftover "guard" flags are applied to this animation and others related to this move, and in fact the first build of the game has a glitch which causes Donovan to automatically block opponents' attacks during the move's recovery (albeit using his normal air block animation.) This heavily implies that at some point it might have had some sort of autoguard property.

Demitri Pursuit Attack

Demitri's pursuit attack has an additional frame at the end of the animation that never shows up in-game, as he either lands from a missed attack or rebounds from a successful attack before it is displayed. Given that it shows him relaxing slightly after the stretching of the previous frame, it's likely that the "continue playing during hitstop" flag that is applied to many frames depicting the extremes of a motion was intended to be applied to the previous frame, which would have allowed this frame to show upon hit.

In-Game	With Hitstop Animation Flag

Morrigan Alternate Wakeup

An alternate wakeup animation for Morrigan exists that involves her temporarily becoming a glowing silhouette enveloped by her cloud of bats. It's possible this was originally intended to be her moving wakeup animation. The finished game simply has the bats dragging her normal lying down sprite with no additional effects.

Dhylec Surfboard

Donovan's spriteset contains an unused animation of his sword Dhylec becoming a surfboard. According to a developer interview in All About Vampire Hunter, they floated the idea of having Donovan surf when confronted with Rikuo's Sea Rage (an EX move which launches a tidal wave at the opponent).

Pyron Alternate Dash

Pyron's spriteset contains an alternate unused dash animation. His normal dash animation uses the same flare-covered sun graphic as his jump.

Pyron Winpose Effect

Alongside Pyron's newly-added winpose in which he floats into the air, spreads out his arms and shines brightly is a ground burst effect seemingly intended for use with it.

This is how it might have looked in context.

Final Guardian Combiner Variant

Yet another alternate concept for Huitzil's Final Guardian move exists within the game's data. This animation also involves the support robot seen in the location test version, but here it combines with Huitzil to form add-on weaponry which is then fired.

Confusioner Muzzle Flash

A muzzle flash-like effect intended for two of the frames of Huitzil's Confusioner-firing animation exists in the data but goes unused.

Huitzil Slam Tech

Huizil's animation for teching a throw that slams him against the ground was redrawn for this game, but it goes unused. In that circumstance, his normal midair hit reel animation plays instead. The first frame of this animation ended up being re-purposed into the startup of his Final Guardian attack in the Saturn port.

Tutankhamun Mask

This puzzling gigantic Tutankhamun mask exists within Anakaris's sprites.

Khaibit

This game marked the debut of Anakaris's helper, Khaibit. In the finished game, he only appears controlling the bottom half of Anakaris's Pharaoh Split, but it would appear that there was much more planned for him. Some of these graphics would go on to be used in the next game, but others were never used at all. Developer Takenori Kimoto states: [1] "Sprite production ends about 3 months before the game is complete, so I threw those in in case the programmers had free time to make some extra moves." Given this statement and other developer statements about how Anakaris was developed (Kimoto often drawing lots of crazy stuff that left the directors scratching their heads as to how to actually use it), it's likely that they didn't have much of an intended purpose.

Anakaris produces a spinning Khaibit. This would later be used for his Word of Truth guard cancel move in Vampire Savior, although whether they intended similar functionality here is unknown.

It would seem that at some point it was intended for the opponent to be able to attack Khaibit, as his has several damage animations prepared, including:

High and low standing hit reels...

Knockdown animations...

Electrocution and burn animations...

Horizontal spin and trip animations...

And even sliced in half animations.

Pharaoh Split

Anakaris's Pharaoh Split EX move temporarily separates the upper and lower halves of his body, allowing them to attack the opponent in tandem. Some animations related to this move go unused, hinting at functions that aren't featured in the finished game.

Idle, forward dash, and back dash animations for the lower half. Normally the lower half automatically walks forward, and the player can only make it attack. The last few frames of the idle animation are actually used in the finished game as additional recovery time after attacks.

Hit reel and blocking animations for the lower half. Normally it's completely invincible and cannot block or be hit by any attacks.

A special hit reel for Anakaris's flying upper half. Normally when Anakaris's upper half is hit, he reacts as he normally would when hit in midair and the lower half disappears.

Anakaris Mini Coffin

A full-body version of one of the two small sarcophagus-like artifacts that flank the hole generated by Anakaris's Naraku no Ana move exists seemingly unused.

Text

A "Player Select" label that goes unused in the actual select screen.

Guard type selections that are in a different font from the ones used, as well as worded differently ("manual" as opposed to "normal").

Bishamon Defensive Walk

Forward and backward walk cycles for Bishamon that feature him bracing his sword in a defensive posture exist unused, although little other evidence exists to shed light on what exactly they might have been intended for. They have no hitboxes or other properties assigned, implying they didn't make it far into development.

Unused Sounds

Felicia Screech

A voice clip of Felicia screeching. This goes unused in this game, but would later be used for her EX Charge in Vampire Savior.

Felicia: "Katta!"

A voice clip of Felicia saying "Katta!" ("I won!"). Although the full clip goes unused, the "ta" was cropped and used for her ES Delta Kick.

Laser

The same unused laser sound as the previous game, just cropped shorter and with no loop defined. Also no instrument data this time.

Robot Beep

A rather robotic-sounding mechanical beep sound. Again, no instrument data defined.

Laser Sight

The same sound effect that would eventually be used for the laser sight of Huitzil's Genocide Vulcan special in Vampire Savior 2 & Vampire Hunter 2. Once again, no instrument data defined.

Metal Clunk

A light metallic impact sound.

Zap

A short, high-pitched zap/blast sound.

Wobble

A high-pitched wobbling sound, with no instrument data defined. Seems like it might have been intended to be looped, but no loop points are present.

Bishamon Grunt

What's likely an unused damage grunt for Bishamon.

Pop

A cork pop sort of sound.

Regional Differences

Title

Japan	International

The game is titled "Vampire Hunter" in Japan (building off the previous game's "Vampire" title in that region), and "Night Warriors" everywhere else. Given that the previous game's subtitle was also "The Night Warriors" in all regions, this sometimes leads to confusion between the two games. The subtitle "Darkstalkers' Revenge" is universal. The Japanese version's title screen has somewhat more elaborate animation, with the logo being "written" onto the screen. The international version's logo simply slides in from offscreen.

Epilogues

In the Japanese version, when you defeat the last boss, you get the character's ending and then you get a scrolling drawing of the character accompanied by an epilogue. In the non-Japanese releases, this epilogue was completely removed, but translated FMVs of them can be unlocked in Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower.

(Discovery: Jonny2x4)

Voices

In non-Japanese versions of the game that are from the Asian region outside of Japan, most Japanese voices were removed except for grunts and cannot be enabled by normal means, and there does not seem to be a way to reinstate the voices via the test menu.

"Auto Guard" VS."Automatic"

Night Warriors introduced a "beginner" mode that would automatically block attacks during idle states, and allow some functions to be performed with simpler commands. This feature would later be adopted by many subsequent Capcom fighters. In this game it was labeled slightly differently between regions:

Japan	International

Revision Differences

Huitzil Jumping Medium Punch Properties

In the 950302 build, Huitzil's jumping medium punch trips standing or crouching opponents on hit. In subsequent builds it behaves as expected, causing regular standing or crouching hitstun.

950302 Build	Subsequent Builds

Rikuo Water Jail Properties

In the 950302 and 950307 builds, opponents trapped in Rikuo's Water Jail bubble cannot be hit by certain attacks, including Sonic Wave, Poison Breath, Aqua Spread, and Sea Rage. In subsequent builds, these attacks can hit opponents while they are trapped in the bubble.

950302 and 950307 Builds	Subsequent Builds

ES Special Throw Gauge Consumption

In the 950302 build, several glitches exist with regards to the amount of special gauge stocks spent on ES special throws. Talbain, Felicia, Rikuo, and Pyron would use up all of their current gauge stocks upon performing an ES special throw, regardless of how many they had. Conversely, Bishamon's ES special throw would use up no gauge stocks at all. In subsequent builds, these issues were fixed and each of these character's ES throws uses one gauge stock per use, as expected.

Felicia Dark Color Revision

Felicia's secret color palette was revised after the initial 950302 build, with the original being slightly more vivid than the muted version seen in subsequent builds.

950302 Build	Subsequent Builds