SMS - Vampire - Master Of Darkness

[+Trebor]

I had a blast playing this title and put together a video with hyperlinked bookmarks at the YouTube source page for any interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=564MCkMOMsc

Bookmark summary is in the spoiler below...

Bookmarks:
Introduction - 0:00:11
Prologue - 0:01:54
Round 1: Thames River - 0:02:34
Boss Battle: Jack The Ripper - 0:12:35
Cutscene 1 - 0:14:42
Round 2: The House Of Wax Dolls - 0:15:19
Boss Battle: Psychic Girl/Telekinetic Skull - 0:26:24
Cutscene 2 - 0:27:59
Round 3: Epitaph - 0:28:41
Boss Battle: Count Massen - 0:41:15
Cutscene 3 - 0:42:36
Round 4: Laboratory - 0:43:23
Boss Battle: Count Massen v2 - 0:56:20
Cutscene 4 - 0:58:34
Round 5: In The Wake Of Dracula - 0:59:07
Final Battle Pt 1: Count Massen v3 - 1:01:50
Final Battle Pt 2: Count Massen Final Form - 1:04:31
Epilogue - 1:05:50
End Credits - 1:06:45

[+save2600]

Whoa, never heard of this game. Looks and sounds amazing for the SMS!

[Tanooki]

It's an excellent Castlevania wannabe both on the SMS and GG. I've had it on both over the years and it's worth a play.

[BydoEmpire]

That looks really cool. No wonder I don't remember it, though, PAL-only according to the wikipedia entry.

Edited February 22, 2018 by BydoEmpire

[Sapicco]

Do pal games play on an ntsc sms?

[Iwantgames:)]

Do pal games play on an ntsc sms?

They will run faster as they are ment to run at 50Hz and NTSC is 60Hz

[Tanooki]

Do pal games play on an ntsc sms?

Yes the SMS isn't region centric, it's screwy like that. I've had the system twice in the last decade and I've bought up a nice selection of UK releases when I've had it.

[Austin]

I did a playthrough of this back in October as well.

 

I like the game but it has a lot of really questionable design choices and the stage design is very "cut-and-paste"-like. It's a poor-man's Castlevania, but I'd say it's still a solid game overall.

 

For those seeing this for the first time, it came out over here as Vampire on the Game Gear.

[+Trebor]

Do pal games play on an ntsc sms?

 

They will run faster as they are ment to run at 50Hz and NTSC is 60Hz

 

Plays perfectly fine (as mentioned (slightly) faster) on an NTSC Master System and also plays just as well on a Sega Genesis via EverDrive.

[DJ Clae]

Does it play faster than the GG version on a NTSC SMS? Or does it play too slow on a PAL system?

 

I've only known the game on an NTSC system, and doesn't seem fast to me.

Edited February 26, 2018 by DJ Clae

[Black_Tiger]

Has anyone confirmed that it was optimized for PAL land? It's a Japanese game made by and for the Japanese market and later released for SMS in Europe.

[PFG 9000]

I've played through the Game Gear version on the 3DS e-shop. It's solid, and very similar to Castlevania, but not nearly as good as most Castlevania games in my opinion. Also a bit on the easy side.

[+Trebor]

Has anyone confirmed that it was optimized for PAL land? It's a Japanese game made by and for the Japanese market and later released for SMS in Europe.

 

Does it play faster than the GG version on a NTSC SMS? Or does it play too slow on a PAL system?

 

I've only known the game on an NTSC system, and doesn't seem fast to me.

 

Although as mentioned, the game plays perfectly fine, just slightly faster under an NTSC console than a PAL one for this "PAL only" console release, this PAL release under an NTSC system appears to be the correct gameplay experience. The PAL release under a PAL system is too slow in light of the below.

 

The original, "In the Wake of the Vampire", from Japan, and the US release, "Vampire - Master of Darkness", both under the Game Gear, play at the same pace, video and sound, as the Master System PAL release under an NTSC console.

[Black_Tiger]

 

 

Although as mentioned, the game plays perfectly fine, just slightly faster under an NTSC console than a PAL one for this "PAL only" console release, this PAL release under an NTSC system appears to be the correct gameplay experience. The PAL release under a PAL system is too slow in light of the below.

 

The original, "In the Wake of the Vampire", from Japan, and the US release, "Vampire - Master of Darkness", both under the Game Gear, play at the same pace, video and sound, as the Master System PAL release under an NTSC console.

 

Thanks a lot.

[DJ Clae]

Thanks Trebor!

[CatPix]

Several late games in the SMS life and the Megadrive use a line of code that change the game speed according to the region the system will detect, especially on the SMS where there was no region lock-out in the system.