Every culture has its stories of the spirit world, every nation its spooky places. The dark forests of Eastern Europe were the birthplace of the vampire legends, which finally famous form in Count Dracula. Switzerland was the more unlikely setting for Mary Shelley's man-made monster created by Victor Frankenstein.

In the east, stories of warriors rising from the grave as fearsome in life survived for centuries and contrasts with the fears of the Twentieth Century, when the science of ever more powerful and intelligent machines has spawned a genre of chilling fiction. And Rent-a-Ghost. That's the British entrant for the Eurovision Spook Contest. You remember Mr. Claypole, Miss Popov and the pantomime horse? Ghostly japes with hilarious consequences and all that. Clearly not to be ridiculed, as the Japanese have used it as an inspiration for the wacky nature of Vampire Hunter. Some of the characters carry sharp weapons that admittedly would not be acceptable on teatime TV, but this beat-'em-up is all comic, not gruesome.

Vampire Hunter is Darkstalkers 2. Capcom adapted the original arcade board. This is an amazing reproduction of their CPS II coin-op.

Defeat the other Darkstalkers, hoarding power until you can unleash some demonic attacks.

Capcom are the unchallenged exponents of the 2-D beat-'em-up, and the Saturn is the most proficient machine on which to recreate their arcade games.

Vampire Hunter is the supreme demonstration of this, with a conversion of such utter grace, anyone into combat games should consider it a must-have. It's true that we've raved about X-Men and Street Fighter in turn, but Vampire Hunter strikes a good middle ground between the two.

There's much more in it than X-Men - more specials, and the potential to charge these into extra specials, more characters and a greater range of backgrounds and fighting styles. It's also less 'wham-bam' than X-Men.

On the other side, it's easier to grasp than Street Fighter, with lots of comic touches and some outrageous animations. In terms of sound and graphics, it's impeccable, indeed sets new standards.

It's my personal favourite of the Capcom three. Congratulations to Virgin for signing it!

The confrontation that Street Fighter Alpha engendered last month are croppeing up again here. Whereas I loved Street Fighter, but Marcus didn't, Gus loves this and I don't.

Don't get me wrong here - I have spent quite a bit of my spare time playing this and I'll agree that it is definitely worthy of 'mega game' status. But I didn't derive as much satisfaction from this as Alpha. In fact, the gameplay seemed a little shallow to me.

Some of the moes are tough to pull off, but there are so many to incorporate it doesn't matter quite as much. But one thing that does appeal to me greatly is the humour in this game - especially Zabel's slam dunk move.

This is definitely a new angle for Capcom to take with their fighting games and, from the looks of this, a very successful one. And if you compare it to the other big fighting game reviewed this issue, King Of The Fighters, it frankly dumps all over that.

It just goes to show that Capcom are indeed masters of the genre.

Graphics 95%
P. Gorgeous settings and intricate character design, with some of the most amazing move ideas ever.

Animation 93%
P. The loss of frames from the arcade game is barely noticeable. The range of animation is huge.

Music 90%
P. Decidedly unhip, even easy-listening style orchestrations - but suited to the game's comic appeal.

Effects 91%
P. The quality of the thumping effects is best appreciated on a TV with a good bass. Even the backdrops provide a source for sound effects.

Playability 94%
P. Superlative, with so many speed and difficulty setttings. Brilliant range of character control.

Lastability 92%
P. An undeniable and instant classic, with huge scopre for refining your gameplay.

Overall 94%
As good as any other beat-'em-up, Vampire Hunter is an awesome coin-op conversion.