#dezaemon+

Dracula Hunter (1980, Teknon Kougyou)

An obscure arcade game where you play as a priest protecting a princess from swarms of vampires. Possibly the first vampire arcade game, it was decently popular in Japan, but never saw an international release, and the game may be lost, as it had a small run and no one has dumped the rom. I first heard about it through a video by The Fragnostic, as of part of his cancelled Dead Pixels series, covering the history of horror games (he also mentions another lost vampire arcade game, the 1982 game Vampire by Brass International).

The game was at least popular enough to earn a cult following. A doujin dev going by the name Shilfy-Yo made a short fan sequel called Dracula Buster, made in the shoot’em up maker software Dezaemon 2 for the Sega Saturn in 1999. 

~Dezaemon~

From Player to Creator

• Dezaemon is a STG creation series by Athena where players design original graphics, music, and stages for various consoles.

• Users create their own; however, the game includes high-quality samples like "DAIOH GALE".

• It features deep editing tools, including an icon-based music composer and editors for 2D sprites or 3D models.

• Mostly Japan-exclusive, but Dezaemon 3D has an English fan patch and recognition in international media.

• Praised for its high freedom, allowing players to create commercial-standard shooters with an all-in-one editing suite.

• Major issues include fragile save data on SFC and extreme weapon balance flaws, particularly with the homing laser.

• Dezaemon+ added rotation effects but reduced the maximum stages from six to five and changed sound nuances.

• Later titles like Dezaemon 2 added horizontal scrolling, while Dezaemon 3D utilized 3D rendering capabilities.

• A secret dev message found 22 years later revealed a hidden method to backup data using a custom joypad port cable.