Countdown Vampires is a Survival Horror Game developed by K2 LLC and published by Bandai for the PlayStation on December 22nd, 1999.
Officer Keith J. Snyder has been put on an assignment as a bodyguard to several VIPs for the grand opening of the city's new horror-themed casino hotel, The Desert Moon. And boy, tonight is not his lucky night. Soon after the party starts, a fire breaks out in the casino, and when the sprinkler system comes on, it sprays black water all over the dancers, turning them into vampires which proceed to attack the guests. Utter pandemonium soon follows, during which some fire-spurting object torches the black water, turning it white.
One of the vampirized dancers gets knocked into the water after she tried to attack Keith, and is miraculously returned to normal. Keith is handed a tranquilizer gun to use, and decides to try and find a way out.
Keith later finds out in the course of the game that the vampire attacks is tied to something much sinister.
Countdown Vampires contains examples of:
- Airborne Mook: There are red winged demonic-looking creatures.
- All Part of the Show: When the dancers turn into vampires in the intro, people think it's all an act... up until they start attacking.
- Artificial Stupidity: The AI on the enemies is not well programmed at all. They can't even walk up stairs.Angry Video Game Nerd: "It can't even be considered 'artificial intelligence'. More like 'genuine stupidity'."
- Bat Out of Hell: The giant bat enemies.
- Betting Minigame: Since you are in a casino, this is par for the course.
- Big Bad: Gells, the Emperor of Darkness.
- Black Cloak: The mysterious figure wears one that conceals his whole body.
- Blob Monster: These strange, unexplainable creatures creep out of pipes to attack Keith.
- Bloodless Carnage: Averted, as all the dead bodies are found in pools of blood. Even when you kill vampires and their bodies collapse to dust, there's still some blood left behind.
- Captain Obvious: When Keith stumbles across a security guard laying motionless in a pool of his own blood, he still feels the need to kneel beside him and say "that security guard died." The pile of bodies next to him prompts no response, however.
- The Casino: The Desert Moon, a horror-themed casino hotel which is the setting of the first disc of the game.
- Disc-One Final Boss: A literal example; it takes two discs to play the full game, and the first disc ends when the first boss is defeated.
- Engrish: This game is filled with spelling and grammatical errors. Some of the more notable examples include "Thank again. With much gratitude." "mysticalstrength", "bepouring", "Stun Globe", and "There's an elevator, but it doesn't to turn on the power."
- Fanservice Extra: The well-endowed woman in the intro cutscene wearing a red dress with a Navel-Deep Neckline seems to be there purely as fanservice. That said, her story is only revealed in Special Story Mode
- Grapple Move: Basic vampires here move just like zombies, and will grab their victim as soon as they approach in order to latch onto their neck.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Food and drinks heal you.
- Knockback: Your attacks will knock the enemies back, especially if you are using a shotgun.
- Little Black Dress: Misato wears a black dress and shoes.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Transformation into a vampire doesn't just add two traditional fangs here. Instead, the person's teeth all simultaneously go from the normal ones to jagged triangular ones.
- Our Vampires Are Different: In this case, one becomes a vampire by being drenched in black water. They can also be turned back with white water, assuming you stunned them first. Or, you can just pump them full of lead.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Here, werewolves essentially show up as large bruisers, with little wolfish about them besides the sparse grey fur.
- The Prophecy: As The Vampire Hunter reveals, there's a prophecy that if Misato and Gells meet on the final day of the century, then the sun will never rise again.
- Resurrect the Villain: Part of the plot deals with this, as the vampire witches are trying to bring back Gells at the turn of the millenium.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: They deal spread damage, and so can damage multiple enemies at once.
- Show Within a Show: The Beast Moon film series as mentioned throughout memos and the casino itself.
- Timed Mission: As soon as the intro ends, you are instructed to leave the night club hall within three minutes, as the doors will be automatically locked by that time due to the "fire prevention procedures". You need to "head for the screaming moon door" instead.
- There's a second one at the end of disc one, where you have to escape from the casino through the underground parking lot before time runs out and the casino locks down.
- Voice of the Legion: The hooded figure's voice sounds this way.
- Video Game Caring Potential: You can turn vampires back into normal humans if you first stun them, and then apply white water to them. They reward you with their currency for doing that.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Keith spends the game without a shirt on.
