Vampire Night is a Light Gun Game and a joint collaboration between Namco and Sega (Under the WOW Entertainment label) that was later ported to PlayStation 2, published by the former. It is influenced by the House of the Dead games and utilize many of the assets from that series
The game takes place in an Alternate History version of 2006 where everything looks like the 19th century. Two Dhampyrs named Light (or Michel) and Shadow (or Albert) are on a mission to kill the Vampire to end his reign of terror from a local village.
Not to be confused with Vampire Knight. Or Konami's fellow light gun game Evil Night, also influenced by House of the Dead.
The game provides examples of:
- Affably Evil: Diane foremost, but Count Auguste has shades of this. The other bosses avert it.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Diane and Raoul are the only villains played sympathetically, with the former's genuine love for the Big Bad and pretty sad death, and the latter's Dark and Troubled Past. Raoul even ends up becoming human again, being the only villain to survive.
- All Your Powers Combined: Count Auguste's One-Winged Angel form can use the Elemental Powers of all his vassals during the last stage of the Final Battle.
- Artificial Human: Both hunters.
- Barrage of Bats: In phase 1 of the last boss fight, he turns into a bat-winged demon and surrounds himself with a protective barrier made entirely of bats he can sic at the player characters.
- Benevolent Boss: His interactions with Diane and his intention to avenge his vassals hint that Count Auguste is this.Auguste: This battle is for my devoted followers!
- Better to Die than Be Killed: After being defeated, Guillaume lets himself fall off a ledge rather than let Albert and Michel kill him.Guillaume: So...that's the way it is, is it? Me...defeated by humans? Never!
- Big Bad: Count Auguste, resident Vampire Monarch.
- Big Fancy Castle: Count Auguste lives (ahem, so to speak) in one.
- Black Magic: The Nerlphor (Raoul's mooks) cast shadow balls after emerging from a moving shadow. Their name in the Japanese version? Mage.
- Breath Weapon: The Votroche (Bathe'lemy's mooks) are specialists at this. They circle around you and spray toxic breath towards you when you're open.
- Captain Ersatz: From the looks, the clothing, the Slouch of Villainy, the Large Ham speech pattern, the gothic Haunted Castle, the One-Winged Angel demonic forms and the fighting style, pretty much every fibre of the Big Bad screams Dracula from Castlevania.
- Dark Mistress: Diane is this to Count Auguste.
- Death Equals Redemption: It is only in the throes of death that Diane seriously considers Caroline's pleas for peace which she scoffed at moments before.
- Death Seeker:
- It's implied that Auguste created Albert and Michel to end his existence as he was tired of his undead life.
- Bathe'lemy, who became a vampire, found no joy in being an immortal. This instead gave him an unquenchable thirst for death he had not known as a human.
- Doppelgänger Spin: Raoul uses the technique to distract the hunters as he charges at them.
- Double Weapon: The Petrovuh (one of Diane's mooks) wields a double-edged crystal sword.
- Dream Land: Where the second stage of the Boss Battle against Raoul takes place.
- Elemental Powers: The bosses of the game have power over one of four elements. This is more evident in their true forms.
- An Ice Person / Making a Splash: Diane, Queen of Ice. In her human form (through her shadow clones), she summons ice bullets to halt the Vampire Hunters' advance, and her true form allows her to create not only uniquely-shaped ice projectiles (such as chakrams and spears), but also summon a pillar of water to defend herself.
- Casting a Shadow: Raoul, Dark Mind. He can create shadow clones of himself, levitate objects to use as jumping platforms with his hand. And in the final phase of the battle, he turns the castle into nothing but darkness, creating an evil Dream Land with a phantasm demon accompanying him as he mutates into...well...a mutant.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Bathe'lemy, the Knight. His slashes are strong enough to create a shock wave that can move the earth. And in the final phase of the battle, he becomes a golem who can cut through stone pillars with relative ease.
- Playing with Fire: Guillaume, the Genius. In his human form, he summons fireballs to distract the Vampire Hunters, and his true form has his body being engulfed in a flaming aura.
- Evil Overlord: Count Auguste, a vampire with many loyal vassals and Mooks threatening the populations and corrupting the land, and lives in an ominous Big Fancy Castle.
- Failure Knight: Raoul, who mentions he became a vampire after failing to save his love.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: The Ignis (Guillaume's mooks) wield flamethrowers on their left hands alongside a fireball launcher on their right hands.
- Doubles as Meaningful Name as "ignis" is Latin for "fire", the former of which would be the basis for the English word "ignite". Their name in the Japanese version? Igniter.
- French Jerk: Played straight with four of the villains, but highly averted with some regular NPCs such as Caroline and the Shop Owner.
- Giggling Villain: Guillaume the Mad Scientist spends most of his screen time emitting a creepy, high-pitched laugh, Boss Battle included. The guy truly is bonkers...
- Guardian Entity: In his One-Winged Angel form, Raoul summons a powerful demon who punches and unleashes attacks from magic gates.
- Haunted Castle: The setting.
- Hostage Spirit-Link: Thankfully averted, the only innocents you come across are those with the vampire sarcomas on them that you have to shoot off. Miss and they turn into vampire mooks you have to put down, but otherwise you are not penalized. Saving all the civilians in the chapter awards you with a bonus life.
- Homage:
- Raoul's design is reminiscent of a certain Balamb Garden student.
- Auguste's form of attacks resemble those of the Hangedman and Magician from the first House of the Dead game.
- Auguste again, whose entire character mirrors Dracula from the classical movies, and especially from another video game about vampire hunters...
- Bathe'lemy is modeled after Napoléon Bonaparte. His hatred against humanity is similar to Bonaparte's hatred against Negro races.
- I Have Many Names: Count Auguste is mostly referred to as Sir Vampire.
- Mad Scientist: Guillaume, who performed twisted experiments on humans.
- Mind over Matter: Raoul makes several things levitate during the Boss Battle against him, for him to use as jumping platforms towards the heroes.
- Monster Knight: Bathe'lemy is a vampire knight whose One-Winged Angel form resembles an armored golem with swords in place of his arms.
- Morality Pet: Caroline, both for the heroes and the less evil villains.Vampire Hunter: The girl, she changed us. She gave us the warmth of that of a human.
- One-Winged Angel: All of the bosses pull this on you when you fight them. Special points for Auguste actually having angel wings on him.
- Orcus on His Throne: Count Auguste spends the game in his castle, letting his forces do everything. Double subverted. Upon Raoul's defeat, he was about to stand up and face Albert and Michel alone, but was stopped by Diane, who reassured him that she would deal with them.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: Diane. No, seriously. A vampire mermaid.
- Our Vampires Are Different: A variety of vampires you face throughout the game.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The sarcomas can infect innocent civilians and force them to attack player characters. The players are given a certain amount of time to gun down the sarcoma (they die in one hit) but if they took too long or accidentally shoots the host, the civilian will be forcefully converted into a vampire mook which must be killed.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Vampire Hunters. Michel is the Red fueled by his hatred for vampires while Albert is the Blue capable of socializing. Justified by the shots they make and the crosshairs in the PS2 port of the game (Michel has a red crosshair and his gun shoots red while Albert has a blue crosshair and shoots blue).
- Redemption Earns Life: When defeated, Raoul reminisces his late love and asks for her forgiveness. He ends up becoming human again, and the hunters leave him to find himself back.
- The Reveal: The heroes were created by the Big Bad over three-hundred years ago.
- Rings of Death: The Cermitt (one of Raoul's mooks) wield a chakram in each of their hands.
- Rolling Attack: The Votroche (another of Guillaume's mooks) can curl themselves into a ball and attack you on sight.
- Sequential Boss: Most of them.
- Shout-Out: Raoul mentions his lost love was named Sophie.
- One of the items you can shoot for points is a stone mask. Stone mask? With vampires? Ya don't say...
- Sinister Scythe: The Cirverg (One of Raoul's mooks) wields a scythe. In Japan, the Cirverg is named Sickle, making it a double case of Meaningful Name.
- Spin Attack: Some vampire mooks prefer to spin their bodies to improve their attack strength.
- Storm the Castle: The game scenario in a nutshell...
- Suicide by Sunlight: The way the two main characters end their lives. From their point of view, their job was done and there was little reason to go on living in a world they were a danger to.
- Tagalong Kid: Caroline, the little girl whom the heroes save at the beginning of the game. She is wise enough to hide out of harms ways during battles.
- Vampire Monarch: Count Auguste is an immensely powerful, centuries old Vampire Lord "living" in a Big Fancy Castle and siring uber powerful vampires, each able to go One-Winged Angel.
- Was Once a Man: The Hemavora (One of the mooks faced in Chapter 1) were originally humans, but became vampires after being infected by a vampire sarcoma.
- All vassals of the Big Bad were that before he turned them into vampires. Raoul even becomes one again.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Bathe'lemy became a vampire, granting him immortal life, but this did not bring him joy. He would then become hell-bent on dying.
- Wolverine Claws: The Geomige (another mook faced in Chapter 1) have their right hands fitted with a large iron claw that they can also use to burrow underground.
- Worthy Opponent: Before transforming into his true form, Bathe'lemy acknowledges the Vampire Hunters as worthy opponents.
- Wreathed in Flames: Guillaume's One-Winged Angel state.
- Zeerust: While the game is set in the modern-day France, everything looks as though they were stuck in The French Revolution period. This might have to do with the Big Bad manipulating Time Travel.
