The fighting game extravaganza MIXUP returns for its third year this weekend in Lyon, France. While it’ll showcase tournaments in all the current major games like Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ, it’ll also be home to a number of more niche side events, including one for the beloved Capcom arcade classic, Darkstalkers 3.
Despite all of the re-releases over the past two decades, there hasn’t actually been a new Darkstalkers game since Darkstalkers 3 was released on Capcom Play System II arcade cabinets in 1997. There have been numerous updates, console ports, and compilations released in the years since, including 2013’s Darkstalkers Resurrection, which put the second and third games in HD, but never anything that could be considered Darkstalkers 4.
Allez, c’est l’heure de monter TheMIXUP !#TheMIXUP #OnlyLyon #Arcade #SSF2X #Garou #VSAV #SEGA #Taito #France #Japan pic.twitter.com/HqtBgSgfWg
— LaDOSE.net @TheMIXUPLyon (@LaDoseNet) April 18, 2019
While it’s easy to be disappointed that Capcom has allowed one of its cult classic series to languish for over a decade, the long life of Darkstalkers 3 has also allowed history to stay alive, with fans and veteran players continuing to compete at various fighting game events the world over even as the field becomes crowded with newer fighting games. MIXUP is one of those events. Though the main spotlight will be on recent releases like Soulcalibur IV, Darkstalkers 3 diehards will have the chance to duke it out on actual arcade cabinets.
The game’s top 32 bracket will get underway on Sunday, April 21, at 10:00 a.m. ET, with all of the action streamed live from the MIXUP arcade mainstage. You can find a full list of streams and times for the rest of the event’s tournaments at Smash.gg, with the festivities wrapping up Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET with the top 8 for Tekken 7.