Fans of the Dead Rising series were worried when the third installment was first shown off. Where was the color? Where was the fun? Why is everything so dang serious? Fortunately, these fears ended up being unnecessary as Dead Rising 3 still provided the ear-to-ear-grin-worthy gameplay and spontaneity that we were hoping for. Yet the amusingly-named Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX + α feels like an apology to those that were initially concerned that the fun was as dead as the former residents of Los Perdidos.

This new content has its own menu prompt in the title screen and does not connect in any way to the main campaign. Upon selecting this, you are treated to an arcade-style boot up screen and that familiar Capcom chime from the days of yore. You then get to choose from four characters (Nick Ramos, Annie, Chuck Greene, and Frank West) who each have five different skins with their own moveset and stats. Many of the skins are fun fan-service and pull from Capcom classics like Dino Crisis, Final Fight, Darkstalkers, and Onimusha, so half of the fun is seeing which game you will unlock a character from next. Mowing down hordes of zombies with B.B. Hood isn’t an experience I would’ve thought would please me so greatly, but it is. These skins are all unlocked by both earning enough Zenny (Capcom’s fictional currency) which you can find spread throughout the levels and compete for,  and also by finishing objectives such as finding the arcade cabinet that the skin is based on.

 

You see, SUDR3ARHEE+α (shit, even the acronym is long) is divided into four zones based on the districts from the main game, except they are now done up in a slightly cel-shaded filter and have flashy neon signs up just about everywhere. Each of these four areas has five rounds with varying objectives ranging from re-killing a certain amount of zombies, fighting bosses, finding vehicles, or participating in bonus rounds like beating up a stationary car (ha!). At the end of each round each player’s kills, damage taken, and the like are tallied up and the player who did the best gets the most Zenny with which to purchase new characters. Much of the excitement comes from both seeing what the next round will bring and then what the new characters you unlocked will play like. Since each character has a unique special move (Chun-Li Annie has one of my favorites) you really end up wanting to finish each bonus objective.

I played most of this by myself as my internet has been spotty lately, and it was still heaps of fun. A couple of the rounds were very difficult when playing solo and will have you spamming your special moves over and over just to beat the bosses. The couple of chances I was able to be in a full match were great, hectic experiences. Seeing Regina of Dino Crisis fame running around in HD is one thing, but seeing her accompanied by Felicia from Darkstalkers, Sigma from Mega Man, and Mike Haggar from Final Fight just ups the ante that much more. I’m a little surprised that there weren’t more Resident Evil references since that seems to be Capcom’s favorite cow to milk, but it might be for the best that Jill and Chris sat this one out.

Once you’ve unlocked everyone, there’s not a whole left to do since you’ve probably picked every level clean. Since the DLC is a separate entity from the main campaign, you can’t take these characters into your main save file, which is a bit of a shame. Since each zone takes a little longer than half an hour to complete, you’re probably looking at 5-7 hours of gameplay here, and more if you want to unlock all of the characters. While this content is nothing revolutionary, it shows a side of Capcom that’s willing to poke fun at itself which is hugely refreshing. From the costumes to the billboards to the power-ups from Strider and Street Fighter, SUDR3ARHEE+α is an enjoyable trip into the realm of fanservice. At the very least, the last few hecklers who said that Dead Rising 3 was too serious can quiet down now.

8/10