| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrath of the Darkhul King | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Natsume |
| Publisher(s) | THQ |
| Director(s) | Sosuke Yamazaki |
| Producer(s) | Iku Mizutani |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Action platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrath of the Darkhul King is a 2003 video game developed by the Japanese company Natsume and published by THQ for the Game Boy Advance. It is an action platformer and the third of six video games based on the supernatural television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Set in the show's fourth season, Wrath of the Darkhul King focuses on Buffy Summers who attempts to prevent a demonic warlord from initiating an apocalyptic event. The player controls Buffy through 16 levels that focus on solving puzzles and defeating enemies by using customizable weapons. THQ produced Wrath of the Darkhul King in a publishing agreement with Fox Interactive and chose Natsume as the developers because they had been working together since 1999.
Influenced by their family-friendly image, Natsume presented Buffy as an aspirational character to the company's young audience. They developed Wrath of the Darkhul King as an action game; dialogue was limited in order to focus on gameplay, and puzzles were added for variety. The game received generally negative reviews from critics, who disliked the controls, combat system, and level design. The graphics and audio received a more mixed response. Retrospective reviews of Wrath of the Darkhul King have remained negative. For two weeks, the game was in the top ten most-ordered games on Amazon.