This Halloween season, as the festival of frights trudges its terrifying presence ever closer, gamers may find it appropriate to play a popular horror title in celebration, such as Silent Hill, Dead by Daylight or Resident Evil. But for those more intrigued by Gothic horrors, no game demonstrates this better than Capcom's Darkstalkers series.
Known as Vampire in Japan, the Darkstalkers series takes place on an Earth that is fusing with the demonic realm of Makai, a place where various mythological and supernatural beings reside. These "darkstalkers" are in a constant power struggle, battling amongst themselves and against human hunters in an effort to decide who will become ruler of the night.
The gameplay is remarkably similar to Street Fighter, Darkstalkers' far more popular older sibling, but it actually introduced several features that have since become staples of not only later Street Fighter titles, but fighting games as a whole. With air blocking, crouch walking and the ability to chain combos together, Darkstalkers was ahead of its time, and yet it's hardly recognized for its many innovative qualities.
But perhaps more than its gameplay, Darkstalkers' defining factor is its incredible art direction, with wonderfully memorable character designs and a massive variety and colorful animations. Notably, even the stages are well animated and drawn, sometimes pushing the boundaries of what could be shown in a video game, even rivaling the more explicitly violent Mortal Kombat -- Jedah's stage in the third game is a grotesquely detailed depiction of a massive bloodied womb with a demonic fetus deity lying in the background.
Every character utilizes a distinct anime art style by Capcom character artist Bengus, but while in motion, their appearance and shape changes frequently to a cartoony expression not unlike that of Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry. Characters follow the violated laws of physics these cartoons portray to show how inhuman the Darkstalker monsters are while simultaneously maintaining a spirited, if somewhat dark, sense of humor.
The resident monsters of the Darkstalkers universe are highly exaggerated homages to Gothic horror and Hollywood movie monsters, taking inspiration from Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy among others. Some characters were made to follow particular archetypes from other movies and games as well, such as the Dracula-like Demitri Maximoff sharing similarities with Ryu from Street Fighter, its sister game, or the werewolf Jon Talbain fighting like Bruce Lee.
Since the majority of the roster consists of monsters and ghosts, Darkstalkers' characters can perform far more over-the-top and fantastical actions than the comparatively realistic humanoid characters of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. The shape-shifting succubus Morrigan is able to transform her bats into different weapons and clothing, akin to that of the Venom symbiote or a Green Lantern ring. The zombie punk rocker Lord Raptor is able to dismember himself and transform his limbs into blades and chainsaws, alongside launching electric tirades with his guitar.
Alongside Gothic horror, cryptids, Lovecraft and Asian mythologies also inspired certain characters, introducing many Western gamers to fascinating interpretations of these mythical beings for perhaps the first time. Bishamon is a possessed samurai thirsting for blood, Hsien-Ko is a jiangshi (a type of Chinese vampire that has the interesting quirk of hopping around) and there's even an adorable and cartoony interpretation of the infamous Sasquatch with the ability to control ice.
Other characters aren't based specifically on myths or fairy tales, but instead take inspiration from abstract concepts, science fiction and the inherent evils in all mankind. Pyron, a fire-spewing warlord, is an extra-terrestrial who aims to consume entire worlds in flames, acting as the final boss for the original game. His creation Huitzil is one unit in an ancient robotic army dedicated to the advancement of Pyron's goals (though the playable Huitzil is reprogrammed to assist a human boy).
But perhaps most unexpectedly terrifying among the roster is the sole human being: Baby Bonnie Hood, an uzi-wielding Darkhunter resembling Little Red Riding Hood. However, underneath the mask of kindliness is a psychopathic soul described by the prince of Makai Jedah Dohma as evil enough to be that of a Darkstalker’s.
Another unique aspect about Darkstalkers amongst other fighting games at the time is its unapologetic presentation of rather dark and depressing endings for the individual characters. Typically, when an arcade player works hard to finish the game, their character's ending is triumphant and congratulatory. But according to Capcom planner Haruo Maruta, the fact that many Darkstalkers are rather monstrous and morally ambiguous at best means that these characters may not be able to escape a tragic fate --something that makes Darkstalkers the game stand out amongst other fighting game titles.
Despite the amount of effort placed into these games' designs, gameplay, and fantastical world, the Darkstalkers franchise has never moved past its cult classic status. Its attempted revival, Darkstalkers Resurrection, was a half-hearted compilation that sold poorly, something that was not helped by Capcom's lack of marketing. Darkstalkers has found modest success as a larger franchise, having a poorly-received American cartoon series and an anime OVA with more faithful designs and characterizations to the source material. It has also spawned figures, artbooks and other memorabilia, including an Udon comics adaptation that crossed over with Udon's own Street Fighter comic series.
The most enduring aspects of Capcom's forgotten Halloween Street Fighter are its de facto mascots, the succubus Morrigan Aensland, and the catwoman Felicia, no doubt a result of their strikingly attractive designs and impressive movesets in crossover fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom. However, Morrigan and Felicia's appearances in Capcom crossover games have overshadowed their origins in a way that's similar to characters like Captain Falcon from F-Zero, who is mainly known for his appearance in Super Smash Bros.
With Capcom renewing the Darkstalkers license in April, fans are hoping for some good news to come out of the series beyond a couple of costumes for Chun-Li and Juri in Street Fighter V. Since Capcom has recently been revitalizing older franchises to much success with games like Devil May Cry 5, Mega Man 11 and Resident Evil 2, a new Darkstalkers is not out of the realm of possibility.