Darkstalkers, known in Japan as , is a Japanese fighting game series and media franchise created by Capcom. The series is set in a pastiche gothic fiction universe with characters based on monsters from international folklore, and features a stylized 2D graphic style. Its first game, Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, was released in arcades in 1994 and its third and final main game is Vampire Savior, released in 1997. Darkstalkers introduced gameplay concepts used in later Capcom fighting games, including the Street Fighter Alpha and Marvel vs. Capcom series.
Besides video games, the Darkstalkers media franchise also includes an anime miniseries, an American animated series, a Canadian comic book series, and many books of various kinds and other media released only in Japan. Some individual characters, such as Morrigan Aensland and Felicia, appeared in later Capcom games, as well as in a few crossover games released by other companies.
Video games
Original arcade games The Darkstalkers series is composed of five arcade games and the home ports and compilations of those games. + Release Title Platform Notes 1994 Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors• Vampire: The Night WarriorsJP Arcade, PlayStation 1995 Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge• Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' RevengeJP Arcade, Saturn 1997 Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire• Vampire Savior: World of Darkness• Darkstalkers 3 (PS)• Vampire Savior: EX Edition (PS)JP Arcade, SaturnJP, PlayStation Subtitled World of Darkness for initial USA arcade release, and The Lord of Vampire for subsequent releases. Sega Saturn port includes additional characters from Vampire Savior 2. PlayStation port includes all characters from Vampire Savior, Vampire Savior 2, and Vampire Hunter 2 (all characters in the franchise). Vampire Hunter 2: Darkstalkers' RevengeJP ArcadeJP Modified version of Vampire Savior which uses the character roster from Vampire Hunter Vampire Savior 2: The Lord of VampireJP ArcadeJP Modified version of Vampire Savior that removes J. Talbain, Sasquatch, and Rikuo and replaces them with Donovan, Huitzil, and Pyron.
Ports, remasters, and compilations + Release Title Platform Notes2000Vampire Chronicle for Matching ServiceJP• Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (PSP)• Vampire Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (PSP)JPDreamcastJP, PSPModified version of Vampire Savior that includes all franchise characters and allows the player to select game-specific variants of each character like the character version selection in Hyper Street Fighter II. Dreamcast version included online play. PSP port includes additional game modes. 2005 Vampire: Darkstalkers CollectionJP PlayStation 2JP A Japan-only compilation of all five arcade releases. Compared to other compilations, Vampire has been viewed as the most beloved and definitive by critics and fans of the series alike. 2013 Darkstalkers Resurrection• Vampire ResurrectionJP PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 High-definition update of Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge and Vampire Savior with online play.2022 Capcom Fighting CollectionPlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, Windows Includes nine Capcom fighting games and one puzzle game, including all five Darkstalkers arcade games. Includes online play, and is the first time that Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2 are released outside Japan. Secret endings were not included. Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium Includes 32 Capcom arcade games, including the first three Darkstalkers games.
Future Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono said in 2007: "Personally, I'd love to make a new Marvel vs. Capcom, and I'd also like to see the triumphant return of Darkstalkers to a new generation of technology. It would be an interesting challenge with Darkstalkers, because in the old games you'd see a lot of really interesting animations as characters would morph into different forms. That would be tricky to do with this 3D engine, but not impossible. In two or three years, if I got the chance to resurrect that series, I'd like to shock Hollywood with how good the graphics would look". In August 2010, Ono stated during an interview about Street Fighter X Tekken that a new installment to the series would be his "ultimate dream", but only fan demand would cause it to happen. He went on to say that it would take one million requests before Keiji Inafune, then head of research and development at Capcom, would comply. At that point, Capcom had received 5,000 requests. By March 2011, Ono reported that Capcom had received over 100,000 requests. He later expressed during an interview at a Nintendo 3DS launch in London that "one day, if it goes half a million, Capcom may raise its eyebrow a little bit and I could do what I did in London in 2007 when I announced the comeback of Street Fighter. In the near future, with your help, it may become true. It's on its way, because we're pretty much where we were with Street Fighter a few years back. So keep it up".
At the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Ono revealed during the Street Fighter X Tekken panel that while a new Darkstalkers title had not been approved, he reassured the series' fans that "Darkstalkers is not dead". He then proceeded to take a photo of the attendees at the panel holding up their money to send to decision makers at Capcom to show support for the game. Later the following year in June, a message "Darkstalkers are not dead" appeared in a trailer for the PlayStation Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken; when asked about it, Ono wrote on his Twitter: "I can't announce about Darkstalkers yet". Ono later teased the presence of Darkstalkers at a panel for Street Fighters 25th Anniversary Celebration at San Diego Comic-Con in July. Instead of taking a photo to send proof of demand to Capcom's upper management like he had done in the past, he stated: "This year, you don't have to do that, and it's not necessarily bad news!", but refrained himself from saying anything else.
Following the announcement of Darkstalkers Resurrection at 2012 New York Comic Con in October, a concept trailer was shown during Capcom's Street Fighter 25th Anniversary panel. Darkstalkers Resurrection producer Derek Neal and Yoshinori Ono told interviewers that the re-release bundle was the first step towards revitalizing the franchise. Neal also claimed that Capcom is using Darkstalkers Resurrection as a test to gauge audience interest in a new Darkstalkers installment. In April 2013, Capcom senior vice president Christian Svensson wrote: "We've not given up. But I'm disappointed in the opening sales response relative to any other fighting title we've put out on the same platforms given the frequency and urgency of requests we've had here over the last several years and the quality of the execution. It is the most fully featured and probably best project of this type we've done. And before people jump to the wrong conclusions, I'm not blaming fans who did buy it and supported the brand. I'm very thankful for those guys (thank you, to all of you). I'm more disappointed by my misread of the information in this particular case". There was no "Darkstalkers are not dead" line at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013. Matt Dahlgren, Capcom's new fighting game manager, said that because "Darkstalkers Resurrection did not perform as well as we would have liked. You never know what the future may hold, but Street Fighter is definitely not dead. There is nothing Darkstalkers on the immediate horizon for sure".
Plot
The Darkstalkers games take place on the planet Earth that is in the process of merging with a realm known as Makai. The reason for this merger varies depending on the continuity, but a continuing theme is that the union of realms brings the arrival of the Darkstalkers to the human world, the term being a catch-all for the various creatures of legend. The greatest of these supernatural creatures, and the greatest among those who hunt them, meet in battle to determine who will rule the night.
In the original game and the sequel, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, an alien overlord named Pyron returns to Earth after being away for many years. His quest to conquer the world using an army of robots brings the Darkstalkers out of hiding to oppose his rule over humanity and the supernatural. A second sequel, Vampire Savior, saw the debut of Jedah, previously one of the nobles of Makai, who decides that the only way to save the realm is to take control of it by force. Accordingly, he lures the Darkstalkers into a trap to use their collective souls to remake the realm and control both humanity and the supernatural.
Darkstalkers characters are either based on various iconic literary and cinematic monsters, or inspired by international mythology and fairy tales. The 1997 anime miniseries Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, which was based on the first two titles, was faithful to the characters' in-game personalities. The 1995 American-produced cartoon series, simply titled Darkstalkers, dropped the backstory of the games altogether in favor of a standard good-versus-evil plot, altering certain characters' storylines in the process.
Introduced in Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors These characters were introduced in Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors NameVoiced by DescriptionOther major appearancesAnakarisKan Tokumaru was once the pharaoh of a powerful empire. After being revived by Pyron as a mummy, he seeks to regain his rule. At the end of Darkstalkers, he travels back in time to restore his empire, and later after he learns its destruction is unavoidable, he transports his kingdom to a new dimension to keep it safe.Marvel vs Capcom 2Capcom Fighting Evolution Bishamon Kan Tokumaru is a ghostly samurai inhabiting a cursed suit of armor called "Hannya", which drives him into a blood frenzy. After Pyron's defeat, the curse is broken, and the freed Bishamon and his wife become priests. In Vampire Savior, the armor revives itself by gathering souls, but is sealed again by Bishamon. An alternate version of Bishamon, "Oboro Bishamon", is a playable secret character in certain iterations of Vampire Savior, depicted as Bishamon dominating the cursed armor and sword tandem Hannya and Kien, instead of being enslaved by it. Demitri Nobuyuki Hiyama is often considered the series' protagonist, and organized the first fighting tournament between the characters. A vampire lord formerly living in the demon world Makai, he was banished after attempting a coup. After defeating and consuming Pyron, he seeks to subjugate his rival Morrigan.