Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
Emboldened by the success of Final Fightin
the arcades, Capcom decided
to revisit their Street Fighterconcept
and try to make it a better game. Street Fighter II:
The World Warrior, released
in 1991, followed a lot of the same conventions as its predecessor, but it
allowed players the options of playing with eight characters each with distinct
fighting styles and the ability to chain moves into combos (which came from a
bug in the programming). Coupled with brilliantly animated sprites and a
soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura,
the game became a hit and helped to revitalize the arcade game industry and
redefine the fighting genre.
Street Fighter II print ad.
Over the next few years, Capcom would refine the play
mechanics, graphics, character roster and more with a series of updated versions of Street
Fighter II in both the arcade and later on home consoles. While each
version was better than the last, the endless revisions became a running gag in
the video game community. Meanwhile, other game publishers looked to latch on
to Capcom’s success and began developing their own fighting games. Soon, there
was Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Samurai Showdown, King of Fightersand
many others. The fighting genre was beginning to become saturated, and
another Street Fighter II revision just wasn’t going to cut it
to maintain Capcom’s dominance in the field.
The Darkstalkers universe.
Capcom decided to use their unique Street
Fighter II game engine for a new kind of fighting game. Producer Alex Jimenez suggested
making a game involving the Universal Monsters,
based on his love of the properties. When Universal
Studios denied them the license, Jimenez decided to
create their own characters based on those and other monsters; a process which
he claimed took about an hour. The resulting game became Darkstalkers:
The Night Warriors (known as Vampire: The Night Warriors in
Japan). The game was similar to Street Fighter, but was
rendered with the most fluid sprite animation yet to convey each character’s
distinct personality, gorgeous background level designs, and introduced concepts
of midair blocking and extra-powerful attacks that would be integrated into
future Capcom fighters.
Character sprites (from top): Demitri, Victor, Raptor, Morrigan, Jon Talbain, Pyron, Sasquatch, Anakaris, Felicia, Bishamon, Rikuo and Huitzil.
The game was centered on the conflict of supernatural
beings known as Darkstalkers who came to inhabit Earth through the gradual
merging of the Earth realm with the demon world known as Makai. Cosmic being
Pyron came to Earth with the intentions of conquering and devouring it, and
only the Darkstalkers stood a chance of stopping him and saving the world. The
game featured ten playable characters: Demitri Maximoff, a vampire lord who was
banished to Earth from Makai; Morrigan Aensland (named for the Celtic Phantom
Queen), a succubus (initially a vampire but changed to add
some monster variety) and adopted daughter of Belial, the king of Makai;
Felicia, a catwoman (or bakeneko) raised in a nunnery with a desire to become an actress;
Jon Talbain (after the character John Talbot from
the Wolfmanmovies),
a werewolf struggling to control his animalistic urges through the study of
martial arts; Anakaris, a 5,000-year-old resurrected mummy; Bishamon (based on
Japanese god of war Bishamonten), a cursed suit of samurai armor that takes over whoever
wears it and fills the host with its bloodlust; Rikuo (named after Ricou
Browning who played the Gill-man in Creature from the
Black Lagoon), a merman whose race was
wiped out by the coming of Pyron; Sasquatch, a member of a race of yetis in the
Canadian wilderness with a fondness for bananas; Victor von Gerdenheim, a
dimwitted Frankenstein
monster whose creator died shortly after making him; and
Lord Raptor, an Australian speed metal guitarist resurrected as a zombie that
could transform his limbs into chainsaws. The two unplayable boss characters
were Pyron and his robotic minion, Huitzil (named for the Aztec god of sun and
war, Huitzilopochtli).
Initially, Jimenez wanted Felicia to be from Africa with the ability to turn
into a panther as her special move, as well as the sexy character. Morrigan’s
change to a succubus made her the default sexy one, leaving Felicia to become a
cute white cat at Capcom’s request.
The arcade game was released in Japan in early July of
1994 to generally favorable reviews, then worldwide later that month. When it
became one of the best-selling fighting
games, Capcom was quick to give Darkstalkers the Street
Fighter II treatment and released an updated version the following
March in Japan, which also saw a North American release in April. Night
Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge (Vampire Hunter in Japan)
featured new combos, two types of special moves that required different levels
of the special gauge to utilize, and made the bosses playable. It also
introduced two new characters: Hsien-Ko and Donovan Baine. Hsien-Ko was
transformed into a jiangshi, a type of Chinese reanimated corpse, with formidable
magical powers. Her sister, Mei-Ling, keeps her in check as the Ofuda (a
talisman believed to be imbued with the power of the deities) on Hisen-Ko’s
hat. Donovan was a dhampir that wielded a magical sword called “Dhylec” that
can channel divine and elemental powers. Donovan traveled with and protected
emotionally-detached young girl Anita,
who possessed powerful psychic powers. Both Hisen-Ko and Donovan were Dark
Hunters and gave the sequel its Japanese name.
Pyron and Huitzil hold Rikuo captive.
The series proved popular enough for Capcom to begin marketing it
in other media. Graz Entertainment optioned the license to produce an animated series based
around the game in North America. Expanding upon the game’s limited story,
Pyron (Richard Newman) had returned to Earth to find it teaming with humans. To
restore the balance where Darkstalkers ruled them and, in turn, served him,
Pyron recruited Demitri Maximoff (Michael Donovan, using a slight Transylvanian
accent) and Morrigan Aensland (Saffron Henderson, using an Irish accent) to
head up his army.
Morrigan and Demitri take down Victor.
Demitri used Pyron’s ship’s tractor beam to recruit
said army. He awakened Anakaris (Scott McNeil & Zoltan Buday, using an
Egyptian accent) from his deep sleep, which seemed to have warped his mind and
caused him to speak gibberish at times; Bishamon (Colin Murdock, using a
Japanese accent), who was dismayed to discover his curse persisted; and Lord
Raptor (McNeil, using a British accent), after resurrecting him from the plane
he crashed in while on tour in 1970. He also attempted to recruit Jon Talbain
(Lee Tokar) while he was on a hunt; the vain Rikuo (McNeil) as he lamented the
loss of his kind while also admiring himself; Victor von Gerdenheim (Ian James
Corlett, impersonating Arnold Schwarzenegger)
who was dormant in a movie studio prop room; Bigfoot (Sasquatch renamed, voiced
by Dale Wilson) as he was with his nephew, Hairball (Laura Harris); and Felicia
(Lisa Ann Beley) as she was rejected from yet another stage role. However, they
avoided his efforts.
Harry tries to keep Donovan from killing Felicia.
Felicia attempted to find help against Pyron’s forces
by heading to the home of Elijah Grimoire; a powerful wizard descended
from the legendary Merlin (Newman). Instead, she found young Harry Grimoire (a
new character originally named Bobby Bridges meant to serve as an audience
surrogate, voiced by Kyle Labine) who had inherited his ancestor’s power, but
not the knowledge to use it. Complicating matters were the Darkstalker hunters
Donovan Baine (Garry Chalk) and Hsien-Ko (Beley, using a Chinese accent), who
attacked without discrimination regardless of their targets’ intent. Felicia
and Harry served as the series’ primary protagonists as they sought to increase
Harry’s powers and thwart Pyron’s plans by teaming-up with the random
Darkstalker they encountered. Likewise, Morrigan and Dimitri served as the
primary antagonists with the others appearing every so often.
Jon Talbain, Rikuo, Klaus, Bigfoot, Harry, Felicia and Victor at Victor's castle.
Anakaris joins a video conference on Pyron's ship.
The show took some liberties with the source material in order to
make it more suitable for their intended young audiences. Instead of using the
Japanese character designs, the characters’ models were redesigned by Frank Brunner, Patrick
Gleason, James Glader and Paula
LaFond. As a result, Morrigan and Felicia’s
bodies were toned down and covered up a bit more. While still a succubus,
Morrigan was made the descendant of legendary enchantress Morgan
le Fey (also Henderson). Donovan’s sword was
simply called the “spell sword”, and Anita (renamed “Amanda” as she was in the
North American versions of the game) absorbed the power of the sword after
surviving an attack by Demitri (her origin remained consistent, but the
identity of the attacker tended to change between media). Raptor relied on
sonic attacks from his guitar rather than transforming his limbs into chainsaws
as in the game, and often spoke in song titles. Bishamon’s curse was housed in
the sword he possessed rather than in the armor, and once freed from the curse
he had to fight on the side of good in order to be reunited with his dead wife.
Victor was made a bit more intelligent and was given a manservant in his
father’s castle in the form of Klaus Schmendrick (Gerard Plunkett), whose family had always served the von Gerdenheim’s. Similarly,
Hsien-Ko was in the service of the goddess Quan Yin (Venus
Terzo), who was responsible for her creation
and her mission.
The series didn’t perform well with audiences. Many criticized the
writing and poor animation, as well as the addition of the annoying lead
character, Harry. As a result, the show was cancelled after its single season.
A second attempt at a Darkstalkers animated series came
when Madhouse and DR
Movie produced a four-episode OVA in Japan
called Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge. McNeil was
retained to once again voice Lord Raptor (called Zabel Zarock), while Kathleen Barr, who played Harry’s mother, became the voice of Morrigan. In
comparison, the OVA was better received than the North American series.
Concept art for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011) showcasing the Darkstalkers members of the roster.
Following the release of Darkstalkers 3 in
1997, the game series was allowed to stagnate with only revisions and re-releases
to sustain it. Lackluster
reception to these efforts prompted Capcom to cancel
any plans for future installments. However, their representation continued
as Morrigan and Felicia, the most popular characters with gamers, would appear
in many of Capcom’s later fighting games and merchandise.
In comics,
the Darkstalkers would appear nearly a decade later in a mini-series by Devil’s Due Publishing, and then in
various books published by UDON Comics.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Out
of the Dark” (9/30/95) – Pyron returns to Earth and summons the Darkstalkers to
help him conquer it, and the only one Felicia can find to stop him is the
descendent of a powerful sorcerer.
“Donovan’s
Bane” (10/7/95) – Harry and Felicia head to Great Britain to find a ring
connected to his family, while Morrigan seeks out her own heirloom to take on
the Dark Hunter.
“Pyramid
Power” (10/14/95) – Morrigan, Demitri and Anakaris travel back in time to find
out the fate of an ancient gem while Mrs. Grimoire heads to Egypt to
investigate a floating pyramid.
“The
Game” (10/21/95) – Pyron pits Morrigan and Demitri against each other to see
who can capture the most heroes.
“And
the Walls Come Tumblin’ Down” (10/28/95) – Raptor’s guitar, Harry’s ring and
Anakaris’ computer all detect something strange that sends their respective
owners to investigate.
“Ghost
Hunter” (11/4/95) – Raptor investigates a possible Darkstalker to be recruited
while Felicia asks Rikuo to look into the mysterious death of a man in Africa.
“Little
Bigfoot’s Last Stand” (11/11/95) – Pyron abducts Harry and Hairball, leaving
Felicia and the Bigfoot tribe to figure out how to rescue them both.
“My
Harry’s in the Highlands” (11/18/95) – It’s a race to retrieve a magical ring
from Harry’s ancestor before Morrigan gets her hands on her own.
“Aliens
Keep Out” (11/25/95) –Rikuo recuperate in Atlantis after escaping the Dark
Hunter, but their rest is cut short when Pyron appears and is captured by an
ancient robot.
“Samurai’s
Honor” (12/2/95) – Donovan stops Demitri from devouring a young girl and takes
her to Felicia and Harry for help, only to discover there’s more to her than
there seems.
“There’s
No Business Like Dragon Business” (12/9/95) – Harry and Hairball find a dragon
in the snow who’s turned against Felicia by Raptor.
“Darkest
Before the Dawn” (12/16/95) – Demitri comes to possess a powerful mystical
crystal.
“Everyone’s
a Critic” (12/23/95) – Pyron is forced to team-up with the heroic Darkstalkers
in order to save the world from his brother, Terramon. Originally posted in 2017. Updated in 2024.
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