Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
One to Two Players
Originally released for: Arcade
The history of Capcom's other beloved fighting game is split into two differing origins. One is that, in designing a new fighting game, the team assigned wanted to create a title entirely about monsters, taking advantage of existing ones of folklore and mythology as templates1. The other original is that Alex Jimenez, a producer at Capcom USA, suggested a licensed game based on the Universal horror movie characters, tied to the iconic creations that began properly with 1931's Dracula with Bela Lugosi2. or me personally, I think the truth is within both differing tales, as there is at least detail which suggests Universal horror films were someone's favourite at Capcom, but that the ball was rolling in terms of creating a monster themed game, including knowledge this was explicitly meant to have more yōkai, the Japanese folklore entities, than we got such as a nurikabe, a living wall that would have allowed the developers to create a character which never needed to move and require very little animation1. Whatever the case was, it feels inevitable with how Capcom started to push for the more fantastique and unnatural in their games, as the technology and the creative teams let their imaginations fly with genres like the fighting or beat-em-up genres in terms of monster and figures that would push their talents throughout the nineties. Also, such a project was part of a huge moment where Capcom, in the fighting game genre, suddenly created the gold standard for the genre and that, with others soon after wishing to create their own successes in its wake, they naturally wanted to follow up with titles to improve on what they did with that game.
That game was Street Fighter II (1991), which was a huge seismic change to video games. Despite the fighting game had existed beforehand as far back as Heavyweight Champ (1976) by Sega, let alone titles which pushed the genre further like Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985) by Konami in the eighties including the original Street Fighter (1987), the sequel cemented the fighting game genre fully in form, and naturally Capcom wanted to expand on its success not only with that franchise, but with others. Even if the origins are vague, it is not a surprise someone wanted to see a Frankenstein's monster in a fighting game, and thankfully able to be played again 2022 with a Capcom Fighting Collection retro compilation, let alone previous non-arcade releases, the Darkstalkers franchise is also one people wished Capcom brought back, and for good reason. Even non or casual gamers, who are horror fans, would dig even the original 1994 game as, whilst this series would evolve in gameplay style and the beautiful artistic style, we got from the gate already a strong horror fighting game in both aspects.
With new arcade hardware to push, Capcom would also need to capitalise on its advancements in terms of their games too, Street Fighter II changing from its original 1991 version through multiple revisions, until Super Street Fighter II Turbo (1994) looked an entirely different game let alone with new mechanics from the original. That was made for the CP System II arcade board as Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors was, and whilst by its last game it would improve and add to the original template, we were already entering this new territory of a horror themed fighting game with already a strong atmosphere. At a time when the arcade fighting game genre was becoming huge, this even applies to innovations in ideas that seem obvious for the genre decades later, like the ability to block in the air that were introduced in this game. That the aesthetic and presence were already strong helped so much, like Street Fighter in Halloween town but with its personality its own, and it begins and is central to the cast Capcom created for the original game.
A huge factor for me being interested in these games is that Capcom were insanely great for their character designs, and even how they play has made me really start to fall in love with them now I have. From the get-go, one of the really cool touches to the original Darkstalkers game is that each character was designed by their own person, and these designs were figured out with care to work in the final production. Darkstalkers has, even the attempt at a new hero who was quickly rejected after the initial sequel, one of the strongest rosters just in terms of everyone standing out between its three games. How they managed to make characters distinct to each other already in the first game, in terms of gameplay feel and personality, even if later sequels would add more to them including iconic moves and touches, really means a lot. The sense of this still being fleshed out in those sequels, as only the original game follows Street Fighter II in having these figures represent countries, actually makes what was accomplished here more praiseworthy, the choice to follow a horror/mythological/folklore trope, and flourishing each archetype out in really idiosyncratic choices being a masterstroke. The closest to a traditional martial artist in this game is a werewolf, which is where the Universal monsters link feels apt, as he is in the Western localisation named Jon Talbain, clearly after the lead character Lawrence Talbot who Lon Chaney Jr. played in The Wolf Man (1941), and even a character who was not drastically altered from the tropes like Demitri Maximoff, a traditional vampire and original (anti-)hero for the game here, still has a distinct style to him.
The characters mirroring their Universal horror counterparts all have their distinct personalities, both faithful to the icons, whilst having their own clear distinctions. Frankenstein's monster, by way of Victor, is a great example of this for his visual distinctiveness as a natural powerhouse character, the developers pushing for his limbs (even his head) to expand out in his attacks in cartoon stretch-and-pull effect, and that, infamously, this even applies to his ability to use his buttocks to grab and throw enemies. That feels less bizarre for the sake of it but the fascinating mix of grotesque horror, as there is blood and macabre sights in these games, against pure slapstick cartoon touches in the animation. Be it a Sasquatch who is an adorably fluffy and big goofball, to a take on the Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) who is a vain sexy fish man, completely ahead of its time and Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water (2017), everyone has something distinct to them. This even is in terms of their attack styles, whether playing the samurai possessed by cursed armour, Bishamon, which is clearly based around needing to counter and using his blade as one would expect from a samurai, to Anakaris being the representation of an Egyptian mummy, the slowest and potentially most awkward character to use, who literally floats slowly in the air, but has one of the most idiosyncratic move sets even in the original Darkstalkers game before he could be expanded upon. Briefly turning his opponents into cute, tiny versions who cannot attack briefly, dropping sarcophagus from the air, and moves which really emphasis the need to choose the special or regular move depending how far or close an opponent is, he because a really cool figure by himself and just one character like him in a game would have left it having fans, let alone a twelve entity roster for all distinct figures.
Tellingly, even the female character of the original game, whilst sexualised, overcame this to be adored, and that shows the real success of Darkstalkers even from the get-go in how its first two female characters became iconic regardless of that initial aspect of the character design. Introducing one of the first prominent cat girls into the West for games, Felicia was not merely marked for her character design, but for her characterisation as a goofy and likable cat-woman entity with blue hair who just wanted to become a huge star in Las Vegas, and by the end of the franchise becomes a nun to help children. And Morrigan Aensland eventually became the true protagonist of this franchise and its most well known character, and likely the one pop culture take on the succubus for many that entirely represents this mythological figure. A frankly problematic and misogynistic figure of lore to some, she completely upturned this with the history that came afterwards, all the cosplayers who have portrayed her over the decades, and becoming a figure of merchandising for Capcom, alongside cameos in other games, that may have even sadly overshadowed other Darkstalker characters, all without any sense that she is a figure that isn't powerful. This is really cool as, as many of us probably don't realise unless you played this original game, she is meant to be Scottish and thus, as one of Capcom's most beloved characters always in the fighting game collection cover art, one of the most well known video game characters from Scotland.
It is a legitimately virtue how none of the initial roster, even if some would not be as popular as others, feels lazy. They all stand out, all with distinct ways in their fighting styles and even in terms of personality, as Capcom embraced both the horror but also overt cartoonish nature of them. Even a character like Morrigan herself, or one meant to be seriously like the final boss, a planet collecting alien named Pyron, will be animated in dumb poses when knocked off their feet, electrocuted or turned into a cute little critter by Anakaris' Royal Judgement attack temporarily. The animation, with its emphasis on these cartoonish flourishes in even how strikes are thrown, is legitimately beautiful with hindsight, and the same is for the character specific locations in both their look and their little pieces of animation. You find yourself fighting at night in the middle of London with Talbain, scenery in the background like wine barrels if you hit the right moves, spotting the iconic "happy" dog that moves about in Bishamon's stage, or ending on a finale in Pyron's unnatural dreamscape made from all the worlds he has destroyed and reassembled into his collection. The music too by Takayuki Iwai and Hideki Okugawa is as distinct, appropriately evocative even when Felicia's stage, set in Las Vegas with all bright lights and cats loping around in the background, is partially set the cat meowing.
The thing that changed over time, when the bar was set this high already, was that Capcom pushed the visuals further, making far more incredibly phantasmagoric stages even if not character or geographically specific. The music would become even more evocative with the time passing, and the characters themselves alongside newcomers would get more personality and even some of their most iconic (and infamous) special moves and animation ticks, like Lord Raptor. Already a cool design of an Australian rock star who sold his soul to Satan, and now is a strange bony zombie with even the ability to move crawling crouching on his bony knees only he can do, future instalments of the games let him be able to literally slam dunk his enemies as basketballs.
And this is all in mind that, as iconic as Street Fighter II, it did come from the original Street Fighter, a game which is not held as a good fighter at all in the modern day, and that Capcom, able to suddenly leap in terms of quality for their iconic blockbuster hit, didn't slouch either from Street Fighter II's success and kept improving themselves, both artistically and in terms of ramping up the mechanics of the fighting game. To even get to the original version of Street Fighter III, Street Fighter III: New Generation (1997), which was seen as a disappointment and even irrelevant when polygonal fighting games were all the rage, it was still a game which would eventually became as acclaimed for the quality of its artistic creativity over its multiple versions, let alone the game play from experts in the genre due to Capcom pushing themselves over and over. By the end of the franchise I am talking of her, you get the magnum opus of this horror fighting franchise Vampire Savior: Darkstalkers 3 (1997), which is an exceptional game, but even if Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors had been tragically just a one-off from Capcom, it would have still been seen as a great game for many including myself for how much it does well let alone how fun it is.
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1) Darkstalkers – 1994 Developer Interview, translated for shmuplations.
2) ‘Darkstalkers’ – The Monster Movie Origins of Capcom’s Fighting Game, written by Luiz H. C., and published for Bloody Disgusting on September 6th 2023.
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