History VideoGame / Darkstalkers

* AttractiveBentGender: Any male character who gets hit with Demitri's Midnight Bliss special. Lord Raptor probably gets the best of it, going from a hideous freak to a real cutie pie. Female characters are just turned into "cuter" versions of themselves. [[http://youtu.be/aOPNAB4C_uQ?t=1m21s Except Morrigan.]]

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. Even sexy succubus Morrigan or cat girl Felicia suffer cartoonishly over the top injuries.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Darkstalkers}}'' - A short lived American cartoon made by Graz Entertainment (though some sources say [[Creator/DiCEntertainment DIC]], who is never mentioned in the closing credits, nor does the DIC logo appear at the end).

* AmusingInjuries: Played with. Bisecting a character both horizontally or vertically is possible with some characters due to being sliced by a sharp weapon (which can actually stick if defeated by such an attack). Other examples include AshFace, HarmlessFreezing, and XRaySparks caused by attacks of their respective elements, and swelling caused by Q-Bee's bee stings.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Morrigan is frequently portrayed as an evil Darkstalker in almost every Darkstalkers media, with her crossover appearances in other games and the ovas being the only exception.

* {{Flanderization}}: Applicable to Morrigan over time. Although she was always a sexy character, she was originally fairly reserved about it. She wore a [[{{Stripperiffic}} revealing]] outfit and some of her winquotes were a bit [[SexIsViolence provocative]], but that was about it. However by the time of ''Darkstalkers 3'' she and Lilith were [[LesYay embracing nude in official art]] (which, to be fair, was later removed in the remastered version), and then ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfSuperHeroes Marvel vs. Capcom]]'' turned things UpToEleven with MaleGaze portraits, UsefulNotes/{{BDSM}} winposes, and a [[OutWithABang super attack (Eternal Slumber) which involved molesting the opponent behind a curtain as boudoir music played.]] Though on a lighter note, these depictions are largely outside of canon material (such as the ones in the ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfSuperHeroes Marvel vs. Capcom]]'' series, which has been declared non-canon), not to mention some other portrayals make her a bit more [[{{Adorkable}} dorky]] than meets the eye with her liking for video games and whatnot (in other non-canon crossover franchises).

* RecycledINSPACE: Many people think of this series as "''Franchise/StreetFighter'' [[AC:WITH MONSTERS!]]" It even shares the world-traveling theme.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In the anime, Bishamon is so stunned by Donovan's quest to save humanity and vanquish the Darkstalkers that he has a VillainousBSOD of sorts and deactivates.

* EnemyMine: In the OVA, the house of Aensland propose a temporary alliance with the other noble houses of the Demon World in the wake of Pyron's easy defeat of most of the Darkstalkers. [[DirtyCoward They refuse, asking Morrigan Aensland to defeat Pyron alone instead, while they prepare to attack house Aensland in the chaos.]]

* ReadingsBlewUpTheScale: The Phobos computers in the OVA do this when reading Donovan's power (at the same time that Donovan is unleashing a very powerful attack on the Phobos).

* DummiedOut: Huitzil and Pyron's endings from ''Night Warriors'' are actually in the first game but mostly go unused since they aren't playable. Hacking the game to play as them and beat the game as them will play their endings but with garbage text reading "AAAAAAAAAAA." They also have alternate player colors if selected with a different button.

* LighterAndSofter: Demitri and Morrigan’s interaction in most of their crossover and guest appearances has been brought down to a much lighter note than originally portrayed in their home series; Demitri wants Morrigan to be his mistress, he hasn’t been shown to be really in love with her, he admires her beauty and strength but all Demitri wants to have is the Aensland household under his thumb, getting Morrigan with it is just an welcome bonus to his harem; Morrigan on the other hand is a free spirit and isn’t particularly interested in Demitri nor does she want to become a submissive mistress, to the point she would rather let herself turn into stone than become Demitri’s mistress in his ending for Vampire Savior. Come their later appearances and in some of them Demitri and Morrigan seem quite close, with Morrigan teasing Demitri and calling him by nicknames and the guy actually getting embarrassed, being composed in her presence, not wanting to make her his plaything.

* PaletteSwap: Happens when fighting against the same character, [[PlayerCharacter PC]] or [[NonPlayerCharacter NPC]]. The player can also voluntarily incur this trope when selecting the character with different buttons.

* VideoGamePerversityPotential: ''Darkstalkers 3'' (and only ''Darkstalkers 3''; ''Vampire Savior'' lacks it) features a character creator mode, which is nothing more than recoloring the individual colors found on the sprites of the existing characters. Since Felicia is already [[VaporWear technically fully naked]], it doesn't take much to change her white fur into the same color as the rest of her skin. The same can be done for other characters, but not to as great effect.

* VoiceActors: Darkstalkers is notable for being the first Capcom game to use professional voice actors. The voices in previous games such as ''VideoGame/ForgottenWorlds'', ''VideoGame/StreetFighterI'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' had all been provided by miscellaneous Capcom employees and their acquaintances.

* JobTitle: The Japanese titles. ''Vampire'' is Demitri's, ''Vampire Hunter'' is Donovan's, while ''Vampire Savior'' is Jedah's. Just who's supposed to be ''[[FunWithSubtitles The Lord of Vampire]]'' is a little [[{{Engrish}} harder to tell]].

Despite this, Capcom hasn't really "forgotten" about it: ''Darkstalkers'' has gotten representation in crossover games such as ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone 2'' (which features Morrigan and Demitri as a pair unit, and Felicia as a solo unit) and the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series (where Morrigan has usually been a playable character since ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfSuperHeroes Clash of Super Heroes]]'', and various others such as B.B. Hood, Felicia, Anakaris, Hsien-Ko and Jedah joining in the [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 second]],[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3 third]] and [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite fourth]] games). Yoshinori Ono is [[https://www.destructoid.com/there-s-still-hope-for-a-new-darkstalkers-347008.phtml still very adamant about reviving the series,]] and a ray of hope has spawned from a Capcom [[http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/news/html/e161205b.html press release]] stating that, after the release of ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite'', they'll be interested in potentially reviving some of their dormant [=IPs=].

Despite this, Capcom hasn't really "forgotten" about it: ''Darkstalkers'' has gotten representation in crossover games such as ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone 2'' (which features Morrigan and Demitri as a pair unit, and Felicia as a solo unit) and the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series (where Morrigan has usually been a playable character since ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfSuperHeroes Clash of Super Heroes]]'', and various others such as B.B. Hood, Felicia, Anakaris, Hsien-Ko and Jedah joining in the [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 second]],[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3 third]] and [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite fourth]] games). Yoshinori Ono is [[https://www.destructoid.com/there-s-still-hope-for-a-new-darkstalkers-347008.phtml still very adamant about reviving the series,]] and a ray of hope has spawned from a recent [[http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/news/html/e161205b.html press release]] from Capcom stating that, after the release of ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite'', they'll be interested in potentially reviving some of their dormant [=IPs=].

** Morrigan also shows signs of this in the UDON comics, being unable to understand why a man she tried to seduce rejected her advances, said man rejected her cause Morrigan tricked him taking a human form and claiming to be a homeless human woman who had just lost her husband, which is why he allowed her to rest in her house during the night, and he thought that having sex as a way to "thank" him would be taking advantage of a widow woman. She then just drops her disguise, seduces him again and kills him draining his soul. Then again, this is just how UDON [[AdaptationalVillainy portrayed her]].

** To date, the only characters of this game which have made playable appearances in other Capcom-produced games[[note]]that is, ''[[VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom Namco × Capcom]]'', ''VideoGame/CrossEdge'', ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' and the SNK-developed crossovers don't count[[/note]] are Morrigan[[labelnote:*]]''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom Marvel vs. Capcom]]'', ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2 Marvel vs. Capcom 2]]'', ''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo'', ''Pocket Fighter'', ''[[VideoGame/CapcomVsSNKMillenniumFight2000 Capcom vs. SNK]]'', ''[[VideoGame/CapcomVsSNK2MarkOfTheMillennium Capcom vs. SNK 2]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom Tatsunoko vs. Capcom]]'', ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3 Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'', ''[[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite]]''[[/labelnote]], Felicia[[labelnote:*]]''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'', ''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo'', ''Pocket Fighter'', ''VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom 3''[[/labelnote]], Anakaris[[labelnote:*]]''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'', ''Capcom Fighting Evolution''[[/labelnote]], B.B. Hood[[labelnote:*]]''Marvel vs. Capcom 2''[[/labelnote]], ''Capcom Fighting Evolution''[[/labelnote]], Donovan[[labelnote:*]]''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo''[[/labelnote]], Hsien-Ko[[labelnote:*]]''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo'', ''Pocket Fighter'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom 3''[[/labelnote]], Anita[[labelnote:*]]SecretCharacter in ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'', AssistCharacter in ''Marvel vs. Capcom'', ''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo''[[/labelnote]], Jedah[[labelnote:*]]''Capcom Fighting Evolution'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite''[[/labelnote]], and Pyron[[labelnote:*]]unlockable character and FinalBoss in ''Capcom Fighting Evolution''[[/labelnote]], with the other characters appearing in cameos at best.
** The whole franchise itself has been DemotedToExtra, seeing as after 1997, it's been nothing but crossover appearances.

** But in non-canon material like the UDON comics they drain souls completely but don't see what they're doing as wrong, as the souls of the men they feed on aren't [[DeaderThanDead destroyed]], but rather continue to exist as part of the succubus in the physical form of bats, living in [[HappinessInSlavery endless pleasure]] and happiness [[{{Immortality}} for eternity]]. Because of this, Morrigan explains in one of the comics by UDON that she enjoys taking men out of their short, toil-filled lives and giving them bliss. Nevertheless, the physical aftermath of a Succubus' "feast" is still ghastly, as the man's physical body is left a desecrated corpse that inevitably horrifies whoever comes across it.

This was Capcom's second fighting game franchise after ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', which means it shares many similarities with its sibling series (''[=GamePro=]'' infamously referred to it as "''Street Fighter'' [[RecycledInSpace in a Halloween costume]]"): Numerous characters have similar fighting styles to the ''Street Fighter'' cast, and the game features a six-button control scheme. ''Darkstalkers'' was one of the first fighting games to introduce the concept of Super Moves, bring air blocking into the mix, and expand basic combos into lengthy streams before any of the VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever games were created.

The ''Darkstalkers'' series is also notable for having quite a bit of {{fanservice}}, specifically due to Morrigan and Felicia (whose designs are unashamedly provocative -- in particular, Felicia doesn't even wear clothes). Morrigan is likely best known for her appearances in the various [[VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever Vs. fighting games]] -- including ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' and ''[[VideoGame/SNKVsCapcom Capcom vs. SNK]]'' -- and even more notorious for having ''the same sprites recycled for over seven years'' (which caused her to clash in sprite style with just about everyone else). She received new sprites for ''VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom'' and ''VideoGame/CrossEdge'' (which both used a slightly SuperDeformed battle sprite style akin to the preceding ''VideoGame/SuperGemFighter: Mini Mix''/''Pocket Fighter''), ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'' (and ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'') used 3D graphics, and with another new sprite set in ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'', Morrigan's original sprites (and those of the other nine Darkstalkers to grace one or more of these crossovers) [[note]]Felicia, Demitri, Hsien-Ko, Lilith, Jedah, Anakaris, B.B. Hood, Lord Raptor, and Q-Bee[[/note]] appear to be dead for good.

* ''ComicBook/StreetFighterVsDarkstalkers'' - An 8-issue comic series from UDON Entertainment (the company behind the ''ComicBook/StreetFighter'' comics) putting the ''Darkstalkers'' characters up against their more popular fighting game siblings.

* ''ComicBook/StreetFighterVsDarkstalkers'' - An 8-issue comic series from UDON Entertainment (the company behind the ''ComicBook/StreetFighter'' comics) pitting the ''Darkstalkers'' characters up against their more popular fighting game siblings.

[[quoteright:348:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/VamSav3_7063.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:348: See the cute little girl -- the [[TokenHuman normal-looking one]]?\\

* {{Crossover}}: Characters from this series appeared in other games, aside the below entry, such as ''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo'' (Morrigan, Felicia, Hsien-Ko and Donovan), ''Pocket Fighter'' (Morrigan, Felicia and Hsien-Ko), ''VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution'' (Demitri, Anakaris, Felicia, Jedah and Pyron), and the ''Minna to'' games ''Minna to Akashic Heroes'' and ''Street Fighter x All Capcom''.

* {{Crossover}}: Characters from this series appeared in other games, aside the below entry, such as ''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo'' (Morrigan, Felicia, Hsien-Ko and Donovan), ''Pocket Fighter'' (Morrigan, Felicia and Hsien-Ko), and ''VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution'' (Demitri, Anakaris, Felicia, Jedah and Pyron).