Overview and development
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2023) |
| Darkstalkers series | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (1994) |
| Last appearance | Darkstalkers Resurrection (2013) |
| Created by | Capcom |
This is a list of characters from Capcom's Darkstalkers fighting game series and animated-media franchise, who are either based on various iconic literary and cinematic monsters, or inspired by international mythology and fairy tales. The greatest of these supernatural creatures, and the greatest among those who hunt them, will engage in combat to determine who will own the night, while participating in a tournament held on Earth in order to decide the new ruler of the otherworldly dimension of Makai.
The games are set in a pastiche gothic horror universe, as is the 1997 Japanese anime miniseries Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge , which was based on the first two titles and was faithful to the characters' in-game personalities. The 1995 American-produced animated series, simply titled Darkstalkers , ignored the games' and characters' backstories in favor of a standard good-versus-evil plot.
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2023) |
| Name | Voiced by | Description | Other major appearances |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anakaris | Kan Tokumaru | Anakaris (アナカリス, Anakarisu) 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 2 Capcom Fighting Evolution |
| Bishamon | Kan Tokumaru | Bishamon (ビシャモン, Bishamon) 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. Later 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. | |
| Demitri | Nobuyuki Hiyama | Demitri Maximoff (デミトリ・マキシモフ, Demitori Makishimofu) is often considered the series' protagonist, [1] [2] and organized the first fighting tournament between the character. A vampire lord formerly living in the demon world Makai, he was banished after attempting a coup. [2] After defeating and consuming Pyron, he seeks to subjugate his rival Morrigan. | Capcom Fighting Evolution |
| Felicia | Kae Araki (1994–2008) Kana Asumi (2009–present) | The catgirl Felicia (フェリシア, Ferishia) dreams of being a famous singer and dancer in Las Vegas. She eventually runs an orphanage, as a nun. She has since appeared in a multitude of games developed by Capcom. Felicia was originally envisioned by Alex Jimenez to be a woman from Africa with short hair that could transform into a panther. [3] | |
| Huitzil | Juurouta Kosugi | Huitzil, called Phobos (フォボス, Fobosu) in Japan, are a series of robots meant to serve Pyron. After causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, they remained dormant until unearthed by Mayans who utilized them as guardians. When Pyron returns to conquer earth centuries later, he revives them to serve him again, where they act as an unplayable boss in the first Darkstalkers game. In Darkstalker 3, a Huitzil becomes the guardian of a young boy, Cecil, after he falls into the ruins where they lie dormant. | |
| Jon Talbain | Yūji Ueda | Jon Talbain, called Gallon (ガロン, Garon) in Japan, is a British werewolf and karate master seeking to escape his curse. He utilizes nunchuk-based martial arts. An alternate version of Talbain, "Dark Talbain", is a playable secret character in certain iterations of Vampire Savior. Talbain proved significantly more popular in the West than in Japan. [2] | |
| Lord Raptor | Yūji Ueda | Lord Raptor, called Zabel Zarock (ザベル・ザロック, Zaberu Zarokku) in Japan, is an Australian rock and roll musician revived as a zombie by his lord Ozumu after sacrificing himself and his audience. He travels with La Malta, a creature assigned by Ozumu to spy on the overly-ambitious Raptor. | Namco × Capcom ] |
| Morrigan | Yayoi Jinguji (1994–2010) Rie Tanaka (2011–present) | Morrigan Aensland (モリガン・アーンスランド, Morigan Ānsurando), considered the most popular Darkstalkers character amongst fans of the series, is Demitri Maximoff's rival. A powerful succubus, she is the adopted daughter of Belial Aensland, ruler of the demon world Makai. She has little interest in assuming responsibility however, and is instead a carefree layabout. She merges with her sister self, Lilith, at the end of Vampire Savior and gains more power. [2] Morrigan has since gone on to appear in many Capcom titles. | |
| Pyron | Nobuyuki Hiyama | Pyron (パイロン, Pairon) is an alien that resembles living fire, seeking to conquer Earth as a prize. He acts as the main antagonist, and is an unplayable boss in the first Darkstalkers title. | Capcom Fighting Evolution |
| Rikuo | Yūji Ueda | Rikuo, called Aulbath (オルバス, Orubasu) in Japan, is a merman who believes himself the sole survivor of his race after an Earthquake in the Amazon caused by Pyron devastates his kingdom. After discovering survivors, he has a son, who he rescues in Vampire Savior only to discover another race of merfolk. The name Rikuo is derived from actor Ricou Browning, who played the titular creature in The Creature from the Black Lagoon . [3] | |
| Sasquatch | Kan Tokumaru | Sasquatch (サスカッチ, Sasukatchi) is a rotund Yeti who travels from Canada to investigate Pyron after the alien's arrival. Upon returning home in Vampire Savior, he discovers his people have been kidnapped, and tries to rescue them. | |
| Victor | Kan Tokumaru | Victor von Gerdenheim (ビクトル・フォン・ゲルデンハイム, Bikutoru fon Gerudenhaimu) is a large German humanoid modeled after Frankenstein's Monster. Seeking to fight Pyron to prove to his creator that he's the strongest in the world, he returns home, where his is informed by his "sister", a homonculus named Emily, that their creator was already dead. Later, in Vampire Savior, after Emily starts to malfunction, he sacrifices himself to revive her. |
Night Warriors is an upgraded version of the previous game, with the same story and returning cast. In addition, several new characters were added to the game, and the boss characters Pyron and Huitzil were made playable.
| Name | Voiced by | Description | Other major appearances |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anita | Kyoko Hikami | Anita (アニタ, Anita) is a small, young girl that travels with Donovan, emotionless and mute after a tragedy befell her family. After Donovan is consumed by the evil of those he's killed, she recovers, and as an adult wonders what became of him. | Marvel Super Heroes |
| Donovan | Nobuyuki Hiyama Jurota Kosugi (Darkstalkers 3) | Donovan Baine (ドノヴァン・バイン, Donovan Bain) is a dhampir monster hunter with a massive sword with a curved end. Acting as a buddhist monk, he does so to atone for his own "cursed" blood. However the evil of those he kills infects him and drives him insane. | |
| Hsien-Ko | Expand
| Hsien-Ko, called Lei-Lei (レイレイ, Rei-Rei) in Japan, is a jiangshi, with her sister Mei-Ling (known in Japan as Lin-Lin (リンリン, Rin-Rin)) acting as a seal to help keep her powers in check. Seeking to free their mother's soul from a powerful curse, they succeed, and are reincarnated as a pair of young girls. They are later pulled into Jedah's domain during the events of Vampire Savior, where they can assume their previous forms, and eventually return home. | Expand
|
Vampire Savior was the first actual sequel title, introducing several new characters and a new storyline. While originally Pyron, Donovan and Huitzil did not return, variations of the game were released that did including Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2. A PlayStation port called Darkstalkers 3 later included the cast as a whole, with new story mode endings provided for the originally cut trio. Years later Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection included a special version of Vampire Savior with one more additional character, Dee.
| Name | Voiced by | Description | Other major appearances |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baby Bonnie Hood | Miyuki Matsushita | Baby Bonnie Hood, known as Bulleta (バレッタ, Baretta) in Japan, is a young girl armed with an uzi and several explosives. Dressed similarly to Little Red Riding Hood, she travels with her dog Harry and hunts monsters for money. She is intended to personify everything dark and self-obsessed humanity. [1] | |
| Dee | Jurota Kosugi | A corrupted version of Donovan, wearing an outfit that resembles Dimitri's while using his original sword. Originally intended to appear in Vampire Savior, Dee suffers from short-term memory loss, and will rapidly forget events as they transpire. In his ending, he is put to rest finally by a now-adult Anita. | |
| Jedah Dohma | Isshin Chiba [4] David Kaye (MvC Infinite) [5] Travis Willingham (Cross Edge) | Jedah Dohma (ジェダ・ドーマ, Jeda Dōma) is the main antagonist of Vampire Savior. A nobleman demon in Makai, he was originally destroyed, but was later resurrected. Finding that Makai has devolved into chaos, he seeks to combine all the souls into one singular being, luring the other character to his domain. [6] Jedah's body is able to shapeshift and recover quickly from self-maiming, allowing him to weaponize his own blood. [7] In early drafts of the game, he was originally intended to be Morrigan's brother. [8] | Capcom Fighting Evolution Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Cross Edge |
| Lilith | Expand
| Lilith (リリス, Ririsu) is a fragment of Morrigan's soul separated from her as an infant to keep her power in check. Jedah later discovers this fragment, and after giving it a form resembling a younger Morrigan with pink short hair, tasks her with luring worthy souls to his domain. Meanwhile, Lilith seeks to reunite and take control of Morrigan's body, which she sees as rightfully hers. Lilith was originally designed to be androgynous, with her gender officially listed as "Unknown". [9] | |
| Marionette | None | A secret character, Marionette can be played in some versions of Vampire Savior by inputting a special code at the character select screen. When chosen, it will take the form of its opponent, causing a mirror match. | |
| Q-Bee | Miyuki Matsushita Arisa Nishiguchi ( Project X Zone ) | Q-Bee (キュービィ, Kyū Bī), short for "Queen Bee", is from a race of humanoid insects called Soul Bees that at one time served Jedah. Driven near extinction after his initial death, they now seek to consume and breed rapidly. | Project X Zone Project X Zone 2 |
| Shadow | None | A secret character, Shadow can be played in some versions of Vampire Savior by inputting a special code at the character select screen. When chosen, the player will be assigned a random character, and will play as the character they last defeated as they progress through the game's story mode. |
The cast of characters for the franchise has been credited with making the games "a standout among the fighting games of the era", as instead of "conventional cast of martial artists with the occasional odd creature, Darkstalkers was a gallery of monsters". [10] Hardcore Gaming 101 stated that the game's colorful cast earned the game a cult following, despite its relative lack of recognition. [2]
David Kaye is a Canadian voice actor. He is best known for animation roles such as Megatron in five of the Transformers series, Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated, Professor X in X-Men: Evolution, Cronus in Class of the Titans, Khyber in Ben 10: Omniverse, several characters in Avengers Assemble, and Duckworth in the reboot of DuckTales. He is also known for anime roles including Sesshōmaru in Inuyasha and Treize Khushrenada in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, and video game roles such as Clank in the Ratchet & Clank series and Nathan Hale in the Resistance series. He is also the announcer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO and voiced the Celestial Arishem in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals. He did voice work for various other studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for many years while occasionally doing voice work in Los Angeles, California, US, before fully relocating there in 2007.
Darkstalkers, known in Japan as Vampire (ヴァンパイア), is a fighting game series and media franchise created by Capcom. The first game, Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, was released in arcades in 1994. 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. Darkstalkers introduced gameplay concepts used in later Capcom fighting games, including the Street Fighter Alpha and Marvel vs. Capcom series.
Morrigan Aensland is a fictional villain character and the female protagonist in Capcom's Darkstalkers series. Having debuted in 1994's Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, she has since appeared in every game in the series and in various related media and merchandise, as well as in multiple video games outside the Darkstalkers line, including most entries in both Marvel vs. Capcom and SNK vs. Capcom.
Isshin Chiba is a Japanese voice actor who appeared in 35 films since he first started acting in 1990 and is best known for doing the voice of Jin Kazama from the Tekken series.
Red Earth, released in Japan as War-Zard, is a fantasy-themed 2D fighting game released by Capcom as an arcade game in 1996. It was the first game for Capcom's CP System III hardware, the same hardware which Street Fighter III and its derivatives ran on. After not being released on a home platform for 26 years, it was announced on February 20, 2022 that Red Earth would receive its first port as a part of the Capcom Fighting Collection on June 24, 2022 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, known in Japan as Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge, is the second game in the Darkstalkers fighting game series, developed and released by Capcom for the arcades in 1995. Darkstalkers' Revenge was ported to the Sega Saturn home console in 1996, and included in the compilation releases Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection in 2005, Darkstalkers Resurrection in 2013, and Capcom Fighting Collection compilation in 2022.
Darkstalkers 3 is a fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades in 1997. It is the third game in the Darkstalkers series. The story centers around a demonic nobleman from Makai named Jedah Dohma, who creates a pocket dimension named Majigen where he tries to bring in souls to help nourish his new world. It was critically and commercially well-received.
Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, known in Japan as Vampire: The Night Warriors, is the first title in the Darkstalkers fighting game series, developed and released by Capcom in 1994, originally for the CPS II arcade hardware. It was ported to the PlayStation by Psygnosis in 1996 and was followed by Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge in 1995. Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors was ported as a part of Capcom Fighting Collection on June 24, 2022 to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.
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