Darkstalkers/YMMV

The franchise in general

• Americans Love Jon Talbain: For many a year, fans have been clamoring to get this guy into one of the Vs. titles (it works for Americans, who view werewolves and Bruce Lee to be awesome things). Point in case: Niitsuma, the producer of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, notes that he wanted to add more characters from this series to the game, but couldn't due to time constraints. Jon would have been his pick. Unfortunately... (he also ended up snubbed for UMVC3 and Infinite)
  • Japan Hates Gallon: ... So they'll never pick up on all of the hints we've been giving them. From a recent poll, he's the second most hated Darkstalkers character and the sixth most hated character out of the entire company, beaten only by Demitri. Even so, not all Japanese hates Talbain. One of the color schemes of Valkenhayn R. Hellsing is based on Jon. It also might not help that Capcom designed him to be popular with both sides of the world. He does have his fans in the East though, some coming from the Furry Fandom. Sadly, despite Niitsuma's preference for him, Talbain STILL didn't make the cut for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
• Big Lipped Alligator Moment: Sasquatch's whole story. o probably, it's just a lot of the Capcom higher ups who hates him.
• Complete Monster: While in the games, every character has at least some redeeming traits, this isn't true in some of the adaptations...
  • Pyron in the OVA is a malovelent energy being who travels across planets for fighting and excitement, destroying them afterwards as they fail to meet his expectations. When he arrives on earth, he annihilates populated towns as a warning that they must satiate his sick desires, or risk a gruesome death. Slaying multiple Darkstalkers of Earth in the ensuing battle, Pyron torments our hero Donovan, and, when he manages to stand up to him, attempts to wipe out the world and everyone on it out of sheer spite.
• Crazy Awesome: Wouldn't be the same without it.
  • Lilith manages to top everyone. Who else has a possible One-Hit Kill super that forces your opponent to dance in a Beatmania-type minigame?
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Gonna be trouble, Baby I'm a trouble man....
• Designated Hero: A few.
  • Demitri: He won't stop at nothing to achieve his revenge.
  • Morrigan: Her adoptive father wants her to be a legitimate hero for Makai, but she's just too "busy" shirking her responsibilities and having fun. However, she becomes less of this over time, especially after fusing with Lilith and feeling the need to actually be responsible.
  • Donovan: He's more than a little of a Knight Templar, and his vampire side takes him over in his ending.
• Ensemble Darkhorse Darkstalkers:
  • Morrigan. Although she is the most popular character in her series, she is shown to be among Capcom's most popular characters. To date, there are very few entries of the Capcom vs. Whatever series that she hasn't appeared in. This despite her being from a series that Capcom hadn't touched for 10 years, and since that point has touched for 3 years.
  • Felicia. Though, not to the level of Morrigan, she is very popular. Of all the cast, she's the one character most likely to appear alongside Morrigan in crossovers.
  • Jon Talbain. Especially in the United States. Although not at the level as the two above, thanks to Capcom Japan's absolute refusal to include him in any future games featuring the Darkstalkers, he's become this in many fans' eyes. Even Ryoma Niitsuma, the director of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, notes that if he had more development time, Jon would have been the game's 4th rep for this series (after Morrigan, Felicia, and Hsien-Ko).
  • Anita. Many players wish to see the older and more cheerful self (as seen in Dee's story from Vampire Savior 2 and planned to be included in the third game) as a playable character in future games. She made, however, the jump to playable in some crossovers, such as Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom Clash of the Superheroes, where she was a selectable Assist Character.
  • Lei-Lei/Hsien-Ko: The jiangshi girl's innovative fighting style and overall cuteness made her a fan favorite as well, with her appearing in Namco X Capcom, Pocket Fighter, and (most recently) Marvel vs. Capcom 3. She even gets a very large role in the anime, in which she is the secondary protagonist along with her sister.
  • Lord Raptor/Zabel Zarock: his rock star nature and hilarious, hammy yet brutal quotes and fighting style have made him very popular amongst Western fans, many who want to see him in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as DLC.
  • B.B. Hood/Bulleta: Similar to Lord Raptor above, she has garnered a sizable fanbase (again, at least in the West). Most of this stems from the take that she's an Faux Affably Evil take on Little Red Riding Hood who seems completely out of place in this series and yet manages to hold her own.
• Everybody Remembers the Stripper: Rather literally. Although this may be because Darkstalkers never really took off, and of course sex sells, Morrigan and Felicia are the only people anyone seems to remember from the games. It's quite telling that in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the three Darkstalkers include Morrigan, Felicia and Hsien-Ko.
• Evil Is Cool And Sexy: Demitri (although he's more "Dark" than "Evil") treads between the character types of Anti-Hero and Anti-Villain, and approaches is pretty damn close to Draco in Leather Pants territory, but still has his fair share of fans.
  • Also Morrigan.
  • Jedah, who--unlike Morrigan and (arguably) Demitri--plays the "evil" part straight.
  • B.B. Hood, for those who like their women young.
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Felicia and Jon Talbain. Almost every media adaptation has paired them up, or at least had them run into each other on a regular basis. Capcom does a suspicious amount of Ship Teasing with these two. Although there's nothing to suggest it in-game, in every Darkstalkers property outside of the games to which Capcom has given their stamp of approval, from the US cartoon series and OAV to the UDON comics, Jon and Felicia always share a bond of one variety or another; they're either friends, comrades in battle, traveling companions, or even living together. A manga from 1996 actually has the two sleeping together in the same bed.
  • Demitri and Morrigan. It's not nearly at the height of Felicia/Jon, but it does have a good share of vocal supporters.
  • You'd be surprised at how many times the pairing of Morrigan/Felicia pops up among the fandom. Morrigan's pet names for Felicia (apparently, Morrigan still calls Felicia "kitten" according to Cross Edge, and in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Morrigan tags out with Felicia with the call of "Kitty!") do not help in the slightest.
  • Donovan/Hsien-Ko was likely started due to their interactions in the anime.
  • Mixed with Crossover Ship, Morrigan is frequently paired with Dante of Devil May Cry fame (potentiated by Marvel vs. Capcom 3). Along with Dante/Bayonetta, this ship seems to be more popular than all of the actual pairings in-universe.
• I Am Not Shazam: The Bishamon in 3 (as noted above) is not the man who was enslaved by the will of his armor, but the armor itself having gained its own sentinence.
• Iron Woobie:
  • Felicia. She suffers constant discrimination, abuse, and misunderstanding throughout the game franchise and the spinoff series, but still manages to keeps her cheerful attitude and hopes of a better future.
  • Jon Talbain. Both in-universe and OUT-universe, if you see how much misfortune Talbain is handled by game producers. Poor Jon.
  • Victor. His story may even edge out Donovan's as the most tragic in the series. At first, he believes his deceased creator to be ignoring him for not being strong enough. Shortly after the jarring realization that the old man had actually passed on, his sister suddenly ceases to function, leaving him alone once more (which is even more heart-crushing in the text epilogue of Night Warriors). Eventually, he realizes that the only way to revive Emily is to give his own life, which he does without hesitation. Worst of all, he is ignorant of the fact that her body, being a "prototype" of sorts, will probably not be able to continuously generate electric "life force" and is thus likely to run out of power before long.
• Magnificent Bastard: Jedah. It should be noted that being Ozom's Unwitting Pawn via Phlebotinum Overload in his Backstory is what gave him the idea for Makai's "salvation", which turned him into a Magnificent Bastard.
• Memetic Mutation: Ono's DARKSTALKERS ARE NOT DEAD announcement seems to be working its way up. In the case of MvC3 (with the possibility of an all Darkstalkers team of Morrigan, Felicia, and Hsien-Ko being defeated), this is sometimes twisted into DARKSTALKERS ARE DEAD.
• Memetic Sex God
  • Morrigan. Hardcore Gaming 101 put it the best: "If nothing else, Darkstalkers taught a generation what a succubus is." Many a man and woman would let Morrigan take them on a pleasure cruise without a second thought. Must be that purple spandex... And as of the unveiling of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, she has been shipped with Iron Man, himself a Memetic Sex God. You can only imagine how that one's gonna turn out.
  • Rikuo. The western cartoon said it best: He's curiously attractive for a fish man.
  • Felicia and Lilith. Lesser examples compared to Morrigan, but still.
  • Hsien-Ko. She rounds out the above quartet of female examples. As the saying goes, "Everyone is Lord Raptor for Hsien-Ko."
• Moe: Felicia. B.B. Hood too, if you can look past the more disturbing elements of her personality.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The "Womb Of God" stage from the third game. Spoilered for the faint of heart: it's a rather realistic literal Womb Level, with a giant horned fetus with no skin, just covered by muscles and veins, in the background. It awakens and stares at you while pulsating at the end of the match.
  • Most of Jedah's moves involve extremely bloody self-mutilation, and one of his counters even involves decapitating himself and growing his head right back after spraying his blood all over the opponent. Also his laughter.
  • The Midnight Bliss move from Demitri can change guys to hot girls, and hot girls to hotter girls in most cases. But it's particularly disturbing to see that right afterwards, Demitri picks them up and literally sucks the life and blood out of them, leaving the girls a shriveled, skeletal corpse. The fact they explode and return to their normal forms right after can offset this, but the brief images are still a little disturbing, to say the least.
• Older Than They Think: Morrigan's Darkness Illusion super was the first move to use the button press sequence (LP, LP, F, LK, HP) that is now associated with Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu.
• Popularity Power: Donovan wasn't ultra-popular (unlike Anita), but he still managed to be something of a crowd favorite due to his playstyle and appearance. Although his plot progression in Night Warriors/Vampire Hunter justified his removal from Darkstalkers 3/Vampire Savior, later revisions added him back onto the roster.
  • According to this article, Donovan (much like Jon Talbain) was considered for MvC3, but then dropped from the project.
• Porting Distillation: The Sega Saturn port of Vampire Savior is not only arcade perfect, it even brings back the three missing characters from Night Warriors, complete with their own single-player endings. The PlayStation EX Edition port, while not as good by comparison, includes all 18 characters as well, plus both upgrades (Savior 2 and Hunter 2).
• Recycled in Space: Many people think of this series as Street Fighter WITH MONSTERS!. It even shares the world-traveling theme.
• The Scrappy:
  • One of Morrigan's special moves, Finishing Shower, is quite hated, especially in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom because it's almost impossible to combo into. That is until Marvel vs. Capcom 3 where she can combo into it, much to the delight of her fans.
  • Rikuo. It usually has absolutely nothing to do with the actual character or the way he plays, but simply because he's a Biological Mashup fishman.
  • Pat R. (creator of the Webcomic series How to Make a Sprite Comic in 8 Easy Bits) has this to say in his review of the series:

"Apparently the last member of his disgusting aquatic race, Rikuo (Aulbath in Japan) desperately searches the world in hopes of finding a hideous mate so he can repropagate his loathsome species. Yes, I am biased."

• • His status as such is nodded to in the OVA, where he is utterly decimated by Pyron at the beginning of the 4th episode, complete with receiving a wound that causes blood to come gushing out of his pore before being consumed in an explosion. A silhouette shot of his flesh being ripped to shreds and his skeletal system disintegrating into dust is shown.
• Stoic Woobie:
  • Anita. Played straight in both accounts: According to her backstory, her parents were killed by a Darkstalker and the people from the orphanage where she stayed shunned her as a witch. To make things worse, the only person that actually cared for her (in this case Donovan) sacrificed his last remains of humanity to protect her.
• Tear Jerker: Cecil's reaction to Huitzil/Phobos being defeated.
  • Anita's reaction to Donovan's Downer Ending in Night Warriors.
• Ugly Cute: Sasquatch. He can be quite of a loveable dork despite his scary appearance. Just look at some of his poses and mannerisms.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: There has been some debate whether Victor's Midnight Bliss is either a handsome Bishonen version of him (an exception to the typical male to female), or a disturbingly masculine (and muscular) woman. More people seem to believe the latter, due to the presence of what appears to be her breasts on the sprite.
• The Woobie:
  • Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling. Poor girls.
  • Lilith. Just take a look at her backstory. Played straight in her ending and in Morrigan's ending.

The animated adaptations

• Author's Saving Throw: Initially praised for its faithfulness, the reaction eventually subverted as fans today showed little appreciation for the OVA's excessive leaning towards a darker tone.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Ironically, fans did not like either the Graz Entertainment-produced cartoon or the Night Warriors OVA for multiple reasons regarding their tones: The former was too child-friendly and campy, while the latter was a little bit too dark compared to the source materials.
• Memetic Mutation: For the Western Animation:
  • The cartoon gives us Lord Raptor's Rap Song.
  • Another one: Rikuo is curiously attractive for a fishman.