Could Darkstalkers finally be coming back?

Oh Darkstalkers, how you have turned into Captain Ahab's great white whale.  Capcom has shot down every attempt to resurrect the fighting game franchise.  However, Street Fighter director Yoshinori Ono has been so forward about his desire to make a new Darkstalkers game, and the revival of the video game tournament fighter, would it really hurt Capcom to allow this to happen?  Probably not.  But let's look in depth.

Original Playstation Box Art

First, the history.  In the early 90's there was no bigger game out there than Street Fighter II.  Walking into your local arcade to play usually required a long wait, as the line to challenge the arcade champion was normally long.  Street Fighter was just the start with Capcom though, as they took that momentum to virtually rule the arcade for much of the 90's with several amazing releases.  Final Fight, Aliens vs. Predator, even Cadillacs and Dinosaurs were all amazing arcade titles (with the latter two never making it to consoles, by the way).  In 1994, though, Capcom had milked Street Fighter II for everything they possibly could, and complaints about the upcoming Super Street Fighter II Turbo (which was the actual 5th release of Street Fighter II) running all over the magazines, Capcom wanted to have another tournament fighter out there to play as they were already planning on Street Fighter Alpha (which came out in 1995).  Instead of focusing on the martial arts, though, Capcom would base this game around classic monsters out of movies and literature.  If you wanted to see a vampire fight a werewolf, or a zombie take on a fishman, this would certainly be your title.  Darkstalkers:  The Night Warriors came out in 1994 in arcades, and would see releases on the Playstation in 1996 and downloadable on the Playstation network in 2011.  

 

 

Of course they included a cat girl, it IS a Japanese game...

Good to see Keith Richards make his debut

The game actually became pretty damn popular.  The character designs were quite well done, Capcom had done a much better job of installing personality in these characters than they did in Street Fighter.  The zombie, for instance, Lord Raptor, wasn't just a zombie, he was a British zombie who wanted to be a rock star.  Darkstalkers went on to inspire a manga, a domestic comic book series, a Japanese anime, and amazingly enough an American children's cartoon show.  This series would go onto have two real official sequels (with the usual Capcom updates); Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers Revenge, and Vampire Savior: Darkstalkers III.  By the time the 3rd game came out though, the tournament fighter's popularity wasn't anywhere as huge as it once was, and Capcom wanted to focus more on Street Fighter, and their now, very popular Marvel vs. Capcom series.  

Pocket Fighter is, no pun intended, a gem

She's popular for 2 reasons.  Her wings, of course.

Since there was a fan base there though, Capcom would take Darkstalkers for their crossover games, often tapping the "talents" of the series' most popular character, the Succubus, Morrigan Aensland.  She would see time in Puzzle Fighter, Pocket Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, 1, 2, and 3, Capcom vs. SNK, and other various games, even some Japanese RPGs.  There was also a remixed Darkstalkers game, The Chaos Tower, released for the PSP in 2005.  Capcom, probably more than any other 3rd party publisher, values the nostalgia that they have created with their games in the past, which is why you would see characters like Morrigan appear.  She's popular, so put her in the game.  

So now we have come to the present.  A few years ago, Capcom finally put out Street Fighter IV, and put the spotlight back on fighting games.  However, since the release of Street Fighter IV, director Yoshinori Ono has been very clear on what he wants to do next.  He wants to do Darkstalkers 4.  Capcom has shot down every attempt, that we have heard about anyway, and has since had 3 updates to Street Fighter IV, and the release (and update) of Marvel vs. Capcom 3.  So, now comes the million dollar question, does Capcom pull the trigger on Darkstalkers 4?

If you paid $60 in February, this release in November probably pissed you off.

Worth addition to fighting game lore

I think the answer is finally yes, and here's why.  When Street Fighter IV was released in 2009, Ono openly admitted to the mistakes Capcom had made in the past with releasing the same game with minor additions and tweaks rather than releasing a whole new game (Street Fighter II had 6 versions, while Street Fighter III had 3 versions).  I remember him saying it wasn't his intention to relive the same mistakes with Street Fighter IV...which as now had 3 versions with one update.  Furthermore, Capcom released Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in February of 2011, only to have the "Ultimate" version released a mere 9 months later.  To be fair to them though, they did release Street Fighter X Tekken earlier this year, and instead of releasing the game again, they have announced a slew of more characters as DLC for 20 bucks.  That's far better than just packaging it again and selling it as a new sku.  I think Capcom wants to continue the tournament fighter renaissance we are currently in, but I believe they recognize that they need to make something new, rather than updating what they've already done.

Only time will tell, and with TGS in a few months, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see  Yoshinori Ono's desire to come to fruition.  He's said that something new is coming, and we will hear about it soon.  Hopefully, it'll involve what he, and the patient fans want.