Darkstalkers has been dormant for a long time. While there have been efforts to get a new game made, they’ve fallen by the wayside within Capcom’s offices. At this stage, the characters have appeared in more crossover games than in their own series. But at least they’re still visible, and still wowing fans with their designs and moves.

Now, a new generation of fans can see these characters on their home turf in the Capcom Fighting Collection. Available for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC, this compilation gathers all three main entries in the Darkstalkers series, plus two special versions of Vampire Savior (Darkstalkers 3). They’ll be in for a wild ride, as the characters can be quite out there. Here’s the best ones ranked by design.

10 Lilith Aensland

Darkstalkers- Lilith Vampire Resurrection Art

Debuting in Vampire Savior, Lilith was originally going to be an angel before the designers turned her into another succubus — kind of. She plays like a cutesier version of her counterpart Morrigan, most notably with her super move, where she challenges her opponent to dance by following her button presses. If they flub it, they’re toast.

Yet there is a creepy contrast in her character to these cutesy shenanigans. She’s part of Morrigan’s soul siphoned off to make her weaker, hence why she looks like a younger, incomplete version of her "big sister." Once Morrigan finds her, she’ll become part of her once again. She sums up Darkstalkers in that way: fun and games one moment, body horror the next.

9 Demitri Maximov

Darkstalkers- Demitri Midnight Bliss Vampire Savior

Darkstalkers’ original protagonist is one of the series’ flagship characters. Having a game without him would be like Street Fighter without Ryu, or Mortal Kombat without Scorpion. Still, he is rather generic. He’s Dracula with a shoto-style move list. That’s why he’s low on the list, but why is he on it at all?

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Aside from his icon status, his "Midnight Bliss" super in Vampire Savior has become a meme. It makes Demitri grab his opponent and transform them before draining their blood. The women get prettier (or stranger), and the men become women. His few appearances post-Vampire Savior have come with this super as standard just for these transformations. He gave Terry Bogard the Rule 63 treatment (i.e., gender-swapping) in SVC: SNK VS Capcom Chaos long before SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.

8 Baby Bonnie Hood

Darkstalkers- BB Hood Vampire Savior Intro

Sure, B.B Hood looks like an innocent little girl, but she’s actually a Dark Hunter tracking down monsters and other creatures to kill for bounties. That would be fine enough if she were going after the bad guys, but goodness doesn’t always pay the bill. She's actually a bad guy, if her evil grin in Vampire Savior’s intro didn’t give the game away.

Instead of using magic, she fights fire with fire. She pulls out Uzis, grenades, knives, and more from her hamper to roast her foes. Then, if all else fails, she has a super where she can summon two giant woodsmen armed with guns to blow the opponent away.

7 Lord Raptor

Darkstalkers- Lord Raptor Vampire Savior Winscreen

What would a horror game be without a zombie? Lord Raptor rises from his grave to rock his enemies. Literally. In life, he was an Australian rock star who ended his life at one of his concerts (alongside 100 attendees). If he can slaughter enough people to satisfy the emperor Ozom, he’ll be made even stronger.

But what really gets him on here are his moves. As one of Darkstalkers’ original characters, Lord Raptor is a staple of the series. His rock-themed moves show off his personality, be it whacking foes with his guitar, or slam-dunking his foes through a hoop provided by his drummer "Le Malta."

6 Hsien-Ko

Darkstalkers- Hsien Ko Vampire Savior Winscreen

Hsien-Ko is technically two characters in one. In an attempt to revive their deceased mother, twin sisters Hsien-Ko and Mei Ling got transformed into a jiāngshī (Chinese hopping vampire) and a talisman respectively. With her sister-talisman attached to her hat, Hsien-Ko can keep her powers in check. Detached, she can power up and hit harder.

She has a few tricks up her giant sleeves too. On top of her giant claws, Hsien-Ko can throw daggers, swords, axes, statues, spiked bracelets and more to keep the opponent away, or even drop a giant weight to stun them before dropping a load of maces on them.

5 Donovan Baine

Darkstalkers- Donovan Baine OVA

Hsien-Ko’s fellow Dark Hunter has a dry personality, but a neat look. His handy swordsmanship also made him a high tier character when he debuted in Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers 2). However, it’s his lore that sets him apart, which is quite unique for a fighting game character.

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Donovan is like Marvel's Blade: half human, half vampire. He uses his skills to hold back the evil within, despite his demon-hunting also fueling it. One of the few things keeping his humanity in check is Anita, a young girl with a similar dark side in his care. Canonically, he succumbs to the evil, but uses the last amount of good to save Anita. He provides a taste of drama to a usually funny game.

4 Jedah Dohma

Darkstalkers- Jedah MvCI

Jedah is perhaps the series’ most beloved boss character. Pyron has his fans, provided his glowy effects didn’t nuke their eyes. But when fans talk about their favorite characters, Jedah usually comes out on top over the nuclear alien or the Mayan mauling machine Huitzil.

Arriving in Vampire Savior, Jedah plans on reforming the demon realm by feeding souls to the Divine Fetus. Once it awakens, the realm is finished. Jedah’s moves are creepy enough, including drowning the opponent in blood, and using them as a contract seal. But seeing that fetus in his stage wake up after the player loses to him is another level of creepy.

3 Felicia

Darkstalkers- Felicia Official Art

Not everyone in Darkstalkers is an abomination. After all, who doesn't love cats? Felicia is one of the series’ most popular characters thanks to how light-hearted she is. That, and her convenient fur growth (yes, that’s fur, not body paint). Interestingly, she was originally designed as an African warrior with cat powers. Then Capcom Japan redesigned her into the catgirl nun who dreams of going on Broadway. The African fighter concept was reused for Elena in Street Fighter 3: New Generation.

Since then, Felicia has become a series icon alongside Morrigan and Demitri. If those two aren’t being used to represent the franchise, Felicia pounces in their place. She can scratch up her foes with her claws or kick up a sandstorm to drive them away. If all else fails, she can call in her cat-clan to attack her opponent for her.

2 Jon Talbain

Darkstalkers- Jon Talbain Vampire Resurrection Art

Based on the classic Universal Wolfman films, Talbain uses kung fu to keep his bestial side from taking over. He was the closest the first game has to a traditional good guy hero. The Darkstalkers OVA even had him as its protagonist alongside Felicia. He’s even come out high or on top of popularity polls in the West. Yet, he’s never made it into the crossover games.

If being a martial arts wolfman isn’t enough, or the good guy stuff is too passé, Vampire Savior gives players an alternate version of him. Play through his arcade ladder, and he’ll take on a dark version of himself before the boss. Once beaten, players can choose this "Dark Talbain" and see what he’d be like if he let the evil consume him.

1 Morrigan Aensland

Darkstalkers- Morrigan Intro

There’s no escaping her. Morrigan was going to be Darkstalkers’ most popular character ever since she got that big headshot in the original game’s arcade intro. She was originally going to be just another vampire until a Western staff member suggested she be a succubus. Once he explained what the creature was, it was greeted with cheers.

Since then, she has essentially become Darkstalkers incarnate. Morrigan has had the most crossover appearances, from other fighting games to action RPGs, and even card games. Her moves are rather standard shoto affairs, but she makes up for that with her seductive personality. It shines through in her moves, win poses, win quotes, and more. Demitri, Donovan, and the others can keep the lore. Morrigan will take care of the fans’ attention.

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