Capcom is no stranger to cartoons, having put out a standalone Mega Man show and included him in Captain N. Street Fighter had wormed its way into popular culture, spawning its own anime an movies, and fighting games were all the rage in the 90’s. With Capcom holding another hit fighting game in its stable, Darkstalkers, it seemed like the right time to push that IP as well.
In 1995, the company released a DarkStalkers animated show for Western audiences.
Produced by Graz Entertainment and airing in syndication on UPN, DarkStalkers: The Animated Series starred the rival factions of the game’s universe. With the evil Pyron looking to take over Earth with his army of DarkStalkers, it’s up to a rival team of heroes — including Felicia and Bigfoot — to take them down. Backing Harry Grimoire, a human boy descended from Merlin, the team took on Pyron each week in battles reminiscent of the game.
Graz felt that in order to make the game appeal to Western audiences more, they created Harry as a sort of relatable character. Unfortunately this didn’t go over well with fans of the series who were upset at how much the show strayed from the original material. The viewership suffered, and the show only lasted one season.
The 90’s were a strange era for video games in pop culture. As the entertainment genre broke new ground by focusing on elaborate stories, engaging characters, social influence and new technology, it grew into a multi-billion dollar industry. Unfortunately, the rest of entertainment didn’t know how to adapt games to other genres yet, usually forcing in elements that broke from the source material. This was a case in which that happened, and helped harm the potential for viable adaptions for years to come.
Like reliving gaming show nostalgia? Check out our entire catalog of Saturday Morning Cartoon recommendations.
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