Darkstalkers is another Capcom fighting classic in the vein of Street Fighter, only instead of normal people who can do crazy feats like throw fireballs and even sonic booms, we have monster inspired by classic novels and horror movies beating each other up. This cartoon is another adaptation, after the Mega Man and Street Fighter cartoon, and the only reason it scares people is because of how horrible it is.
Basically, the cartoon tries to be like the Street Fighter cartoon (which was done as a follow-up to the movie of the same name), as it is a fight between good and evil. Pyron, an evil alien, has come to conquer Earth, and to do so, he recruits monsters, whom he calls the old races, to restore the balance he set long ago, when Earth's ancient beings saw him as a god. Recruiting the vampire Demitri Maximoff as the general of his army, he aims to have the humans serve the old races, but soon, they have competition, as Felicia, a catwoman, saves a boy named Harry Grimoire, a descendant of a wizard, and teaming with Jon Talbain, Rikuo, Victor, and Bigfoot (known as Sasquatch in the games), the good Darkstalkers fight Pyron and Demitri's plots.
Yeah, this is a horrible cartoon. While some changes I can understand due to it being a cartoon aimed at kids (which means Felicia and Morrigan need to cover up more and Lord Raptor is changed so the missing parts of his body are now tattoos), there are some things they did that go against the source material (Demitri and Morrigan are villains, while the games have them as anti-heroes and the main protagonists, and they plot against each other for the rank of general) and some changes are downright insulting (Jon Talbain is basically Scooby-Doo at times, being a coward and a glutton, and Anakaris spews nonsense, making him the moron of the evil Darkstalkers), but the worst character of all is Harry. Created exclusively for the cartoon, the kid is the perfect example of a Gary Stu, as he is a descendant of a sorcerer, and is learning to use magic, and most of the episode has him saving the day.
The only good thing about this is having some good VAs like Scott McNeil, but sadly, they cannot save this from the fate of being cancelled after only thirteen episodes and seen as nothing more than a joke. If you want a good Darkstalkers show, I recommend the Night Warriors anime OVA.
