The series is set in a pastiche gothic fiction universe with characters based on monsters from international folklore, and features a stylized 2D graphic style.

[6] In August 2010, Ono stated during an interview about Street Fighter X Tekken that a new installment to the series would be his "ultimate dream", but only fan demand would cause it to happen.

He then proceeded to take a photo of the attendees at the panel holding up their money to send to decision makers at Capcom to show support for the game.

[11] Ono later teased the presence of Darkstalkers at a panel for Street Fighter's 25th Anniversary Celebration at San Diego Comic-Con in July.

Instead of taking a photo to send proof of demand to Capcom's upper management like he had done in the past, he stated: "This year, you don't have to do that, and it's not necessarily bad news!

[12] Following the announcement of Darkstalkers Resurrection at 2012 New York Comic Con in October, a concept trailer was shown during Capcom's Street Fighter 25th Anniversary panel.

Darkstalkers Resurrection producer Derek Neal and Yoshinori Ono told interviewers that the re-release bundle was the first step towards revitalizing the franchise.

But I'm disappointed in the opening sales response relative to any other fighting title we've put out on the same platforms given the frequency and urgency of requests we've had here over the last several years and the quality of the execution.

In the original game and the sequel, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, an alien overlord named Pyron returns to Earth after being away for many years.

A second sequel, Darkstalkers 3, saw the debut of Jedah, previously one of the nobles of Makai, who decides that the only way to save the realm is to take control of it by force.

The 1995 American-produced cartoon series, simply titled Darkstalkers, dropped the backstory of the games altogether in favor of a standard good-versus-evil plot, altering certain characters' storylines in the process.

A collection of original tracks from the games, previously included as a part of Vampire Sound Box in Japan,[36] was released digitally by Sumthing Distribution in 2014.

[47] Including Darkstalkers in their list of video game franchises "founded on boobs", GamesRadar US called it "second only to Final Fantasy as an object of Japanophilic cosplay figurine collector worship.

[48] Keith Stuart of The Guardian ranked the series fourth in his 2012 top list of vampiric video games, citing its "beautiful visuals and superb animation".

A move where Demitri will charge forward and temporarily transform the opponent into a girl before draining their blood,[56] it has been described by Chris Hoffman of GamesRadar+ as one of Capcom's greatest contributions to gaming history.

[58] The transformed state of King of Fighters character Goenitz, a priest serving the villain Orochi, proved extremely popular.