Book Review: Darkstalkers Graphic File

Darkstalkers probably has the most unique character designs in 1-on-1 fighting games. Maybe it's because the characters aren't human and there's more leeway for designs. I only knew of Darkstalkers because several characters appeared in Super Puzzle Fighter 2, which I use to play.

Darkstalkers Graphic File is an art book and game guide thrown into one. There are three chapters, the art gallery, the character profiles and other miscellaneous stuff.

The art gallery section is quite thin with only 24 pages. These are the fully coloured splash pages and character portraits. The style of work will be familiar as they are done by the usual Capcom artists, Ikeno, CRMK, Arnold Tsang, Shinkiro and Kinu Nishimura among other artists.

In the character profile section, additional individual character concept illustrations and sketches are presented. This includes the various designs created for the different game series. Also included is the story of each character, from the first Darkstalker game to the later Vampire Hunter 2. There are command lists, screenshots, ending gallery and victory dialogues. Unfortunately, the screenshots are too small and details in it are hard to make out.

And in the last retrospective section, there's the Darkstalkers timeline, promotional materials like toys and goods, soundtracks, books, etc. There are even command list printouts, those that pasted on the arcade machines.

There's just enough art for it to be considered an art book, and overall is a pretty interesting book I'll recommend.

My favourite character?

Baby Bonnie Hood (image from UdonCrew).

Something is just so wrong about her.

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The Japanese version of the book is called ヴァンパイア グラフィック ファイル and can be found on amazon.co.jp.