Capcom, a video game company founded in 1983, announced its fighting game collection on Feb. 21, 2022, along with the highly anticipated “Street Fighter 6.” As June 24 gets closer, many fans of Capcom are excited to replay their favorite fighting games, including the “Street Fighter” series and “Red Earth,” a game that will be playable for the first time on consoles. The fandom for the game “Darkstalkers” is incredibly hyped for “Capcom Fighting Collection” because it could lead to a possible new installment for the franchise. 

For those unaware, “Darkstalkers” is a fighting game where many mythological creatures and monsters fight to protect their lands from aliens and demons who threaten to conquer them. Some of the game’s most popular characters include a vampire named Demitri Maximoff, a Catwoman named Felicia, and the widely-used mascot, Morrigan Aensland the succubus. 

The franchise has three main games, with the last one having been released in 1997. Since then, “Darkstalkers” has been stuck with re-releases of the original games and its characters who’ve been featured in several crossover games, including “Marvel vs. Capcom” and “Pocket Fighters” (known as “Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix in Japan), a game that will be remastered and featured in “Capcom Fighting Collection.” 

It wasn’t until July 21, 2011, when hope for a fourth game was revitalized when a teaser for a potential new “Darkstalkers” game was released at San Diego Comic-Con, showing Demitri and a zombie named Lord Raptor in new graphics similar to those used in “Street Fighter 4” which was popular at that time. Although the future seemed promising for this franchise, there was a catch.

In order for there to be a fourth game, fans needed to support the HD remastered versions of the first and third game that were released in a bundle in 2013 called “Darkstalkers Resurrection.” Although the fandom showed their support for the game series, it wasn’t enough for Capcom. Yoshinori Ono, a former game producer at Capcom, said in an interview that can be found on ​​EventHubs that “Darkstalkers Resurrection” didn’t sell over two million copies, the target amount needed for the game to be officially made.

“We won’t be releasing a new installment in the Darkstalkers series anytime soon,” Ono said. “As we didn’t manage to hit our sales targets for Darkstalkers Resurrection….” 

This news was very disappointing for fans. Once again, the franchise couldn’t progress past Capcom using their characters for more crossover games and references like the “Darkstalkers” costumes that can be used for characters in “Street Fighter 5.” 

“Darkstalkers. One of the best fighting games I’ve ever played, and I’m sad there isn’t a new game being made in this series,” The Mad Belmont wrote on Twitter.

Before this year, all hope was lost for the franchise until “Capcom Fighting Collection” was announced. The trailer had revealed that all “Darkstalkers” games would be included, along with a few crossover games where some of their characters are playable.

Many fans believe this is a second chance for “Darkstalkers” to get a new installment finally.

“Man, I want a new darkstalkers. Best believe I’m getting that new collection…..,” wrote Taurence Bell on Twitter.

If Capcom has the same goal of how many copies they want to sell for “Capcom Fighting Collection” as they did years ago for “Darkstalkers Resurrection,” at least two million copies would be needed for a new “Darkstalkers” game, along with possible new additions for some of the other games in the collection as well. 

Overall, “Capcom Fighting Collection” can provide great opportunities to spotlight other fighting games made by the company, mainly because the “Street Fighter” franchise has been the main focus for decades now. If just enough copies of the game can sell, maybe the fandom can finally convince Capcom that the “Darkstalkers are not dead,” just like the teaser from 2011 said at the end.

“Capcom Fighting Collection” will be available to play on June 24, 2022, on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows.