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81-535: Besides video games, the Darkstalkers media franchise also includes an anime miniseries , an American animated series , a Canadian comic book series , and many books of various kinds and other media released only in Japan. Some individual characters, such as Morrigan Aensland and Felicia , appeared in later Capcom games, as well as in a few crossover games released by other companies. The Darkstalkers series

162-493: A Nintendo 3DS launch in London that "one day, if it goes half a million, Capcom may raise its eyebrow a little bit and I could do what I did in London in 2007 when I announced the comeback of Street Fighter . In the near future, with your help, it may become true. It's on its way, because we're pretty much where we were with Street Fighter a few years back. So keep it up". At the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con , Ono revealed during

243-622: A moral , fable , allegory or a parable , or collection of traditional stories, understood to be false. It came eventually to be applied to similar bodies of traditional stories among other polytheistic cultures around the world. Thus "mythology" entered the English language before "myth". Johnson 's Dictionary , for example, has an entry for mythology, but not for myth. Indeed, the Greek loanword mythos ( pl. mythoi ) and Latinate mythus (pl. mythi ) both appeared in English before

324-449: A "disease of language". He speculated that myths arose due to the lack of abstract nouns and neuter gender in ancient languages. Anthropomorphic figures of speech , necessary in such languages, were eventually taken literally, leading to the idea that natural phenomena were in actuality conscious or divine. Not all scholars, not even all 19th-century scholars, accepted this view. Lucien Lévy-Bruhl claimed that "the primitive mentality

405-449: A book on the comparative study of mythology and religion—argued that humans started out with a belief in magical rituals; later, they began to lose faith in magic and invented myths about gods, reinterpreting their rituals as religious rituals intended to appease the gods. Historically, important approaches to the study of mythology have included those of Vico , Schelling , Schiller , Jung , Freud , Lévy-Bruhl , Lévi-Strauss , Frye ,

486-451: A cheap, unfunny comedy," on their 2010 list of the 10 worst cartoon kid sidekicks. Rachel Jagielski of VentureBeat commented, "The plot is bad. But even more offensive than that is the shoddy animation." Ryan Winterhalter of GamesRadar , in 2014, blamed the "network" (of which, it did not air on any; it was syndicated) in his negative review, opining that the show "takes the characters that fighting gamers know and love and throws them out

567-424: A defining criterion. Myths are often endorsed by secular and religious authorities and are closely linked to religion or spirituality . Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how

648-481: A different appearance. Darkstalkers (TV series) DarkStalkers (also known as DarkStalkers: The Animated Series ) is an American children's animated television series produced by Graz Entertainment and aired on Cartoon Network from September to December 1995. The cartoon is loosely based on the Capcom fighting game Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors . It ran for one season of thirteen episodes. As

729-477: A failed or obsolete mode of thought, often by interpreting myth as the primitive counterpart of modern science within a unilineal framework that imagined that human cultures are travelling, at different speeds, along a linear path of cultural development. One of the dominant mythological theories of the latter 19th century was nature mythology , the foremost exponents of which included Max Müller and Edward Burnett Tylor . This theory posited that "primitive man"

810-486: A kid who befriends the game's supernatural cast of characters and sets out to prevent an alien invasion." Jun Aida, Capcom's director of licensing, said: "With an enormous built-in audience of young arcade players across the nation and a colorful range of fun, but spooky characters who lend themselves so well to animated television, we're confident that Darkstalkers will be a big hit with kids everywhere. This show will make it hip to be scared. ... It's this decade's answer to

891-460: A loyal fanbase over the years, it was never enough for the developer/publisher to give the series much attention". 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. While the character design in immensely cool, some of the fan art is downright disturbing". Keith Stuart of The Guardian ranked

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972-446: A methodology that allows us to understand the complexity of the myth and its manifestations in contemporary times, is justified. Because "myth" is sometimes used in a pejorative sense, some scholars have opted for "mythos" instead. "Mythos" now more commonly refers to its Aristotelian sense as a "plot point" or to a body of interconnected myths or stories, especially those belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition. It

1053-535: A myth can be highly controversial. Many religious adherents believe that the narratives told in their respective religious traditions are historical without question, and so object to their identification as myths while labelling traditional narratives from other religions as such. Hence, some scholars may label all religious narratives as "myths" for practical reasons, such as to avoid depreciating any one tradition because cultures interpret each other differently relative to one another. Other scholars may abstain from using

1134-438: A new fighting game, the hardcore community gets whipped up about Darkstalkers ' continual absence, and demands a modern iteration. The supernatural 2D franchise wasn't a big hit, but fervent fans have kept its name alive and seem unwilling to let it fade away". One attack from the game's cast, "Midnight Bliss", has also received significant praise on its own. A move where Demitri will charge forward and temporarily transform

1215-486: A pattern of behavior to be imitated, testifies to the efficacy of ritual with its practical ends and establishes the sanctity of cult . Another definition of myth comes from myth criticism theorist and professor José Manuel Losada . According to Cultural Myth Criticism, the studies of myth must explain and understand "myth from inside", that is, only "as a myth". Losada defines myth as "a functional, symbolic and thematic narrative of one or several extraordinary events with

1296-536: A poetic description of the sea as "raging" was eventually taken literally and the sea was then thought of as a raging god. Some thinkers claimed that myths result from the personification of objects and forces. According to these thinkers, the ancients worshiped natural phenomena, such as fire and air, gradually deifying them. For example, according to this theory, ancients tended to view things as gods, not as mere objects. Thus, they described natural events as acts of personal gods, giving rise to myths. According to

1377-518: A priest serving the villain Orochi , proved extremely popular. Appearing as a nun, the fandom dubbed the character "Goeniko" and fleshed her out as a full character for M.U.G.E.N, albeit with a more sexualized design. This later resulted in her appearing in commercial mobile game title The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Battle OL , as well as in The King of Fighters All Star as "Lady Goenitz" and with

1458-621: A scholarly term for "[a] traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events." The Greek term mythología was then borrowed into Late Latin , occurring in the title of Latin author Fulgentius ' 5th-century Mythologiæ to denote what is now referred to as classical mythology —i.e., Greco-Roman etiological stories involving their gods. Fulgentius' Mythologiæ explicitly treated its subject matter as allegories requiring interpretation and not as true events. The Latin term

1539-507: A society's customs , institutions , and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals . The word "myth" comes from Ancient Greek μῦθος ( mȳthos ), meaning 'speech, narrative, fiction, myth, plot'. In turn, Ancient Greek μυθολογία ( mythología , 'story', 'lore', 'legends', or 'the telling of stories') combines

1620-565: A step further, incorporating the study of the transcendent dimension (its function, its disappearance) to evaluate the role of myth as a mirror of contemporary culture. Cultural myth criticism Cultural myth criticism, without abandoning the analysis of the symbolic , invades all cultural manifestations and delves into the difficulties in understanding myth today. This cultural myth criticism studies mythical manifestations in fields as wide as literature , film and television , theater , sculpture , painting , video games , music , dancing ,

1701-527: A trailer for the PlayStation Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken ; when asked about it, Ono wrote on his Twitter : "I can't announce about Darkstalkers yet". 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

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1782-436: A transcendent, sacred and supernatural referent; that lacks, in principle, historical testimony; and that refers to an individual or collective, but always absolute, cosmogony or eschatology". According to the hylistic myth research by assyriologist Annette Zgoll and classic philologist Christian Zgoll , "A myth can be defined as an Erzählstoff [narrative material] which is polymorphic through its variants and – depending on

1863-645: A whole, with new story mode endings provided for the originally cut trio. Years later Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection included a special version of Vampire Savior with one more additional character, Dee. Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (originally titled Vampire Hunter: The Animated Series ( ヴァンパイアハンター THE ANIMATED SERIES ) in Japan) is a four-episode Original Video Animation anime series by Madhouse under license from Capcom, directed by Masashi Ikeda and originally released in 1997–1998. Darkstalkers (also known as Darkstalkers: The Animated Series )

1944-576: A world of the remote past, very different from that of the present. Definitions of "myth" vary to some extent among scholars, though Finnish folklorist Lauri Honko offers a widely-cited definition: Myth, a story of the gods, a religious account of the beginning of the world , the creation , fundamental events, the exemplary deeds of the gods as a result of which the world, nature and culture were created together with all parts thereof and given their order, which still obtains. A myth expresses and confirms society's religious values and norms, it provides

2025-421: Is a condition of the human mind and not a stage in its historical development." Recent scholarship, noting the fundamental lack of evidence for "nature mythology" interpretations among people who actually circulated myths, has likewise abandoned the key ideas of "nature mythology". Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals, which were themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law. This idea

2106-465: Is a form of understanding and telling stories that are connected to power, political structures, and political and economic interests. These approaches contrast with approaches, such as those of Joseph Campbell and Eliade , which hold that myth has some type of essential connection to ultimate sacred meanings that transcend cultural specifics. In particular, myth was studied in relation to history from diverse social sciences. Most of these studies share

2187-1041: Is an American children's animated TV series produced by Graz Entertainment and aired in broadcast syndication from September to December 1995. It was only loosely based on the games and ran for one season of thirteen episodes. Darkstalkers is a Canadian comic book series created by UDON and originally published through Devil's Due Publishing . There are many Darkstalkers manga books and series (including yonkoma parodies). A few of them were also published in North America: Multiple other books (guide books, art books, illustrated books, and novels) were published as well, mostly in Japan only. However, some of them were also published in North America: Soundtrack CDs for Darkstalkers games were released in Japan under different record labels including Sony Records , Suleputer and Victor Entertainment . A collection of original tracks from

2268-565: Is composed of five arcade games from which all subsequent games are based on. Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono said in 2007: "Personally, I'd love to make a new Marvel vs. Capcom , and I'd also like to see the triumphant return of Darkstalkers to a new generation of technology. It would be an interesting challenge with Darkstalkers , because in the old games you'd see a lot of really interesting animations as characters would morph into different forms. That would be tricky to do with this 3D engine, but not impossible. In two or three years, if I got

2349-399: Is horrible. The plot is stupid, the animation is complete garbage, and the dialog is atrocious." Mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not

2430-423: Is nobody's truth. Myths are somebody's truth." One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of historical events. According to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborate upon historical accounts until the figures in those accounts gain the status of gods. For example, the myth of the wind-god Aeolus may have evolved from a historical account of a king who taught his people to use sails and interpret

2511-472: Is often thought to differ from genres such as legend and folktale in that neither are considered to be sacred narratives. Some kinds of folktales, such as fairy stories , are not considered true by anyone, and may be seen as distinct from myths for this reason. Main characters in myths are usually gods , demigods or supernatural humans, while legends generally feature humans as their main characters. Many exceptions and combinations exist, as in

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2592-636: Is sometimes known as "mythography", a term also used for a scholarly anthology of myths or of the study of myths generally. Key mythographers in the Classical tradition include: Other prominent mythographies include the thirteenth-century Prose Edda attributed to the Icelander Snorri Sturluson , which is the main surviving survey of Norse Mythology from the Middle Ages. Jeffrey G. Snodgrass (professor of anthropology at

2673-510: Is sometimes used specifically for modern, fictional mythologies, such as the world building of H. P. Lovecraft . Mythopoeia ( mytho- + -poeia , 'I make myth') was termed by J. R. R. Tolkien , amongst others, to refer to the "conscious generation" of mythology. It was notoriously also suggested, separately, by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg . Comparative mythology is a systematic comparison of myths from different cultures. It seeks to discover underlying themes that are common to

2754-579: The Iliad , Odyssey and Aeneid . Moreover, as stories spread between cultures or as faiths change, myths can come to be considered folktales, their divine characters recast as either as humans or demihumans such as giants , elves and faeries . Conversely, historical and literary material may acquire mythological qualities over time. For example, the Matter of Britain (the legendary history of Great Britain, especially those focused on King Arthur and

2835-457: The Republic . His critique was primarily on the grounds that the uneducated might take the stories of gods and heroes literally. Nevertheless, he constantly referred to myths throughout his writings. As Platonism developed in the phases commonly called Middle Platonism and neoplatonism , writers such as Plutarch , Porphyry , Proclus , Olympiodorus , and Damascius wrote explicitly about

2916-860: The Theologia Mythologica (1532). The first modern, Western scholarly theories of myth appeared during the second half of the 19th century —at the same time as "myth" was adopted as a scholarly term in European languages. They were driven partly by a new interest in Europe's ancient past and vernacular culture, associated with Romantic Nationalism and epitomised by the research of Jacob Grimm (1785–1863). This movement drew European scholars' attention not only to Classical myths, but also material now associated with Norse mythology , Finnish mythology , and so forth. Western theories were also partly driven by Europeans' efforts to comprehend and control

2997-622: The Colorado State University ) has termed India's Bhats as mythographers. Myth criticism is a system of anthropological interpretation of culture created by French philosopher Gilbert Durand . Scholars have used myth criticism to explain the mythical roots of contemporary fiction, which means that modern myth criticism needs to be interdisciplinary . Professor Losada offers his own methodologic, hermeneutic and epistemological approach to myth. While assuming mythopoetical perspectives, Losada's Cultural Myth Criticism takes

3078-513: The Street Fighter X Tekken panel that while a new Darkstalkers title had not been approved, he reassured the series' fans that " Darkstalkers is not dead". 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. Later the following year in June, a message "Darkstalkers are not dead" appeared in

3159-584: The Internet and other artistic fields . Myth criticism, a discipline that studies myths (mythology contains them, like a pantheon its statues), is by nature interdisciplinary: it combines the contributions of literary theory, the history of literature, the fine arts and the new ways of dissemination in the age of communication. Likewise, it undertakes its object of study from its interrelation with other human and social sciences, in particular sociology , anthropology and economics . The need for an approach, for

3240-567: The Soviet school, and the Myth and Ritual School . The critical interpretation of myth began with the Presocratics . Euhemerus was one of the most important pre-modern mythologists. He interpreted myths as accounts of actual historical events, though distorted over many retellings. Sallustius divided myths into five categories: Plato condemned poetic myth when discussing education in

3321-613: The chance to resurrect that series, I'd like to shock Hollywood with how good the graphics would look". 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 went on to say that it would take one million requests before Keiji Inafune , then head of research and development at Capcom, would comply. At that point, Capcom had received 5,000 requests. By March 2011, Ono reported that Capcom had received over 100,000 requests. He later expressed during an interview at

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3402-470: The concept of the Oedipus complex in his 1899 The Interpretation of Dreams . Jung likewise tried to understand the psychology behind world myths. Jung asserted that all humans share certain innate unconscious psychological forces, which he called archetypes . He believed similarities between the myths of different cultures reveals the existence of these universal archetypes. The mid-20th century saw

3483-597: The cultures, stories and religions they were encountering through colonialism . These encounters included both extremely old texts such as the Sanskrit Rigveda and the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh , and current oral narratives such as mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas or stories told in traditional African religions . The intellectual context for nineteenth-century scholars

3564-493: The first example of "myth" in 1830. The main characters in myths are usually non-humans, such as gods , demigods , and other supernatural figures. Others include humans, animals, or combinations in their classification of myth. Stories of everyday humans, although often of leaders of some type, are usually contained in legends , as opposed to myths. Myths are sometimes distinguished from legends in that myths deal with gods, usually have no historical basis, and are set in

3645-402: The foremost functions of myth is to establish models for behavior and that myths may provide a religious experience. By telling or reenacting myths, members of traditional societies detach themselves from the present, returning to the mythical age, thereby coming closer to the divine. Honko asserted that, in some cases, a society reenacts a myth in an attempt to reproduce the conditions of

3726-459: The game's colorful cast earned the game a cult following , despite its relative lack of recognition. GamesRadar's Lucas Sullivan ranked Darkstalkers first on his 2012 list of "obscure" fighting games deserving an HD remake, opining it "offers just as much 2D fighting goodness as the venerable Street Fighter series, but it's never gotten the same kind of respect ... and that just ain't right". UGO.com included Darkstalkers on their 2010 list of

3807-442: The game's website utilized artwork from Darkstalkers 3 along with new secondary characters exclusive to only this title. Despite its limited commercial success, Darkstalkers was very well received by critics and acquired a sizable cult following. Destructoid 's Kyle Mac Gregor described it as "beloved", and IGN 's Richard George described it as both "obscure and beloved". According to MTV , although Darkstalkers "has developed

3888-410: The game, and the boss characters Pyron and Huitzil were made playable. Vampire Savior was the first actual sequel title, introducing several new characters and a new storyline. While originally Pyron, Donovan and Huitzil did not return, variations of the game were released that did including Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2 . A PlayStation port called Darkstalkers 3 later included the cast as

3969-452: The games that need sequels. Complex writers put Darkstalkers at number 40 in their 2012 ranking of best video game franchises, adding that they would "love to see a modern incarnation", and listed a hypothetical Darkstalkers 4 among the 15 games they wished would be announced at E3 2011 . The magazine's Andrew Hayward ranked Darkstalkers first on his 2011 list of most missed fighting franchises, stating that "every time Capcom announces

4050-472: The games, previously included as a part of Vampire Sound Box in Japan, was released digitally by Sumthing Distribution in 2014. Vampire (ヴァンパイア) is a pachislo game using the series' license was announced on May 12, 2009 and released on July 6, 2009. The game was released by the Capcom subsidiary, Enterrise (エンターライズ, Entarāizu) featuring the cast of the original Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors , although

4131-423: The influential development of a structuralist theory of mythology , led by Lévi-Strauss . Strauss argued that myths reflect patterns in the mind and interpreted those patterns more as fixed mental structures, specifically pairs of opposites (good/evil, compassionate/callous), rather than unconscious feelings or urges. Meanwhile, Bronislaw Malinowski developed analyses of myths focusing on their social functions in

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4212-460: The information in this particular case". There was no "Darkstalkers are not dead" line at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013. Matt Dahlgren, Capcom's new fighting game manager, said that because " Darkstalkers Resurrection did not perform as well as we would have liked. You never know what the future may hold, but Street Fighter is definitely not dead. There is nothing Darkstalkers on the immediate horizon for sure". The Darkstalkers games take place on

4293-711: The knights of the Round Table ) and the Matter of France , seem distantly to originate in historical events of the 5th and 8th centuries, respectively, and became mythologised over the following centuries. In colloquial use, "myth" can also be used of a collectively held belief that has no basis in fact, or any false story. This usage, which is often pejorative , arose from labelling the religious myths and beliefs of other cultures as incorrect, but it has spread to cover non-religious beliefs as well. As commonly used by folklorists and academics in other relevant fields, such as anthropology , "myth" has no implication whether

4374-465: The myth-ritual theory, myth is tied to ritual. In its most extreme form, this theory claims myths arose to explain rituals. This claim was first put forward by Smith , who argued that people begin performing rituals for reasons not related to myth. Forgetting the original reason for a ritual, they account for it by inventing a myth and claiming the ritual commemorates the events described in that myth. James George Frazer —author of The Golden Bough ,

4455-583: The mythical age. For example, it might reenact the healing performed by a god at the beginning of time in order to heal someone in the present. Similarly, Barthes argued that modern culture explores religious experience. Since it is not the job of science to define human morality, a religious experience is an attempt to connect with a perceived moral past, which is in contrast with the technological present. Pattanaik defines mythology as "the subjective truth of people communicated through stories, symbols and rituals." He says, "Facts are everybody's truth. Fiction

4536-430: The myths of multiple cultures. In some cases, comparative mythologists use the similarities between separate mythologies to argue that those mythologies have a common source. This source may inspire myths or provide a common "protomythology" that diverged into the mythologies of each culture. A number of commentators have argued that myths function to form and shape society and social behaviour. Eliade argued that one of

4617-565: The narrative may be understood as true or otherwise. Among biblical scholars of both the Old and New Testament, the word "myth" has a technical meaning, in that it usually refers to "describe the actions of the other‐worldly in terms of this world" such as the Creation and the Fall. Since "myth" is popularly used to describe stories that are not objectively true , the identification of a narrative as

4698-494: The night. In the original game and the sequel, Vampire Hunter ( Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge ), an alien overlord named Pyron returns to Earth after being away for many years. His quest to conquer the world using an army of robots brings the Darkstalkers out of hiding to oppose his rule over humanity and the supernatural. A second sequel, Vampire Savior ( Darkstalkers 3 ), saw the debut of Jedah, previously one of

4779-483: The nobles of Makai, who decides that the only way to save the realm is to take control of it by force. Accordingly, he lures the Darkstalkers into a trap to use their collective souls to remake the realm and control both humanity and the supernatural. Darkstalkers characters are either based on various iconic literary and cinematic monsters, or inspired by international mythology and fairy tales . The 1997 anime miniseries Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge , which

4860-500: The opponent into a girl before draining their blood, it has been described by Chris Hoffman of GamesRadar+ as one of Capcom's greatest contributions to gaming history. Writer Zoran Iovanovici in an article for Game Developer observed how fans took to the concept, citing it as a mini-genre of a "gender swap" genre among fan artists, crossplayers , and custom fighting game communities such as those built around M.U.G.E.N . The transformed state of King of Fighters character Goenitz ,

4941-475: The past, he stated: "This year, you don't have to do that, and it's not necessarily bad news!", but refrained himself from saying anything else. 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

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5022-448: The planet Earth that is in the process of merging with a realm known as Makai. The reason for this merger varies depending on the continuity, but a continuing theme is that the union of realms brings the arrival of the Darkstalkers to the human world, the term being a catch-all for the various creatures of legend. The greatest of these supernatural creatures, and the greatest among those who hunt them, meet in battle to determine who will rule

5103-426: The popular Ghostbusters sensation of the 80s." The series was received negatively, both as an adaptation and as an animated series, mainly amongst fans who compared the show to the production values of the original games. The games are significantly different from this series, which is aimed at a younger audience. Topless Robot included Harry Grimoire, who "turned Capcom 's gorgeously animated fighting game into

5184-484: The rationalization of myths, putting themes formerly imbued with mythological qualities into pragmatic contexts. An example of this would be following a cultural or religious paradigm shift (notably the re-interpretation of pagan mythology following Christianization ). Interest in polytheistic mythology revived during the Renaissance , with early works of mythography appearing in the sixteenth century, among them

5265-413: The re-release bundle was the first step towards revitalizing the franchise. Neal also claimed that Capcom is using Darkstalkers Resurrection as a test to gauge audience interest in a new Darkstalkers installment. In April 2013, Capcom senior vice president Christian Svensson wrote: "We've not given up. But I'm disappointed in the opening sales response relative to any other fighting title we've put out on

5346-543: The real world. He is associated with the idea that myths such as origin stories might provide a "mythic charter"—a legitimisation—for cultural norms and social institutions . Thus, following the Structuralist Era ( c.  1960s –1980s), the predominant anthropological and sociological approaches to myth increasingly treated myth as a form of narrative that can be studied, interpreted, and analyzed like ideology, history, and culture. In other words, myth

5427-430: 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. It is the most fully featured and probably best project of this type we've done. And before people jump to the wrong conclusions, I'm not blaming fans who did buy it and supported the brand. I'm very thankful for those guys (thank you, to all of you). I'm more disappointed by my misread of

5508-412: The series fourth in his 2012 top list of vampiric video games, citing its "beautiful visuals and superb animation". The cast of characters for the franchise has been credited with making the games "a standout among the fighting games of the era", as instead of "conventional cast of martial artists with the occasional odd creature, Darkstalkers was a gallery of monsters". Hardcore Gaming 101 stated that

5589-421: The symbolic interpretation of traditional and Orphic myths. Mythological themes were consciously employed in literature, beginning with Homer . The resulting work may expressly refer to a mythological background without itself becoming part of a body of myths ( Cupid and Psyche ). Medieval romance in particular plays with this process of turning myth into literature. Euhemerism , as stated earlier, refers to

5670-444: The television series was aimed towards a young audience, the violence and the sexual content present in the games were toned down. In addition, rather than following the complex backstory of the games, the show went for a standard good-vs.-evil plot. Various changes were made to the game characters themselves, most notably Morrigan Aensland , who became a villain descended from Morgan le Fay , and served alongside Demitri Maximoff (who

5751-464: The term "myth" altogether for purposes of avoiding placing pejorative overtones on sacred narratives. In present use, "mythology" usually refers to the collection of myths of a group of people. For example, Greek mythology , Roman mythology , Celtic mythology and Hittite mythology all describe the body of myths retold among those cultures. "Mythology" can also refer to the study of myths and mythologies. The compilation or description of myths

5832-483: The variant – polystratic; an Erzählstoff in which transcending interpretations of what can be experienced are combined into a hyleme sequence with an implicit claim to relevance for the interpretation and mastering of the human condition." Scholars in other fields use the term "myth" in varied ways. In a broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story , popular misconception or imaginary entity. Though myth and other folklore genres may overlap, myth

5913-597: The window. In their place, [UPN] inserted the most idiotic band of video game character doppelgangers that you could imagine." The same year, Henry Gilbert of GamesRadar commented, "If you're one of those unfortunate enough to have watched the horrendous Darkstalkers cartoon that aired in the US, you have my sympathies." Vincent Chiucchi of 411Mania rated it first in his 2008 list of the top five "most shameful" video game cartoons, lambasting it as "the worst video game cartoon in history" while adding, "Everything about this cartoon

5994-739: The winds. Herodotus (fifth-century BCE) and Prodicus made claims of this kind. This theory is named euhemerism after mythologist Euhemerus ( c.  320 BCE ), who suggested that Greek gods developed from legends about humans. Some theories propose that myths began as allegories for natural phenomena: Apollo represents the sun, Poseidon represents water, and so on. According to another theory, myths began as allegories for philosophical or spiritual concepts: Athena represents wise judgment, Aphrodite romantic desire, and so on. Müller supported an allegorical theory of myth. He believed myths began as allegorical descriptions of nature and gradually came to be interpreted literally. For example,

6075-405: The word mȳthos with the suffix - λογία ( -logia , 'study') in order to mean 'romance, fiction, story-telling.' Accordingly, Plato used mythología as a general term for 'fiction' or 'story-telling' of any kind. In Anglicised form, this Greek word began to be used in English (and was likewise adapted into other European languages) in the early 19th century, in a much narrower sense, as

6156-466: Was based on the first two titles, was faithful to the characters' in-game personalities. 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. Night Warriors is an upgraded version of the previous game, with the same story and returning cast. In addition, several new characters were added to

6237-1029: Was central to the " myth and ritual " school of thought. According to Frazer, humans begin with an unfounded belief in impersonal magical laws. When they realize applications of these laws do not work, they give up their belief in natural law in favor of a belief in personal gods controlling nature, thus giving rise to religious myths. Meanwhile, humans continue practicing formerly magical rituals through force of habit, reinterpreting them as reenactments of mythical events. Finally, humans come to realize nature follows natural laws, and they discover their true nature through science. Here again, science makes myth obsolete as humans progress "from magic through religion to science." Segal asserted that by pitting mythical thought against modern scientific thought, such theories imply modern humans must abandon myth. The earlier 20th century saw major work developing psychoanalytical approaches to interpreting myth, led by Sigmund Freud , who, drawing inspiration from Classical myth, began developing

6318-464: Was her rival in the games), under Pyron's command. The main protagonist is an ordinary human boy named Harry Grimoire, a descendant of Merlin created exclusively for the show, with whom Felicia forms a partnership. The series was co-produced by Capcom USA and Graz Entertainment . According to a June 1995 news article in GamePro , the show would "star Bobby Bridges [later renamed Harry Grimoire],

6399-618: Was primarily concerned with the natural world. It tended to interpret myths that seemed distasteful to European Victorians —such as tales about sex, incest, or cannibalism—as metaphors for natural phenomena like agricultural fertility . Unable to conceive impersonal natural laws, early humans tried to explain natural phenomena by attributing souls to inanimate objects, thus giving rise to animism . According to Tylor, human thought evolved through stages, starting with mythological ideas and gradually progressing to scientific ideas. Müller also saw myth as originating from language, even calling myth

6480-530: Was profoundly shaped by emerging ideas about evolution . These ideas included the recognition that many Eurasian languages—and therefore, conceivably, stories—were all descended from a lost common ancestor (the Indo-European language ) which could rationally be reconstructed through the comparison of its descendant languages. They also included the idea that cultures might evolve in ways comparable to species. In general, 19th-century theories framed myth as

6561-545: Was then adopted in Middle French as mythologie . Whether from French or Latin usage, English adopted the word "mythology" in the 15th century, initially meaning 'the exposition of a myth or myths', 'the interpretation of fables', or 'a book of such expositions'. The word is first attested in John Lydgate 's Troy Book ( c.  1425 ). From Lydgate until the 17th or 18th century, "mythology" meant

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