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Felicia (Darkstalkers)
Encyclopedia
is a fictional character
in the Darkstalkers series of fighting game
by Capcom
She first appeared in the 1994 game Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors and its subsequent sequels, later appearing in other Capcom games outside of the Darkstalkers series and related media and merchandise.
features including cat ears, pointed teeth, a tail, and oversized hands and feet that resemble a cat's paws complete with sharp claws that she uses in battle. She also has a heavy mane of long blue hair, blue eyes, and an "outfit" that consists primarily of thin strips of skintight white material that leave her largely nude except that it partially covers her breasts, a bit of her stomach and hips, and forms panty-like bottoms as well as thigh-high leg coverings.
Early in the development of Darkstalkers, the development team decided to have two female characters: a catgirl and a vampiress, characters who would eventually become Felicia and Morrigan
, respectively. Initially, Morrigan was to be the "cute" female character of the title, while Felicia would be the "sexy" female character. However, as Morrigan's character developed into that of a succubus
she was made to be far more sexually appealling, and the roles of the two characters was reversed.
Besides the Darkstalkers series, Felicia appears as a playable character
in several other video games, including Capcom Fighting Evolution, Cross Edge
, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
, Pocket Fighter, Puzzle Fighter, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium
and SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
.
In Namco x Capcom
, Felicia teams up with King II
from Tekken; of all the two-character teams in the game, this is the only one to include both a Namco character and a Capcom character.
Felicia is the main hero in the American cartoon series Darkstalkers, in which she was accompanied by Harry Grimoire, a character created for this particular series whose purpose (aside from a plot device) was mainly to get Felicia into trouble. She is also stated to be several hundred years old in this. Her dreams of being a singer are never mentioned (although in the first episode she was fired from Cats
because her "costume" was "out of date"). Felicia was also depicted as possibly being the last of her kind, despite having other catgirl friends in the game series itself.
version of Darkstalkers, Felicia is still looking for her big break into stardom; unfortunately being a catgirl proves to be a very large roadblock on the path to fame. Along the way, she runs into Jon Talbain who believes that humans are treacherous and vile, while she thinks that the current hatred between humans and darkstalkers are just a few "bumps in the road." Despite the fact that his interference costs her a potential gig, Felicia asks Jon to accompany her, so that she can try to prove to him that humanity is not all bad. Eventually, they end up at the Catholic orphanage where Felicia grew up; her foster mother is named Sister Cecillia and is still alive and active in her foster daughter's life.
, Volks
, Yujin, Clayz, Kotobukiya, and MIT Japan, to a posable action figure by Medicom Toy. She is also a character card in the collectible card game Universal Fighting System
.
named Felicia one of their favorite Capcom characters of all time, ranking her fiftth on their list of their top 25 and naming her also their favorite female in the Darkstalkers series. In later articles they listed her as one of their favorite American female characters in video games, and also third on their list of the "Hottest Game Babes". Play
magazine described her as one of Capcom's "most beloved characters", featuring her in their "Girls of Anime" special. She also appeared in volume 2 of Plays "Girls of Gaming" series, noted as one of the greatest female characters in fighting games and with a comment: "what can you say about a cat-girl that wears something so skimpy it barely passes as an outfit?"
In the shōnen
manga series Love Hina
, a few of the main female characters appear in the costumes of B.B. Hood, Hsien-Ko, and Felicia—though much less revealing—for Halloween in chapter 86 of the manga.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the Darkstalkers series of fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
She first appeared in the 1994 game Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors and its subsequent sequels, later appearing in other Capcom games outside of the Darkstalkers series and related media and merchandise.
Conception and design
Felicia is a cute-faced, curvacious "catgirl" with felineFeline
Feline can refer to:*Felidae, the cat family, which includes lions, tigers and panthers* Felinae, the subfamily of Felidae that includes domestic cats and smaller wild cats*A term for cats* Feline , the late-90's London rock group...
features including cat ears, pointed teeth, a tail, and oversized hands and feet that resemble a cat's paws complete with sharp claws that she uses in battle. She also has a heavy mane of long blue hair, blue eyes, and an "outfit" that consists primarily of thin strips of skintight white material that leave her largely nude except that it partially covers her breasts, a bit of her stomach and hips, and forms panty-like bottoms as well as thigh-high leg coverings.
Early in the development of Darkstalkers, the development team decided to have two female characters: a catgirl and a vampiress, characters who would eventually become Felicia and Morrigan
Morrigan Aensland
is a video game character from the Darkstalkers series of fighting games developed by Capcom. She is voiced by Yayoi Jinguji in many of her video game appearances, except in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds where she was voiced by Rie Tanaka....
, respectively. Initially, Morrigan was to be the "cute" female character of the title, while Felicia would be the "sexy" female character. However, as Morrigan's character developed into that of a succubus
Succubus
In folklore traced back to medieval legend, a succubus is a female demon appearing in dreams who takes the form of a human woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual intercourse. The male counterpart is the incubus...
she was made to be far more sexually appealling, and the roles of the two characters was reversed.
In video games
Besides the Darkstalkers series, Felicia appears as a playable character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
in several other video games, including Capcom Fighting Evolution, Cross Edge
Cross Edge
, is a role-playing video game for the PlayStation 3. The game was developed by Idea Factory with characters from games by Capcom, Nippon Ichi Software, Namco Bandai and Gust Corporation...
, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
is a fighting game, developed and published by Capcom. It is the fourth game in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. With the fourth installment of this series, Capcom simplified the controls to make the gameplay more accessible for casual players. The button configuration was trimmed down to 4 main...
, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom. It features Capcom's own characters and characters from American comic book company Marvel Comics. It is the fifth installment of the Marvel vs...
, Pocket Fighter, Puzzle Fighter, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium
SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium
is a fighting game for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. It features a total of 26 characters from SNK and Capcom, eight of which are hidden. Play options includes 2-fighter tag teams, 3-fighter queue teams, and of course, one-on-one...
and SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash is a series of SNK Playmore games between 1999 and 2006 for hand-held consoles.This game has a CCG theme, spun off from the popular series of fighting games by SNK and Capcom, and also including references to many other kinds of games from both companies. The...
.
In Namco x Capcom
Namco x Capcom
is an action RPG/tactical RPG hybrid game for the PlayStation 2 console, developed by Monolith Soft and featuring characters from games produced by companies Namco and Capcom.- Storyline :...
, Felicia teams up with King II
King (Tekken)
is the name of two characters in the Tekken fighting game series. The characters were inspired by the pro wrestler Satoru Sayama, as well as Mexican wrestler Fray Tormenta, a Catholic priest who became a masked wrestler in order to support an orphanage...
from Tekken; of all the two-character teams in the game, this is the only one to include both a Namco character and a Capcom character.
In animation
The anime OAV Darkstalkers, Felicia is shown as already having a certain amount of success as an entertainer and is just starting a tour in the human world with her own traveling show. However, her tour gets off to a rough start when she is almost killed by monks pertaining to an anti-darkstalker militia and the zombie Lord Raptor saves her by promptly killing them all. Later, as Pyron begins his bid for world domination, Felicia attacks his Huitzil robot army. She destroys a few of the robots before being overwhelmed, but she is saved when ther werewolf Jon Talbain intervenes. She is taken in by a human doctor and befriends the local children, only to be captured by a human paramilitary group. The doctor rescues her and with her faith in humanity renewed she, along with Jon Talbain, lures the robots out of the town and destroying them with an explosives laden train. A major difference between this Felicia and the game's Felicia is that there is no mention of her origin and her religiosity is reversed: while it can be assumed from her being raised by a nun that the game Felicia is Catholic, her anime counterpart informs Raptor she is ambivalent to organized religion.Felicia is the main hero in the American cartoon series Darkstalkers, in which she was accompanied by Harry Grimoire, a character created for this particular series whose purpose (aside from a plot device) was mainly to get Felicia into trouble. She is also stated to be several hundred years old in this. Her dreams of being a singer are never mentioned (although in the first episode she was fired from Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
because her "costume" was "out of date"). Felicia was also depicted as possibly being the last of her kind, despite having other catgirl friends in the game series itself.
In comics
In the UDON ComicsUDON
UDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio of Asian-influenced comic book creators that provides creative services to the entertainment industry. The company is a publisher of comic books, graphic novels, and art books, as well as English editions of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles. Erik...
version of Darkstalkers, Felicia is still looking for her big break into stardom; unfortunately being a catgirl proves to be a very large roadblock on the path to fame. Along the way, she runs into Jon Talbain who believes that humans are treacherous and vile, while she thinks that the current hatred between humans and darkstalkers are just a few "bumps in the road." Despite the fact that his interference costs her a potential gig, Felicia asks Jon to accompany her, so that she can try to prove to him that humanity is not all bad. Eventually, they end up at the Catholic orphanage where Felicia grew up; her foster mother is named Sister Cecillia and is still alive and active in her foster daughter's life.
In merchandise
Several figurines of Felicia have been made since her introduction, ranging from immobile figurines by companies such as KaiyodoKaiyodo
thumb|320px|Kaiyodo Figure Museum Kurokabe is a Japanese company dedicated to figurines and garage kits. Its headquarters is in Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture. While the company mostly focuses on anime related characters, it recently has acquired other licenses, e.g...
, Volks
Volks
is a Japan-based corporation that produces garage kits and mecha kits as well as the Dollfie, Super Dollfie and Dollfie Dream lines of dolls. The company's headquarters is in Kyoto, with some 30 shops worldwide, and annual sales of about $50 million, as of 2008....
, Yujin, Clayz, Kotobukiya, and MIT Japan, to a posable action figure by Medicom Toy. She is also a character card in the collectible card game Universal Fighting System
Universal Fighting System
The Universal Fighting System is a collectible card game originally designed by Sabertooth Games. The themes of the cards are drawn from a multitude of licensed gaming universes, principally Fighting game licenses...
.
Reception and cultural impact
The book 500 Essential Anime Movies: The Ultimate Guide cited Felicia as an example of the popularity of the Darkstalkers character designs, with fans frequently cosplaying as the character at various conventions since the original game's release. Sega Saturn Magazine described her as "too cute for her own good", questioning her viability compared to other characters in the franchise. GameDailyGameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
named Felicia one of their favorite Capcom characters of all time, ranking her fiftth on their list of their top 25 and naming her also their favorite female in the Darkstalkers series. In later articles they listed her as one of their favorite American female characters in video games, and also third on their list of the "Hottest Game Babes". Play
Play (US magazine)
Play was a U.S.-based magazine focused on video games, anime, manga, film, DVD, television, comics, music and media. Published by Fusion Publishing, Inc. since 2001, Play magazine also had a separate Internet presence on its website, Play Online...
magazine described her as one of Capcom's "most beloved characters", featuring her in their "Girls of Anime" special. She also appeared in volume 2 of Plays "Girls of Gaming" series, noted as one of the greatest female characters in fighting games and with a comment: "what can you say about a cat-girl that wears something so skimpy it barely passes as an outfit?"
In the shōnen
Shonen
The term refers to manga marketed to a male audience aged roughly 10 and up. The Kanji characters literally mean "few" and "year", respectively, where the characters generally mean "comic"...
manga series Love Hina
Love Hina
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine by Kodansha from October 21, 1998 to October 31, 2001 and was published in 14 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. The series tells the story of Keitaro Urashima and his attempts to...
, a few of the main female characters appear in the costumes of B.B. Hood, Hsien-Ko, and Felicia—though much less revealing—for Halloween in chapter 86 of the manga.
External links
- Felicia's Darkstalkers and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 entries at StrategyWiki.org