It’s the ultimate collection of Darkstalkers artwork and history!Darkstalkers: Official Complete Works collects the artwork of everyDarkstalkers game, including key visuals, character illustrations,promotional artwork, rough concepts, and creator commentary. Also featured aremultiple new interviews with the creators behind the series, plus all-newtribute pinups from your favorite Capcom artists!
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64 reviews for Darkstalkers: Official Complete Works
4.9out of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
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★★★★★
Kai –
An sich bin ich kein großer Fan von Prügelspielen, ein bisschen Dead or Alive, mal ne Runde Tekken, ‘ne kleine Prügelei in Street Fighter und alle Jahre wieder wüste Kloppereien mit den Super Smash Bros., Darkstalkers von Capcom flimmerte jedoch noch nie über den Bildschirm. Zeit also diese kleine Lücke mit dem nun von Udon veröffentlichten Darkstalkers: Official Complete Works Artbook aufzuarbeiten. Zumindest bildet die Riege an Kämpfern genügend Potenzial für ein spannendes Artbook und damit sind nicht nur die teilweise sehr ausladend einladenden Bilder der diversen weiblichen Charaktere gemeint (Vorsicht: Diese gehören mitunter nicht unbedingt in Kinderhand!). Anstelle von Box-Profi, Karate Kid oder Sumo Ringer besteht das Aufgebot aus allerlei sonderbaren Monstern, Vampiren oder anderen Fantasiefiguren. (Was durchaus den japanischen Titel: Vampire: The Night Warriors erklärt.)
Das Artbook selbst präsentiert sich eher schlicht, das matte Cover wirkt stilvoll, ist jedoch leider ein wenig Kratz- und Spurempfindlich. Wer meine anderen Reviews zu diversen Udon Büchern kennt wird es nicht überraschen, dass die weitere Verarbeitung von Bindung bis Papierqualität in allen Maßen überzeugt. Besonders das Papier ist wertig und lässt die farbenfrohen Zeichnungen in leichtem Glanz noch lebendiger wirken.
Der Inhalt verteilt sich auf rund 220 Seiten, was nicht überwältigend viel aber auch nicht gerade wenig ist, alles in allem ist der Preis jedoch mehr als gerechtfertigt. Inhaltlich hat Darkstalkers: Official Complete Works nämlich in etwa soviel mit einer billigen Hinterhof-Schlägerei zu tun, wie Mike Tyson mit gepflegten Umgangsformen. Hier sind wir in der Schwergewichtsklasse, was Udon da alles im Buch untergebracht hat ist wirklich beeindruckend und hat mir fast den Knock-Out verpasst. Angefangen von der über 30 Seiten umfassenden Gallerie, mit zahlreichen Artworks verschiedener Künstler (Absoluter WOW-Faktor), bishin zu zahlreichen Illustrationen, schwarz-weiss Sketches, Stage Grafiken, Zeichnungen zu Bewegungsabläufen und Endings, sowie diversem Konzept-Material aus der Entstehungsphase, es will fast kein Ende nehmen. Dabei deckt das Buch die Spiele Darkstalker: The Night Warriors, Night Warriors: Darkstalker Revenge: Darkstalkers 3 und Darkstalkers Resurrection ab. Oh, achso und natürlich so gut wie alles andere in denen die Figuren einen Auftritt hatten. Sei es Marvel VS Capcom, Super Puzzle Fighter, Project X Zone oder der Darkstalker Anime. Selbst als nicht-Fan der Darkstalker Serie ging mir regelrecht das Herz auf, bei der Fülle an Inhalt und Details die im Buch vorhanden sind.
Klarer Sieg nach Punkten auch für die diversen Entwickler Interviews im hinteren Teil des Buches. Diese befassen sich immer mit einem speziellen Thema, ob Sound, Battle Backgrounds oder Art Direction, es gibt viele interessante Einblicke in den Entstehungsprozess der Spiele und die Gedankenwelt der Entwickler. Wer ganz böse sein möchte, kann an dieser Stelle kritisieren, dass sämtlicher Text in englisch gehalten ist, dies käme allerdings einem unsportlichen Tiefschlag gleich. Es fällt wirklich schwer etwas an diesem Artbook auszusetzen und ich bin froh, den Darkstalkers-Kosmos auf diese Art und Weise näher kennengelernt zu haben.
Die Runde geht somit klar an Udon und Darkstalkers: Official Complete Works, für Fans ein Must-Have und wer dem bunten Zeichenstil nur halbwegs etwas abgewinnen kann (Einige Bilder dazu findet Ihr auf meinem Blog), wird mit diesem Buch nichts falsch machen. Wer was anderes behauptet kriegt was auf die Glocke ;-P
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★★★★★
Gonzalo –
El producto llegó unos días antes de la fecha estimada. Genial artbook recomendado para todos los fans de Darkstalkers que recoge todos los trabajos de la serie hasta la fecha.
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★★★★★
T2EZ Kandraw –
Absolutely loved this series, so to have this is a treasure. So much art and inspiration packed into every page. Like the games never dead!
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★★★★★
Travis Wheeler @Dungeon00X –
All of the collected works for all 3 Darkstalkers games. Gain some insight into how BENGUS illustrates when Capcom gives him a reasonable time frame to do his work. Eventually find all the secrets of how chill some of the people are at the main Capcom offices in all the interviews.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Micio –
Per molto tempo ho cercato quale fosse il miglior artbook sulla saga di Darksalkers di capcom e devo dire che sono molto soddisfatto di aver acquistato questo, sia per la buona fattura del prodotto ma anche per il contenuto che non si basa solo su disegni di vari artisti ma anche su info sulla storia di come si sono sviluppati i concept dei personaggi e degli ambienti di gioco. Davvero soddisfatto, consiglaito ai fan della saga.
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★★★★★
Ratty –
In my years as a Darkstalkers fan I’ve acquired over half a dozen books based on/around the series, including just about every comic/manga compilation, artbook and game guide released in English. So I feel confident in saying if you’re only looking to get one Darkstalkers book, this is it.
This book is overflowing with development and behind-the-scenes sketches, most of which I had never seen before. As well as reproductions of familiar promotional images, for the most part printed bigger and better than I have seen previously. Just about every image is accompanied by brief commentary ranging from the silly to the insightful by the artist who created it. There are also 16 pages in the back of the book devoted to interviews with the series developers.
There’s really no comparison when it comes to English language Darkstalkers art/coffee table books. “Darkstalkers: Graphic File” is a surprisingly anemic book which is full of move-lists (which you could get online free), microscopic pictures/screenshots and small/hard-to-read-character bio text, along with an overview of series games and merchandise in the back. “Darkstalkers Tribute” is literally just a fan art collection. “Tribute” has got some good art in it of course, most of which isn’t reproduced in “Complete Works”, but you could get a good chunk, maybe most, of said contents for free by browsing deviantart.
Bottom Line: This is the definitive English-language book on the series for Darkstalkers fans or fans of gaming art and history in general.
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★★★★★
Phoenix E. James –
A rare and great reference book for people who love the Darkstalkers universe. Concept art galore, and lots of professionally finished pieces used for advertising and events.
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★★★★★
Justin Taylor –
Absolutely beautiful collection of artwork. There is a lot of concept art that shows what could have been for a lot of characters, even characters that were planned, like Anita!
The various artist comments give good insight to what goes on in their minds and what went along in the planning process for the games.
I recommend this if you are a Darkstalkers fan.
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★★★★★
Ivan –
Las ilustraciones son magistrales, comenzando por las de Bengus (CRMK o Gouda Cheese) quien fue el designado para hacer la mayor parte de las ilustraciones, la verdad es un GRAN libro de arte. Además al final del libro, contiene una buena cantidad de sketches y los preeliminares de stages que son un deleite para el ojo, en cuanto ambientación.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Howling Wolf –
I love to look at other peoples Art as it inspires my own artistic creativity. This book is full of beautiful art from the history of DARKSTALKER games. And I recommend anyone this book whether your just a fan of game art or looking for inspiration for your own character creations. This book takes you thru the evolution of the characters over the games and years. And makes you wish you had the games to play now if you never had them or just don’t anymore.
Only thing I wish more is that people had videos with books like this from start to finish of a character, in a tutorial view showing you how to make or remake that image, and show off their studio setup what equipment they use and recommend for what ever type of art your into. I think something like that with a book like this would make it 100 times better. I would love to see them actually making the characters.
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★★★★★
Richard Moore –
I already have the Darkstalkers Graphic File and Udon’s Tribute artbook but as a huge Darkstalkers fan, I just had to buy this one too. There’s definitely a fair chunk of artwork repeated from the former books but Official Complete Works has enough of it’s own unique material plus great presentation to make it a worthwhile purchase.
What really made this book worth the money for me were the captions and anecdotes from the original artists (such as Gouda Cheese (Bengus) and Akiman) which accompany much of the art and shares their insight into the creation process. The artists write about how they came up with certain designs/elements and talk about what it was like to create these characters at the time. It feels like a bit of a time capsule back to ’94 and as an aspiring artist myself, I quite enjoyed the text as well as the illustrations.
If you are a Darkstalkers fan then this is a must-have book. It was also less than £20 at the time I ordered which is a steal if you ask me!
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
slateman –
I have the Darkstalkers Graphic File book and a prior reviewer mentioned that much of this book is recycled from that. This is true. However, I don’t regret having purchased both. This book is laid out perfectly, with full-page tribute/poster artwork to start and each individual game art to follow. You’ll find yourself reading about every step of the process: original design, concepts, troubles & concerns and a retrospective look at what the artist might change today looking back. It’s a depth I’ve seen in some books but never to the extent Darkstalkers Official Complete Works has and it keeps me going back. As I run a site that collects Street Fighter & Darkstalkers art, most of the game-specific art is nothing new, but they are large pictures and are wonderful. This book collects everything including Darkstalkers Resurrection from 2013.
However, that’s only half the book. Covering all the games in the series (and referring to them by their Japanese names where applicable), the book then goes on to supplemental materials and art where Darkstalkers fighters appeared in other titles. While I expected Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom Fighting Jam to be in there, I was surprised to see even titles like Namco X Capcom and Cross Edge. Once again we’re treated to sketches, concept art, level background design, calendars, posters, promo art…(I could really go on for a while). This book also includes translated interviews, character bios and more. The last sections of the book are jam packed with images.
I may be gushing here, but having collected several hundred dollars’ worth of art books, I’ve seen few include quite so much. I have some in my collection that warrant a gander every so often, but with so many visuals and so much accompanying text, it’s fun to return and I haven’t nearly read it all yet.
Finally, the quality of the paper is high and the binding is solid. It’s not the best in my collection and by far not the worst.
I think Udon has improved their game and put out one of the best collections. For any fan of Vampire/Darkstalkers, I think this is a no-brainer.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Zane Hayden –
In the past I had been disappointed bythe lack of depth some UDON books would provide, but I was blown away by the amount of content packed into Darkstalkers tribute, in particular the great number of design notes from series artists Bengus, Akiman, and Ikeno.
Kai –
An sich bin ich kein großer Fan von Prügelspielen, ein bisschen Dead or Alive, mal ne Runde Tekken, ‘ne kleine Prügelei in Street Fighter und alle Jahre wieder wüste Kloppereien mit den Super Smash Bros., Darkstalkers von Capcom flimmerte jedoch noch nie über den Bildschirm. Zeit also diese kleine Lücke mit dem nun von Udon veröffentlichten Darkstalkers: Official Complete Works Artbook aufzuarbeiten. Zumindest bildet die Riege an Kämpfern genügend Potenzial für ein spannendes Artbook und damit sind nicht nur die teilweise sehr ausladend einladenden Bilder der diversen weiblichen Charaktere gemeint (Vorsicht: Diese gehören mitunter nicht unbedingt in Kinderhand!). Anstelle von Box-Profi, Karate Kid oder Sumo Ringer besteht das Aufgebot aus allerlei sonderbaren Monstern, Vampiren oder anderen Fantasiefiguren. (Was durchaus den japanischen Titel: Vampire: The Night Warriors erklärt.)
Das Artbook selbst präsentiert sich eher schlicht, das matte Cover wirkt stilvoll, ist jedoch leider ein wenig Kratz- und Spurempfindlich. Wer meine anderen Reviews zu diversen Udon Büchern kennt wird es nicht überraschen, dass die weitere Verarbeitung von Bindung bis Papierqualität in allen Maßen überzeugt. Besonders das Papier ist wertig und lässt die farbenfrohen Zeichnungen in leichtem Glanz noch lebendiger wirken.
Der Inhalt verteilt sich auf rund 220 Seiten, was nicht überwältigend viel aber auch nicht gerade wenig ist, alles in allem ist der Preis jedoch mehr als gerechtfertigt. Inhaltlich hat Darkstalkers: Official Complete Works nämlich in etwa soviel mit einer billigen Hinterhof-Schlägerei zu tun, wie Mike Tyson mit gepflegten Umgangsformen. Hier sind wir in der Schwergewichtsklasse, was Udon da alles im Buch untergebracht hat ist wirklich beeindruckend und hat mir fast den Knock-Out verpasst. Angefangen von der über 30 Seiten umfassenden Gallerie, mit zahlreichen Artworks verschiedener Künstler (Absoluter WOW-Faktor), bishin zu zahlreichen Illustrationen, schwarz-weiss Sketches, Stage Grafiken, Zeichnungen zu Bewegungsabläufen und Endings, sowie diversem Konzept-Material aus der Entstehungsphase, es will fast kein Ende nehmen. Dabei deckt das Buch die Spiele Darkstalker: The Night Warriors, Night Warriors: Darkstalker Revenge: Darkstalkers 3 und Darkstalkers Resurrection ab. Oh, achso und natürlich so gut wie alles andere in denen die Figuren einen Auftritt hatten. Sei es Marvel VS Capcom, Super Puzzle Fighter, Project X Zone oder der Darkstalker Anime. Selbst als nicht-Fan der Darkstalker Serie ging mir regelrecht das Herz auf, bei der Fülle an Inhalt und Details die im Buch vorhanden sind.
Klarer Sieg nach Punkten auch für die diversen Entwickler Interviews im hinteren Teil des Buches. Diese befassen sich immer mit einem speziellen Thema, ob Sound, Battle Backgrounds oder Art Direction, es gibt viele interessante Einblicke in den Entstehungsprozess der Spiele und die Gedankenwelt der Entwickler. Wer ganz böse sein möchte, kann an dieser Stelle kritisieren, dass sämtlicher Text in englisch gehalten ist, dies käme allerdings einem unsportlichen Tiefschlag gleich. Es fällt wirklich schwer etwas an diesem Artbook auszusetzen und ich bin froh, den Darkstalkers-Kosmos auf diese Art und Weise näher kennengelernt zu haben.
Die Runde geht somit klar an Udon und Darkstalkers: Official Complete Works, für Fans ein Must-Have und wer dem bunten Zeichenstil nur halbwegs etwas abgewinnen kann (Einige Bilder dazu findet Ihr auf meinem Blog), wird mit diesem Buch nichts falsch machen. Wer was anderes behauptet kriegt was auf die Glocke ;-P
Gonzalo –
El producto llegó unos días antes de la fecha estimada.
Genial artbook recomendado para todos los fans de Darkstalkers que recoge todos los trabajos de la serie hasta la fecha.
T2EZ Kandraw –
Absolutely loved this series, so to have this is a treasure. So much art and inspiration packed into every page. Like the games never dead!
Travis Wheeler @Dungeon00X –
All of the collected works for all 3 Darkstalkers games. Gain some insight into how BENGUS illustrates when Capcom gives him a reasonable time frame to do his work. Eventually find all the secrets of how chill some of the people are at the main Capcom offices in all the interviews.
Micio –
Per molto tempo ho cercato quale fosse il miglior artbook sulla saga di Darksalkers di capcom e devo dire che sono molto soddisfatto di aver acquistato questo, sia per la buona fattura del prodotto ma anche per il contenuto che non si basa solo su disegni di vari artisti ma anche su info sulla storia di come si sono sviluppati i concept dei personaggi e degli ambienti di gioco.
Davvero soddisfatto, consiglaito ai fan della saga.
Ratty –
In my years as a Darkstalkers fan I’ve acquired over half a dozen books based on/around the series, including just about every comic/manga compilation, artbook and game guide released in English. So I feel confident in saying if you’re only looking to get one Darkstalkers book, this is it.
This book is overflowing with development and behind-the-scenes sketches, most of which I had never seen before. As well as reproductions of familiar promotional images, for the most part printed bigger and better than I have seen previously. Just about every image is accompanied by brief commentary ranging from the silly to the insightful by the artist who created it. There are also 16 pages in the back of the book devoted to interviews with the series developers.
There’s really no comparison when it comes to English language Darkstalkers art/coffee table books. “Darkstalkers: Graphic File” is a surprisingly anemic book which is full of move-lists (which you could get online free), microscopic pictures/screenshots and small/hard-to-read-character bio text, along with an overview of series games and merchandise in the back. “Darkstalkers Tribute” is literally just a fan art collection. “Tribute” has got some good art in it of course, most of which isn’t reproduced in “Complete Works”, but you could get a good chunk, maybe most, of said contents for free by browsing deviantart.
Bottom Line: This is the definitive English-language book on the series for Darkstalkers fans or fans of gaming art and history in general.
Phoenix E. James –
A rare and great reference book for people who love the Darkstalkers universe. Concept art galore, and lots of professionally finished pieces used for advertising and events.
Justin Taylor –
Absolutely beautiful collection of artwork. There is a lot of concept art that shows what could have been for a lot of characters, even characters that were planned, like Anita!
The various artist comments give good insight to what goes on in their minds and what went along in the planning process for the games.
I recommend this if you are a Darkstalkers fan.
Ivan –
Las ilustraciones son magistrales, comenzando por las de Bengus (CRMK o Gouda Cheese) quien fue el designado para hacer la mayor parte de las ilustraciones, la verdad es un GRAN libro de arte. Además al final del libro, contiene una buena cantidad de sketches y los preeliminares de stages que son un deleite para el ojo, en cuanto ambientación.
Howling Wolf –
I love to look at other peoples Art as it inspires my own artistic creativity. This book is full of beautiful art from the history of DARKSTALKER games. And I recommend anyone this book whether your just a fan of game art or looking for inspiration for your own character creations. This book takes you thru the evolution of the characters over the games and years. And makes you wish you had the games to play now if you never had them or just don’t anymore.
Only thing I wish more is that people had videos with books like this from start to finish of a character, in a tutorial view showing you how to make or remake that image, and show off their studio setup what equipment they use and recommend for what ever type of art your into. I think something like that with a book like this would make it 100 times better. I would love to see them actually making the characters.
Richard Moore –
I already have the Darkstalkers Graphic File and Udon’s Tribute artbook but as a huge Darkstalkers fan, I just had to buy this one too. There’s definitely a fair chunk of artwork repeated from the former books but Official Complete Works has enough of it’s own unique material plus great presentation to make it a worthwhile purchase.
What really made this book worth the money for me were the captions and anecdotes from the original artists (such as Gouda Cheese (Bengus) and Akiman) which accompany much of the art and shares their insight into the creation process. The artists write about how they came up with certain designs/elements and talk about what it was like to create these characters at the time. It feels like a bit of a time capsule back to ’94 and as an aspiring artist myself, I quite enjoyed the text as well as the illustrations.
If you are a Darkstalkers fan then this is a must-have book. It was also less than £20 at the time I ordered which is a steal if you ask me!
slateman –
I have the Darkstalkers Graphic File book and a prior reviewer mentioned
that much of this book is recycled from that. This is true. However, I
don’t regret having purchased both. This book is laid out perfectly,
with full-page tribute/poster artwork to start and each individual game
art to follow. You’ll find yourself reading about every step of the process:
original design, concepts, troubles & concerns and
a retrospective look at what the artist might change today looking back. It’s
a depth I’ve seen in some books but never to the extent Darkstalkers Official
Complete Works has and it keeps me going back. As I run a site that
collects Street Fighter & Darkstalkers art, most of the game-specific art is
nothing new, but they are large pictures and are wonderful. This book collects
everything including Darkstalkers Resurrection from 2013.
However, that’s only half the book. Covering all the games in the series (and
referring to them by their Japanese names where applicable), the book then
goes on to supplemental materials and art where Darkstalkers fighters appeared
in other titles. While I expected Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom Fighting Jam to
be in there, I was surprised to see even titles like Namco X Capcom and Cross Edge.
Once again we’re treated to sketches, concept art, level background design,
calendars, posters, promo art…(I could really go on for a while). This
book also includes translated interviews, character bios and more. The last
sections of the book are jam packed with images.
I may be gushing here, but having collected several hundred dollars’ worth of
art books, I’ve seen few include quite so much. I have some in my collection that
warrant a gander every so often, but with so many visuals and so much accompanying
text, it’s fun to return and I haven’t nearly read it all yet.
Finally, the quality of the paper is high and the binding is solid. It’s not the
best in my collection and by far not the worst.
I think Udon has improved their game and put out one of the best collections. For
any fan of Vampire/Darkstalkers, I think this is a no-brainer.
Zane Hayden –
In the past I had been disappointed bythe lack of depth some UDON books would provide, but I was blown away by the amount of content packed into Darkstalkers tribute, in particular the great number of design notes from series artists Bengus, Akiman, and Ikeno.