Darkstalkers (known in Japan as Vampire) is a series of 2D fighting games by Capcom originally produced during the 1990s for the CPS-2 hardware. The series is notable for its cast of characters based on well-known fictional monsters, and introduced many of the concepts used in later Capcom fighting games, including the use of sixteen color animation sprites, air blocking, EX special moves, and more, later employed in the Street Fighter series and a few of the Versus games.