WHy El Stingray Could Be in a Darkstalkers Game

Why El Stingray should be in Darkstalkers
Prologue: This came up when I was making a list of characters that Capcom owned that were outside of fan favorite Darkstalkers franchise but fell into monster movie Niches anyway.  Almost none of these coincided with a Darkstalker already in the franchise.  And each one of them brought something I thought the franchise could use, that I described in some detail.  But when I got into El Stingray’s slot, I began writing in many more things than I was in the other entries.  So to take advantage of that burst of inspiration, I’ve made a whole article out of arguing El Stingray’s potential place in the Darkstalkers world.  
Relevance:  Darkstalkers is a 2D fighter dedicated to assorted monster movie genres.  El Masquerados bring something unique in this respect.  There was once a thriving film genre in which Masked Wrestlers would battle the forces of evil in movie screens across Mexico.  In Lucha Movies the wrestler battles mobsters, their rivals, but more often grapples a monster.  The darkness rises to challenge the hero time and again, and the movie ends in a wrestling match.  In fact, there were very few iconic Universal Monster Movie characters that did not appear in these films.  And for that matter, there are few Mexican Horror movies without Wrestlers.  Given that Darkstalkers is also heavily drawn from Universal Monster Movies, the two seem to fit well together.  After all, these two factions faced off virtually before, but we’ve never played it.  Blue Demon starred in 25 of these (www.santoandfriends.com/bluede… ) and Santo more than 50 (www.santoandfriends.com/SantoF… ), and while El Stingray is not based on either one exclusively, the primary Influence Lizmark does not seem to have been in any.  


The sorts of beasts these wrestlers fought are represented by Dmitri,

Victor, Jon Talbain,

and Raptor.  
Blue Demon’s filmography that could be applied includes the following:
• “Shadow of the Bat,”
• “Blue Demon and the Seductresses,”
• “Blue Demon and Santo in the World of the Dead,”
• “Blue Demon Vs. Santo in Atlantis,”
• “Blue Demon and Santo vs. the Monsters,”
• “Blue Demon and Santo in the Mummies of Guanajuato,”
• “Blue Demon and Zovek in the Invasion of the Dead,”
• “And Santo Vs. Dracula and The Wolf Man,”
• “Blue Demon and Santo Vs. Dr. Frankenstein,”
• “The Mansion of the Seven Mummies,”
• “Blue Demon vs. The Satanic Power,”
• “The Invasion of The Dead,”
• “The Mummies of Guanajuato.”  
And this is just with titles dropping characters or themes relevant to the films Darkstalkers were inspired by.  There were many more besides these.  
El Santo’s includes “Invasion of the Dead,” “Santo versus the Zombies,” “Santo versus The Martian Invasion,” “Dracula’s Treasure,” “The Revenge of the Mummy,” “Santo verus the Killers from other worlds,”
[note to self: in each of these lists, use only the three best looking movie posters]
Reintroduction to El Stingray: Originally known as El Stinger in Japan, El Stingray debuted in Muscle Bomber: The Body Explosion back in July of 1993.  Muscle Bomber (known as Saturday Night Slam Masters in North America) featured [url=capcom.wikia.com/wiki/Mike_Hag… Haggar[/url] of Final Fight Fame as well as other warriors based off of wrestlers from its time.  These fighters composed Rival Factions Capcom Wrestling Alliance (CWA), and the Blood Wrestling Alliance (BWA), which featured the bosses in a battle for supremacy.  El Stingray himself is based off of the Wrestler Lizmark, with elements of Blue Blazer, El Volador, and Blue Demon.  His name is drawn from Sting of the WCW and TNA.  His Tag Team Partner was Titanic Tim (Titan the Great in the original Japanese), who had a working history as partner and rival of [url=capcom.wikia.com/wiki/Birdie]B… from Street Fighter.  As the name suggests, Tim was a [url=tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php… Mighty Glacier[/url].  He was slow, but he had the highest attack in the game, with outstanding stamina.  He fought with an emphasis upon grabbing his foes and utilizing his mass/reach.  Complimenting this, El Stingray was the fastest, specializing in Aerialistic attacks and striking those who stood against him.  Together they formed the aptly named CWA Tag Team “The Deadly Brothers.”  
El Stingray had a Rival called [url=capcom.wikia.com/wiki/The_Grea… Great Oni [/url].  Their rivalry was fueled by the resemblance of their own flashy styles.  Their Stats were polar opposites of each other as well.  The Kabuki wrestler’s own partner was a caveman named [url=capcom.wikia.com/wiki/King_Ras… Rasta Mon[/url] who was a rejected character design of Blanka from Street Fighter.  Their tag team name was “The Exotic Warriors.”
El Stinger’s Bio described him as being 5’ 6” tall and weighing 163 pounds.  Hailing from Acapulco in Mexico, his favorite attack is the Jalapeno Comet, and he is known as an Ultra Macho Ladies Man.  During his ending in the English Version in Slam Masters II, he is described as “the Heart Breaker from the beautiful beaches of Acapulco, Mexico.”  His advantages include his aforementioned tremendous speed; brief invulnerability in his aerial back flip (like Sonic the Hedgehog’s Instashield); the ability to soar through the air with his Jalapeño Comet (an Air Dash before there WERE air dashes); and traverse the entire screen in a rapid fire assault to the left or right with his “Double Meteor Cross” and “Spiral Moon”.  [url=www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588642-s… even described him as the best character in Muscle Bomber 1.  His disadvantages include all of his most damaging techniques being compiled into his aerial Arsenal.  He’s not for beginners, and cannot take damage well.  All of that put together means that if someone plays him without properly executing his techniques, they will be a short lived punching bag, and depending on programming, this may not be especially confined to beginners.  But he can be an effective weapon of choice for those who seek to blunt an opponent’s strength rather than contest it.  When he’s not simply smacking down his opponents, that is.  Even his finishing slam is a straight down “Death from Above” version of his Comet attack.  
Try blocking or countering that.  All in all, he firmly fits the “[url=tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php… but awesome[/url]” trope .  
In order to explain how any man who is not superhuman can grapple Demon Samurai and Makai Nobles, we must examine his advantages and problems he will face from these challengers, not the wrestlers we’ve seen him triumph over before.  His advantages are that in every way he is physically far above and beyond B. B. Hood.  After all, he’s repeatedly trounced Mike Haggar, whose claim to fame is beating down armies of violent thugs and more besides (once in Haggar’s own hometown facing wave after wave in thick rapid successions, and again on a cross country trip from England to Japan).  And according certain versions of Slam Masters canon, Stingray beat Haggar AFTER he performed these feats.  Put Plainly, this sets him at or above the Darkstalker Power Level of [url=tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php… B[/url], able to battle armies of humans.  El Stingray can make liberal use of any kind of stray object in his surroundings as a blunt instrument.  Spiral Moon and Southern Meteor Cross can also modify the course and distance of his attack, and his Escaping Flip even makes him invulnerable for a split second.  This Deadly Brother is well versed in tossing around foes who weigh more than 2.5 times what he does like mere bags of rice.  And his battle prowess doubles when he’s in a fury, or performing a trick off of the ropes. Plus, the easiest and most prevalent of combos is the standard projectile, which is almost always cast in an exclusively straight line, which his fast flying arsenal can easily get around to strike his foes while they’re still recovering.  

Problems he will face as a human performing the physical to combat the dark.  Well, let’s just say there’s a reason Bulletta relies so much upon high powered artillery against the Dark.  He’s all man after all, which means he’s not superhuman.  Most of the supernatural characters, if not all of them, are super human in their attributes, oft including speed.  And since speed is his key attribute, the ability to deliver and withstand damage will be a major low point for him.  If we incorporate the rules of the Darkstalker world without the Power Seep Power Creep (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php…) prevalent in crossovers, he stands to have really good but not great speed, and abysmal stamina and attack.  And even with Power Seep Power Creep, he’d better not get stricken very often by Morrigan, Bulletta and Jedah.  
Notable Darkstalkers to have him interact (and why) with include:
Felicia (They’re both Fragile Speedsters and entertainers; with her lack of form outside of instinct and his extensive training/experience he could rub of some moves onto her; given that she’s one of the closest things to a hero in her own series she and he’s the non-exclusive ladies’ man they could realistically lead into a coupling after some hijinks and development.  Assuming she doesn’t quickly get fed up with that.  Not to mention her past pairing with a Luchador partner (who was the second King from Tekken) in the non-canon Namco x Capcom.  The Catgirl and the Catmask worked well together, even though she had a hard time grasping that he wasn’t wearing a mask.  While she will not remember that past pairing, it does allude to her compatibility with luchadors, even though King 2 and EL Stingray are very different characters.  Also, her past as a Catholic Schoolgirl raised by a nun would be familiar and a mental connection to home for anyone who came from a place with as much prevalant Catholicism as Mexico.  Or any flirt for that matter.  Plus the Good vs. Evil depicted in Lucha is straightforward in its black and white portrayal, much like such morality is described in Catholic tradition, and any conflict that Felicia ever seems drawn into outside of relations with humans.  These two have considerable cause to find some measure of rapport, and I’m sure the fact that he’s a muscular and shirtless ladykiller, and she’s a naked woman who can summon several more naked women to aid her in battle has NOTHING to do with it.  
Not to mention that in Felicia’s first ending she admits that she wants to work with Blanka.  EL Stingray’s a familiar foe to a discarded character design of Blanka’s.  So she may get the two confused and think that the Heart Breaker of Acapulco actually knows Blanka.  Hmm, are we looking at a liar revealed story where no one’s lying?)
JON TALBAIN (Jon Trains his body in the martial arts as a human, to gain control over himself as a demon, and to seize his destiny for his own choice.  This level of dedication to the craft of fighting seems to stir the attentions within other combatants in this genre.  A martial art specifically for conquering the darkness within while crushing supernatural foes?  And a human warrior who grapples with vampire and werewolves?  That resemblance will get Jon’s attention for sure.  Even after he learns that most of the monsters our masked man has defeated were but movie monsters.  Which will crush his interest for the most part, but by that point, El Stingray will have been kicking actual monster butt and may have fought Jon personally, so who knows?
Plus El Santo and Blue Devil battled Count Dracula and his Werewolf “Rufus” once.  Think about that.  “Rufus.”  Mistakenly calling him that could annoy someone greatly.  )
HSIEN-KO (Chinese Vampires battle Kung Fu artists on celluloid in a manner very similar to his own monster fighting exploits, so her Jiang-Shi form is possibly familiar to him, especially if he’s met Fei Long; Fei Long is a prerequisette opponent in Street Fighter, it stands to reason that the same would hold true in the Street Fighter Shared Universe.  Besides that, El Stingray ’s a ladies’ man, known as the heartbreaker from Acapulco, and she’s two self-sacrificing demon slayers with one cleavage window.  This is a match made in fan boy heaven, although whether through fighting or shipping is up to you.  And despite their vast differences, these two do have something in common.  She does battle by hurling dangerous objects from her sleeves at her opponents.  While in the Slam Masters titles, he has picked up everything from folding tables to folding chairs to buckets to glass bottles to safes to pulverize his foes.  So he might actually have some useful pointers for her about improvisation and arsenals.  Not likely, but the Darkstalkers series is built upon stranger happenings than that.  )
HUITZIL (They’re a bunch of flying robots which is counterintuitive to fighting them, so will their fight depend upon his aerialist skills, or will he serve as a guide to Cecil to protect the human world at large?  And if he did face them in battle, would his aboriginal heritage nullify their attack paradigm?  )
MORRIGAN (Of all of Capcom’s crossover staples she’s the best known for being in crossovers, and the most famous and popular Darkstalker for reasons besides that.  Thusly, anyone from another franchise appearing in the Darkstalkers franchise must have an encounter with her; she’s a temptress and he’s a seaside heartthrob; He’s faced another Ken Masters Clone in battle before, but in contest of muscle, not demonic force, so this gives him a new venue, plus she’s less kindred spirit, and more darkside of the same qualities he possesses when it comes to flirting and promiscuity.  
Plus, they do have conflicting interests between them.  He needs to rise to the top of the Wrestling world, if not more forms of battle.  The newest Head of the Aensland Throne feeds on men’s souls for her amusement, never getting a “no” before.  If he realizes the consequences of accepting her advances and offers of eternal bliss, we can reasonably expect him to refuse.  After all, he can just get another beautiful woman to shine on his arm.  We’ve already discussed Felicia and Lei Lei/Lin Lin after all.  How can we expect her to accept rejection?  Personally, I expect her to never accept it.  The fact that he’s never shown signs of monogamy before, and being claimed by her means residing literally inside of ONE WOMAN for eternity should not diffuse her indignation.  
Although, when The Heart throb of Acapulco witnesses the throws Succubus queen possesses, he stands to be intrigued as a competitor.  To say nothing of her Spinning Piledriver, which was the finisher of one of his rivals, “Macho” Mike Haggar.  Stinger has seen men and women buried alive by that move, himself among them.  Black Widow, the agile Amazon in Slam Masters 2 couldn’t pull it off, so what would he make of a distinctly shorter woman with much less muscle performing it so well?  
Not to mention his classic trash talk line “Let’s make this quick, I have a date with your sister!”  Morrigan’s sister is Lilith.  How would she take that?  Would she laugh, miss Lilith, have no reaction?  )
B.B. HOOD (they’re both human, so would she attack him, and would he have cause to battle her?  Maybe he would in defense of Felicia, Talbain, Cecil/Huitzil as well as her fellow hunters?  None of them should necessarily need the help, but would he refuse it anyway?  And would he have techniques for countering her arsenal?  He had to dodge Grenades against this guy before:
(insert image of him dodging Rip Saber’s genades)
DEE (Already Fallen by the time they meet, so Stingray has no cause to restrain himself; felling or surviving Dee for that matter could get some unwanted attention from Anita; he’s a takedown fighter who racks up enormous amounts of strikes to do damage to his foes, but his inability to withstand damage puts him at risk from Dee’s ranged strikes.  Plus El Stingray is his own projectile, while Dee does no need to endanger himself while cutting down a target across the room with a half dozen swords.  Dee also stands as a contrast and a warning of Jon Talbain’s possible future.  What happens if his humanity also fails?  Any response our amorous emascorado has to Jon’s internal struggle will be reflected here from the other side of the looking glass, and Vice Versa, depending on whom he encounters first.)
VICTOR (How would El Stinger, described as “Ultra Macho,” receive an opponent who was WAY too fond of the “[url=tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php… Kicks You[/url]” trope?  For that matter, how would he receive a Frankentsein’s Monster, perhaps the ONLY monster type used in Stingray’s native Universe that was also fought in Lucha fighting flicks?
El Stingray is a Colleague of Macho Mike Haggar, and during Macho Mike’s Roaring Rampage of Rescue in the second Final Fight he faced a Frankenstein’s Monster named Bratken.  If he meets Victor, he might mistake the Darkstalkers Frankenstein Monster for the FF2 Frankenstein’s Monster.  As there’s no indication that Stingray has met either before this encounter or that he has any specific details of what Bratken looks like, he stands to do more harm than good here.  Will he realize that he’s slurring the reputation of an innocent person, or that Victor has an entirely different personality, and has to be handled in a very different way than Bratken?  And if he realizes his mistake(s), how would he make things right?  Would he get the chance?  Would he want to?  One way to do this is to bring Victor back with him to seek help recharging Emily, and giving him a contract with the CWA to repel the BWA and HWA.  
Speaking of Bratken, supernatural beings from various planes of existence got pulled into the Maidjin.  If he was fighting Bratken at a time when this happened to Bratken, assuming it did, that could explain how he got into a Darkstalkers series anyway.  )
Dmitri Maximoff (They’re both lady-killers, one literally.  They would fight over women, one being a guest ladies man, and the other being the protagonist on the box.  I think that being a vampire, Dmitri’s got an unfair edge.)
Other possible guests and how they might interact with him
Wraith (As the messenger of the Demon Realm, he is possibly El Stingray’s only way in to the Darkstalkers world, even if he never appears in this.  As a BWA wrestler, he brings the least unseen material to a bout with recurring foe El Stingray.  But if he’s El Stingray’s only known way in, does he have some ulterior motive for bringing him?  And what was it that could lure El Stingray here of his own free will?  Maybe it was the sight of Felicia.  )
Red Arramer (Who knows what else Wraith would bring through?  They’re both from the Makai…)
Tassa (Depending on her ending from Warzard, he would have a compelling reason to face her, or he would have none at all)
Dante (that depends, does Dante say wrestling is fake?)
Michelle Heart (If he didn’t respond to the fact that she was 1) a woman, 2) possessing stereotypical angel wings, 3) from another world and time, 4) spraying her surroundings with bullets from on high, what else builds their rapport?)
So to summarize, Darkstalkers is missing a masked warrior representative of the monster fighting niche.  El stingray’s last design update was for a fighter released at the same time as the first Darkstalkers, and I think he’s rather well suited to contesting them in physical combat.  Next time I’ll explore how he might fight, how he would arrive, etc.  But for now just leave your comments below.