Midnight Bliss (ミッドナイトブリス Middonaito Burisu) is an EX Move from Demitri Maximoff introduced in Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire. In all appearances its input is + two Punch buttons.
Midnight Bliss is also present in Demitri's moveset from SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos and Capcom Fighting Evolution. Demitri also has the Midnight Bliss as a skill in Namco × Capcom that can be used on the map screen; however, it merely drains a single enemy's health and does not transform it. The special move also appears in Cross Edge, where it also changes the enemies affected by the skill. In Project X Zone and Project X Zone 2, the move appears, but it doesn't show any transformation effect.
Description[]
Demitri says "Come on, baby..." and approaches the opponent while holding a rose. If he reaches the opponent, he will bow and the target will transform into a female (if they are male) with a more arousing (or in some cases comedic) appearance. He then holds the victim up, draining her blood until she is dried up and grotesquely dehydrated of blood. Afterwards he blasts the opponent away and takes distance while blowing a kiss. The opponent returns to normal at the end of the move.
Its animation is slightly different in Capcom Fighting Evolution, possibly due to production limitations and time constraints. Rather than the usual aftereffect of the move of the victim struggling and being ultimately victimized, Demitri simply drapes his cape over his transformed victim and the screen fades to black; only the sounds of the drain are heard and, when the scene fades back in, the opponent is already knocked down, in his/her natural form.
List of transformations[]
Darkstalkers series[]
- Anakaris
Turns into a tall and slim Egyptian woman. Defeating Anakaris with Demitri's Midnight Bliss will cause Anakaris' lower half to float or crawl across the bottom of and off the screen. - Baby Bonnie Hood
Becomes an adult waitress. - Bishamon
Becomes a blue-haired Japanese woman. A homage to Yukiko-hime from Dororon Enma-kun. - Dee (Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection exclusive)
A girl with twintails and two horns in a similar outfit, but more revealing. - Demitri Maximoff
Becomes a blonde woman with a night dress. - Donovan Baine
Turns into a female version of himself. - Felicia
Felicia gains a dress resembling that of Marilyn Monroe's and blows a kiss, and her tail has a heart shape. - Hsien-Ko
Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling become small girls hugging each other. - Huitzil
Transforms into an Aztec girl with birds on her head. When all three punch buttons are used, Huitzil becomes a different girl wearing bloomers gym clothes. - Jedah Dohma
Becomes a female version of himself with long hair and a provocative dress. - Jon Talbain
Becomes a female version of his human appearance, with long hair and wearing a kimono. - Lilith
Lilith changes to a pajama and holds a pillow, and she has a sleepy expression. - Lord Raptor
Lord Raptor becomes a female version of himself with leather rock goth clothes. While having her blood drained, she points a gun to Demitri, but is not able to fire. - Morrigan Aensland
Morrigan becomes a cartoonish girl with a sailor outfit and short hair. - Pyron
Pyron becomes a retro 1950s-esque sci-fi alien female with a giant beehive hairstyle and a dress. - Q-Bee
Gains a nurse outfit and a giant syringe. - Rikuo
Rikuo becomes a mermaid with long blonde hair and a green tail. - Sasquatch
Turns into a brunette with pigtails wearing a costume similar to his normal appearance and holding a giant banana. - Victor von Gerdenheim
Becomes a female version of himself, with a slender but muscular body.
SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos[]
Besides SNK characters, SNK Playmore created new sprites for all Capcom characters and original transformations that are different from the ones used later in Capcom Fighting Evolution.
Capcom characters[]
- Akuma
An attractive female version of himself, including the red hair, with a horn and the same hairstyle wearing a dogi shredded to rags to be left as crop top, hotpants, wrist sleeves and warmers. - Balrog
A tall strong female version of himself with the same clothing and short dreadlocks. - Chun-Li
Chun-Li wearing a typical red cheongsam, different from her own, emphasizing her legs. - Dan
A female version of Dan that looks very similar to Yuriko Hibiki with a braided ponytail, a pink cardigan and a long brown skirt. - Demitri Maximoff
A busty female version of himself with long, thick and toned legs in a skimpy outfit similar to a high cut bandeau one-piece swimsuit that shows the breasts prominently, almost a copy of Morrigan's costume. - Dhalsim
An Indian girl, probably modeled after his wife Sally, wearing a typical golden gagra choli with his trademark three-skull collar. - Guile
A female version of Guile with the same clothing and hairstyle. - Hugo
His normal self with a female chest in Poison's clothes, until almost the end of Midnight Bliss, when the transformation changes into an attractive woman. - Ken
A female version of Ken in a white wedding dress. - M. Bison
A female version of himself with the top of the uniform open to show the chest. - Red Arremer
A cute girl in a tight, red demon-like costume with tail and anthena, but no wings. - Ryu
A female version of himself. - Sagat
A woman in traditional Thai clothing and Thai headdress. - Shin Akuma
An attractive female version of himself, including the white hair, with a horn and the same hairstyle wearing a dogi shredded to rags to be left as crop top, hotpants, wrist sleeves and warmers. - Tessa
Tessa as a magical girl in a red costume with high heels, short and wide miniskirt, a crop top, long sleeve gloves, a witch hat with a star in the tip and the Sun Staff (Tessa's special item in Red Earth) as a magical wand. - Vega
A beautiful female version of himself with the same style of clothing, but with a turtleneck crop top and no mask. The claws are inside cloth pouch. - Violent Ken
A female version of Ken with a mean facial expression in a red wedding dress. - Zero
A Megaman Zero series styled 22XX female Reploid model of Zero; looks similar to Ciel
SNK characters[]
- Athena
Athena with wings in pink underwear with a white cloth with pink frills attached and a single-flower headband. - Choi Bounge
A little girl wearing chima jeogori. - Earthquake
A female version of Earthquake with a thin figure, but with the same skinhead and costume. - Geese Howard
A woman in a red halter-style party dress with a white feather boa around the neck and the same hairstyle as Geese. - Genjuro Kibagami
A beautiful, high-class oiran. - Goenitz
A young woman with a similar style of clothes, but looking like a nun with a black veil. - Iori Yagami
A female version of himself in a blazer and high school uniform. The transformation is the representation of Ioriko from the radio drama Neo Geo DJ Station Special. - Kasumi Todoh
Kasumi in a traditional Japanese sailor suit uniform. - Kim Kaphwan
A woman wearing chima jeogori and traditional Jjokjin meori hairstyle. - Kyo Kusanagi
Cosplayer Kyoko. - Mai Shiranui
Mai dressed in a pink kimono with an oil-paper umbrella, slightly showing her large breasts. It's the same appearance as in one of her victory poses in The King of Fighters. - Mars People
A pink version wearing red lipstick and a red ribbon on the head. - Mr. Karate
A female version of himself slightly showing the breasts and with an Okame Noh mask. - Orochi Iori
Miss X from SNK Gals' Fighters. - Ryo Sakazaki
A female version of himself. - Serious Mr. Karate
A female version of himself slightly showing the breasts and with a Hannya Noh mask. - Shiki
Half-shaded Shiki from Samurai Shodown 64 II. - Terry Bogard
A female version of himself with denim shorts instead of jeans and a white halter top.
Capcom Fighting Evolution[]
Characters from Street Fighter and Red Earth are full of references to other popular media. Some characters have two different transformations. The rare one, normally triggered at random, can be forced by executing Midnight Bliss with all punch buttons.
Darkstalkers characters[]
- Anakaris
Regular: Same as his Darkstalkers series transformation.
Rare: His Khaibit's Bliss form, which originally appears during Pharaoh Decoration (an Anakaris' EX Move in Darkstalkers 3). - Demitri Maximoff
Regular: Transforms him into a European vampire schoolgirl with book in hand and a swarm of vampire bats above her head.
Rare: Transforms him into his Darkstalkers series transformation, but with a semi-transparent night dress that shows the body's silhouette - Felicia
Same as her Darkstalkers series transformation. - Jedah
Same as his Darkstalkers series transformation. - Pyron
Same as his Darkstalkers series transformation.
Street Fighter characters[]
- Alex
Regular: Becomes a female version of himself.
Rare: Transforms into Patricia. - Chun-Li
Regular: Changes to her Street Fighter Alpha design.
Rare: Changes to her Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo design. - Guile
Becomes a stereotypical stars-and-stripes-bikini-clad-buxom-American girl with a face similar to Guile's wife as portrayed in Guile's ending in Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. - Guy
Regular: Except for the head, Guy becomes identical to Maki.
Rare: Guy becomes Shadow Girl, a ninja character appearing in Capcom's Gotcha Force. The transformation from his alternate color resembles Killer Girl. - Karin
Becomes a tennis player similar to Reika Ryuzaki from Aim for the Ace!, who is also a rich girl with a friendly rivalry to a common but talented girl and the originator of that trope in manga. - M. Bison
Bison becomes a dominatrix, similar to his SVC Chaos version, except with the top closed, wearing a short skirt instead of pants, and with a riding crop in her hands. - Rose
Regular: Becomes Lisa Lisa.
Rare: Becomes Enya the Hag. - Ryu
Becomes the Indian girl from Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. - Sakura
Changes to the red gym clothes that she uses when she becomes a teacher at the end of the Sakura Ganbaru! manga. - Shin Akuma
Regular: Transforms into a maid with a red-bristled broom and a large red bow on the back resembling the "heaven" kanji.
Rare: A different maid with the broom facing upwards. - Yun
Becomes a Chinese food delivery girl working for 昇龍軒 (Shēnglóngxuān, "Shōryūken" in Japanese reading, a pun to the recurring special move), the restaurant Hoimei and Shaomei work in, with a giant shumai on her head. - Urien
Transforms into a girl clad in mizuhappi (a short jacket) and shimekomi fundoshi, typical of the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival. - Zangief
Becomes a cartoonish little Russian girl. This character was presented on the now defunct Capcom Fighting Jam official site[1] as "Zangyura-chan, the little tangerine vending Russian girl" ("ザンギュラちゃんでロシアの蜜柑売り").
This is a nod to Gamest, a magazine notorious for its numerous typos over the years, various of which have entered Japanese gamers' language as jokes. One of the most famous of these occurred in issue 83, published in January 1993. There was a special section covering Street Fighter II Turbo location test, and they wrote about Zangief's then-new Quick Lariat (provisionally named Super Lariat) that "By pressing all kick buttons, Zangyura can do a very quick Super Uriajjou, without collision detection in his legs" ("ザンギュラはキックボタン3つ同時押しで足に判定のない、早めの回転のスーパーウリアッ上が出せる。"). An impressive series of errors in a row, that deservedly earned them the laughs and scorn of their readers. They then tried to defend themselves declaring they had copied the names from a badly handwritten note, but "Zangyura" had already become a meme. With Capcom Fighting Jam, Capcom canonized Gamest's error giving the name Zangyura to this female version of Zangief.[2][3]
Her design is based on Cheburashka, a famous Russian character, and extremely popular in Japan as well. Zangyura sells tangerines because Cheburashka was discovered in an orange crate, a scene that became iconic.[2][3]
Original characters[]
- Ingrid
Ingrid has straight down hair, gains gothic lolita garb and a top hat while holding a giant lollipop. This design later became her special win pose in Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX.
Red Earth characters[]
- Hauzer
Transforms into a Japanese schoolgirl with his head untouched, except for a smidge of red lipstick at the front of his muzzle. - Hydron
Transforms into an anthropomorphic-moe school girl in a swimsuit uniform with blond hair topped with his body as a hat and still armed with his trident. - Kenji
Transforms him into a kunoichi wearing a kitsune mask and armed with his signature large rifle. - Leo
Regular: Transforms him into a slender female warrior with a lioness' head.
Rare: A little girl with a cute lion costume. The appearance is based on a drawing from Red Earth's Secret File booklet.
Cultural impact[]
Even though Anakaris's Royal Judgment transformations have been present since the first game and Anakaris's Pharaoh Decoration has the same sprite transformation, Demitri's Midnight Bliss has always been the preferred transformation attack since its introduction in Vampire Savior. A fan favorite, the move is notable for showing female forms of male opponents and alternative depictions for female characters. In many instances the transformation is better looking than the original. Its featuring in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos and Capcom Fighting Evolution made it more popular among players, as it showed other SNK and Capcom characters transformations that have since become coveted by the fanart, M.U.G.E.N and cosplay communities.
Since the first instance, with Bishamon transformation parodying Yukiko-hime from Dororon Enma-kun, the move has been used to pay homage to other media outside of games with easter eggs, such as "Ioriko", "Zangyura" and Karin's, Rose's and Ryu's transformations in Capcom Fighting Evolution. A difficulty in further appearances of Midnight Bliss, besides the lack of Darkstalkers sequels, is 3D graphics due to them taking more resources to develop, meaning that modern 3D fighting game would unnecessarily spend resources in 3D transformations that would have little use outside of the special move, making it harder to justify than in a 2D environment. Nevertheless, fans of the move (which include professional artists) create art and sprites with Midnight Bliss versions of their favorite characters. That includes characters never featured in the original games, such as Blanka.
Midnight Bliss forms have become popular enough in Japan to warrant their own gashapon figures designed by Hiroyuki Utatane and commercialized by the company Eugene (now Takara Tomy Arts) as part of the SR Capcom Real Figure Collection (SRカプコン リアルフィギュアコレクション) series. Capcom has supported high quality Midnight Bliss fanart and promoted it on the Capcom-Unity blog.[4] Udon has prominently featured Midnight Bliss in covers of its comics and in art published in Darkstalkers Tribute.
Gallery[]
Sprites of Midnight Bliss and Royal Judgment transformations[]
Darkstalkers series sprites[]
SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos sprites[]
Capcom Fighting Evolution sprites[]
Animated sprites[]
Darkstalkers 3[]
SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos[]
Capcom Fighting Evolution[]
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ CAPCOM FIGHTING Jam. Capcom website. Archived from the original on 2015-04-16.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Miðgarðsorm. (2017-08-07). Untitled [Online forum post]. Message posted to: The Inevitable Street Fighter V Story Thread: A SHADOW FALLS!. Shoryuken forums.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kalata, Kurt. (2017-11-29). Capcpom Presents – Gamest’s Greatest Typos. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 2018-02-14.
- ↑ Iovanovici, Zoran. (2009-10-19). Analysis: Gaming’s Midnight Bliss – Gender Swapping Made Fun. Gamasutra. Retrived 2018-02-14.
External links[]
- Midnight Bliss at Japanese Wikipedia
- Midnight Bliss at the Capcom Database
- Midnight Bliss at the MUGEN Database