Lilith from DarkStalkers, at one point, was going to either be male or an hermaphrodite - Capcom Densetsu article talks about the close shave
Posted by Cheng Kai 'KarbyP' Sim • June 1, 2014 at 9:18 a.m. PDT • Comments: 84
But that's no longer the case. Capcom Unity Japan has since been converted from a web page to a Facebook fan page.
At some point, the Facebook fan page was renamed "My Capcom", and shared articles from a "My Capcom" official blog -- which served as the new Capcom Unity Japan.
Over on the My Capcom official blog, the site has been running a series of articles entitled "Capcom Densetsu" (Capcom Legends", that delves into the backstories on all your favourite Capcom franchises.
The latest entry is about the DarkStalkers storyline (actually so far, all of the columns have been about Darkstalkers) -- specifically, about Demitri's fight with Belial Aensland 100 years before the start of the first DarkStalkers game.
That's fairly compelling stuff, if you're a DarkStalkers fan.
But ultimately what caught our eye -- and the reason why you've bothered reading this far -- is the tiny bit of trivia that was mentioned near the end of this latest Capcom Densetsu article.
"(In DarkStalkers 3) ...At one point, the development staff was thinking to make Lilith a 'male daughter' (男の娘, which in Japanese is used to describe guys who dressed as if they were gals) as Lilith was designed as a character who would complement Morrigan."
"She doesn't call Morrigan 'nee-san' (big sister).
"I think it would be great if Lilith could be a hermaphrodite, or if Lilith was actually a guy (despite how he looks), but what do you guys think?
"Make the hair shorter, and the chest area less protruding. As for the face and the fringe, keep it to be as the same as the previous design sketch.
"This hole over here (at the chest area) can be removed, or redone in a different form."
The notes on the design sketch were made by Haruo Murata, who was the story/scenario planner for DarkStalkers 3.
According to the "All About Vampire Saviour" and "Vampire Artworks" art books (via Wikipedia), Murata was quoted as saying that although the original character sketches intended for Lilith to be female, quite obviously, Murata himself wanted to make Lilith a "male daughter" because he felt that it would make the game ahead of its time.
The Capcom Densetsu article also quoted Murata to have said: "We decided too early on to make Lilith a 'male daughter'."
It was also said in the article that at the point of the game's release, Lilith's gender setting was actually said to be "unknown".
But the world would come to see Lilith to be a female, and there were no indicators anywhere that the character might have been anything other than a fine specimen of the female gender.
Thus, history was made -- and Capcom decided to roll with it.
Source: Capcom Dentsetsu
