Hsien-Ko

Hsien-Ko (ヒシェンコー), known in Japan as Lei-Lei (レイレイ) ), is a fictional character Capcom's fighting game series Darkstalkers. She was introduced in Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge in 1995.

Hsien-Ko's character is based off the Chinese folklore vampires known as jiāngshī, into which she was turned when she was magically merged with her twin sister Mei-Ling, known in Japan as Lin-Lin (レイレイ). Together, they fight to free the cursed spirit of their dead mother and to destroy the monsters preying on the people of China. Hsien-Ko became of the most popular characters in the series and has also appeared as a playable character in several non-Darkstalkers games.

In video games
According to her Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge backstory, Hsien-Ko and her twin sister, Mei-Ling, were born in the 1730s China (Qing dynasty), at a time when the spirits of the dead arose from their resting places and attacked a rural village. When their mother was killed by a powerful demon, the twins, both teenagers, fought to release her soul from the dark, using the forbidden technique "Igyo Tenshin no Jutsu". This in turn converted them into a jiāngshī ("hopping corpse"), a type of Chinese zombie. Mei-Ling is actually the fú ("ward-paper"), a parchment-like talisman attached to the front of Hsien-Ko's hat. While the conversion infused Hsien-Ko with magical powers, they are formidable enough that Mei-Ling's presence as the ward-paper is required to keep them in check. The girls' transformation results in them fighting as a Darkhunter as a combined single unit of mind and body. Though Mei-Ling has never been a playable character in any of the games, a special move in Vampire Savior involves her coming out to team up with Hsien-Ko. In Hsien-Ko's Darkstalkers' Revenge ending, the girls free their mother's soul albeit at the cost of their own lives, but their mother, as a reward, enables them to be reborn as infants in a new life. This is carried over in part into Darkstalkers 3, when the girls' powers are awakened on their sixteenth birthday, when they collectively suffer a nightmare that sees them transported into Majigen.

Hsien-Ko has made several other appearances in crossover titles. She appears as a playable character in Namco × Capcom, and is paired with Fong Ling from Resident Evil: Dead Aim as a single unit, while in Project X Zone she is paired up with Frank West from Dead Rising. Hsien-Ko is also playable in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash, SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition, SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (where Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling arrive to ask Doctor Strange to help them save their mother's soul ), and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. She was originally planned to be in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as a playable character as well, but was dropped due to time constraints. She also makes cameo appearances: in Marvel Super Heroes where she can be summoned by Anita; in Capcom vs. SNK 2 as a restaurant patron in the Shanghai stage; and in Street Fighter Alpha 2 as one of the party guests, along with her sister, in Ken's stage.

Gameplay


In the games, most of Hsien-Ko's powers "involve floating on air and pulling an impossibly huge collection of deadly items out of their sleeves." According to Sega Saturn Magazine, unlike the other Darkstalkers characters, Hsien-Ko "is a mostly defensive character and hence spends most of the game blocking attacks and storing special gauges. She is excellent for countering moves and combos and a number of projectile attacks give her the edge in long range attacks." She is one of the characters that can dash past an opponent and get behind them.

A cheat code in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, where Hsien-Ko and the other characters appear in a super-deformed form, allows to access her sister Lin-Lin as a playable character. According to GamesRadar, the Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two World version of Hsien-Ko (an unlockable character capable of interacting with Chris Redfield ) is "an extremely unorthodox character with a number of strange moves and weird mobility." She was judged not good for beginners as her "weird normal attacks and bizarre movement options" and attacks are likely to confuse new players. The DLC Evil Twin Costume Pack includes Mei-Lin as an alternate skin for Hsien-Ko's model in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Other appearances
In the Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge anime miniseries, the girls travel Earth in an old T-bucket-style convertible with a trailer resembling a covered wagon attached. Their personalities, and speech patterns in the English dub of the program, differed considerably; Mei-Ling is the more sensible of the pair and speaks eloquently, whereas Hsien-Ko has a more childlike disposition, and her dialogue often contains modern colloquialisms or improper grammar (often saying "don't" in place of "doesn't"). Hsien-Ko's backstory was altered like those of several characters in the cartoon, in her case her transformation having resulted from her accidentally consuming a substance she mistook for rice that was hidden under a floorboard inside a hut.

The character also appaears in the other Darkstalkers media, namely the comic and manga adaptations and the American cartoon series that is losely based on the games, as well as in the card game Universal Fighting System. Hsien-Ko figures and resin garage kits were released by several manufacturers, including Clayz, Ensky, Grimrock, Mobydick, Modeler's High, Red Fox, T's System, Yousei no Hakoniwa, Vixen, and Yujin; Banpresto released a series of mascot key chains.

Reception
Hsien-Ko was well received by critics as one of the most notable characters in the series, and was noted as a popular fan favourite by outlets such as Complex,  Eurogamer and Siliconera. GamesRadar described her as "scary but also sort of hilarious, a highly tactical fighter." GameDaily named Hsien-Ko one of their favorite female Asian video game characters, opining she "definitely has good looks, despite her oversized hands." In 2013, Retro Gamer chose her one of the 19 "coolest fighters from the last 30 years", stating: "Felicia, Demitri and BB Hood are equally well known, but Lei-Lei is a more unusual example of a popular character as she's so unorthodox and difficult to use effectively." The Skullgirls character Peacock was partially inspired by her.