Hsien-Ko

General CVG character
name=Hsien-Ko


caption=Hsien-Ko
japanactor=
series="Darkstalkers" series
firstgame=
inuniverse=Darkstalkers character
born=Around 1730
birthplace=flagcountry|China
race=Ghost
threesizes=
height=155 cm
weight=43 kg

Hsien-ko, known as Shao Lei-Lei (CJKV|t=少泪泪|s=少泪泪|p=Shǎo Lèilèi|j=少泪泪 rōmaji: Shō Reirei) in the original Japanese version, is a video game character in the "Darkstalkers" series.

History

According to the backstory of "Night Warriors", Hsien-ko was born around the 1730s with a twin named Mei-ling (Shao Lin-Lin, 少鈴鈴 "Shǎo Línglíng", in the original Japanese version). During this time, ghosts and spirits of the dead arose from their resting places and attacked a rural Chinese village. After her mother was killed by a powerful demon (said to be Demitri Maximoff), she and her sister decided to use "Tensei-no-Jutsu" to save her, but they used a prohibited sub-division of this technique, "Igyo Tenshin-no-Jutsu", and fought to release their mother's soul from the dark.

This turned the twins into a "jiāngshī" (僵屍 "stiff corpse"), a type of Chinese zombie/vampire. This, however, also gave the two unusual abilities which the two use to fight for their purposes. Mei-ling is actually the ward-paper ("fú") on Hsien-ko's hat. Hsien-ko's powers cannot be fully controlled unless Mei-ling does so herself when she becomes the ward-paper. If she separates from Hsien-ko, many of Hsien-ko's abilities no longer work, so they essentially fight as one. Hsien-ko is the "body", and Mei-ling the "mind". Once in a while however, Mei-ling does come out to team up with Hsien-ko as seen by their Dark Force ability in "Darkstalkers 3".

The two fight many battles during "Night Warriors", and eventually win the freedom of their mothers' soul, but at the cost of their own lives. Before death however, the spirit of their mother claims she will not let oblivion become their reward, and the twins' souls are reborn as infants in a new life.

In "Vampire Savior", the reincarnated sisters live a happy, normal life. However, on their sixteenth birthday, weird things begin to happen to them. They have the same dream and the next night, they fall into a coma and their souls were transported to the Dark Realm, which called to them. They found themselves in weird costumes, and although their memories of their past life are sketchy, things begin to slowly come back to them. They regained their unique power of transformation they had lost during the death of the life preceding this one. Now as saviors and hunters once more, they must find their way home to Earth Realm. After the events of Vampire Savior, the sisters are engulfed by the darkness, but their mother's spirit saves them, and they return back home as humans once more.

Gameplay

Hsien-ko is an unusual character in that she excels at setups. Her huge variety of weapons gives her impressive reach, but also make her highly unpredictable making her an excellent punish and pressure character. She tends to fare quite well at tournaments. Hsien-Ko is known for having an EX move that is unblockable within the proper range, where she drop a weight from her sleeve and several spiked balls drop from the ceiling. The "weight" part of the move cannot be blocked.

Hsien-ko's odd stance and movements are attributed to her being a "jiāngshī" (or "kuang-si"), which are also known as "Hopping Vampires". However, she mostly runs and "walks" with her big claws, hopping only when near enemies. She can also run on air almost acting as a human.

The weapons Hsien-ko uses include a saw, knives, a sword, a chain, a giant gong, a spiked flail, and variety of other weapons. She also once in a while throws some cameo items such as a statue of Akuma, Vega's claw, and Chun-Li's bracelets. Hsien-Ko can also launch herself across the room as a spinning guillotine in a special move, the "Cyclone Blade Dance", and she also swings backward during the move, effectively avoiding potential vulnerability after it.

Portrayals in other media

Hsien-ko appeared in two episodes of the DiC Darkstalkers series, only she did not have blue skin and her "claws" were metallic and could be removed. However, she had a grudge against Demitri Maximoff, who was responsible for killing her parents. Also in this version, she was a "ghost creature" and not a jiangshi like in the games,her nane was also pronounced as Sin-Ko.

Hsien-ko appeared in the "Night Warriors: Dark Stalkers Revenge" anime, and was voiced by was Nicole Oliver in the English dub. She and her sister were central to the plot of the episodes, and are shown as allies and temporary travelling companions of fellow darkhunter Donovan Baine. The animation shows a flashback scene of when their mother sacrificed herself in an attempt to destroy the demons that were attacking the royal palace who gained entry into the world because of Pyron's descent.

She appears as a playable character in the crossover strategy game Namco x Capcom, where she came to Japan aboard the Spencer Lane to investigate the immense sorcery that she sensed, and assures the Resident Evil Dead Aim duo (Bruce McGivern & Fong Ling) and Regina (from Dino Crisis) that she is not going to haunt anyone. Interestingly enough, she is partnered with Fong Ling. In the game, Lord Raptor is infatuated with her, but she wants nothing to do with him.

She and her sister also appear in Ken's stage (in dress clothes and as humans) in SFA2 as guests to Eliza's birthday, along with fellow female Darkstalkers Morrigan and Felicia, and Capcom characters such as Strider Hiryu and Captain Commando.

Hsien-Ko also appears in the background of the Capcom vs SNK 2 stage in Shanghai

Fighting game appearances

*"" - 1995
*"Darkstalkers 3 " - 1997
*"Vampire Savior 2" - 1997 (Japan only)
*"Vampire Hunter 2" - 1997 (Japan only)
*"Pocket Fighter" - 1997
*"Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service" - 2000 (Japan only)
*"" - 2005
*"" - 2005

Non-fighting game appearances

*"Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo" - 1996
* ""
* ""
* "Namco x Capcom" (2005)
* ""
* She makes a cameo appearance in Pyron's ending in "Capcom Fighting Jam".

External links

* Hsien-Ko's [http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Darkstalkers/Characters/Hsien-Ko Darkstalkers] entry at [http://strategywiki.org/ StrategyWiki.org]