A fantastic article was written by Richmond about how darkstalkers utilize the twelve principals of animation, and the growth of Capcom as a creative company. I really think anyone with even a remote interest in Darkstalkers should check it out. 
 
Here's a snip from the article

Darkstalkers was Capcom’s followup to their monstrously successful and innovative series,  Street Fighter 2. There is a tremendous jump in animation quality between the two games.  This is because during the mid 90s, Capcom’s animators started to take a much more educated approach to their craft through studious application of the 12 principles of animation. They are the 10 commandments of animation (well, 12 commandments–but you get the idea) set forth by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, who were great pioneers of animation at Disney from their early years through the 80s.  These 12 principles form the foundation for animation in the American tradition (ie Disney, Warner Bros, Pixar etc), but they’re also found in great animation the world over.