Rikuo / Aulbath
rikuo-darkstalkers-teppen-dream-of-restoration.jpg (282505 bytes)

BIO:

Deep beneath the Amazon, lay a kingdom of the 30,000 mermen. One fateful day, this peaceful aquatic empire was shattered and destroyed by a tremendous earthquake and volcanic activity. The merman emperor and hero Rikuo Aulbath, was alone. His empire destroyed, he was filled with rage and when he found out that Pyron was the one who caused the fall of his empire, he vowed to destroy him. But when he met another survivor, Keera Aqueria, he settled down with her to rebuild his empire. He and his wife moved out of the Amazon into the great ocean to raise their family. Currently, family consists of his wife Aqueria, his three sons and 12 soon to hatch eggs.

Rikuo and his family live in a crack, 150m deep. The current of the ocean doesn't make its way into the area and is a perfect location to protect their eggs from danger. His current self-imposed duty is to search for any other survivors of his kingdom. He searches in a radius of 200km for any other surviving mermen. However, close to his home lay a deep oceanic trench with a fast-moving ocean current. If Rikuo fell into the trench, even he couldn't swim against the strong current. The deepest he could search was 1000 meters. It was an endless search, but Rikuo believed that other mermen had survived.

Ever since he and his family had moved to this sea, although very faint, he had sensed the life of something similar to his own race. As each day passed, his search for his fellow merman increases in area and the time he spends with his family decreases. During one of his searches, one of his sons, Ricky (Alba in Japan), disappears. He ponders to himself about how one could defend a kingdom if he cannot protect his own family. Soundly believing that his son was sucked into the Majigen, Rikuo heads his way into Jedah's realm. But when the powers of Makai start to fade, the lost, dark sea of Sargasso was released from its century-long isolation and Rikuo found his son along with a new race of merman. The two families now help one another in order to rebuild the civilization of the sea.

Rikuo is loosely based off of The Creature From The Black Lagoon (they even share the same birthday). In Japan, he goes by Aulbath. His son's name is Alba in Japan, and Ricky in the west. Rikuo also appeared in his own Japanese cell phone game titled Aulbath's Wild River.
 
rikuo-white.png (156935 bytes)              rikuo-darkstalkers-revenge-artwork-high-contrast.png (445313 bytes)              rikuo-back.jpg (442191 bytes)              rikuo-original.jpg (268148 bytes)              rikuo-ds2-art.jpg (351914 bytes)
 

ORIGIN:
Darkstalkers

 
               
 
 
 
             
 

OTHER APPEARANCES:
Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, Darkstalkers 3, Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower, Darkstalkers Resurrection, Vampire Chronicle For Matching Service, SNK Vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash, Card Fighters Clash 2, Card Fighters Clash Ds

  
rikuo-by-udon.png (525335 bytes)                                          rikuo-vampire-resurrection.png (88201 bytes)           rikuo-darkstalkers-revenge-artwork-by-daigo-ikeno-with-commentary.png (773217 bytes)


                   
 

Page Updated:  Aug. 18th, 2022

Ahh... this "swamp creature" actually has personality? One of the first of his kind if you ask me. (Sorry Swamp Thing... you bore me.) At a glance, Rikuo is comparable in a way to Blanka. Obviously, there's the green thing going on, but their default fighting stances are also very similar (compare the 2D sprites side by side for a better look). That said, Rikuo fits the "swamp creature" archetype for the Darkstalkers series.

Although he seems a bit underdeveloped and maybe "less exciting" compared to other Darkstalkers characters... Rikuo is pretty cool if you give him a chance. Specifically the way Bengus draws him really makes the character look awesome. (Any character Bengus draws looks amazing, so maybe that's not saying much.) Anyway, as far as details and animations go... Rikuo is aesthetically interesting in a lot of ways... although I think his overall moveset could be more fleshed out. My favorite part of this design might be in Rikuo's ending where his family and wife are shown! Very cool way to flesh out a character. Like all other Darkstalkers personalities, Rikou fits in nicely and balances out the colorful roster of the series.

Fighting  Style  /  Moveset
Personality  /  Charisma
Outfit(s)  /  Appearance
Effectiveness  in  series
Overall Score

   
                       
 

Click Here for more Rikou artwork!