Rather than bore you with my usual diatribe against modern fighting game design I want to post mostly pics with brief descriptions of where the errors lie with the designs. I'll let you connect the dots, make your own observations and as always question my position on the (sorry) state of fighting character design. The worst of the concept art for most fighting games is rarely, if ever, seen by the masses. I'm here to shed some light on the difficulties with trying to make a "universal" cast of characters.

Let's look at some comparison pieces between Capcom and SNK and see where the similarities are. The character below and to the left was a concept character for Street Fighter III. The idea behind the successful Street Fighter II was being revisited. A cast of characters from around the world were designed to appeal to many different cultures and fighting styles. The characters below and to the right were concept characters for the original King of Fighters. These characters are similar and all based on ill-advised, if not stereotypical Arabic themes.

The Japanese design aesthetic has always been unique and quite refreshing when compared to western comic book, cartoon or graphic novel art. With that said it is still possible to see very questionable designs.

The Japanese "strongman" in fighting games has been top heavy in recent years. The decision to use tights and boots probably based on pro wrestling. The odd haircuts for a SF III concept character (below left) and a KOF 2000 concept character are probably coincidence.

The trend which I find upsetting in fighting games is the shift away from traditional martial arts archetypes to younger female fighters. If a fighting game lacks a martial art then a new character with that style will be introduced. Chances are that the new character will be female and chances are they will be a child rather than an adult. In some instances the fighting art doesn't even have to be real, it just has to reflect some sort of fetish that is supposed to appeal to male fighting game fans. Elisabeth and Momoko from KOF XI represent that style of character design. Elisabeth isn't even getting a mention for how little she resembles a fighter. Momoko however is absurd. The series had been lacking a capoeira fighter for years (not seen since Richard Meyer in Fatal Fury and Bob Wilson from Fatal Fury 3, games released in the early and mid 90's) so when SNK decided it was time to return to the art then they incorporated it into a girl could go toe-to-toe with stronger female and male characters. The third character was a concept Aboriginal fighter from Australia. I'll let you speculate on her fighting art or purpose.

The Street Fighter series has been shying away from strong martial arts archetypes and has been headed in a similar direction with regards to KOF character designs in recent years. The inclusion of younger and younger female fighters, as fanservice or pandering to the masses is something that I believe weakens the franchise. The most iconic of the fighters were grounded in reality. Be they dangerous muay thai fighters, powerful wrestlers or god-like karatekas, at some point in history there really were fighters like the majority of the longest-lived characters.

At the same time the SF universe left room for the fantastic, amazing young fighters with awesome abilities. There has always been some semblance of exaggerated reality in the series,even when powerful girls were added into canon. The problem the series has been facing is the inclusion of younger and younger female leads which look less like fighters and more like anime characters. These girl leads can go head-to-head with the icons and their respective fighting arts. I've argued this point on other blogs and ask that you read them if you haven't already. It concerns me that Tae Kwon Do from Korea finally gets recognition in the greatest fighting franchise ever, yet saddened that the martial art is placed on a girl with a design aesthetic that counters the traditional SF character designs on top of an awkward an unrealistic stance that defies the actual fighting art.

Street Fighter IV has been moving closer and closer to KOF territory. The return of girl fighters Sakura and Cammy were only the beginning. Their purposes and fighting arts made sense within the game and canon. Sakura was emulating Ryu and served as a tribute to the character and parody of Yuri from the Art of Fighting. Cammy was a trained assassin from Shadowlaw that had amazing strength thanks to steroids. This was the reason why a young British girl was able to stand up to stronger male and female fighters. The latest character Juri, is a mix of psycho power and Tae Kwon Do. Her source of power and amazing abilities are based partly in reality and partly on psychic abilities. I don't remember a time in the history of Street Fighter where a character was split between two arts / sources of power. It concerns me that SF characters will become less distinquishable from the pop-friendly KOF or even Tekken designs.

Just as alarming is the direction that one of the better SF IV characters almost had. Kotaku reported on the Street Fighter IV blog that SF IV battle planner Taisaku Okada wanted a very small and feminine French boy named Abel added to the cast. The reasoning was "with Abel, we wanted to make someone representative of the 'weak can beat the strong,' and so he was originally a small judo character who could be mistaken for a girl." Hmm, an effeminate boy that could easily be mistaken for a girl in a fighting game... am I the only one that sees a problem with this type of character design?

Thankfully they took Abel back to the drawing board. They returned his design to a more traditional fighter aesthetic, with large muscles, solid colors and real-world fighting gear. The end result was the most timeless of the new cast.

The rest of the characters added did not have the same connection to the fighting arts. El Fuerte could have been great had Capcom incorporated more elements from actual lucha libre and had taken the cooking gimmicks away from the character. While Rufus does have a good move set, his girth and story betray the intent of the classic world warriors. The moves of Rufus would have been better received on a character that looked like a fighter, rather than a gimmicky 3D model. Oddly Capcom designed C. Viper to appeal to Americans and were shocked to learn that despite her sex appeal we thought Abel was a better design.

Does all this mean that I am against female characters in fighting games or against SNK designs? I am protective of the SF designs because they used to be the most memorable of all the fighting games. KOF, Tekken, Soul Caliber and the other fighters all have their fan base. The design aesthetic for each game helps make it unique. Gamers in general would agree that Street Fighter is the most iconic of the fighting titles and should set the standard. When I feel that the designers and directors of newer SF games are betraying the standard and crossing into rival studio territory then I have to call them on it. If modern fighting game designers think they can get by on cuteness or sex appeal for female fighters then they absolutely missed the point of the woman that started it all.

Chun-Li was never trampy or trashy. Even as a young lady her curves were based more on muscle than soft tissue. The version most gamers remember best was her as a voluptuous ass-kicking woman, not a girl. She never wore dresses that betrayed her Chinese heritage or ever flashed her skin... that was until the Street Fighter IV added a saucy alternate costume. I fear that if Chun-Li were new to the universe today then she would have been a teenage Chinese acrobat of some sort wearing a skimpy costume that would make Cammy blush.

The women and young ladies in Street Fighter were memorable because they represented a fighting art. They were all there to fight and prove themselves. They were not children with awesome psychic powers. The first spy in Street Fighter was Sharon, introduced years before C. Viper. The first masked wrestler with top rope moves was R. Mika, well before El Fuerte. The first mixed martial artist in the series was Blaire Dame, not Abel. Akido and capoeira were introduced to SF players through strong women characters Hokuto and Elena. Both women could not be mistaken for little girls. The same could not be said for the early Abel concept art. Even when the child Nanase was introduced into SF she was given a Bo staff to keep larger and stronger opponents at bay. This made sense within the universe and respected the established fighters.

What does the future of Street Fighter character design hold? Given the trend of young girls and fanservice then the best days might well be behind them. There is always a chance for redemption with the next game, but I've said too much on the subject already. What do you have to say about it?