SNK game fans got a big surprise during the Gamescom 2024 ‘Opening Night Live’ presentation. They announced that the sex symbol of KOF y Fatal Fury — Mai Shiranui — will be one of the playable characters in the long-awaited City of the Wolvesbut she traded her iconic, revealing red suit for black leather pants and jacket.
You can rest assured that the red dress will not disappear. We will be able to play with her traditional appearance because she will have it as a secondary costume. Still, it is curious that SNK has decided to change the main ‘look’ of a character as recognized and loved by fans as her. Why did Mai Shiranui change her costume in Fatal Fury: City of The Wolves?
But to talk about the new outfit, we have to first look back and analyze what makes the red dress she has worn since her first appearance so special.
The story of Mai Shiranui’s red suit
Mari Shiranui burst into the gaming world in 1992, when she appeared in Fatal Fury 2 for arcades. The most curious thing about its history is that Shiranui was initially going to be a male character: He was a rival ninja of Andy who was jealous of him because he was his master’s favorite.
At some point during production, they decided that the game was missing a female character and turned the male ninja into a female ninja without altering anything else in his story.
The red dress already looks quite sexy and revealing on its first appearance. It has a deep neckline at the front and the lower part allows you to fully appreciate her legs. It is inspired by the female ninja uniforms popularized in the ‘anime’ of the 70s and 80s, but focusing on the idea that The ‘kunoichi’ seduced their potential victims
Mai’s costume would evolve very little in the following games. She received a vest in Fatal Fury 3 which disappeared in the next game. She changed her belt a couple of times and the color of some of her decorations. The biggest change in Mai Shiranui’s design did not occur in a game of Garoubut in the first KOF (The King of Fighters ’94), and it was not in his suit, but in his body.
The sex symbol of KOF
According an old interview with members of the development team of The King of Fighters 94′designer CAC Yamaski requested permission to “make Mai’s neutral pose in the game more dynamic with more sprites.” Since they believed they still had some memory left, they granted his request. The team was shocked to see that what the designer did was “make her breasts swing,” but they liked it so much that they immediately accepted it. Needless to say, the vast majority of the team were men.
Since then, Mai’s breast movement became an iconic aspect not only of the character, but of this series of fighting games.. In future games of KOFher outfit became increasingly smaller and the movement of her breasts more and more exaggerated.
There’s not much to say about it. Mai Shiranui is very sexy and voluptuous. Although she can be accused of being overly sexualized, she is also very popular with women and her daring personality fits well with her revealing outfits.If there is a more important criticism to be made against Mai, it is the obsession she has with Andy Bogard, which in some media borders on harassment, but that is a topic for another day.
The popularity of this character has led SNK to opt for more sexy, skin-baring female characters over the years. Shermie, Angel, B. Jenet and Iroha are just a few examples, but all of them continue to live in the shadow of Mai Shiranui.
Attempts at censorship?
The focus on Mai Shiranui’s physical attributes in the games KOF —and in other titles in which she has been a special guest— has been somewhat controversial. Some of these games have been “censored” in their international versions, reducing or completely eliminating the “jiggling” of the character’s breasts.
Mai did not appear in the arcade versions of KOF XI y KOF XII. This raised a lot of doubts among fans of the games and some claimed that “SNK was trying to censor KOF to attract more audiences.” Some conversations on the internet cite an interview with Ignition (distributors of the games in the West) who say that the reason for their absence is that «Mai is not that popular in Japan and is not chosen much based on her abilities»but we couldn’t find the source.
What is certain is that Mai eventually appeared in the console versions and as paid DLC. This gave rise to a new theory: “the plan from the beginning was to force players to pay extra to have the sexiest character in the game.”
The revelation of Mai Shiranui’s change from traditional costume to black jacket and pants in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves also It has sparked some critical voices saying that “they are censoring the character to satisfy the ‘woke’ audience.”. This is ridiculous because the original suit is still available. Fortunately, Those voices have been a minority and are overshadowed by the amount of fanart and love that this new outfit has received..
Mai’s ‘dark side’
This isn’t the first time Mai has dressed in a more casual style in official SNK material. For example, in the manga KOF 94′ and some official illustrations show her wearing jeans and a leather jacket.
This outfit fits best with A rather unknown aspect of Mai’s personality: she is a fan of heavy metal (and specifically of the American band Pantera)
This detail gives an interesting depth to this character. Based on what we see in the games alone, Mai seems like a very shallow character, mostly concerned with her boyfriend, looking good, and the traditions of her ninja clan. Knowing that she likes an “unusual” type of music gives her more personality. It’s a shame that this hobby isn’t explored in any way in the games and we only learn about it through official supplementary material.
Knowing this side of Mai makes it make more sense to see her with a more ‘rocker look’ like the one she has in the new game. Now that we know all this, we can return to the question that started this article.
Why did Mai Shiranui change her outfit?
Garou: Mark of The Wolves and its sequel Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves They take place a decade after the events of Fatal Fury, Real Bout and the Orochi and NESTS sagas of The King of Fighters. This means that some characters have aged. This is most noticeable in Terry Bogard’s changed appearance and in the fact that Kim Kaphwan’s children are now grown up.
Mai is now between 32 and 35 years old. She is still very young and beautiful. She, Terry Borgard and Billy Kane are the only characters from the first Fatal Fury announced for this game, therefore They have to look different to convey the passage of time.. If they later announce the return of other characters from the saga such as Andy Bogard, Blue Mary, Yamazaki, Duck King or Raiden, we will discover that they also look different.
Mai’s bold and revealing red costume is iconic and will continue to be around, but we’re glad to see the Shiranui ninja get a new look. She’s still very sexy even if she doesn’t reveal as much skin as before and that’s a good thing because it shows some evolution in the character. She tells us that she is still proud of her attractive body but she no longer gives as much importance to it as before. She has matured.
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