I have a question wondering about Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury series

[King Marth 64]

I managed to got Terry Bogard from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate when he was launched at November 6th, 2020 and I also got Fatal Fury 3 from the Nintendo Switch eShop when it was on sale around December. I did looked at some videos on YouTube that mentioned about their disappointments that Mai Shiranui didn't made a single cameo in the King of Fighter Stadium and Sakurai wanted to keep the series as "Super Smash Bros. is for Good Boys and Good Girls of All Ages" and I did looked at some Fatal Fury and King of Fighters videos to observe them before I entered the Fatal Fury series.

I have a question for anyone who was in Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series. Since I did heard some fans were wanting Mai Shiranui to be cameod or appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I did looked at the reason why Mai wasn't included because of her atire that she uses while fighting in combat and Sakurai didn't want to bring the Age Rating in the Japanese versions bumped from CERO A to higher. If her fans wanted her to be in the next Super Smash Bros. title, wouldn't it be obvious for SNK managed to give Mai a new alternate costume or an appropriate Ninja outfit (that be useful to the "Good Boys and Good Girls of All Ages" rules) that it be more appropriate similar to like Blue Mary was in similar to like Terry did had an alternate outfit in the Garou: Mark of the Wolves and King of Fighters series so that it might satisfy of her being cameod either as a new background character for the King of Fighters Stadium, as an Assist Trophy for the Fatal Fury series, or join in as a playable fighter similar to like Sephiroth had? Or does Mai not want to fight without her iconic outfit that distracts men and showing much skin as she wanted since I did heard that in Chun-Li vs. Mai Shiranui's Death Battle Match mentioned by Wiz.

P.S.: I wasn't targeting this thread towards Super Smash Bros. series, I was putting this thread more relevant towards Mai Shiranui, Fatal Fury series, King of Fighters series, and SNK.

Edited January 27 by King Marth 64

[indigoasis]

While it's disappointing that Mai doesn't have any representation, they could have done something like they did with Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. However, Mai has a lot more to cover up than Mythra, so it's possible that they didn't want to do the character any injustice and ruin her design or the intentions of her outfit (Mai does wear kimonos in certain appearances, but most spirits in Smash, as far as I know, feature characters in their initial appearances with their original designs intact).

At the same time, if you take a look at any of her pixelated combat sprites in their neutral stance... I think you can get the idea. Even so, the last time a Fatal Fury game came out was in 1999 (under Garou: Mark of the Wolves), and the last KoF game came out in 2016, so any new designs for Mai would more than likely stay true to her initial design rather than try to get her to fit into another fighting game not made by SNK. At least, not unless they do a complete character redesign like they did with Terry in Garou: Mark of the Wolves (or SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy) meant to showcase a more grown up Mai. 

TL;DR: I don't think that they want to ruin the intentions of the character's design.

[The Roger The Paladin]

In Mai's case... I think it goes a bit beyond her costume if you get me. She has a rather infamous jiggle physic. Has since she debuted.... and to be honest I don't expect her sexualized nature to change. I think it's... helped bolster her popularity (kind of like Camilla, but less... in your face... about it).

That said... I wouldn't rule it out totally. KoF XV may be delayed due to Covid, but it's still in production... and it's not like other characters in the SNK universe haven't changed their outfit over the years (Terry in Mark of Wolves/King of Fighters 2003, Andy in King of Fighters 2001, Kyo after the Orochi trilogy, Athena literally almost every game in the whole franchise,  Geese Howard's secret battle in the Art of Fighting 2, Yuri's redesign for the Art of Fighting 2, Robert's redesign for Art of Fighting 3. Raiden becoming Big Bear in Fatal Fury II and going back to being Raiden in KOF 12/13. Woo from King of the Monsters went from being a giant gorilla to a giant robot with a Gorilla's brain for the second game for crying out loud.

Point is, you never can be 100% of anything in SNK... except the fact the final boss is going to be a bastard.

[King Marth 64]

8 hours ago, The Roger The Paladin said:

In Mai's case... I think it goes a bit beyond her costume if you get me. She has a rather infamous jiggle physic. Has since she debuted.... and to be honest I don't expect her sexualized nature to change. I think it's... helped bolster her popularity (kind of like Camilla, but less... in your face... about it).

That said... I wouldn't rule it out totally. KoF XV may be delayed due to Covid, but it's still in production... and it's not like other characters in the SNK universe haven't changed their outfit over the years (Terry in Mark of Wolves/King of Fighters 2003, Andy in King of Fighters 2001, Kyo after the Orochi trilogy, Athena literally almost every game in the whole franchise,  Geese Howard's secret battle in the Art of Fighting 2, Yuri's redesign for the Art of Fighting 2, Robert's redesign for Art of Fighting 3. Raiden becoming Big Bear in Fatal Fury II and going back to being Raiden in KOF 12/13. Woo from King of the Monsters went from being a giant gorilla to a giant robot with a Gorilla's brain for the second game for crying out loud.

Point is, you never can be 100% of anything in SNK... except the fact the final boss is going to be a bastard.

Does Mai usually only fight in her iconic Ninja outfit or is there any story evidence that Mai can might fight without using her iconic Ninja outfit? I think I did seen some DLC costumes in SNK Heroines that can change all the girls into other outfits or Mai does refused to wear something modest that isn't showing alot of skin during at her battles?

[The Roger The Paladin]

11 hours ago, King Marth 64 said:

Does Mai usually only fight in her iconic Ninja outfit or is there any story evidence that Mai can might fight without using her iconic Ninja outfit? I think I did seen some DLC costumes in SNK Heroines that can change all the girls into other outfits or Mai does refused to wear something modest that isn't showing alot of skin during at her battles?

I mean... we do see her in other outfits in SNK Heroines... but that game is very, very fan-service-y due to the whole thing being caused by Kukri.... including their outfits. And Kukri is a colossal pervert... hence almost everyone involved being somewhat... offput. You could say the game's self-aware.

While we never really see here fight in something more modest, it should be noted that sometimes she starts off in a kimono before the fight that sort of... reverses into the other outfit (most of it becoming that "tail"). There's also a few end-game cutscenes with her in more modest clothes (a low bar, but anyway) such as her Fatal Fury Special ending, where she's wearing a white button up shirt and jeans (I think, you don't see much from the waist down on that one because the emphasis of the shot is Andy carrying their luggage and her hurrying him along). There's a few endings around where she wears a tank top. Perhaps most interestingly, is one of the sketches for alternate costume designs in the KoF Maximum Impact spin-off. There's a costume based off Andy's KoF 2001 costume... though I don't remember it being in the game. Considering her involvement with Andy, and some of their mutual training, this would be a fairly plausible reason for her to have such a look. That said... it shouldn't be read too much into. There were a lot of references in the Maximum Impact series alternate costumes, both to other series, and even other franchises, some of which weren't even games.

 

[King Marth 64]

13 hours ago, The Roger The Paladin said:

I mean... we do see her in other outfits in SNK Heroines... but that game is very, very fan-service-y due to the whole thing being caused by Kukri.... including their outfits. And Kukri is a colossal pervert... hence almost everyone involved being somewhat... offput. You could say the game's self-aware.

While we never really see here fight in something more modest, it should be noted that sometimes she starts off in a kimono before the fight that sort of... reverses into the other outfit (most of it becoming that "tail"). There's also a few end-game cutscenes with her in more modest clothes (a low bar, but anyway) such as her Fatal Fury Special ending, where she's wearing a white button up shirt and jeans (I think, you don't see much from the waist down on that one because the emphasis of the shot is Andy carrying their luggage and her hurrying him along). There's a few endings around where she wears a tank top. Perhaps most interestingly, is one of the sketches for alternate costume designs in the KoF Maximum Impact spin-off. There's a costume based off Andy's KoF 2001 costume... though I don't remember it being in the game. Considering her involvement with Andy, and some of their mutual training, this would be a fairly plausible reason for her to have such a look. That said... it shouldn't be read too much into. There were a lot of references in the Maximum Impact series alternate costumes, both to other series, and even other franchises, some of which weren't even games.

 

I'm kinda think about it. I did seen some memes (like some shown Mai tries to get into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate by asking Sakurai and he keeps repeating no to her) and suggestions that some YouTubers that Sakurai could have added some under clothes underneath. Wouldn't maybe put an under clothes on Mai as an alternate outfit might consider that Sakurai could probably give her a passable add if SNK managed to give it to her in someway in the next installment for Super Smash Bros. franchise would work like this one for example? I do remebered that Zero Suit Samus's alternate outfit did used the Casual Outfits of Blue Outfit from Fusion and Orange Outfit from Zero Mission since she did wear shorts that did showed her legs. I did heard that the Japanese version in For Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Ultimate did had Palutena got a minor censor because of showing her hips was almost boost the CERO rating.

I was wondering if SNK maybe give Mai some shorts like Zero Suit Samus and maybe cover her outer cleavage part (I don't know what exactly be called since it's showing her breasts outside her Ninja outfit, but I think the earlier King of Fighters games didn't have that) as an alternate outfit and keeps her more appeal iconic outfit in the default atire, that alternate outfit will might give Sakurai to add her in the next title since we kinda know that Sakurai is doing his best going by the source material what he finds as possible. I do remebered that Thara's trophy got removed in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS due to her outfit wasn't exactly fit for CERO A, but Sakurai did add her back in Ultimate as a Spirt using her ingame portrait instead of her artwork (I think Sakurai did used the ingame portrait because of her Tome did covered up her cleavage, I believe I think that was more revealing than Mai's cleavage shown from her outfit).

Edited January 28 by King Marth 64

[Glennstavos]

The only thing strange about the Mai situation is just that she would have been a background element of a stage. Just standing around with one idle animation on repeat. And even using the game's camera controls, you wouldn't be able to get a very close look at her, or swing the camera around in some lewd angles. My theory is that they absolutely did make Mai, and the ratings board demanded her removal in order to avoid a rating change. And if so, that's a bummer, but not an uncommon scenario. Recently I've encountered a japanese developer interview regarding events twenty years ago and the CERA has been sort of this notorious gatekeeper for game development even back then. 

As for the thread's question, I haven't seen/played even half the games Mai has appeared in, but I have with regard to at least a dozen of them, and no I don't know of any other outfit she wears that is even close to being so iconic. And I think making her wear something else would make her stand out among several other cameos who do look exactly how they should look.

[King Marth 64]

On 1/29/2021 at 8:59 PM, Glennstavos said:

The only thing strange about the Mai situation is just that she would have been a background element of a stage. Just standing around with one idle animation on repeat. And even using the game's camera controls, you wouldn't be able to get a very close look at her, or swing the camera around in some lewd angles. My theory is that they absolutely did make Mai, and the ratings board demanded her removal in order to avoid a rating change. And if so, that's a bummer, but not an uncommon scenario. Recently I've encountered a japanese developer interview regarding events twenty years ago and the CERA has been sort of this notorious gatekeeper for game development even back then. 

As for the thread's question, I haven't seen/played even half the games Mai has appeared in, but I have with regard to at least a dozen of them, and no I don't know of any other outfit she wears that is even close to being so iconic. And I think making her wear something else would make her stand out among several other cameos who do look exactly how they should look.

Technically, I don't think the CERO Rating System company demanded to remove her in the game, it would have bumped the CERO rating up from A to B in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate if Sakurai added Mai in the game. Sakurai was being careful with the content handling to make sure kids play the game since there was a Tharja Trophy was been removed in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS due to more revealing outfit. I think Sakurai had talked to SNK about what he can choose the content that he picked out and he might have discussed about Mai during at the development for Terry Bogard DLC back then.

I don't think I recall Mai ever showed up in a single video game that was rated CERO A nor ERSB E for Everyone and E+10 for Ages +10 and up. She's merely gets stucked in the video games that are around Rated T for Teen and maybe CERO B as well.

Edited January 31 by King Marth 64