While this character didn’t really go anywhere for SFIII I believe that many of these details were revisited in SFV. Specifically for the creation of F.A.N.G. The assassin with strange movements, that appeared to be able to float certainly fit the bill! By Street Fighter 6 the design elements were revised, and refined once more, and the character A.K.I. appeared. In 2022 I wrote that the design was giving off a dragon lady vibe. When the teaser for the character dropped during EVO 2023 my suspicions were confirmed. The longer move reveal trailer from just a couple of days ago showed that she had strange movements as well. She slashed with outstretched fingers, just like the Assassin concept art from many years prior.
Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that several of A.K.I. moves were based on poisonous animals, she could slither along the ground like a snake, and even employ some kicks from the fantastic scorpion style of kung-fu. Hats off to the animation team, it must have been tremendous fun creating her attack library. The trailer gave us the best example of how to present hidden strikes. I want you to think about your favorite characters, and how they stand with their hands forward, or exposed to the game camera. If you threw a punch for a kick, then it would be easy to track on the screen. A.K.I was turned away from the opponent. This meant that several of her attacks were actually obscured from the game camera. A.K.I. could backhand, or hook kick opponents. Her torso hid which hand she used, and her dress covered which kick was being delivered as well. This mirrored how the Assassin concept fighter hid his attacks under a long cloak. The more difficult part for either F.A.N.G. or A.K.I. were creating lethal strikes that could be described as poisonous.
The turned stance was seen in several forms of actual Chinese wushu, and Shaolin kung-fu. The use of stealth, and sneaky moves was not a new thing in fighting games. One of the best, and rarest fighting games to use classic kung-fu forms was Martial Masters by IGS from 1999. The game featured a sexy fighter named Red Snake, she used the snake form, and a flirtatious ladies man known as the Scorpion. I had written about the game from a Taiwan studio a few years ago, and how much they were influenced by the Capcom games from the mid-'90s. The characters in the game were inspired by a few classic kung-fu movies, not the least of which were the Once Upon a Time in China films featuring a young Jet Li playing the folk hero Wong Fei Hung. Martial arts cinema from Hong Kong, and Taiwan had a major hand in influencing the development of Street Fighter, and the entire fighting game genre. With regards to F.A.N.G., and A.K.I. there was actually a lot of precedence for having a "poison fist" fighting style. In cinema there was an all-star film from 1978 called The Five Deadly Venoms. In it the assassins were all trained in a particular deadly art; Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard, and Toad. One or several of these poison fists were referenced in many classic manhua, or comic books. The villains often mimicked the attacks of these dangerous creatures. Some of these techniques were so dangerous that even a single touch could kill. This was the case for Elder Guan from the Four Constables. His hands would turn dark when he summoned the Black Death Palms technique. A live action version of this power was seen with the character of Yuan in the 2010 film True Legend. There was no doubt that the people at Capcom were heavily influenced by these stories. The most powerful characters in myth could perform a dim mak, or death touch. The Shun Goku Satsu from Gouki / Akuma was probably the most popular death touch in modern culture. A.K.I. was a sort of nod to these mysterious, and often deadly techniques, but there was much more to her design.
A.K.I. had to be an over-the-top villain in order to stand out from the rest of the Street Fighter lineup. She couldn't just be a kung-fu practitioner that happened to be mean. It wasn't enough that she had some sneaky moves either. Every part of her presentation had to be more outrageous than the traditional kung-fu characters like Chun-Li, or even Jamie. This meant that she had to have stances, and grapples that twisted, and contorted her body. She would fold herself in half before slashing, or drop flat to the ground before kicking. Not knowing where the next strike would come from would throw off opponents. The fighting game community had first seen these types of awkward angles, and strikes through the character of Voldo from Namco's 1995 hit Soul Edge. Voldo was an assassin, and could strike with his razor sharp katars from any position, including while laying on the ground.
In the gameplay reveal trailer we could see A.K.I. slither on her back. It was unnerving seeing the character move like that. This snake crawl allowed her to get under ranged attacks, and close the gap on opponents. Previously the franchise did feature snake-like movement with at least one other character. In the Street Fighter EX series by ARIKA Dhalsim could perform a Yoga Throw. The setup for it was very unique. The Indian yogi would wind around his opponent like a serpent before grabbing their torso and flipping them on their head. It remained one of my favorite fighting game animations to this day. I'm certain that Street Fighter 6 animators were able to pick, and choose the best elements they could find from pop culture, from actual kung-fu, and even earlier games while fleshing out the moves of the new assassin.
For the developers it also wasn't enough to have a character that fought, or moved like a snake. She had to look dangerous,and untrustworthy. From a visual perspective A.K.I. was figuratively, and literally a toxic person. The pale white skin was unnatural, as if she was drained of her blood. The cut of her hair was reminiscent of the amanita phalloides aka the death cap mushroom. As far as her costume went it could be argued that Street Fighter 6 Designer Yusuke Hashimoto was making a bold fashion statement. The use of modern tulle sleeves, and pants under a traditional cheongsam was only the beginning. His choice of costume, skin color, jewelry, and haircut were very avant-garde. Every detail added reflected the same fashion sense that he tapped into when creating the designs in the first two Bayonetta games. Had Juri, F.A.N.G., or Kurow never existed then I'm certain that A.K.I.'s introduction would have had a greater impact on the franchise.
Capcom must have known that between Juri, and A.K.I. the toxic female Asian trope was becoming redundant. I'm not sure why they felt like they had to double-down on this route. The question remained. Was Capcom doing right with character representation? Could this simply be chalked up to an artistic choice, and not a jab at the Chinese villain trope? The studio had done much better with Dhalsim, Blanka, and Rashid in this title. However A.K.I seemed to be a step backwards, at least to me.
Street Fighter 6 was doing a lot to address the mistakes in the past. To make up for ugly characters, and ugly design choices. To become more inclusive when it came to ideas of sex, and gender roles. There would be a lot of positive new changes, faces, and game design elements introduced into the franchise. One of the major shifts to the cast came with the addition of NPCs to help carry the story. We will look at how in the next blog. I hope to see you back for the next entry. If you are a long time fan of Final Fight, or Street Fighter then I would like to hear your impressions of SF6. If you have never played any game previously then tell me your experiences in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!
I'm disappointed in how similar AKI seems to be to Juri, personality-wise.
ReplyDeleteI don't really share the idea that SF6 had to make up for mistakes of the past, the design in VI is the same as it was in previous games.
ReplyDeleteEven A.K.I. isn't "fixing" F.A.N.G, who doesn't need fixing anyway, it's continuing that line of design. Had Capcom tried to bury the past you wouldn't see F.A.N.G's theme and stickers all over the A.K.I. battle pass that's in the game right now.
And A.K.I. feels pretty distinct from Juri too. She's more composed and her story and actual personality seem completely different. Juri has a tragic background to justify her wanton sadism, with a bunch of stuff implying she's not happy about her situation, A.K.I. not only seems pretty cool with what she's doing but the fact a big part of her is idolizing her master F.A.N.G immediately tells you she's way different from Juri who wouldn't take orders from anyone.
Also, what's wrong with the Chinese villain trope? It's inspired by martial arts movie and it's cool. I think the issue came up with F.A.N.G's post too and I still think the same: the Japanese developers at Capcom aren't engaging in anti-Asian stereotyping, that's silly. I don't even think there would be anything wrong for a non-Asian to use that trope either as long as there are positive Chinese counter-parts to make it clear this is not meant to be an attack on Chinese people or something, and Street Fighter also has that since Chun-Li.
Phtm_Miria,
DeleteThanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I honestly think that SF6 is trying to fix missteps in the past. The French Judoka, Mediterranean grappler, and North American kung-fu specialist were all much better designed in 6 than they were in IV, and V. The little details like changing Dhalsim's necklace, and making Blanka self aware helped soften some older tropes. Chun-Li as a star character set the bar incredibly high for Asian female leads. Juri works because she's a sort of anti-hero Chun-Li. I didn't think the game needed to fall back on the sneaky villain trope because they had done so well by going in directions opposite of what had been seen in other games. I wouldn't have been so against F.A.N.G. if he weren't presented so absurd, the silly animations, and flying gimmick completely took me out of the game. In a similar way to Rufus. But again, that's the way I see it. I always welcome different points of view.