Behind every successful man is an equally successful woman. Behind every famous fighting game franchise, there’s always a woman or two to show men how it’s done.

Nothing exemplifies girl power than a sole woman in a fighting game. Or in this current generation, 1/4th of the title’s roster.

To celebrate International Women’s Day this weekend, here are our top picks of females in fighting games and why they’re badass. We’re focusing on the pioneers of the genre, so expect this list to feature classic fighting game females. 

 

Chun-Li (Street Fighter Series, 1991 – Present)

We have to start with the first playable and iconic female fighter in video games: Street Fighter’s Chun-Li. She is fast, nimble, and has great mid-ranged pokes to deal with oncoming foes while creating space for herself. Throughout the years and in sequels, she gains a projectile, many forms of air control, and more priorities given to her heavy kicks. Because she never skips leg day as you can tell by the various incarnations of her outfit and look.

In Street Fighter 6, she has aged a bit and is now in a sensei role. And she’s a little more challenging to play as due to her stance-changing mechanics added to her kit. But she’s still a footsie and mid-ranged poking-savvy powerhouse like she was in Street Fighter III: Third Strike; just a little wiser than before and meant for advanced players who prefer someone a little more in-depth.

Yes, we know Typhoon Girl’s Yuki exists and was the first-ever playable female fighter in her own game (since 1985), but Chun-Li outlasted her in appearances and entries. People remember the blue cheongsam, spiked bracelets, and hair buns more than a girl in a generic pink gi.

 

Mai Shiranui (Fatal Fury Series, 1992 – Present)

The other Queen of Fighters, Mai Shiranui got her start in Fatal Fury 2 as SNK’s counterpoint to Street Fighter 2’s Chun-Li. She is a fast ninja who fights with fans and purposely dresses skimpy to distract her opponents.

While appearing as a ditz to most, she is skilled in the ways of the ninja, and is incredibly dedicated to her future husband Andy Bogard (also a ninja). She also has gone toe-to-toe with Street Fighter’s Chun-Li on many crossover occasions, further cementing her iconic Queen of Fighter title. Chun-Li is the Yin to Mai Shiranui’s Yang as they both have different personalities and philosophies of fighting, though equally strong.

Long story short, people gravitate towards SNK fighting games if they had this nimble ninja in the roster. The term “no Mai, no buy” isn’t just a catchphrase; it’s just how the world works when making fighting games attractive.

 

Yuri Sakazaki (Art of Fighting Series, The King of Fighter Series, 1992 – Present)

From damsel in distress in Art of Fighting to mainstay practitioner of her family’s Kyokugen Karate style, Yuri Sakazaki has evolved tenfold since her debut. Her fighting style is a mix of her karate and her female temperament – she lunges forward and gives you tons of hard slaps to the face, and even slams into you butt-first when needed.

 

King (Art of Fighting Series, KOF Series, 1992-Present)

This Muay Thai fighter is a champion to all tomboys everywhere. Initially appearing as a man in the first Art of Fighting, her KO-by-Super-Move animation reveals her actual gender, making her a fan favourite with each iteration of The King of Fighters. It’s also because she has the best projectile game in the series, coupled with many kick-related attacks to get into her opponent’s face.

 

Sonya Blade (Mortal Kombat Series, 1992-Present)

The tech of using digitized sprites in video games became a trend back in the early 90s, so much so that fighting games had to jump in on that craze. There were many pretenders to that throne, but the one true digitized queen of fighting games goes to one Sonya Blade of Mortal Kombat fame. She’s a military officer with the Special Forces, tasked to taking down Black Dragon leader Kano.

Apart from super-punches and energy rings, she also has a deadly leg grab, can use Special Forces gadgets and gear in later iterations of the game, and can serve up a flaming kiss of hot death as a Fatality. 

And yes, that pic above is the original actress for Sonya Blade: Kerri Hoskin. Props to her for remembering her roots.

Cammy White (Street Fighter Series, 1993-Present)

The second female fighter to enter the Capcom Streets, this British soldier fights in a green beret one piece army outfit with her Killer Bee moves and speed. She is rushdown personified; she will just get in your face with her Spiral Arrows and Spin Knuckle while being fast on her feet and also using her divekicks and Hooligan Combo to maintain air superiority. If you’re blocking a lot with her, you’re playing her wrong.

She sports a new casual outfit with pants in Street Fighter 6, but she retains her offense-heavy moveset that’s been her staple since. She still has her old one-piece outfit if you prefer the classic look. In any case, she doesn’t take guff from anyone, cares for her comrades post-Bison brainwashing nonsense, and is a fan of cats.

 

Nakoruru (Samurai Shodown Series, 1993-Present)

Arguably one of the few female fighters in the early 90s era who isn’t sexualized to a degree, Nakoruru is an Ainu priestess who fights to save nature from supernatural horrors running the Samurai Shodown tournament. She uses her dagger and fast rolling and diving moves to assault enemies, and gets aid from her trained hawk Namahaha to get air support and maintain air superiority.

She is a respectful and gentle person, but she won’t hesitate to kill anything in her way if it threatens her comrades and nature in general. She also has taken trips to the future as evident in The King of Fighters XIV and XV, enjoying life in the modern world before returning to her world and timeline.

Just like any woman, she just wants to spend one day indulging in “selfish desires” like shopping, hence her endings in the KOF games. Fun fact: she is so popular among the fighting game fanbase that SNK retconned her death in her Samurai Shodown II ending. This also explains why Samurai Shodown III, IV, V, VI, and the 2019 sequel/reboot all take place before Samurai Shodown II’s storyline.

 

Sarah Bryant, Pai Chan (Virtua Fighter Series, 1993 – Present)

The first prominent 3D fighting game femme fatales that graces the attract screen and panels of the arcade board Virtua Fighter was on. Sarah Bryant is an amnesiac who fights ruthlessly to reclaim her memory in the Virtua Fighter tournament, while Pai is around to keep her dad Lau Chan in check while balancing her job as a Hong Kong movie actress.

While Sarah is the more popular character of the two -gentlemen prefer blondes and giant-ass flip kicks- Pai deserves mention for sticking around for all five mothership games like Sarah did, and also being a great pick for beginners in VF. Her moveset and gameplan is more accessible than main character Akira; that alone deserves some mention.

 

Morrigan Aensland (Darkstalkers/Vampire Series, 1994 – 2017)

A succubus who would rather party in the human world than to do her Night Warriors duty. She has to fight off rivals to the throne like Dimitri and Jedah to assert her dominance in the universe she’s in. Given that she’s designed by Capcom and the nature of the mythical demon being she represents, she is drawn a particular curvy way to purposely be titillating for the audience (and the resin figure market).

Unsurprisingly, she is so popular and a huge fan favourite that she outlives the franchise she’s in. She insteads appears in the Marvel Vs. series as Capcom’s top biller alongside Ryu, Chun-Li, and Akuma. She is also instrumental in many top-tier team compositions for Marvel Vs. as her assists boost Super Meter for her team and she has Super Moves where she duplicates herself and can fill the screen with projectiles as a result.

While Darkstalkers remains dormant (not dead), she still remains active in repping Capcom.

 

Nina Williams (Tekken Series, 1994-Present)

Usually known for being the world’s worst mom (to Tekken mainstay Steve Fox), Nina is an Irish assassin who takes s*** from no one and is willing to kill for whoever offers her the most money, be it Mishima Zaibatsu or G Corporation. Apart from that, she has an intense rivalry with her sister and she ends up adding guns to her combat repertoire thanks to Tekken 8.

Compared to the rest of the characters on the list prior, she isn’t particularly interesting save for her skin-tight purple combat suit design and her wedding gear in Tekken 7. She’s here because we don’t want angry Tekken fans hounding us for excluding her on this prestigious list.

 

Sofia (Battle Arena Toshinden Series, 1995-1999)

The other 3D competitor to Virtua Fighter, but with weapons. Sofia is what competitors create to one-up the games they’re competing against; in this case it’s Virtua Fighter. Sarah looks like a threat? How about making our own version but Russian and with a whip? And less clothes?

People remember Toshinden not because of the combat and sidestepping mechanics, but because of characters like Sofia who add colour and diversity to the roster.

 

Kasumi (Dead or Alive Series, 1996 – 2019)

Most fighting game leads back in the day are usually male: see Street Fighter’s Ryu and Mortal Kombat’s Liu Kang for examples. So it’s really cool and progressive in the mid-90s that Tecmo’s first and most impactful 3D fighting game entry has a female lead in the form of the ninja Kasumi.

She is relevant to the core story of the game, she’s the easiest character to start with before you decide you want to play other characters, and has always been the strongest and best all-rounder among the core cast. Other female fighters in the first DOA like Leifang and Tina are great and all, but she’s been consistently present in the game’s mixed-up narrative.

While DOA3’s Hitomi ends up being a fan favourite over time and people remember her half-sister Ayane more, Kasumi is still the series’ mascot and best representative of a DOA character: beautiful but deadly and full of counterattacks.

 

Sakura Kasugano (Street Fighter Series, 1996 – Present)

Capcom answers the age-old question: what if hobo fighter Ryu had a fan who fights just like him? Or “What if Ryu but Rule 63 and jailbait?” Enter Sakura Kasunago.

Sakura has imitated all of Ryu’s moves, but adds a spin to them while also making up new moves. Her fireball can be charged up to create a bigger-albeit-short-ranged projectile, her uppercut starts off as a short dash that goes upwards at the end, and her Hurricane kick comes with a light hop. She also has a Jump Smash that can be used as a combo-ender if she manages to put her opponents in a juggle state. She’s also one of those few characters whose Supers have to be blocked low.

Sakura is also important in Street Fighter lore because it also establishes the fact that there are schoolkids in Street Fighter/Final Fight’s universe who can chuck plasma and shoot out strong attacks with powered-up energy & ki. So much so that spin-off fighting game Rival Schools/Project Justice is part of the SF universe because Sakura goes to the same school district in that series. And that her classmates also happen to be other SF characters like Elena, Makoto, Ibuki, and rival Karin Kanzuki.

 

Ivy Valentine (SoulCalibur, 1999 – 2018)

Soul Edge was a 3D weapons-based fighting game Namco was proud of, but it lacked frames-per-second and sauce. Enter SoulCalibur, which comes equipped with a new cast of characters with various weapon and fighting styles.

One that stands out is the exotically-dressed Ivy Valentine, daughter of the pirate Cervantes and alchemist who wants to solve the SoulCalibur and Soul Edge problem. She also does this by fighting off warriors using her sword that transforms into a whip, leading to tricky attacks and traps meant for careless players to get caught in. As far as complex fighters go, she’s the queen of that as she can really trick opponents who don’t know any better.

But her dress sense throughout the sequels is the stuff of legends. We even have a fashion article dedicated to this queen of pain. Long live her lavish outfits and her sword-slash-whip tech that’s meant for advanced players.

And there you have it: fighting game’s most influential women who paved the way for the likes of Fatal Fury’s B.Jenet, Street Fighter’s Marissa and Manon, and many, many ass-kicking women and girls. Which ones are your favourite? Let us know!