“I'm the strongest woman in the world!”

July 8, 2023 8:43 AM

The Kickass Legacy of Chun-Li, the First Playable Woman in 'Street Fighter' [Vice Games] “In the midst of this digital world designed, developed, and dominated by men, Chun-Li defied expectations about women in games entirely. She wore an athletic modified qipao, combat boots, spiked cuffs around each wrist, and had massive, impressively toned muscles. Plus, she was one of the best competitive Street Fighter characters; her speed, agility, and match-ending Super Combos proved a devastating mix for her opponents, and ensured top-tier dominance throughout the series. [...] Chun-Li immediately shot to popularity as the franchise’s first playable female character. And by giving her the same depth of backstory and combat ability as every other player, Street Fighter set the bar for female characterization. From her skillful strikes and powerful air throws to her infamous Spinning Bird Kick, Chun-Li’s offensive capabilities proved she was a woman who could finally fight on an equal playing field with her male counterparts.”

• Street Fighter 6 Features The Best Chun-Li In 24 Years [Kotaku]

“Chun-Li’s now a grown woman with a grown woman’s concerns. Her girlish days are behind her—even her trademark victory animation, in which she jumps up and down with childish glee, is now an Easter egg of sorts, in that she only does it when she gets a perfect KO. In her World Tour mode text messages, she tells the player she’s worried about her metabolism—a worry I share, as someone who’s moving into middle age—and how she needs to be vigilant with her training as a result. (As an aside: Can we talk about how awesome it is that Chun-Li sends text messages to you? For this veteran player, those text message notifications were a huge incentive, and running into Chun-Li felt like meeting a celebrity.) The way Chun-Li experiences girlhood is not through herself, but through the eyes of Li-Fen. We see artwork of Chun-Li caring for her adoptive daughter—by making her steamed bao buns when she’s angry, by shopping with her at the mall, by supporting her interests in computer hacking, by eating ice cream together. These scenes humanize the longtime warrior and give us insight into her life away from fighting.”

• Chun Li Finally Has an Asian American Voice Actor [Wired][Archive.org Non-Paywalled]

“When voice actor Jennie Kwan started out in the 1990s, she auditioned for a video game that wasn’t released yet. She recalls going to the engineering producer’s home studio in Laurel Canyon, a mountainous neighborhood in Los Angeles. As it turned out, Kwan was recording for Chun Li, the martial artist and Interpol agent who debuted in 1991 in Street Fighter II: World Warrior. Kwan would be the sample voice for her. While she ended up not being the final voice for Chun Li way back then, she’s now the new official English dub voice for the role in the upcoming Street Fighter 6. “It's really a full-circle moment that I get to voice such an iconic character,” Kwan says. [...] As an actor, she says that she needs to remind herself that there are always ups and downs in the entertainment industry. She had no idea that an audition decades ago would come back around like this. Chun Li is by all accounts a badass, strong, and determined brawler, and Kwan says she gets emotional knowing people look up to her. “Just seeing her in Street Fighter 6, even just the little snippets, there's a sort of calm before the storm with her, that she's able to hold it and just really follow through,” says Kwan. “She has enough grit and power not to back down, which is pretty impressive, and that's something I admire too.””

posted by Fizz (9 comments total)

One of the best illustrations of why you don't skip leg day.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:55 AM on July 8, 2023 [14 favorites]

F yes Chun Li! My favorite Street Fighter character. Those thunder thighs meant business.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:02 AM on July 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

One of the best illustrations of why you don't skip leg day.

And to make sure your car insurance is paid up and comprehensive.
posted by Fizz at 9:18 AM on July 8, 2023 [7 favorites]

Chun-Li was always my favorite, largely because I was playing SF at friends' houses and never had the chance to learn combos more complicated than button-mashing, and she and E. Honda were the two where if you got caught in a corner you could just rapid-fire one button to get out of it. This was considered "cheap" by my friends, of course, but I'm not sure wtf else I was supposed to do to try to keep up.

Anyway, hell yes, Chun-Li rules.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:53 AM on July 8, 2023 [2 favorites]

Chun-Li's Lightning Kick is central to Daigo's perfect block at Evo 2004 where he perfectly blocked every attack frame of her kick animation. One of the most astonishing things to ever happen in a video game tournament. Sadly Chun Li loses; she may be the strongest woman in the world but she cannot beat a Ken with perfect reflexes.

I mostly played Chun Li that month in 1992 when I fed all my quarters to SF2:CE at the local Sevvie. I didn't use Lightning Kick much, it left you too vulnerable. But the Spinning Bird was good for a surprise because you could queue it up during otherwise idle frames without your opponent noticing. Mostly though I was good at the mid-kick / throw combo. The attack is really fast and most opponents would have a hard time blocking it, which set up an easy throw. I did that until everyone I played with declared it "cheap" and wouldn't let me do it anymore. Hmpf.

Of course I played Chun Li because she was a girl. I play a mean Peach too. I'm the best!
posted by Nelson at 2:20 PM on July 8, 2023 [9 favorites]

Shout-out to Gemma Nguyen, martial arts champion, stuntwoman, and long-time Chun-Li cosplayer.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 2:21 PM on July 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Chun-Li is my bae. Always and forever. That is all.

YATTA!
posted by symbioid at 8:30 AM on July 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

Damn, that Daigo perfect block video is astonishing.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:59 PM on July 9, 2023

Chun-Li was a trendsetter, and I prefer more diversity in the player character in video games. I'm exhausted of the silent (or obnoxiously "witty") dude as who I'm on an adventure with.

One minor quibble with how they frame another IMHO important female lead character.

>Then there were the sexy fighters—the gun-slinging Jill Valentine in Resident Evil (1996), Samus Aran in the Metroid series

Samus was sexy? She was clad in armor for the entire game! You only new Samus was a woman if you finished in a very short amount of time.

https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Metroid_endings#Metroid
posted by ckoerner at 9:00 AM on July 17, 2023 [1 favorite]