Chun-Li’s Fight to the Top
The meteoric rise of a Street Fighter legend
Damsels in distress were a common in older video games, accompanied with well-trodden clichés that would only continue to proliferate as time went by. Certain strong characters were pulling out of these deep furrows by the early ‘90s though, such as Chun-Li, the popular character from the iconic Street Fighter video game franchise.
Calling all fighters
Coming off the success of Final Fight, the team at Capcom had to follow it up with another success in 1991. In the first Street Fighter game, everyone could only play as Ryu (or Ken if a second player put money in the arcade cabinet), but with the second instalment the development team created a roster of eight playable characters, further fostering a sense of competition among players.
Akira Yasuda, the chief artist in the Street Fighter II development team, made distinctive fighters with characteristics that drew on the stereotypes of each’s respective birth country. The choice of the qipao as Chun-Li’s apparel of choice was one aspect of this. She also sports so-called ox horn buns, which is a hairstyle traditionally…
