Friday, March 20, 2009

Mai Shiranui (Fatal Fury Series)

SNK's Fatal Fury has been one of the longest-running fighting franchises around, with a following that, while not as large and as mainstream as Streetfighter, is defintely as loyal. With a different feel and style from Capcom's flagship, Fatal Fury has it's own heroes and heroines that we have grown to love all these years. Of course, foremost of SNK's babes is Mai Shiranui, the bouncy ninja girl who is forever running after hero Andy Bogard.

Mai's surely SNK's answer to Chun-Li, their main babe. And why not? She's hot, has a great fighting style and certainly has star quality (I'd go for a Fatal Fury: The Legend of Mai anyday). But back when she started, Mai wasn't a babe barefoot fans could relate to much, as she was known more for her healthy chest than her other assets. During her first appearance in Fatal Fury 2, Mai appeared in a more provocative costume than you'd usually expect for a ninja (in fact, she may have given rise to all the sexy kunoichi designs since then). However, she didn't show off her feet. Mai wore the traditional ninja tabi, a toed sock or shoe/sandal.

It wasn't until Fatal Fury 3 that we suddenly did double-takes and saw that Mai had finally bared her beautiful feet to the world. Instead of all-covering tabi, Mai now wore sexy foot supporters that, while protecting her more vulnerable instep, left the front part of her foot, her toes and a nice view of her heel, bare. In my book, if a significant part of a babe's foot touches the ground, then she's barefoot, so finally, Mai was a barefoot babe! Her beautiful barefoot portraits that came with every game were, needless to say, must-haves for barefoot fans to admire and enjoy.


Mai Shiranui in Fatal Fury 3.


Mai Shiranui in Real Bout Fatal Fury (my favorite portrait of her).


Mai Shiranui in Real Bout Fatal Fury Special. Damn, she's hot.


A more cartoony style of Mai for Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The New Challengers, but thankfully her feet are still hot.

Mai would always wear her sexy foot supporters in the subsequent Real Bout Fatal Fury series (all three installments). So while the bouncy ninja would wear her old-style tabi in the King of Fighters series, it's nice to know that barefoot fans can enjoy Mai's sexy bare toes and soles as she kicks butt in the colorful and vibrantly-animated Real Bout Fatal Fury titles. All these are available in SNK collections on the PS2, and are a great addition to any barefoot fan's fighting game library.



Enjoy the the two videos above, mirror matches between barefoot kunoichis from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The New Challengers.
Here's to Mai going barefoot once more in future SNK games. She may be bouncy, but it's her feet that we find heavenly.

8 comments:

  1. O_O Those pictures and clips of Mai are awesome. She's really a hot character. I love footwear that exposes as much of the girl's feet as possible. Great post Sole Keeper.

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  2. Let's hope when Mai inevitably returns to the KOF series, she's sporting her Real Bout barefoot look. It's look wonderful in those new HD sprite graphics.

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  3. I'm hoping for that exact same thing, Delita. ^_^

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  4. KOFXII will be having extra characters on console- let's hope a barefoot Mai will be one of them. It's a slim chance (this IS the seemingly anti-foot KOF series), but who knows? Cross your fingers and toes then...

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  5. Speaking of KOF not being much for barefoot women, did you know that Hinako, the blonde sumo girl from KOF 2000 and onward, was originally going to fight barefoot? Apparantly the developers were insistant that she be a debutante. Shame.

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  6. Interesting. It could have gone even worse though- what it they did indeed make her barefoot, but with a sumo-sized body... ^_^

    Aside from Chae in KOF MI, there's Momoko the cute young Capoeira fighter in KOF XI. I'll try to feature her eventually.

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  7. Y'know, Momoko is like a punch in the nuts for me. Capoeira? Sweet, my roomie is a capoeirista and I've always fancied that style. She's barefoot? Excellent, that does my foot fetish well.

    Wait, she's 10 years old?! WTF? SNK, you teasing bastards! Hey, maybe they'll bring her back in a few years and let her mature into something that I can actually get attracted to. She has potential (and a funny-ass throw), but as she is, Momoko is nothing but another face to punch in KOF.

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  8. Actually, according to her profile Momoko is 16, she just acts really young.

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