Fighting games rock. I just can't way that enough. We owe the original Streetfighter 2 a lot for introducing a pretty important aspect of the genre that sets it apart from your run-of-the-mill boxing and MMA fighters- BABES. Freakin' babes. SF2 gave us a game where hot and beautiful ladies can compete with big, ugly and sweaty blokes, dishing out as well as taking punishment just like everyone else. But as much as I love Capcom for this, I have to say their designs (at least until SF3) left a LOT to be desired. That's where other companies beat them out on. And back early in the day it was all about Fighter's History, the first fighting game to give us a barefoot babe to enjoy.
Fighter's History was widely seen before as the first 'copycat' in the fighting genre, aping the more popular SF with it's own archetypes- it had it's own versions of Ryu, Ken and Chun Li, Zangief and Guile. However, there was one character in FH that I loved above all else, and she was the one really unique fighter in the lineup... cute little judo master and the first barefoot martial arts tomboy in fighting games, Ryoko.
Perhaps born a girl in a man's world, Ryoko took it upon herself to win fame for her dojo and fighting style (your usual schtick, but she was the first). With speed and agility came cool looking judo slams, and for the finale this spunky fighter could hit with her most feared technique- the Super Mountain throw which rivaled any Spinning Piledriver the competition could dish out. I sneaked out as often as I could, plunked in countless coins so I could watch my adorable judoka kick, punch and throw her way to victory.
I have to say, this was years ago and my personal fetish was still unfocused. But when I saw Ryoko for the first time, I found her far more beautiful and appealing than the other girls in the roster- even with her baggy, frumpy gi and boyish cuteness, I wanted Ryoko more than sexy Chinese actress Feilin with all her makeup and perky boobs, or even the leggy (but not barefoot) Taekwondo fighter Yungmie. No, it was Ryoko I kept playing with. Soon, I found myself thinking about giving her foot massages after her tiring bouts. Perhaps then, it clicked and from there on I knew what I wanted and my hunt for barefoot babes in games began.
It's pretty hard to find Fighter's History these days- unless there's an arcade with very old cabinets still around, you can do best by getting a Sega Saturn for a version of Fighter's History Dynamite (port of the Neo Geo/arcade upgrade) or have the SuperNES port (which was also cool). I'll try to have more vids (from Dynamite) up, but for now reminisce a classic fighter (and a classic barefoot babe) with the attached video.
