No damsel in distress

In the original Donkey Kong game you play a character named Jumpman (who later became known as Mario) whose job it is to rescue ‘the Lady’ (later known as Pauline). This is one of the early if not first example of the now classic damsel in distress scenarios, Pauline (I’m not going to continue referring to her as ‘the Lady’) dressed in her pink dress calls out to her hero to rescue her with the word HELP appearing next to her periodically.

Flash forward ten years and a lot can happen in a decade! In the Capcom game Street Fighter II one of the very first playable female characters that I remember from the gaming world was introduced.

Chun-Li, the International Criminal Police Organization agent who receives an invitation to the World Warrior tournament and enters in the hopes of reaching its host M. Bison who killed Chun-Li’s father.

Chun-Li’s signature move was the Hyakuretsu Kyaku which is quick series of kicks performed whilst standing on one leg. Not too bad considering up to this point most female characters in video games were relegated to the sidelines or the dreaded damsel-in-distress position.

I don’t know any female gamers of my age group so I’m hoping some of you might leave a comment or even write a piece on your own experience with characters like Chun-Li. I imagine though that Chun-Li was quite popular as she appears in the later Street Fighter games. It could also be said that she led the way for female characters to make more than just appearances in future fighting games. The women of Mortal Kombat come to mind for example.

The other thing that comes to mind as I remember her character is that you are not limited in any way, she isn’t weaker because she’s a woman, she doesn’t have lessor moves or less effective strikes. You have just as much chance to beat M. Bison as any of the male characters and if I remember correctly I’ve completed Street Fighter II with Chun Li (I’m reasonably sure I’ve completed it with all the characters actually).

So I’m interested, all you gaming heroines out there, do you prefer playing female characters when playing fighter games or does it not really matter?

Lee is a a huge popular culture freak, loves comic books, science fiction, soundtracks and writes for Quit Your Day Job.