She was nevertheless the fastest but physically weakest character in her first game. To overcome this perceived imbalance, she was devised as a character who had mastered Chinese kenpo and really pushed her body to the limit so that she could compete with such a cast of large and imposing men. I didn't think about it at the time, but thinking about it now, from the moment we put Chun-Li into the game we were already pushing things towards the full-on entertainment side." Ĭhun-Li was designed with an exceptionally strong physique because she was the sole woman among a roster of powerful male characters in Street Fighter II. Just by adding her we were starting to push things to the 'fun' side. Ordinarily, you don't see women participating in global martial arts tournaments. We needed a reason for her to fight, and so an evil empire came to mind." He also said: "To be honest, I spent some time worrying about putting Chun-Li, the heroine, into such a plain setting. Having a female character in the game completely changes the game's dynamic, she brightens up the entire palette. That also helps explain how Chun-Li came to be. When we made the sprites I thought she didn't look right, so I had them changed to tights instead." Akiman added that they "wanted Street Fighter II to be more entertaining than its predecessor. Chun-Li "was wearing pants right up until the very end. Yasuda recalled they only had five weeks to make Chun-Li in the game and he was deeply worried about the quality of her design and how she would be received. Chūn (春) means 'spring', and lì (麗) means 'beautiful' in Mandarin dialects. Her name means 'beautiful spring' in Chinese as 麗. She had a backflip attack that was popular among testers but deemed too strong, and unfortunately had to be cut from the game after they ran out of time. Chun-Li was originally known as just 'Chinese Girl' among the development team. Then China just came up as a possible homeland." Capcom artist and designer Akira "Akiman" Yasuda said the initial inspiration for Chun-Li came from the 1983 anime film Harmagedon: Genma Wars (featuring early character design work by Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo), which had a Chinese female character called Tao. I determined what her fighting abilities would be.
In Chun-Li's case said Nishitani, I wanted a woman in the game. The text reads: "Our image for Chun-Li changed from the somewhat coquetteish 'Chinese Girl' version (left) to the strong, gallant Chun-Li (right)." Ĭapcom designer Akira Nishitani said on recounting the creation of the character: "Previously there were no women in fighting games". She has earned much positive fan and critical reception for factors such as her backstory, athleticism and in-game playability, and she is considered a trailblazer for female characters in fighting titles and general video gaming.Īkiman's original, later (in Interpol uniform) and final concept art works for Street Fighter II.
She is also featured prominently in Street Fighter-related media, including two feature films, multiple anime and comic book productions, and other official series merchandise. She has appeared in nearly all subsequent installments of the series and several Capcom spinoff games. Since her debut, Chun-Li has become a mainstay of the franchise and one of its most popular figures. The character primarily drew inspiration from a similar character in Tong Pooh, a female villain from Strider, an earlier Capcom game. Bison, leader of the Shadaloo crime syndicate. In the series, she is an expert martial artist and Interpol officer who restlessly seeks revenge for the death of her father at the hands of the evil M. The first female playable character of any fighting game franchise to gain mainstream recognition, she first appeared in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior in 1991. Capcom Infinite, Teppen)Ĭhinese Kempo ( 中國拳法, Chūgoku Kenpō, " Chinese martial arts")Ĭhun-Li ( 春麗, also チュン・リー, Chun-Rī, simplified Chinese: 春丽 traditional Chinese: 春麗 pinyin: Chūnlì) is a fictional character in Capcom's Street Fighter video game series. Vanessa Prokuski ( Street Fighter - Round One: Fight!).