"I'll kill you!" "Eeek!" Ah, fighting games. If not RPGs, then fighting games. Fighting games are a lot of fun, but they seem to follow a couple of basic patterns... such as: Racial Stereotypes Seen in Popular Video Game Culture First, let us take a look at the Chinese. Name Gender Age Style Characteristics Game Chun Li Female Young Woman General Kung Fu Fast kicker SFII Fei Long Male Young Man Jeet Kune Do Fast Bruce Lee clone SSFII Sie Kensou Male Young Man General Kung Fu Kind of Goofy KOF Marshall Law Male Young Man Martial Arts Fast Bruce Lee clone TK Ling Xiaoyou Female Young Girl Based on Baguaquan, Piguaquan Cutie girl TK Wang Jin Rei Male Old Geezer General Kung Fu Old Man TK Michelle Chang Female Young Woman Various Kung Fu ? TK Julia Chang Female Young Woman Based on Xinyiliuhequan, Bajiquan ? TK Lei Wulong Male Young Man Based on Wuxingquan Jackie Chan clone TK Lei Fan Female Young Woman Taijiquan Slow AND weak DOA Jann Li Male Young Man Jeet Kune Do Strong Bruce Lee clone DOA Gen Fu Male Old Geezer Xinyiliuhequan Slow, not very flashy DOA Xiang Hua Female Young Woman General Kung Fu Quick Wushu swordplay SC Some conclusions we can make about Chinese in fighting games: Almost all Chinese characters fit in the role of either: 1. Cute girl 2. Male movie star clone 3. Old geezer. Chinese females must also have a 'Chinese-style' haircut, all out of vogue these days except with little girls. Male movie star clones are almost always Bruce Lee wannabees. The most typical styles chosen for these characters are: Various Chinese martial arts (6+) (the default) Jeet Kune Do (3) (even though one is told to practice 'martial arts') Piguaquan (2) Xinyiliuhequan (2) Zuiquan (2) Taijiquan (1) Bajiquan (1) Baguaquan (1) (also known as 'baguazhang') Wuxingquan (1) The Koreans are even easier to categorize. Let's take a look: Name Gender Age Style Characteristics Game Kim Kaphwan Male Man Taekwondo Lots of kicks KOF, GD Chang Male Man Taekwondo + made-up Uses a big ball, slow KOF Choi Male Man Taekwondo + made-up Uses claws, fast KOF Jhun Male Man Taekwondo Lots of kicks, stances KOF Hwoarang Male Young Man Taekwondo Lots of kicks TK Baekdosan Male Older Man Taekwondo Lots of kicks TK Hwang Male Man Sword Wushu swordplay hodge-podge SC Seung Mina Female Young Girl Zanbatoh Wushu polearm hodge-podge SC Some conclusions we can make about Koreans in fighting games: 1. Almost all Korean characters are older males (30s). 2. If they are in non-weapon games, they will ALWAYS be at least partially Taekwondo practitioners. 3. In weapon-based games, the style of fighting tends to become Chinese. One reason for this lack of variety is the fact that most people don't seem to know that there are any Korean martial arts besides Taekwondo. When this is applied to companies making fighting games, this is inexcusable. I'd LOVE to see a game with Taekyon, Haedonggumdo, Silleum, Pakchigi, or any other traditional Korean art in it... but this probably won't happen soon, as Japanese people don't really know about them. Another interesting fact is that there are almost no female Korean characters. Perhaps this is a statement to attest to the lack of an attraction to Korean females by Japanese (while, for some reason, there are many, many Chinese female characters). While there is a new female Korean character slated to appear in the next KOF game, as the new game is being developed by a Korean company, it is probably the result of Korean opinions, not Japanese. This site created by Kuruma, 2001. Return to Kurumaland