Cognition Dissemination: The Smash Bros. Team Couldn’t Win with Mai Shiranui
The King of Fighters Stadium stage included with Terry Bogard’s release as DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate includes several cameos from SNK’s Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters franchises. They work as homages to the earliest KoF games, where a given character’s teammates stood on the sidelines and either watched the fight as they waited their turn or observed the remainder of the battle after they were defeated.
But any fan of both franchises involved couldn’t help but raise their eyebrow at one character in particular being left out: Mai Shiranui. Sure, several fan favorite characters were left out of the cameos, but Mai is one of the most popular and important characters in the history of not only both franchises, but SNK overall.
There was a good and hilarious explanation from director Masahiro Sakurai for her exclusion: Super Smash Bros. is for very good boys and girls, and the team didn’t want to expose her to such innocent eyes. It’s a pure series!
The explanation ostensibly doesn’t seem like it flies, since other female characters known for fanservice have been included in Smash in more modest appearances. Bayonetta no longer sheds her entire outfit with her techniques, partially because the camera angles required wouldn’t be possible during matches. Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is also included as a spirit, but in a covered-up appearance compared to her more scantily-clad one in the game she originates from. The altered outfit was popular enough that Monolith Soft released it as free DLC for XC2 after she arrived in Smash Bros.
But Mai’s a bit different than those, especially for a cameo appearance. She’s known for the fanservice she comes with more than anything else, much more than Bayonetta in her default outfit; and barely anyone knows who Mythra is. Mai is barely clothed in her most well-known appearance, an outfit that was enough to prevent her from being in Smash.
The Smash Bros team had two decisions here: Either include her in a considerably toned-down appearance, or leave her out entirely. They couldn’t win with either decision. Given that they went with the latter, it’s possible members of the Smash team, including Sakurai, took the “Go Big or Go Home” approach. Include her as she is, or don’t bother at all.
Sakurai explained in the Japanese stream that CERO, the Japanese ratings board, was the reason for Mai’s exclusion. This wasn’t mentioned in the western version because most English speakers have no idea what CERO is, and explaining the system would have wasted precious minutes in an already-lengthy presentation. Keeping the CERO A rating for the Japanese version is important for its continued sales — it’s still in the top 10 best-selling weekly software list nearly a year later. This isn’t the first time CERO’s influence has prevented fanservice. The board took issue with Palutena’s outfit in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, where the team responded by giving her short shorts under her dress instead of leaving her panties. This happened at the last minute, according to Sakurai, and almost delayed the game.
There have been suggestions saying the Smash team should have used one of Mai’s less risqué outfits for this appearance, like her discarded Fatal Fury 3 outfit, the kimono, or street clothes. These wouldn’t have worked for the homage. Again, the KoF references in the background are reminiscent of when team members waited their turn or recovered after defeat as they watched on in the earliest KoF titles, from ’94 to ’98. The other female characters had less risqué outfits to choose from, and notice how they picked one Athena’s least fanservice-laden outfits (from ’95) for her appearance. (Note: Athena has a new outfit in every KoF installment.) They did make sure to blow up Blue Mary’s breasts, though, interestingly enough.
The other suggestion was to alter one of her existing outfits to be less risqué. This would have involved a concept artist drafting several altered designs. Then, the team would have needed to check in with SNK to see if one of those outfits would be a good fit for Mai, and then check in with CERO to see if it meets their standards. That’s a lot of steps, too much for a mere background character. Altering Palutena’s was different, since she’s a playable character.
I’m aware this isn’t that big a deal in the grand scheme of this latest power dunk of a Smash Ultimate update — it’s just a background cameo. But the Fatal Fury references feel incomplete without her, and this is unlikely to be rectified through a patch. Whether the “No Mai, No Buy” crowd who skipped The King of Fighters XII because it excluded her over a decade ago carried on the tradition here is unknown. But they could be the type who (wrongly) believes the Smash Bros. games aren’t real fighting games. There was no way for the Smash Bros. team to win here, and the decision they went with happened to be to the chagrin of Nippon Ichi. In the words of a great man: “It be like that sometimes.”
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
