- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Posts
- 13,190
It's supposed to be a showdown of BADASSES, not a bunch of little girls throwing energy beams at each other.
This is the crux of it for me.
I won't be so naive as to suggest SNK wasn't originally inspired by the anime and manga tropes of their heyday.
But storytelling sensibilities in those mediums have shifted dramatically from the ealry days.
As harem and high school romance animes became more and more popular, SNK started incorporating a lot of this stuff into their games, and they went overboard with it. They were probably benefitting from it financially at the time, but what did it ultimately result in?
It made the games more and more inclusive. They lost their old, reliable identites as they adopted newer, even more niche identities.
And the shame of it is...they could have had it both ways. They could have catered to fans of harem and high school martial arts anime and still retained a good strong 'macho' identity at the same time.
Want proof?
Sakura Kasugano.
A character no one really has a problem with inhabiting the same space with her fellow street fighters. She is a clear anime/manga trope, but she belongs with the Street Fighter cast.
I'll give you an SNK example of the same thing.
Li Xiangfei.
A clear anime trope in the spirit of hong kong cinema.
And despite her immaturity and 'kawaii' nature...she fits in with the cast.
Because the focus is on FIGHTING.
Not on being an uncomfortably young sex symbol in a fighting game.
Wrong idea. And in the wrong medium.
No more witch touching, no more sissies, no more girl friend pillows, no more school girl panty vending machines. That shit isn't cool anymore.
As odd as it feels to be defending this sort of thing, I believe this kind of thing has a place. It's fine for people that like it.
But the classic SNK IPs shouldn't be prostituted out to these ends.
No more fucking dating sims.
No more licensing to Queen's Blade.
Make up new characters that don't tarnish the original properties.
Even Mai, who's three quarters naked, deserves better treatment.
It's embarrassing to see her and Nakoruru licensed out to garbage like Queen's Blade simply because SNK wants to whore her out to yet another group of miserable, shut in otaku.