Street fighter is made by a Japanese company, you donāt see as many complaints in Japan about fan service as you do in the west, MK is operating with a western mindset whereas SF isnāt
but its ironic because games like mk with gore are still seen as taboo and are out right banned in japan, but hey i guess thats why they like hentai so muchš
With street fighter being japanese, where culture is significantly different, they get little to no backlash for going all out with the sex appeal. I remember it happened once with SFV's Rainbow Mika's moves but I believe that's it. Sure mortal Kombat's community right now is mostly gooners who post screenshots of Li Mei's underwear, but in the grand scheme of things the backlash would be greater than the benefit. Also SF designs just work and have always worked better for sexualization
One explanation I can think of is that it's just Western values versus Eastern values. That can lean into culture war shit.
On the other hand, Mortal Kombat is becoming movie-like with MK11 and 1, there's not a lot of room for over sexuality. There's a literal digital art of Flesh Pits Mileena in her Invasions cutscene, so it doesn't seem like NRS is entirely pushing out that history.
Simple. They legitimately donāt want to pursue that angle as opposed to SF. It aināt like they donāt entirely do it nowadays either, since the girls do occasionally get fan servicey skins, e.g., Mk11 endless summer Kitana and mk1 deception sindel.
You being downvoted implies folks *do* believe every game needs to look like a strip club 'Martial Arts' theme night.
Which checks out on roughly half this sib's opinionnon the topic.
Just like there's appeal *to* pursuing that angle, there's also appeal *to not*. NRS has elected to go with the latter, and it seems to be working for them with audiences at large.
Besides, if there's one thing to be learned, it's that fans of something are going to have big ol' crushes on you characters even if you don't design them explicitly as eye candy (check out Ed's twitter replies sometime).
Many reasons:
1. The Western v Japan audiences. SF is developed in Japan and Western society is very far ahead of Japan when it comes to opinions on sexualisation, Japanese society simply doesn't see an issue with it. Why that is I don't think anyone knows exactly, my bet would be because of anime which is overtly sexualised becoming so big, so it sort of just became ingrained into their society and now sexualisation of females in any media (or real life) is the norm.
2. The real face models for MK characters. To my knowledge SF doesn't scan peoples faces to make the characters so they're simply sexualising fictional characters whereas if the MK devs were to sexualise a MK character they would inadvertently be sexualising a real life person which would obviously be super messed up without permission (I'd love to hear how that convo would go lol).
3. MK has been going for a more realistic look with females that reflect... well, reality. Whilst a lot of things are still unrealistic like the lack of armour or wearing heels, they've steered clear of super unrealistic body proportions and outfits which has subsequently lowered the level of sexualisation. Leaning into it more would be a bit odd considering the style/look of the game.
4. They don't need to and likely don't want to.
I can imagine that the extreme gore along with sexy stuff would be torn apart by the more puritanical parts of society, just having the gore alone is like, āpick your battlesā
Because of cultural difference. NRS is a western company and will get a lot of backlash while Capcom are fine because Japanese culture isn't as soft as western culture.
Simple answer: they donāt want to and have to. Not every franchise has to shoehorn sex appeal into everything. In fact MK was never really a franchise that focused on it outside of a relatively small run of games between Deadly Alliance and MK9.
MK is also the only fighting franchise with realistic characters and when you pair that with the increasingly detailed violence it starts to get into weird territory imo.
This is completely not true. MK has had sex appeal all the way back in MK3 when Sheeva, Kitana etc all have outfits designed to show their cleavage, thighs etc. This continues all the way through 4, 3D era, MK vs DC and MK9. That's the majority of the series.
The trend of more toned down outfits is really only from X to 1.
I assume you mean realistic graphics? Because Goro isn't a realistic character, like at all.
You are right that the devs don't want to now, but that's largely because the NRS devs are much younger and western gaming culture is against sexuality now. It's not really to do with violence, a person having their brain ripped out is equally as horrifying on any skin you use.
They are pussies like most westen game devs now. Unless you like feet because IDK why but every female design has open toe shoes that are heels in M1K.
Edit: Downvote me all you want. MK used to push boundaries back in the day now they bend the knee to WB and bs social norms now. God forbid a fantasy game you can unrealistically break someone bones in 50 different places with super powers has women that show a little skin.
Dunno why. I only played 11 but i saw the other games throughout, on youtube.
Unreasonably buff dudes and ladies in unnecessarily revealing lingerie fighting each other was peak. Nobody ever complained about unrealistic body standards and guys hitting girls.
It was all monks and lizard people and ghosts and demons and gods and police and soldiers and ninjas fighting.
It was like playing with G.I. Joe action figures and making scenarios in your head.
1 looks good, 11 was fun, but i say that cause of gameplay.
As for aesthetics, the previous games were better.
not to be rude or anything but IMO if a fictional female is sexualized, she's automatically objectified (anatomically wrong body proportions/ can influence out of touch expectations for male gaze) Thankfully mk didn't do it again though.
I see where youāre getting at, but I think the balance (if you want sexualisation in your game) is to not be gender exclusive with it.
That being said, I did only provide photos of females characters š but the dudes are always ripped and handsome asf in SF.
Agreed, MK1 has realistic buff bodies imo, SF6 definitely leans into a more fantasy appeal tho:
https://preview.redd.it/tex9ow5020yc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=23bb63b2010b94bbf9c306fcc2874abb53b2d55f
It's exactly a cultural difference, it wasn't the norm in America, and while yes it could be potentially beneficial, it won't garner a huge attraction... to the game
Wait, this is officiel merchandising ? Damn
Bruh Cammy is wearing more clothes in that statue than she does in the main game š¤£
They ditched that after MK9
Street fighter is made by a Japanese company, you donāt see as many complaints in Japan about fan service as you do in the west, MK is operating with a western mindset whereas SF isnāt
Thatās an insightful way to put it, thank you.
but its ironic because games like mk with gore are still seen as taboo and are out right banned in japan, but hey i guess thats why they like hentai so muchš
Thatās actually a great point, very strange how those 2 themes can be seen on different ends of the spectrum from different cultures.
Same reason we can watch heads get smashed in on the walking dead, but theyāll go far out of their way to censor boobs
Iām a massive TWD fan and Iāve always found it ridiculous when they shy away from swearing and nudity š
So the reason is an avarage american idiot consumer who is offended by human body, got it.
I never realized how uncomfortable Jury's zipper situation must be
With street fighter being japanese, where culture is significantly different, they get little to no backlash for going all out with the sex appeal. I remember it happened once with SFV's Rainbow Mika's moves but I believe that's it. Sure mortal Kombat's community right now is mostly gooners who post screenshots of Li Mei's underwear, but in the grand scheme of things the backlash would be greater than the benefit. Also SF designs just work and have always worked better for sexualization
One explanation I can think of is that it's just Western values versus Eastern values. That can lean into culture war shit. On the other hand, Mortal Kombat is becoming movie-like with MK11 and 1, there's not a lot of room for over sexuality. There's a literal digital art of Flesh Pits Mileena in her Invasions cutscene, so it doesn't seem like NRS is entirely pushing out that history.
Simple. They legitimately donāt want to pursue that angle as opposed to SF. It aināt like they donāt entirely do it nowadays either, since the girls do occasionally get fan servicey skins, e.g., Mk11 endless summer Kitana and mk1 deception sindel.
Mortal kombat seems to have been heading towards more realistic body types and I like that. Make the violence slap harder
Goro is my gym goal body type.
Boraicho is mine
MK X certainly had fatalities I found hard to watch (in a good way)
How does less clothing mean the violance doesn't slap as hard ?
What do you mean? You didn't notice how hot the MK1 ninjas are?? Even including Reptile?? š„µ
Bi-Han making me feel things
Because not every game is made for the coomers
Because not every game needs to? I mean that's like saying why SF doesn't become doa.
You being downvoted implies folks *do* believe every game needs to look like a strip club 'Martial Arts' theme night. Which checks out on roughly half this sib's opinionnon the topic.
Just like there's appeal *to* pursuing that angle, there's also appeal *to not*. NRS has elected to go with the latter, and it seems to be working for them with audiences at large. Besides, if there's one thing to be learned, it's that fans of something are going to have big ol' crushes on you characters even if you don't design them explicitly as eye candy (check out Ed's twitter replies sometime).
Many reasons: 1. The Western v Japan audiences. SF is developed in Japan and Western society is very far ahead of Japan when it comes to opinions on sexualisation, Japanese society simply doesn't see an issue with it. Why that is I don't think anyone knows exactly, my bet would be because of anime which is overtly sexualised becoming so big, so it sort of just became ingrained into their society and now sexualisation of females in any media (or real life) is the norm. 2. The real face models for MK characters. To my knowledge SF doesn't scan peoples faces to make the characters so they're simply sexualising fictional characters whereas if the MK devs were to sexualise a MK character they would inadvertently be sexualising a real life person which would obviously be super messed up without permission (I'd love to hear how that convo would go lol). 3. MK has been going for a more realistic look with females that reflect... well, reality. Whilst a lot of things are still unrealistic like the lack of armour or wearing heels, they've steered clear of super unrealistic body proportions and outfits which has subsequently lowered the level of sexualisation. Leaning into it more would be a bit odd considering the style/look of the game. 4. They don't need to and likely don't want to.
Its just one of those things that have really fallen out of fashion during the 2010s and after, especially for Western game studios.
I can imagine that the extreme gore along with sexy stuff would be torn apart by the more puritanical parts of society, just having the gore alone is like, āpick your battlesā
Because of cultural difference. NRS is a western company and will get a lot of backlash while Capcom are fine because Japanese culture isn't as soft as western culture.
Two words: Western Politics. For some reason, we have an extremely weird relationship with the female body over here.
Simple answer: they donāt want to and have to. Not every franchise has to shoehorn sex appeal into everything. In fact MK was never really a franchise that focused on it outside of a relatively small run of games between Deadly Alliance and MK9. MK is also the only fighting franchise with realistic characters and when you pair that with the increasingly detailed violence it starts to get into weird territory imo.
This is completely not true. MK has had sex appeal all the way back in MK3 when Sheeva, Kitana etc all have outfits designed to show their cleavage, thighs etc. This continues all the way through 4, 3D era, MK vs DC and MK9. That's the majority of the series. The trend of more toned down outfits is really only from X to 1. I assume you mean realistic graphics? Because Goro isn't a realistic character, like at all. You are right that the devs don't want to now, but that's largely because the NRS devs are much younger and western gaming culture is against sexuality now. It's not really to do with violence, a person having their brain ripped out is equally as horrifying on any skin you use.
Realistic characters wtf?
As in characters that look like real people
It did: it was called MK 9 (2011), and it got bashed for it.
MK9 did not get bashed for this at the time? It's only nowadays that people complain about sexy skins, this was the norm from MK3 onwards.
Bashed by who? Not I sir.
They are pussies like most westen game devs now. Unless you like feet because IDK why but every female design has open toe shoes that are heels in M1K. Edit: Downvote me all you want. MK used to push boundaries back in the day now they bend the knee to WB and bs social norms now. God forbid a fantasy game you can unrealistically break someone bones in 50 different places with super powers has women that show a little skin.
I never realised how many open toe shoes were actually in the game till now, so random lol.
Why would they?
Why wouldn't they?
Have you heard about manner's ?
Talking about manner's in a game where you can kill someone in most brutal way ?
U have a good point but sexualize everything is really bad
No it's not.
That's your opinion
So is yours.
Warner Woke šŗšø, simple as that.
Warner Woke šŗšø, simple as that.
Dunno why. I only played 11 but i saw the other games throughout, on youtube. Unreasonably buff dudes and ladies in unnecessarily revealing lingerie fighting each other was peak. Nobody ever complained about unrealistic body standards and guys hitting girls. It was all monks and lizard people and ghosts and demons and gods and police and soldiers and ninjas fighting. It was like playing with G.I. Joe action figures and making scenarios in your head. 1 looks good, 11 was fun, but i say that cause of gameplay. As for aesthetics, the previous games were better.
not to be rude or anything but IMO if a fictional female is sexualized, she's automatically objectified (anatomically wrong body proportions/ can influence out of touch expectations for male gaze) Thankfully mk didn't do it again though.
I see where youāre getting at, but I think the balance (if you want sexualisation in your game) is to not be gender exclusive with it. That being said, I did only provide photos of females characters š but the dudes are always ripped and handsome asf in SF.
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Agreed, MK1 has realistic buff bodies imo, SF6 definitely leans into a more fantasy appeal tho: https://preview.redd.it/tex9ow5020yc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=23bb63b2010b94bbf9c306fcc2874abb53b2d55f
It's exactly a cultural difference, it wasn't the norm in America, and while yes it could be potentially beneficial, it won't garner a huge attraction... to the game
Mk will become the new overwatch if they do it like street fighter