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109-494: While the version released in the U.S. featured an English dub that was met with much derision (with IGN 's Jeremy Dunham going so far as to label it "piss poor"), further releases for the Xbox and PAL PS2 add a choice of English and Japanese language options. The Xbox version also includes an online match mode where matches could be fought between players via Xbox Live . The game was followed in 2006 by KOF: Maximum Impact 2 . Unlike

218-558: A gamebook for the Queen's Blade ecchi series. Mai's image was additionally licensed as a roulette character for pachislot machines. In 2003, SNK sued machine manufacturer Aruze for copyright infringement after Mai's likeness was used without permission for their pachinko game "Iregui". Mai is prominently featured in the Universal Fighting System collectible card game. Mai has appeared in various other media related to

327-546: A "cheerful older sister in the neighborhood" instead, she tried to balance the portrayal with a hint of sexiness. To this end, she spoke in a lower tone than normal, and used a lot of expression to create a sense of familiarity to give the impression someone could easily be friends with her. In 2025, Rebecca Rose serves as Mai's English voice actress for her appearance in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves . In terms of gameplay, Mai

436-531: A "mecha" figure by YCY. In 2009, an exclusive Volks figure was sold in an auction for the Make-A-Wish Foundation . Several major figure product lines have also featured the character, such as the Cy Girls series, Pinky:St , and by Good Smile as part of their Nendoroid and Pop Up Parade figure lines. Meanwhile, several diorama figures have also been released including a 1/6th scale figure by Gantaku,

545-509: A 1/4th scale figure by Kinetiquettes, and antoher by PJ Studio. A large bust sculpture of Mai was also produced by Queen Studios, featuring glass eyes. In other merchandise, Exar produced a joystick controller modeled after the Neo Geo 's for PlayStation consoles, decorated with Mai-related imagery. In both 2019 and 2020, an entirely Mai-themed Neo-Geo shop opened in Tokyo's Akihabara district for

654-401: A 10-point scale, from 1 to 10, finding that the finer distinction of the 100-point scale was difficult to maintain, whereas a 10-point scale would still be true to its reviews and would be easier to promote. IGN ' s 'Best of' is an end-of-year event to annually honor the year's best games, films, television shows and comics. Winners of each award category are selected by IGN staff from

763-432: A 100-point scale again, but without using decimals, meaning a score of 8.5 would become an 85. Unlike the previous conversion to the 20-point scale, this latest scoring system change was retroactive and all previous IGN review scores were to be updated to follow the new system. However, despite the announcement, the article included a short addition, post-release; it stated that after much discussion, they had decided to retain

872-521: A 100-point scale, where games are scored in increments of 0.1, all future reviews would use a 20-point scale where games are scored in increments of 0.5. Under both systems, the maximum possible score a game can receive is 10.0. The scoring change was not retroactive: all scores on reviews written before the change would remain the same. This change also did not affect the scoring system for reader reviews. On September 13, 2012, IGN revealed that as part of its new review format all future reviews would follow

981-541: A butterfly musubi dangles from behind her. While matching fingerless gloves and red tabi cover her hands and feet, the lower portion of the uwagi ends similarly to a leotard with the back pulled tightly between her buttocks. The outfit exposes a significant part of her body, particularly her hips, cleavage and the sides of her breasts. While the development team originally gave her a more stern appearance in Fatal Fury 2 , they softened it in her subsequent appearances. She

1090-446: A character that exudes sex appeal, he saw her character in Fatal Fury as portrayed "stoic" motions and as a serious fighter even though her clothing was still revealing. He felt her outfit alone would illustrate her sex appeal, so he focused on the stoic aspect to give her a "more sensual atmosphere", downplaying many of her more sexual animations by comparison. Later games meanwhile added secondary outfit options. For her appearance in

1199-497: A fellow developer voiced interest in creating another female Taekwondo fighter with the same "professional" manner as Kim, which eventually formed the basis for Chae Lim. The updated version Maniax 's PS2 version was only released in Japan, and the Xbox version was not released in PAL territories. Prior to its release, KOF: Maximum Impact was a finalist from GameSpot 's "Best of E3 2004" in

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1308-637: A fighter. Since her introduction she has appeared in almost every Fatal Fury title since with the exception of Garou: Mark of the Wolves . She has also been in almost every King of Fighters series game with the exception of King of Fighter XI , only appearing in the PlayStation 2 version, and XII , where she was excluded entirely. She additionally appears in spinoff game King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2 and it's related title, King of Fighters Maximum Impact Regulation A . In other SNK-related fighting games, Mai has appeared playable in every game in

1417-443: A limited time to celebrate the character's in-universe birthday. In November 2024, Japanese fitness company Tanita as part of their collaboration with SNK studied the bodies of several King of Fighters characters to promote their new body composition monitor, among which included Mai. Mai has been well received since her introduction. The staff of UGO.com described her as a mascot not only for The King of Fighters but SNK as

1526-522: A list of nominees, while readers are able to cast their own votes online to determine the 'People's Choice' award for each category. In 2000, Snowball.com purchased an E-federation called the Internet Wrestling Organization (IWO). Since Snowball owned both IWO and IGN , IWO would go on to become IGN ' s first official E-Fed, even doing a column on the website. The IGN For Men section officially closed down on October 2, 2001, and

1635-544: A mascot for SNK as a whole who has heavily promoted her in various video game crossovers and merchandise. Her portrayal which often emphasizes the swaying of her large breasts has been cited as one of the first examples of the concept of breast physics in gaming, and a significant element of her character's appeal. Other outlets have attributed some of her popularity to Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture ' s portrayal of her, while others have praised her personality and ownership of her sexuality. She has additionally been seen as

1744-451: A meme on social media platforms, with Team Ninja taking the opportunity to advertise her inclusion in Dead or Alive 5 and to welcome players to "the world of adults". The development team later clarified it was out of concern that her presence would increase the game's age rating. The decision still led some to question the exclusion in light of explicit characters such as Bayonetta appearing in

1853-513: A new review by Brandin Tyrrel, which included an editor's note apologizing again and stating that "this review (and its score) represents solely the opinion of the new reviewer". In a subsequently unlisted video, Miucin responded that while he took "complete ownership over what happened", the similarity was not intentional. Kotaku found similarities between Miucin's other reviews, reviews on Nintendo Life and Engadget and material posted on

1962-465: A number of independent fansites such as PSX Nation.com , Sega-Saturn.com , Game Sages , and GameFAQs . In 1998, the network launched a new homepage that consolidated the individual sites as system channels under the IGN brand. The homepage exposed content from more than 30 different channels. Websites Next-Generation and Ultra Game Players Online were not part of this consolidation; U.G.P.O. dissolved with

2071-768: A playable character, in various non-fighting King of Fighters -related mobile games either developed or licensed by SNK, including KOF Gals Mahjong , KOF: Battle de Paradise , Mini King of Fighters , The Rhythm of Fighters , and The King of Fighters M , The King of Fighters '97 OL , The King of Fighters: Destiny , The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match Online action RPG The King of Fighters All Star , and augmented reality game The King of Fighters Orochi Go . Not-strictly Fatal Fury or King of Fighters mobile games that also feature Mai include SNK Dream Battle , SNK Beach Volley Gal's Attack , SNK Gal's Open: Cutey Shot , SNK Gals Island Dokidoki Puzzle Shock! and its sequel, Neo Geo Tennis Coliseum, You Are

2180-456: A professional esports circuit that ran tournaments for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty , ShootMania Storm and League of Legends . On March 6, 2013, only weeks prior to the event, IGN abruptly canceled the finals of IPL 6—which were to be held in Las Vegas from March 28 through 31, and discontinued the league. IGN indicated that it was no longer in a position to commit to compete with

2289-409: A publicly traded company, continuing a string of divestitures for digital properties it had previously acquired (including MySpace and Photobucket ). On February 4, 2013, after a failed attempt to spin off IGN as a separate company, News Corp. announced that it had sold IGN Entertainment to the publishing company Ziff Davis , which was recently acquired by J2 Global . Financial details regarding

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2398-454: A rival character to Street Fighter ' s Chun-Li , and symbolic of the rivalry between SNK and Street Fighter developer Capcom . She has also been cited as a frequent subject of cosplay, which her outfit in particular seeing frequent usage in China and Taiwan in promotions and media across both countries. Introduced in the 1992 SNK developed fighting game Fatal Fury 2 , the character

2507-526: A rushing cartwheel kick followed by an elbow strike called "Deadly Ninja Bees". She can additionally produced flames with some of her attacks, and throw her large folding fans as projectiles. Mai is featured as a playable character in the console shooter games KOF Sky Stage and Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting , the quiz game Quiz King of Fighters , and the SNK vs. Capcom spin-off crossover card battle series SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash . She

2616-416: A single match (be it a one-on-one fight or a 3 vs. 3 battle) is fought against either the computer or another player. In Mission Mode, the player is faced with four levels of ten missions each. Each mission has settings and conditions to be completed. Most of the game's unlockables come through this mode. In Time Attack Mode, the player has to defeat a number of characters as quickly as possible. The online mode

2725-481: A subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc . The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco 's SoMa district and is headed by its former editor-in-chief, Peer Schneider. The IGN website was the brainchild of media entrepreneur Chris Anderson and launched on September 29, 1996. It focuses on games , films , anime , television , comics , technology , and other media. Originally a network of desktop websites, IGN

2834-414: A taste in heavy metal music , particularly the band Pantera . Standing 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) tall, Mai is a Japanese woman with measurements of 87-55-91 cm (34-22-36 in). Her long brown hair is worn in a ponytail style, with bangs that frame her face and an ornate hairpin holding it in place. Her outfit consists of a red uwagi with extended loincloth, while a decorative sash tied to form

2943-528: A variety of games, including titles such as GungHo Games , The King of Soldier II , Dragon Throne: Battle of Red Cliffs , Black Desert Online , Wizardry Online , Mabinogi Heroes , HIT , Knives Out-Tokyo Royale , Phantasy Star Online 2 , Lost Saga , Mobile Legends: Bang Bang , and Fall Guys . A variety of figures have also been produced by a wide range of manufacturers such as A-Label, Aizu Project, Alphamax, Daiki, Hobby Japan , Max Factory, Volks , SNK themselves, and

3052-577: A vocal track called "Dear Mai Boi" in character as Mai for her music single Non Stop! One Way Love , later cosplaying as the character to promote it. Akoya Sogi meanwhile performed as Mai as part of the King of Fighter '97 Radio Drama Clash Edition broadcast in Japan in 1997. Later, she appeared alongside the rest of SNK's voice cast as part of their "NEO・GEO DJ Station Live" audio performances in Shinjuku , Tokyo , singing "Dear Mai Boi" herself in 1998. Recordings of

3161-456: A whole, and felt the character's role as an "unapologetic sex symbol" was a driving force for sales of the King of Fighters franchise. The Mary Sue ' s Princess Weekees meanwhile cited her as one of the most iconic women in fighting games, noting that while SNK's games themselves were often overlooked in the mainstream, people, including herself, knew about Mai thanks to her sex appeal. Joystiq ' s Richard Mitchell meanwhile emphasized

3270-486: Is a video games , movies , comics and pop culture convention held in various cities in the Middle East . The event generally includes celebrities, video game tournaments, table top games , card games , movie previews, comic book stalls and a cosplay competition. A number of Middle Eastern artists and game developers also showcase their work at IGN Convention. This convention is owned and operated by IGN Middle East,

3379-523: Is a Japanese kunoichi first introduced in the 1992 video game Fatal Fury 2 by SNK. The inheritor of her family's ninjitsu style, she met Andy Bogard at a young age and fell in love with the boy, though Andy himself is dedicated to his own martial arts training. During the three man team King of Fighters series of tournaments, she initially attempts to partner with him, though he rebukes her offer, and she instead joins with other female fighters such as Yuri Sakazaki and King so Andy will recognize her as

KOF: Maximum Impact - Misplaced Pages Continue

3488-577: Is a character in the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series of fighting games by SNK . Introduced in 1992's Fatal Fury 2 , the character was originally conceived as a male character named "Ninja Master", but when a request was put in to include a female character in the game they revised the concept entirely. For the game's sequel Fatal Fury 3 they considered replacing her with another female character, but due to heavy fan request she returned instead and has appeared in nearly every entry in both

3597-464: Is a very mobile and fast character, but also frequently physically weaker in the games. As a result, playing her effectively requires players to connect with more consistent attacks. However this has also led her to be considered one of the easier characters for beginners in titles, and to master using against other players in older titles. She furthermore has a variety of hand-to-hand combat maneuvers, such as her "Flying Squirrel Dance" diving attack and

3706-512: Is also distributed on mobile platforms, console programs on the Xbox and PlayStation , FireTV , Roku , and via YouTube , Twitch , Hulu , and Snapchat . Originally, IGN was the flagship website of IGN Entertainment, a website which owned and operated several other websites oriented towards players' interests, games, and entertainment, such as Rotten Tomatoes , GameSpy , GameStats , VE3D , TeamXbox , Vault Network, FilePlanet, and AskMen . IGN

3815-563: Is also one of the heroes in the Thailand-exclusive MOBA game The King of Fighters Online . In a 2017 MMORPG The King of Fighters: World by Ledo Interactive, Mai is featured in person as a non-player and tutorial character, but the players will be able to use her Shiranui style for their own characters. Mai also appears in the 1998 visual novel game The King of Fighters: Kyo , and later in several titles of SNK's Days of Memories dating sim series. She features, usually as

3924-666: Is available only on the Xbox version, and features online matchmaking for play between two players. It is a spin off of the original line set 2 years after the events of N.E.S.T.S. saga in 2004, an alternate saga to the Ash . Addis was the most powerful gang in Southtown. Its leader, a man known only as Fate, was considered a modern-day Robin Hood to the poor and downtrodden. He himself had adopted two twin brothers, Alba and Soiree Meira , and trained them to be successors to his legacy. Six months before

4033-421: Is devoted to not just the staple Marvel and DC titles, but also manga , graphic novels , statues and toys. In 2006, IGN launched its television site. It provides interviews with various television celebrities, in addition to a TV schedule, TV trivia and TV news. Like the film section, IGN ' s TV section has a variety of exclusive clips from upcoming television shows. On May 30, 2006, IGN Dreamcast

4142-413: Is no longer updated. IGN has sites such as IGN Stars and AskMen.com that fulfil much of the function of the old IGN For Men site. IGN Wrestling met its end in early 2002 when many of the staff departed. Interviews with professional wrestling personalities and coverage of wrestling games have been folded into IGN Sports , headed by Jon Robinson. IGN Sci-Fi : Largely dead since 2002, this section of

4251-569: Is often portrayed as chasing after Andy, he liked that she was not content with simply being a side character and someone that deserved to be his partner over other characters, her role in The King of Fighters ' Women's Team "ultimately her way of showing him up and teaching him a lesson." Meanwhile, the staff of Chinese website 163.com noted that while the King of Fighters series later introduced sexier characters, they were often ignored in part thanks to Mai's "exaggerated style" and personality,

4360-462: Is set to appear in Capcom 's Street Fighter 6 as part of its "Year 2" downloadable content lineup. In video games, the character was originally voiced by Akoya Sogi , with Ami Koshimizu taking over the role with the release of King of Fighters: Sky Stage in 2010. Koshimizu stated she initially had an image of Mai as a "mature older sister", but when they directed her to portray the character as

4469-598: The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact series, her "Another" outfit shortens her hair into a bob cut with the ends flared out, with both her hair and outfit changed to black. Her gloves and boots are larger in this version, with a fur lining around them and parts of her uwagi, while a red scarf extends from her neck and juts out from behind her. In his blog during the game's development, game script writer Akihiko Ureshino joked that this version of her design "feels like her fabric area has decreased despite her increasing beauty", though he

KOF: Maximum Impact - Misplaced Pages Continue

4578-596: The SNK vs. Capcom series, She is also playable character in SNK Gals' Fighters , NeoGeo Battle Coliseum , and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy . She has also appeared in mobile fighting game titles such as The King of Fighters , Fatal Fury Mobile , The King of Fighters-i , and The King of Fighters D: DyDO Smile STAND . Outside of SNK-related works, Mai appears as downloadable content for Koei Tecmo 's Dead or Alive 5 Last Round and its sequel Dead or Alive 6 , and

4687-816: The Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series since. Mai is a Japanese kunoichi and the inheritor of her family's ninjitsu fighting style. Deeply in love with the character Andy Bogard , she enters martial arts tournaments against him so he may see her as a warrior. In addition to the aforementioned series she has appeared in a multitude of other games including the SNK vs Capcom series and various collaboration events between SNK and other gaming companies. She has been voiced by various voice actresses including Akoya Sogi , Kotono Mitsuishi , Sarah Sawatsky, Lisa Ann Beley , Rebecca Rose, Kotono Mitsuishi , and Megumi Hayashibara . In live action media, she has been portrayed by American actress Maggie Q , as well as Chinese actress Pan Chun Chun. Mai has been well received, seen as

4796-453: The Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series. In film, she was one of the protagonists of the 2009 American live-action movie The King of Fighters . The movie is loosely based on the games, and portrays her as a CIA agent and girlfriend to fellow series character Iori Yagami . She works alongside the other heroes to try and stop the villain Rugal , who seeks to use an alternate reality to gain

4905-401: The Fatal Fury 2 video game, and observed while her appearance in the game was attractive, she was not "as over-the-top as she eventually became" in her later King of Fighters '94 appearance. Kemps felt the anime's portrayal of Mai affected public perception and led to her later more sexualized appearance and Lemus agreed, feeling elements anime character designer Masami Ōbari had inserted into

5014-630: The YouTube animated series The King of Fighters: Destiny as part of the "Queens Team" alongside King and Yuri. Produced in China, she is voiced by Ami Koshimizu in Japanese, and Selene Zhan in Chinese, who was also the dubbing director for the work. Motion capture for Mai's body and face meanwhile was provided by Duan Yixuan of the idol group BEJ48 . For her crossover appearance in Korean mobile game Mad Blade ,

5123-478: The 2D games from the series, Maximum Impact breaks the team system, causing all the fighters to fight alone (as it depicted in Art of Fighting 2 , Fatal Fury 2 / Special and Garou: Mark of the Wolves ). The story mode is experienced as a single character through the "Mephistopheles Fighting Tournament". For most characters, this consists of fighting six characters, with Duke's cronie / Consigliere Hyena announcing

5232-476: The Gambling World: The Gamble World of Fun ( Chinese : 笑傲赌界) where it is worn by one of the movie's antagonists. Kotaku ' s Brian Ashcraft attributed its popularity to the outfit's simplicity rather than any correlation to the King of Fighters , with the attire acting as a "uniform of sorts" as an "easy go-to choice" for cosplay. In contrast, Singaporean pop-culture site Lollipop felt

5341-1075: The Hero! , Dai Shingeki RPG! Sister Quest , Samurai Shodown Slash , Metal Slug Defense , and Beast Busters featuring KOF . Mai has also been featured as a character in collaboration events with other games, including 300 Heroes , Ultimate Heroes , Dazzle Dance , Dungeon Fighter Online , Fantasy Fighter , Honor of Kings , Brave Frontier , Game of Dice , Samurai Kingdom , Clash of Kings , Crash Fever , Crusaders Quest , GangRoad JOKER , Grand Summoners , Everybody's Marble , Rival Arena VS , Saishu Senkan: With Lovely Girls , Tower of Saviors , Valkyrie Connect , Venus Eleven Vivid! , World Cross Saga , Yamato Chronicle , The Fellowship of The Dragon , Puzzle & Dragons , Dungeon Hunter Champions , Tokyo Prison , Ninja Must Die , and Doomsday: Last Survivors . She additionally appears in Bandai Namco 's crossover tactical RPG Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos , as well as

5450-538: The Metatron Foundation, but they soon learn that its true sponsor is the Mephistopheles gang. Alba, Soiree and Lien are contacted directly by Hyena, so they know Metatron has nothing to do with this. KOF: Maximum Impact has twenty playable characters . Six additional characters make their debut in this game, and most of the remaining roster is inherited from The King of Fighters series, in which only half of

5559-548: The Middle Eastern edition of popular video games website IGN . IGN Convention is the spiritual successor to GameFest, a biannual, smaller scale gaming gallery which was originally hosted by IGN Middle East's parent company T-break Media between 2010 and 2012, before the hosting duties were subsequently taken over by AMD EMEA. The IGN Convention logo was designed by prominent Gulf based artist Ashraf Ghori . Conferences have included: In 2011, IGN launched IGN Pro League,

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5668-716: The PlayStation-focused "Podcast Beyond" and the Xbox-oriented "Podcast Unlocked", the Nintendo-oriented "Nintendo Voice Chat", and Game Scoop! , a podcast where a variety of editors discuss news and topics surrounding the video game industry. IGN has 28 editions in 25 languages, as of 2021. The US & Canada , UK & Ireland , and Australia & New Zealand editions are operated by Ziff Davis subsidiaries, with all others being franchised publishers. Since 2006, IGN Entertainment began launching regional versions of

5777-436: The alternate costumes, characters can be modified with unlockable "rigging models," which add details to the available costumes, such as a wolf mask for Terry or a party hat and banner for Seth. Several of the new characters from the game were designed to be the counterparts of other KOF characters. Both Meira brothers were initially conceptualized to be the counterparts to Fatal Fury stars, Terry and Andy Bogard , given

5886-498: The amount of exposure from her outfit, the development team responded there was "no reason in particular". Subsequent games however reverted back to her previous design, which has remained mostly consistent since with minimal changes. As her design was refined for The King of Fighters , they aimed to emphasize her sex appeal, modelling her breasts after model Fumie Hosokawa , while her hips were based on those of media personality Ai Iijima . During work on The King of Fighters '94 ,

5995-556: The animation was censored in Western releases of the game, this aspect endured into subsequent titles and the team felt this was a significant factor in her enduring popularity. For her portrayal in The King of Fighters XIII , character artist Ritsu Yamaguchi wanted to recreate the atmosphere of her Fatal Fury series appearances. He noted that while The King of Fighters often placed emphasis on her breasts, hips and buttocks to depict her as

6104-517: The cancellation of affiliation with GameFAQs . In 2004, IGN launched GameStats , which was intended to be a more unbiased rating network, as it takes in scores from every corporate-owned game rating site and averages them all into one score to give a general idea of the quality of a game. IGN also launched Direct2Drive .com in 2004. Its primary focus is selling digital downloads of full PC and Mac video games, as well as anime , comics and game guides. In 2005, IGN launched its comics site, which

6213-454: The cancellation of the magazine, and Next-Generation was put "on hold" when Imagine decided to concentrate on launching the short-lived Daily Radar brand. In February 1999, PC Magazine named IGN one of the hundred-best websites, alongside competitors GameSpot and CNET Gamecenter . That same month, Imagine Media incorporated a spin-off that included IGN and its affiliate channels as Affiliation Networks, while Simpson-Bint remained at

6322-456: The category Best Fighting Game. However, it lost to Mortal Kombat: Deception . Ben Herman, president from SNK Playmore USA, commented that although he received complaints about the English voices for the game, Maximum Impact sold over 100,000 units as of May 2006. IGN IGN is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc. ,

6431-446: The character's presence in SNK's work over their competitor Capcom 's stating "there's one thing Street Fighter will never have, and that's Mai." Her omission from The King of Fighters XII drew particular backlash, with players boycotting the game and coining the phrase "no Mai, no buy". James Stephanie Sterling in an article for Destructoid in particular criticized her absence from

6540-486: The character, such as Korean idol Kyungri of the band Nine Muses , Chinese actress Li Bingbing , and Japanese adult actress Kirara Asuka . Meanwhile, a 2005 fan-voted "Ultimate Mai Shiranui Cosplay Tournament" promotional event in Taiwan exhibited nearly a hundred women who dressed up as Mai. She has also been the focus of other SNK promotions, such as artist Falcoon signing limited edition posters of Mai at E3 2005. Mai

6649-426: The comparison was in part due to the visual appeal of both characters introducing "a sexy and pleasing touch to the eye" in contrast to a cast of "squads of fighters with plenty of testosterone and muscles", with Mai's emphasis on exposure pushing her popularity further in his opinion. French magazine Hardcore Gamers devoted a two-page spread to the characters to compare them, with the article emphasizing while Chun-Li

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6758-410: The contrast between the two assassins, efforts were made to make Lien more serious and darker than Mai, despite being one of the heroines in the series. Similar to how Lien contrasts Mai, Mignon was designed to be the rival to Athena. Her magical powers were created to counter Athena's Psycho Powers , which is interpreted by Falcoon to be akin to witchcraft. Originally, Kim Kaphwan was going to enter

6867-469: The country. Mai has also been cited as one of the most popular subjects of cosplay worldwide, appearing on televised material such China's Cybernet television broadcast where the host cosplayed as the character several times, and also on Taiwanese television show Video Game Fighter , where both hosts cosplayed as her. In an interview with Dead or Alive developer Team Ninja , they stated their character Momiji 's red clothing and ability to shoot fire

6976-513: The decimal point in all upcoming scores. In early 2014, IGN introduced a new policy, in which a game's review score can be re-reviewed and improved, provided that continuous updates form a significant change compared to the game at launch. Examples of games that have been re-reviewed were League of Legends , Heroes of the Storm , Warframe , and the pocket edition of Minecraft . In January 2020, IGN revealed that reviews would be reverted to

7085-478: The developers produced a live-action short film featuring Mai. Played by actress Pan Chun Chun, the short plays on a joke about her originating from 2D fighting games, showing her initially unable to move from side to side against an opponent. In audio media, Mai appears in Dengeki G's Magazine drama CD series for Fatal Fury , where she is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara . In 1994, Japanese idol Reiko Chiba performed

7194-556: The events were later released on laserdisc and CD as two-disc sets. Mai has been used extensively by SNK to promote their games and company as a whole, using her image on a variety of products such as clothing and condoms. She was featured in live-action commercials for Fatal Fury Special and Fatal Fury 2 in 1993. Multiple " booth babe " models dressed as the character have been fixtures at Tokyo Game Show and other venues, noted in particular for their popularity at such events. Various Asian celebrities have also been hired to promote

7303-510: The fanservice, her portrayal left a considerable impression on him of her as a "representative fighting game character". Gavin Jasper stated while focus was often placed on her breasts, he felt her "optimistic spirit helps balance her into a fun character who is always a blast to play as". He further praised how she owned her sexuality, integrating her sex appeal as an intentional part of her character's battle strategy. Jasper also added that while she

7412-441: The film focusing on sexuality supported this theory. The observation was shared by the staff of Game On! USA , who praised Obari's anatomical detail in the film and stated he "made Mai Shinarui the crazy underdressed heroine she is today". Seiichiro Hayakawa of Magmix praised how Obari showed her as a "sensual" character, moreso than he expected, while also displaying her with considerable strength. He further stated that alongside

7521-575: The first entry of the Maximum Impact series under the pseudonym "Mr. Taekwondo" – in the same fashion as Art of Fighting ' s Mr. Karate . Due to veteran designers' complaints and other difficulties at the time, it was finally decided to leave Kim out of the game's lineup but add another character like him to replace his absence. While several other characters were considered for the spot – including other SNK characters such as Jhun Hoon , May Lee, and Buriki One character Seo Yong Song  –

7630-420: The follow up anime Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture , Mai helps the others on their quest to stop the antagonist Laocorn Gaudeamus and his henchmen, and is voiced by Lisa Ann Beley in English while Mitsuishi reprises her role in Japanese. She additionally appears in The King of Fighters: Another Day , a tie in to Maximum Impact where she is voiced by Akoya Sogi. In other video media, Mai also appears in

7739-489: The former company. In September, the newly spun-out standalone internet media company, changed its name to Snowball.com. At the same time, small entertainment website The Den merged into IGN and added non-gaming content to the growing network. Snowball held an IPO in 2000, but shed most of its other properties during the dot-com bubble . IGN prevailed with growing audience numbers and a newly established subscription service called IGN Insider (later IGN Prime), which led to

7848-451: The game download site FilePlanet into the IGN group; as of 2011 both FilePlanet and the GameSpy website still operate as video game-related web sites. IGN Entertainment acquired the online male lifestyle magazine AskMen in 2005. In 2004, IGN acquired film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and in 2010, sold the website to Flixster . In October 2017, Humble Bundle announced that it

7957-430: The game is recommended. The score is given according to the "individual aspects of a game, like presentation, graphics, sound, gameplay and lasting appeal". Each game is given a score in each of these categories, but the overall score for the game is an independent evaluation, not an average of the scores in each category. On August 3, 2010, IGN announced that the site would be changing to a new scoring scale. Instead of

8066-423: The game's setting is the same as their predecessors. Lien conceptually began as a contrast to fellow KOF participant Mai Shiranui . While Mai represents a "sexy and beautiful kunoichi ", Lien represents another counterpart: the "sexy Western femme fatale ". Her outfits are purposely designed to be "tight and constricting" to contrast Mai's clothing, which is made to allow for easy and quick movements. To further

8175-476: The game, comparing it to Capcom "releasing Street Fighter without Ryu ". Other outlets meanwhile compared Mai to Street Fighter character Chun-Li, as both have been cited as the first two prominent female characters of fighting games. Frederick Badlissi of Diehard GameFan jokingly called it the "question of 'anatomic supremacy' between Mai Shiranui’s breasts (the 'North') and Chun-Li’s thighs (the 'South')". Games Tribune Magazine writer Javier Bello felt

8284-558: The games discussion forum NeoGAF . On August 14, IGN announced that it would remove all of Miucin's work pending further review. On April 19, 2019, Miucin admitted plagiarism and issued an apology on his YouTube channel. During the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis , the main IGN site posted an article on May 14 urging readers to donate to charities helping Palestinian civilians such as the Palestine Children's Relief Fund and linked to relevant news reporting. A Palestinian flag

8393-476: The in-game events, Fate is killed by Duke , the leader of the up-and-coming Mephistopheles gang. Duke then proceeds to exploit the poor to serve his thirst for power. In the present day, the "Mephistopheles Fighting Tournament" is beginning, with the venue being all of Southtown. The participants (minus the Meira Brothers and Lien) believe that the tournament is being sponsored by a charity organization known as

8502-649: The increasing number of esports events that were being held. On April 8, 2013, Blizzard Entertainment announced that it had acquired the staff and assets of the IPL from IGN ; its former staff were reassigned to work on in-house esports productions. In November 2017, some IGN employees refused to work to show solidarity with Kallie Plagge, a former editor who alleged that in 2016, another editor, Vince Ingenito, sexually harassed her and another female employee and made inappropriate comments. Human resources allegedly told her that she "needed to have better judgment about who [she]

8611-459: The latter of which they felt was vital for a character's enduring appeal. However, some have complained about her design, feeling it represents a trend of oversexualization of female characters in fighting games. A thesis for the Federal University of Bahia cited Mai as an example of how female fighting game characters hypersexualize the breasts and hips, drawing comparisons to portrayal of

8720-404: The most prominent example in 2D animation of the concept. Brett Elston of GamesRadar+ emphasized that while female fighting game characters were prominent in the 1990's, with each new game often trying to out-sexualize the others, gaming periodicals were "abuzz with commentary on what Mai's bobbing bosom meant for the industry", with Elston comparing it to "witnessing (half-naked) women entering

8829-433: The mythological Venus . It additionally cited her as an example of how such games tend to portray Asian women as inherently sexual through their use of traditional clothing and how much of her body it exposes. The animation of Mai's breasts in Fatal Fury 2 has been cited as one of the earliest examples of breast physics in video games, a conception that later games have steadily tried to refine, though Mai has remained

8938-427: The next opponent between matches. For the final match, one faces Duke himself. For a few "featured" characters (Alba Meira, Soiree Meira, and Lien Neville), the story is more intricate and fleshed out. The gameplay is similar to those of Tekken , Street Fighter and Bloody Roar series, such as having a more combo command moves system and players being capable of executing juggle combos freely. In Versus Mode,

9047-471: The outfit demanded "a special kind of physique", and felt this to why it was popular with models. In 2019, when discussing Terry Bogard's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate , producer Masahiro Sakurai explained while Mai was widely popular, she would not be able to appear in the game in any context as the game was made for "good boys and girls of many different ages." The statement rapidly became

9156-438: The person working on Mai's sprites , C.A.C Yamaski, asked the development head if he could increase the number of sprites for her standing idle animation. The latter agreed due to having extra space on the game's ROM , but was surprised upon seeing the results: while in earlier games her breasts were given a slight amount of jiggle in her animations, the sprite artist had emphasized the movement of her breasts dramatically. While

9265-455: The power of the god Orochi . She was played by Maggie Q , who performed her own stunts, while in Japan she was dubbed by Ami Koshimizu. In anime, Mai first appears in Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle where she is voiced by Sarah Sawatsky in English, and Kotono Mitsuishi in Japanese. Appearing in a small role, she is kidnapped by the villain Laurence Blood , with Andy rescuing her. In

9374-427: The purchase were not revealed. Prior to its acquisition by UGO, 1UP.com had previously been owned by Ziff Davis. Soon after the acquisition, IGN announced that it would be laying off staff and closing GameSpy , 1UP.com, and UGO in order to focus on its flagship brands, IGN and AskMen. The role-playing video game interest website Vault Network was acquired by IGN in 1999. GameStats, a review aggregation website,

9483-411: The roster made it into the final game. One noteworthy exception to the rule is Rock Howard, brought in from the most recent Fatal Fury chapter, Garou: Mark of the Wolves . Each character features at least one alternative costume. Some alternate costumes are radically different from the defaults, such as Terry's Garou: Mark of the Wolves look and Clark's professional wrestler persona. In addition to

9592-510: The shedding of the name "Snowball" and adoption of IGN Entertainment on May 10, 2002. In June 2005, IGN reported having 24,000,000 unique visitors per month, with 4.8 million registered users through all departments of the site. IGN has been ranked among the top 500 most-visited websites according to Alexa . In September 2005, IGN was acquired by Rupert Murdoch 's multimedia business empire, News Corporation , for $ 650 million. IGN celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 12, 2008. IGN

9701-455: The site automatically redirects visitors to their localized version using geolocation software , based on their countries' IP addresses. Each version of the site has a modified logo with their country's/region's respective flags near the IGN logo. However, it is still possible to access the original American website using a navigation bar above or below (depending on the regional website) the page's master template. IGN Convention ( IGN Con )

9810-405: The site included movie news, comic book reviews, anime coverage and other associated items. It has since been discontinued. The site, SciFI.ign.com redirects to the recently created SciFiBrain.ign.com , which covers some of the content of the old Sci-Fi site. In 2002, IGN launched a dedicated video game FAQs site specifically designed to host user-submitted guides. This was launched following

9919-753: The website for various countries and pan-regions. Initially, IGN began opening new offices outside the United States in order to support those regional websites, but later IGN began franchising its brand as a more cost-effective means of globalization, wherein it licensed various media publishers in many countries to use the IGN brand and manage regional websites on their own. Licensed regional publishers work on their own servers, albeit can link to IGN ' s HQ database, where they can import or translate articles, and use videos uploaded on IGN ' s servers that use IGN ' s own hosted video player. When visiting www.ign.com from an IGN -supported region,

10028-485: The workplace for the first time." The staff of Inside Games praised it as "80% of Mai Shiranui's charm" and an enduring aspect of her character, citing how it fit as a distractionary element of her role as a ninja that was refined to be more realistic as the series progressed. Mai has been cited as especially popular among the young people in Hong Kong during the late 1990s, impacting local youth and Mong Kok culture in

10137-497: Was 'friends' with" and that she was an "equal participant" in "inappropriate flirtation". This incident was widely circulated across social media. In August 2018, the owner of YouTube channel Boomstick Gaming accused the IGN reviewer Filip Miucin of plagiarizing his video review of the game Dead Cells . On August 7, IGN stated that it had found "substantial similarities" between the reviews, apologized, and announced that it had dismissed Miucin. On August 10, IGN published

10246-436: Was a direct homage to Mai. Mai has also been the frequent subject of explicit third party works, including hentai doujinshi , erotic cosplay, and pornographic films. Mai's outfit has been observed as particularly popular among models in China and Taiwan, with models wearing the attire appearing at non-gaming events such as book signings or car shows. The outfit has also appeared in film, such as 2018's Smiling Proudly in

10355-470: Was also added besides the IGN logo. Shortly after the article went up IGN Israel made statements on social media condemning the article. The Palestinian flag was soon replaced with a Red Cross . On May 16, the article was deleted and a statement was made on the IGN Twitter account saying that it was wrong to only highlight one side of the conflict. A reposted version on South Africa-based IGN Africa

10464-473: Was also announced to join the roster of the mobile action RPG SNK All-Star if the number of pre-registered users exceeds half million. A variety of merchandise was also produced to promote her appearance in SNK Heroines , including a t-shirt, standees and stickers bundled with special editions of the game. Mai's outfit and appearance have also been made available as promotional cosmetic skins for players in

10573-532: Was also removed. On May 17, over 60 members of IGN ' s staff signed an open letter condemning the article's removal for going against the site's editorial freedom and policies for retracting or correcting articles, as well as the lack of communication with IGN staff. IGN reinstated the article on August 24 under a new headline alongside a statement of newly formalized editorial policies. Mai Shiranui Mai Shiranui ( Japanese : 不知火舞 , Hepburn : Shiranui Mai ) (alternatively written しらぬい まい)

10682-472: Was being acquired by IGN . IGN Entertainment acquired Gamer Network and its properties in May 2024 for an undisclosed sum. These included Eurogamer , Rock Paper Shotgun , VG247 and others. As a result, some layoffs were made due to redundancies. A member of the IGN staff writes a review for a game and gives it a score between 0.1 and 10.0, which is assigned by increments of 0.1 and determines how much

10791-406: Was featured heavily in promotional materials for The King of Fighters XIII , and an exclusive t-shirt depicting her was given to all registered participants in the King of Fighters championship at EVO 2012. The King of Fighters XIV Premium Edition included a soundtrack with an illustrated case featuring the character, and the game's pre-order bonuses included a Mai PlayStation 4 theme. Mai

10900-478: Was founded by IGN in 2004. GameStats includes a "GPM" (Game Popularity Metric) rating system which incorporates an average press score and average gamer score, as well as the number of page hits for the game. However, the site is no longer being updated. The Xbox interest site, TeamXbox , and the PC game website VE3D were acquired in 2003. IGN Entertainment merged with GameSpy Industries in 2005. The merger also brought

11009-638: Was headquartered in the Marina Point Parkway office park in Brisbane, California , until it relocated to a smaller office building near AT&T Park in San Francisco on March 29, 2010. On May 25, 2011, IGN sold its Direct2Drive division to Gamefly for an undisclosed amount. In 2011, IGN Entertainment acquired its rival UGO Entertainment (owners of 1Up.com ) from Hearst Corporation . Ultimately, News Corp. planned to spin off IGN Entertainment as

11118-630: Was launched to mark IGN ' s 10th anniversary. To coincide with the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl , IGN created the Super Smash Bros. World site. On the site, people can submit their user-created stages from the game and download ones made by other people. IGN subsequently launched a similar website called GTA 'Hood on April 29, 2008, for Grand Theft Auto IV . Along with its popular website content, IGN also publishes many different podcasts on both its website and on iTunes . Some of its podcasts include console-oriented shows like

11227-499: Was often the more interesting character, Mai was more consistently alluring, though no less influential on other characters in the fighting game industry. In regards to her appearance in Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture , Jean-Karlo Lemus and Heidi Kemps of Anime News Network noted the emphasis on fanservice, particularly with how she was introduced "boobs first" in the production. She compared it to her portrayal in

11336-422: Was originally conceived as a male ninja simply named Ninja Master. However, after the character's concept was about sixty percent realized, a request was put in to include a female character, and they scrapped their original idea, retaining the ninja identity while developing several character concepts. In terms of personality, they wanted her to be strong-willed woman who made most of her own equipment, and to have

11445-414: Was originally intended to be excluded from the game's sequel, Fatal Fury 3 and replaced with another female character, Alice Chrystler. However due to heavy fan request, Mai returned instead. Several redesigns were considered for her appearance in the game, including a full armored appearance in heavy ninja gear, before changing her attire to incorporate a bustier . When asked if this was done to reduce

11554-437: Was relegated to a secondary outfit. Her primary meanwhile was changed to black leather pants, a matching unzipped jacket with loose sleeves that exposed her midriff and cleavage, and black leather gloves on her hands. The look was inspired by her love of heavy metal and to give her a more casual outfit, as Ureshino felt her regular outfit would be out of place as street attire and would more likely get her arrested. Mai Shiranui

11663-524: Was restarted; however, none of the Dreamcast updates were posted on the main IGN webpage. In 2007, IGN launched its anime site. It provided features on anime and manga, including trailers and free episodes. It also included reviews of manga and anime from other sections of IGN , such as IGN Comics and IGN DVD . The anime channel was dropped after IGN redesigned the site. In 2008, the IGN Retro channel

11772-708: Was sold to publishing company Ziff Davis in February 2013. Created in September 1996 as the Imagine Games Network , the IGN content network was founded by publishing executive Jonathan Simpson-Bint and began as five individual websites within Imagine Media : N64.com (later renamed ign64.com ), PSXPower , Saturnworld , Next-Generation.com and Ultra Game Players Online . Imagine expanded on its owned-and-operated websites by creating an affiliate network that included

11881-527: Was worried some variations may be removed from the final game for being too overt. Meanwhile in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy , she is most prominently given a cow print bikini for an outfit which features a matching fake tail, while her hair clip is changed to a set of horns with fake cow ears extending from it. For her appearance in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves , her recurring outfit

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