We pitch King of Fighters and Street Fighter Alpha in a new competition: fashion!
Match-ups and smack-downs. We love them and the tensions between them. Liverpool vs Man. United, The Stones vs The Beatles, Rocky Balboa vs a training montage. Pretty intense stuff, but nothing on the Street Fighter Alpha, King of Fighters battleground of the mid-nineties.
The stakes were high and the cost of importing them even higher. They were comprehensively compared at the time and for those who find them still relevant today, this has never stopped.
Through art direction to technical topography, combos to counters, it has all been through the fanaticism of fandom and by my vote King of Fighters takes the title. Just. You may disagree and plenty of people do, but the point is folks have been tooth-combing these two series until there is nothing left to do but say the same old lines… or is there? In all the years we never really got around to dissecting their dress sense.
We love match-ups and smack-downs and the tensions between them: Liverpool vs Man. United, The Stones vs The Beatles, Rocky Balboa vs a training montage.
A terrible missed opportunity considering what the eyes can see. Well, not on my watch. But I am going to need help; a wife called Anna and her best friend, Margaret, armed with notes and an answer to the question, who is the best dressed between selected combatants of Street Fighter Alpha 3 and King of Fighters ‘98 (sure, it’s weird as fighting tournaments go, but stick with it)?
They had ten fighters from each game to go through; five guys and five gals.
We’ll start with those Alpha males and move over to the SNK brigade next time for final summation and judgment.
Street Fighter Alpha males
First down the runway is Rolento; a man of posture, red cap and what appears to the girls to be some kind of nipple tassle’n’bra combination. They are in fact grenades’n’holsters, but you can’t always expect girls to know these things.
‘A beautiful posture though’, notes Margaret, while Anna settles for a summary of ‘big boots, big boobs.’ Rolento also starts off a motif across both games for fingerless glove fashion. I think the girls like them but can’t be sure. Lots more of that to come.
Style? The notes say no.
Brawler turned convict, Cody is up next.
‘He’s just out of bed in a prison camp,’ confirms Anna and Margaret notes his sad expression, wondering if Scooby Doo caught him? More important to them both though is practicality.
‘How does he go to the toilet?’ asks Margaret and Anna considers that he must have a big bum flap around the back. Say no more. Also of contention is whether his bandages are another form of fingerless gloves. Overall, fairly practical but a little sad.
Style? Not an outright no, but not a yes, so a no. Complicated.
Beefcake Birdie is up next and the girls wonder exactly where to begin.
‘Sausage fingers,’ says Anna after the pause and they both note the fingerless gloves. Margaret wonders about his hair, if it isn’t in fact just a slab of Emmental on his head. The pen knife with saw blade enabled is curious to them, as are his winkle picker boots.
‘He’s massive, but… pathetic,’ passes Margaret’s judgement, to the agreement of Anna and games players worldwide.
Style? Goodness, no.
Military man-cake, Charlie is offered up next to a far warmer response.
‘Hot, intellectual glasses,’ says Margaret right off the mark.
‘He’s the thinker of the group,’ confirms Anna and it looks like we might be heading for our first style winner before they notice his hair and wonder just how long he has to stay awake setting it.
‘He’s forgotten his shirt and socks because of it,’ concludes Margaret but both think it represents a timely attitude in the man. No gloves, but his trousers are approved.
Style? Yes with salute.
Finally, from the men is series late comer, Eagle.
‘Run away!’ suggests Anna, but instead they both wonder over the origins of this man and why he looks like he only has one leg.
‘Does he hop?’ asks Margaret before derailing the notes with the Dufflepud’s of Narnia. The position and practical use of his braces confuse them still further until they reckon on Eagle probably being a one-legged member of some Scandinavian mafia sect. Hence only one shoe. He has style, they admit but would still run away.
Style? Still running.
A fair start for the guys of Street Fighter, but now for the girls. Brace for opinion impact…
Knee high boots, sky high kicks
We are going to start with Chun Li because this is Street Fighter and tradition is everything.
‘Little but deadly,’ Margaret offers up and Anna agrees before drawing attention to what appear to be some large and hazardous earrings. Aside from those though, Chun Li scores highly for practical style.
‘I like the short waistcoat,’ says Anna. ‘It shows off her physique, but isn’t immodest.’
‘Yes, a combination of pert and shy going on here. It suits. I’d say that she is like a little angry bluebird.’
A good score there, but nothing for them to get excited about in the fingerless glove department. She has wrist guards, but they impress the girls not enough to mention.
Style? A flighty yes.
Staying with the blue tones, Cammy is next and is also a Street Fighter favourite of mine. Speed and power. Let’s see how she survives this.
‘Looks like a Karen,’ jumps in Anna and they both quickly agree that it is probably because of her strange arm protectors weighing her down.
‘A lot of hair gel,’ spots Margaret and they faintly approve of her airline stewardess cap’n’tie combo. Her lower half seems to confuse them though and they note pained faces over her wedgy and confused ones at what they take to be tattoos down her legs. Marks for the fingerless gloves and her leather boots also pass as reasonably practical.
Style? A no and complaint to management.
Less practical and even heavier with the gel is Rose. My notes suggest the girls don’t know where to begin with her.
‘Are her boobs on a shelf?’ asks Anna, but the matter is unresolved as Margaret spies the size of her waist buckle and wonders if it is a weapon. Both girls are curious about the campness of her posture and push back and forth as to whether she has a past as a pirate or was in the circus.
‘Perhaps she is just a bit of a drag queen?’ asks Anna and they continue to stare, not quite sure about anything. So, a lot like playing as her then. Boom-boom.
Style? The notes say no.
‘But where is her style?’ wonders Anna, zeroing in on the fact that Juli was always a second-tier, bag carrier for Cammy. ‘I think I would be bored to fight her,’ she adds but doesn’t discount Juli being a great flight attendant, so that’s fair.
Next along is Juli and Anna has noticed something similar.
‘Your flight is ready for booking on Cammy Airlines,’ she says of the brunette doppelganger.
‘Yes, the cute tie’n’cap combination is back. And the strange arm pads, with the gloves. It isn’t very practical looking.’
‘But where is her style?’ wonders Anna, zeroing in on the fact that Juli was always a second-tier, bag carrier for Cammy. ‘I think I would be bored to fight her,’ she adds but doesn’t discount Juli being a great flight attendant, so that’s fair.
Style? No, but welcome to carry their bags.
Our final female is the scarlet-skirted Karin and the girls know just what they are seeing here.
‘Like the hair,’ they note first, getting straight to the important stuff. ‘The curly girl method yet also tied back,’ adds Anna as a compliment to practicality. In fact, practicality marks abound for not just hair but also the skirt/short combo and a general sense of ‘moveable room’ in her style.
Margaret draws inevitable attention to the fingerless gloves, but gives extra marks for them looking ‘cool’. ‘Schoolgirl sweet, but a killer,’ she surmises and they go back to talking about her hair.
Style? Yes from a safe distance.
So that’s the Capcom combatants done and put away again. Next time will be SNK’s turn and the winner announced. See you at Round Two.
Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through those links. This comes at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!
