Analyzing the percentage of female fighters in the rosters of the current batch of fighting games [NEW: SF6, MVS, & T8 Updated]

[ehagans]

I'm all for women having more representation in games, especially in fighting games. But I'm not sure that I see much of a problem with most of the current rosters in fighting games. Outside of gender, fighting games usually have some of the most diversified casts in gaming.

I know that there are women around the world who are great fighters in various combat sports and martial arts, but is it fair to assume that the ratio for male to female fighters around the world is 1:1? If it is, women should have a greater representation in fighting games. I haven't done any research on this and I'm only guessing, but my assumption is that there are far more men fighting around the world than women. Not sure if that's true but that's my assumption, based on preconceived notions that men are more violent. If the ratio of male to female fighters favors men, why should games misrepresent this ratios just to add more women? Would you expect a trash collection game to feature a male and female cast that is 1:1? Again, I'm assuming that more men fight in various mediums around the world.

As a black man there are very few games that provide more than one or two options of characters that look like me. Outside of sports games it's rare to see a black protagonist as the main character. I personally feel that fighting games provide some of the most diverse casts in the gaming world. Outside of gender options, you can usually find several races represented.

~just my 2 cents~

Also this is my first post. Hi all!!

 

[Sanox]

Nitroplus Blasterz
And Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax
The upcoming Blade Strangers

 

[mclem]

Though I'd imagine that Smash 4 would have placed a bit higher if I had counted Robin, Villager, & Corrin.

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Also you seemed to regard the Miis in the same boat, although they don't exactly have a 'default' gender - but still included them in the count of the total roster.

 

[Novel]

What I think of when I see people say female to describe women.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't know this was late. Was at work and just plopped it in now

 

[Platy]

Unless you mean female and male characters in the game

Angel Eyes had its arcade release in 96 with an all female cast

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Would not call a japan exclusive game exacly major =P

 

[Bhonar]

Just to add, when I say more body types I don't mean get rid of the ones people don't like. I wouldn't buy a street fighter without Cammy in a leotard or Chun having huge thighs

But if men can have a Rufus or birdie, no reason women can't too

Would I use the character, no , but I know some would and I'm all for adding more options

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Here's your problem with that comparison... nobody fucking likes how Rufus or Birdie look, lol. (By nobody I mean not many people of course, don't take it literally as zero people.)

 

[Hero]

Smash is a bit unfair. Charizard, Jigglypuff, Greninja, Pikachu can all be male or female so shouldn't be used to skew the results towards male. Not counting Villager, Corrin, Wendy, Mii Fighter, Mii Brawler, Mii Swordfighter is also a little biased I feel. Smash has great female representation.

Especially with the Mii characters. You've counted all three as male when the players can literally choose what they look like? Mii Brawler is female by default and you didn't even count her.

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I'm in complete agreement with you here.

 

[Neoxon]

Also you seemed to regard the Miis in the same boat, although they don't exactly have a 'default' gender - but still included them in the count of the total roster.

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Yeah, they don't have a default gender either way, so I didn't count them amongst the female fighters.

 

[Waluigilicious]

Yeah, they don't have a default gender either way, so I didn't count them amongst the female fighters.

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But you counted them towards the total? I don't really understand...

 

[Neoxon]

But you counted them towards the total? I don't really understand...

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Because they're playable characters. By that logic, I would have to leave Helix out of the ARMS character count.

 

[Deleted member 8001]

Arcana Heart 3 does have one male character

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[Astral Lovelace]

Hmm is 33% not a good number for representation? Whether we are talking about in terms of the percentage of of female gamers who play fighting games versus male gamers or the percentage of female fighters vs the percentage of male fighters the number I'm sure is less than 33%

I mean something like doa5 isnt 60+% female because of representation, its because they like to promote with attractive girls which seems negative to me. Is having 33% strong female characters not a better way to do it?

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Not sure if anyone brought this up yet, but whether it's by design or not, IIRC the DOA games have a pretty high percentage of female players, though I don't have the numbers to back it up.

It probably helped that DOA5, DLC aside, felt a little less skimpy than the others in the series.

 

[Waluigilicious]

Because they're playable characters. By that logic, I would have to leave Helix out of the ARMS character count.

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You could argue Helix is male because he is called DNA Man in Japan and just in general from how he looks. By not counting the Mii as female but counting them as characters just skews the results. I think I'm just failing to understand the logic behind it, sorry. I mean you literally have to create a Mii to be able to use one, and this can be male or female. Even going by the icon logic (which I also disagree with) the default Mii Gunner is female.

 

[Deleted member 2793]

Seeing the DBZ roster makes me understand why I don't like the franchise at all. The characters feel too samey to me.

 

[Sanox]

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He means the walking children's drawing. The human kid Eko is a girl

this is bullshit

until doa5, the game has always had more males vs females

the reason the switch happened is because team ninja realized making dlc was a cashcow

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Was more talking about how the series evolved and new characters.

If Kasumi wasn't a female character the scientist of Doatec Lisa would probably not have been a female character, if Kasumi wasn't a female character her clones wouldn't be either, Helena being a female character lead to Christie being a female character etc.

All these characters that are male characters in other games end up being female characters further leading to more female characters connected to them

 

[HypedBeast]

Here's your problem with that comparison... nobody fucking likes how Rufus or Birdie look, lol. (By nobody I mean not many people of course, don't take it literally as zero people.)

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Yeah I dont mind fat characters, but those are some of the worst design in fighting games.
I would take Bob anyday over those two lame slobs.

 

[Unknownlight]

Including the Miis for Smash Bros. doesn't make sense because their gender is completely based on whatever Miis the player had previously created. Including them in the total is misleading.

More importantly, leaving them out doesn't change Smash Bros. placement in the ranking, but rather makes the percentage of female characters in the game to be exactly 20.00%. I love perfectly even numbers like that.

 

[Waluigilicious]

Including the Miis for Smash Bros. doesn't make sense because their gender is completely based on whatever Miis the player had previously created. Including them in the total is misleading.

More importantly, leaving them out doesn't change Smash Bros. placement in the ranking, but rather makes the percentage of female characters in the game to be exactly 20.00%. I love perfectly even numbers like that.

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Villager, Robin and Corrin are also effectively Miis in that sense. The player picks their preferred gender in the games. Also on 3DS Smash the console remembers what skin you prefer and that then becomes the default.

 

[Astral Lovelace]

Smash Bros really needs "Male, Female, and Other (agender or selectable gender)" rather than just "Female, not female".

 

[Dice]

DoA5 winning didn't surprise me at all.

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lol i bet there is a groan in the design office when they're forced to make a new male character instead of a female x)

 

[Unknownlight]

Villager, Robin and Corrin are also effectively Miis in that sense. The player picks their preferred gender in the games. Also on 3DS Smash the console remembers what skin you prefer and that then becomes the default.

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That's a decent argument, but the Miis are even more neutral because the game never indicates a default. With Villager, Robin, and Corrin they start as male, and you have to actively change them to female. With the Miis if you've never made a male Mii before, you'll only have the option to play as a female Mii in the game.

 

[Bhonar]

Yeah I dont mind fat characters, but those are some of the worst design in fighting games.
I would take Bob anyday over those two lame slobs.

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Completely agree with you that Birdie and Rufus are some of the dumbest looking characters.

However I'm going to go one step beyond your opinion and say I can't stand any obese characters period. Overweight or overly stocky to some degree is fine, but morbidly obese is just flat out crap.

 

[isual]

If you don't see an issue then why do you care in the first place? Like, if more women popped up you shouldn't be bothered either way, right?

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because i just do not see an issue at all. i am giving a dissenting opinion because objectively, OP is using data to analytically quantify if there's a lack of women or not enough - what can you do? you are not in a position to make those changes. you can voice and object, but it is what it is.

so what if more women popped? i wouldn't care but i just don't see an issue now. only anything is that OP is using data to correlate the lack of women in fighting games, and i disagree.

 

[Zero-ELEC]

Good thread!

And yeah percentage is whack in a lot of cases, especially MvCI, considering the series legacy. The game started with 4 women. And they've added two more while adding 4 more men.
This is one of those things that will never get fixed with updates because the most "popular" characters (i.e those that are likely to be chosen for DLC) are almost always male.

And really, diversity is a thing missing in a lot of these rosters, especially in body type.

Quoting a post (not mine) from the old forum:

Female characters in games are, most of the time, some variation of the hourglass form. Whereas male characters can be conventionally attractive, can be roided out, can be hugely overweight, can be grotesquely shaped.

It's very obvious in Street Fighter V:

The entire cast is incredibly muscular, but notice the male body shapes vs. the female body shapes. If you removed their identifying character traits, the women would appear the same while the men would not.

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Of course that is now outdated, but the addition of Ibuki, Juri, Kolin and Menat does not buck the trend.

Compare any of the most drastic differences between female character body types (which I guess would be... between Karin and Mika? Menat and Mika?) to those between Abigail and any male character. Or Zangief and any other male character. Or F.A.N.G and any other male character. Or Birdie and any other male character.

 

[Valhalla_Nights]

Arc System Works is going at it I see

 

[Servbot24]

Some of these are in the situation of being based on a franchise with a limited number of options to choose from, in particular Dragonball. I'm hard pressed to think of more than 7 or so viable female characters that could be in that game. You could probably find more random weirdos than that, but very few big name characters. On the other hand I don't think Marvel fighting games have any excuse.

For the games with original casts though, it does actually seems better than it used to be, but obviously lots of room for improvement.

 

[Neoxon]

UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[st] has been added to the list, with a 50% female fighters percentage compared to the entirety of the roster. Thanks to Rutger for doing the hard work for me.

The latest game in the UNIEL series is sitting at 10 out of 20 characters.


Linne
Orie
Vatista
Yuzuriha
Hilda
Eltnum
Nanase
Mika
Wagner
Phonon

Since it's recently got an update, it might be worth mentioning.

Since I play a lot of anime fighting games, I'm not surprised at the results overall. They tend to be closer to equal representation numbers wise, but will also find themselves with some sillier designs.

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[HypedBeast]

UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[st] has been added to the list, with a 50% female fighters percentage compared to the entirety of the roster. Thanks to Rutger for doing the hard work for me.

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If you can, do you mind adding Skullgirls,

If you count Skullgirls as current, its roster is 85.8% female.
2 Male Characters to 12 Female Characters.

Female Characters
Fillia
Cerebella
Ms. Fortune
Parasoul
Squiggly
Peacock
Valentine
Double
Eliza
Robo Fortune
Fukua
Painwheel

Male Characters
Beowulf
Big Band

 

[SageShinigami]

because i just do not see an issue at all. i am giving a dissenting opinion because objectively, OP is using data to analytically quantify if there's a lack of women or not enough - what can you do? you are not in a position to make those changes. you can voice and object, but it is what it is.

so what if more women popped? i wouldn't care but i just don't see an issue now. only anything is that OP is using data to correlate the lack of women in fighting games, and i disagree.

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...But numerically there is a lack of women in fighting games. Unless you're simply based in a franchise with a low amount of women like DBFZ, there's no excuse for it either. People have said over and over that they'd like to see themselves represented in their games, and a token 18% isn't going to cut it.

 

[Platy]

Pikachu os totally male. Pokken has a female Pikachu and a male one

 

[Waluigilicious]

These are trophy definitions. If they are defined as he they are male, she they are female, if they can be both they are both and "it" they are neither/both.

Male only (he): 35
Mario
Donkey Kong
Link
Yoshi
Kirby
Fox
Luigi
Captain Falcon
Ness
Bowser
Marth
Mr. Game and Watch
Ganondorf
Falco
Wario
Meta Knight
Pit
Olimar
Diddy Kong
King Dedede
Ike
R.O.B
Toon Link
Sonic
Dr. Mario
Dark Pit
Little Mac
Duck Hunt Duo
Shulk
Pac-Man
Mega Man
Lucas
Roy
Ryu
Cloud

Female only (she): 9
Samus
Peach
Zelda
Sheik
Zero Suit Samus
Lucina
Rosalina & Luma
Palutena
Bayonetta

Can be both: 8
Wii Fit Trainer
Villager
Robin
Bowser Jr.
Corrin
Mii Brawler
Mii Sword Fighter
Mii Gunner

Neither/Both: (it) 6
Pikachu
Lucario
Charizard
Jigglypuff
Greninja
Mewtwo

The number of characters that are strictly female compared to those that are strictly female/male is 9/44 or 20.45%.

The number of characters that can be female (female only + can be both) compared to those that can be male (male only + can be both) is 17/43 or 39.53%. Personally I think this is the fairest comparison as we are talking about female representation, and this compares all characters that are or can be female versus all characters that are or can be male. (Arguing that the Pokemon except Mewtwo (genderless) and maybe Pikachu (the tail) can also be female will put this figure at almost 50%. Smash's roster represents females by almost half. This is a much better argument than not counting Miis as females and not counting non-default icons but I've left Pokemon out of this section for arguments sake)

Finally, comparing all characters that are/can be female (female only+can be both) with all characters in the game (male+ can be both+neither/both) gives 17/58 or 29.31%. This is probably the number you want for the OP, and is a decent number considering it's 29.31% when we divide into three categories.

Even if we do go by icon representation, and for arguments sake I'll count all Pokemon as male except Jigglypuff (most of us say he to them all and she to Jigglypuff) that's still 12/58 which is 20.69%. (The 9 female only + Jigglypuff, Mii Gunner, Wii Fit Trainer).

 

[Neoxon]

These are trophy definitions. If they are defined as he they are male, she they are female and it they are neither/both.

Male only (he): 35
Mario
Donkey Kong
Link
Yoshi
Kirby
Fox
Luigi
Captain Falcon
Ness
Bowser
Marth
Mr. Game and Watch
Ganondorf
Falco
Wario
Meta Knight
Pit
Olimar
Diddy Kong
King Dedede
Ike
R.O.B
Toon Link
Sonic
Dr. Mario
Dark Pit
Little Mac
Duck Hunt Duo
Shulk
Pac-Man
Mega Man
Lucas
Roy
Ryu
Cloud

Female only (she): 9
Samus
Peach
Zelda
Sheik
Zero Suit Samus
Lucina
Rosalina & Luma
Palutena
Bayonetta

Both: 8
Wii Fit Trainer
Villager
Robin
Bowser Jr.
Corrin
Mii Brawler
Mii Sword Fighter
Mii Gunner

Other: (it) 6
Pikachu
Lucario
Charizard
Jigglypuff
Greninja
Mewtwo

The number of characters that are strictly female compared to those that are strictly male is 9/35 or 25.71%.

The number of characters that can be female (female only+both) compared to those that are strictly male is 17/35 or 48.57%. Personally I think this is the fairest comparison as we are talking about female representation, and this compares all characters that are or can be female versus all characters that are strictly not female.

Finally, comparing all characters that are/can be female (female only+both) with all characters in the game (male+other) gives 17/58 or 29.31%. This is probably the number you want for the OP, and is a decent number considering it's 29.31% when we divide into three categories.

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Smash Pikachu is a dude, as clearly shown by his tail (flat tail for male Pikachus, curved tail for female Pikachus).

If you can, do you mind adding Skullgirls,

If you count Skullgirls as current, its roster is 85.8% female.
2 Male Characters to 12 Female Characters.

Female Characters
Fillia
Cerebella
Ms. Fortune
Parasoul
Squiggly
Peacock
Valentine
Double
Eliza
Robo Fortune
Fukua
Painwheel

Male Characters
Beowulf
Big Band

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Added, thanks for saving me the trouble.

 

[Waluigilicious]

Smash Pikachu is a dude, as clearly shown by his tail (flat tail for male Pikachus, curved tail for female Pikachus).


Added, thanks for saving me the trouble.

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Is that really the only response worth making? No other discussion stems from the list or way of thinking?

 

[Neoxon]

Is that really the only response worth making? No other discussion stems from the list or way of thinking?

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It's just a minor correction for your post. I'll look into adding it, but the fact that I count characters with both genders if they're female by default may change the percentages a bit. Plus it'd be a bit weird to leave out certain characters when every other game has the number of female fighters compared to the entirety of their respective games' rosters, not just a portion of it that identify as a male or female character.

 

[Platy]

Jigglypuff has a bow. That is Tertiary Sexual Characteristics 101

 

[Waluigilicious]

I fixed my percentages. Made silly mistakes lol (almost 2am here :p)

 

[Waluigilicious]

Jigglypuff has a bow. That is Tertiary Sexual Characteristics 101

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It's countered by Pikachu's tail (though the trophy refers to Pikachu as "it") so it's no big deal as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Aaronrules380]

These are trophy definitions. If they are defined as he they are male, she they are female, if they can be both they are both and "it" they are neither/both.

Male only (he): 35
Mario
Donkey Kong
Link
Yoshi
Kirby
Fox
Luigi
Captain Falcon
Ness
Bowser
Marth
Mr. Game and Watch
Ganondorf
Falco
Wario
Meta Knight
Pit
Olimar
Diddy Kong
King Dedede
Ike
R.O.B
Toon Link
Sonic
Dr. Mario
Dark Pit
Little Mac
Duck Hunt Duo
Shulk
Pac-Man
Mega Man
Lucas
Roy
Ryu
Cloud

Female only (she): 9
Samus
Peach
Zelda
Sheik
Zero Suit Samus
Lucina
Rosalina & Luma
Palutena
Bayonetta

Can be both: 8
Wii Fit Trainer
Villager
Robin
Bowser Jr.
Corrin
Mii Brawler
Mii Sword Fighter
Mii Gunner

Neither/Both: (it) 6
Pikachu
Lucario
Charizard
Jigglypuff
Greninja
Mewtwo

The number of characters that are strictly female compared to those that are strictly female/male is 9/44 or 20.45%.

The number of characters that can be female (female only + can be both) compared to those that can be male (male only + can be both) 17/43 or 39.53%. Personally I think this is the fairest comparison as we are talking about female representation, and this compares all characters that are or can be female versus all characters that are or can be male. (Arguing that the Pokemon except Mewtwo (genderless) and maybe Pikachu (the tail) can also be female will put this figure at almost 50%. Smash's roster represents females by almost half. This is a much better argument than not counting Miis as females and not counting non-default icons but I've left Pokemon out of this section for arguments sake)

Finally, comparing all characters that are/can be female (female only+can be both) with all characters in the game (male+neither/both) gives 17/58 or 29.31%. This is probably the number you want for the OP, and is a decent number considering it's 29.31% when we divide into three categories.

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I mean I'd argue that some of those were just called "he" because english lacks a good nongendered pronoun for people. ROB clearly has no gender as a robot, and Yoshi's always been a dicy case and is probably also a species without an actual gender

 

[Waluigilicious]

I mean I'd argue that some of those were just called "he" because english lacks a good nongendered pronoun for people. ROB clearly has no gender as a robot, and Yoshi's always been a dicy case and is probably also a species without an actual gender

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There's arguments there for sure, but what I was trying to get at is that the percentage in the OP is the lowest it could possibly be. It's like it's a unique way of looking at it which gives the lowest possible result for female representation.

 

[Aaronrules380]

There's arguments there for sure, but what I was trying to get at is that the percentage in the OP is the lowest it could possibly be. It's like it's a unique way of looking at it which gives the lowest possible result for female representation.

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oh definitely

 

[Platy]

It's countered by Pikachu's tail (though the trophy refers to Pikachu as "it") so it's no big deal as far as I'm concerned.

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Not only the tail, but all hats are based on male characters on the pokemon franchise

 

[Platy]

I mean I'd argue that some of those were just called "he" because english lacks a good nongendered pronoun for people. ROB clearly has no gender as a robot, and Yoshi's always been a dicy case and is probably also a species without an actual gender

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"actualy, it is a he"

 

[Aaronrules380]

Not only the tail, but all hats are based on male characters on the pokemon franchise

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I mean it's technically a male pikachu, but I'd argue that it's splitting hairs either way when it comes to clearly non humanoid fighters

 

[sibarraz]

I remember in the 90's that lots of games only have 1 female fighter in their whole roster, I dont know which year was the last one when this didn't happened, I will dare to say that was either when cammy or yuri where introduced in SF2 or AOF2

 

[Aaronrules380]

"actualy, it is a he"

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fair enough, Yoshi is weird. I still maintain that Yoshi's don't actually have a biological gender either way and reproduce asexually

 

[SaberX85]

Hayate from DOA is not a female...

 

[Waluigilicious]

Not only the tail, but all hats are based on male characters on the pokemon franchise

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Fair enough but then it's probably equally as fair as to say Jigglypuff is female which would still skew the results positively for female representation. I think none of this changes the fact that the number in the OP is way too low no matter how you look at it.

I mean this section: Finally, comparing all characters that are/can be female (female only+can be both) with all characters in the game (male+neither/both) gives 17/58 or 29.31%. counts both Pikachu and Jigglypuff as non-female. I really don't understand the argument against this number.

It's actually a very smart way to represent both genders. Imagine a fighting game with 30 characters. Imagine all 30 of these characters can be male or female (like Robin, Wii Fit Trainer). Would that game have 0% female representation? No, it'd be 100% female representation! (And also 100% male representation). Yes that adds to 200% but that's why it's so smart. Not counting Robin, Corrin, Villager, Wendy, Miis makes no sense.

Also there's one thing to consider. Games like Tekken, Street Fighter, Arms etc create characters from scratch. They can create any type of character they want. Smash Bros. pulls characters from existing games, and it just so happens most video game characters, especially the more popular ones, are male (which is a problem of itself). You can see this even more clearly from the 3rd party characters. Taking all this into account I would say Smash has done a great job. (Joanna Dark is my second most wanted character after Bomberman). :(

 

[Neoxon]

Hayate from DOA is not a female...

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Dammit, that's what I get for filling it out too fast. I'll fix that error right away.

EDIT: The deed is done.

 

[GongagaSOLDIER]

Arc System Works are generally good with representing a split of male and female fighters. For example (although based on existing material) Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax has a split of 11 female (55%) to 9 male (45%) if variations are included otherwise it's still a very respectable 50/50.

 

[Neoxon]

Arc System Works are generally good with representing a split of male and female fighters. For example (although based on existing material) Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax has a split of 11 female (55%) to 9 male (45%) if variations are included otherwise it's still a very respectable 50/50.

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I noticed that when I was tallying up the numbers. DBFZ is the only outlier, but that's due to the lack of female fighters for ASW to pull from (pre-Tournament of Power).