The current video game buzz is all about Capcom’s (latest) upgrade to it’s popular game Street Fighter 4 (I still say that this game’s title makes zero sense seeing as how SF4 does not take place after 3F3, but instead takes place in between SFs 2 and 3, but I digress…) titled Super Street Fighter 4, and it would seem that Capcom has a lot riding on 1 of it’s new characters, Juri, being a breakthrough character. If you doubt me, just watch the SSF4 trailer. It’s almost all about her.
Am I the only one getting kind of a Mary Sue vibe from Juri? I mean, she owned Chun Li in that trailer. I understand that Juri is a new character and that Capcom wants fans to like the character, but still…Anyways, Capcom seems to be hoping that Juri will become SSF4’s newest “hot female” character. Capcom tried to do this with it’s last game, plain ol’ SF4, with the character of Crimson Viper, but somehow, C. Viper didn’t seem to take off and click with fans the way that Capcom had hoped or intended to. I have a couple of theories as to exactly why fans didn’t glom on to C. Viper the way that they did with Chun Li, Cammy and Sakura.

I think that much of the reason is because of C. Viper’s clothes. The pant suit makes her look kind of “mannish”, at least to me. I get that C. Viper is a special agent and that she’s got several high-tech gadgets tucked away in various places inside that suit of hers, but I honestly think that C. Viper had worn a short skirt instead of pants she may have caught on better. I’m know that I’m being a total guy here, but let’s face it; ours is a male dominated, shallow, lookist society, and female characters are judged largely by the way that they look and dress. Chun Li, Sakura and Cammy all wear outfits that reveal their legs. Cammy’s outfit is basically a swimsuit with a red beret and boots, and it’s common knowledge that a teenage girl in a school uniform is teh hotness. I know that logically, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for Sakura to still be in high school if this game is supposed to take place years after Street Fighter Alpha, but trying to imagine Sakura not wearing the Japanese schoolgirl’s uniform would be like trying to picture Charlie Brown not wearing his signature yellow shirt with the jagged horizontal stripe, or Shaggy from Scooby Doo not wearing his signature green T-shirt, or Inspector Gadget not wearing his trenchcoat and fedora hat. The outfit is part of who she is, and I think that if C. Viper had shown a little more skin, male fans would have glommed on to her a bit more and sooner.

My younger brother is not a fan of C. Viper, feeling that the character gives off something of a “B” vibe, and others may have this opinion of the character as well. However, there are a couple of things that I kind of like about C. Viper. I was never a huge fan of the whole secret agent shtick (even as a kid, I’ve always thought that super heroes were cooler), but I am fan of characters who utilize high tech as part of their usual attacks. Also, call me weird, but I like how Viper is a mother with a young daughter. It gives her a trace of being human. Since neither Viper nor her daughter have mentioned a father, I’m guessing that Dad is somehow out of the picture, but I think that it would have been kind of funny if C. Viper were this tough-as-nails special agent/troubleshooter when she’s on the job, but at home, she’s Donna Reed.

Anyway, I wish Capcom the best of luck with it’s new game and also I wish them success with their “hot” new character Juri, whom I’m sure will catch on and attract a loyal fanbase, until the next Street Fighter upgrade, that is.