Job #10
Character Name: Pai-Chan
Character Origin: Virtua Fighter (1993)
Whilst a polygonal Akira already exists as an Assist Trophy, taking away arguably the face of the series as a logical DLC pick, I think that the
Virtua Fighter series is fundamentally both iconic enough and important enough to the history of both the fighting game genre
and the greater history of video games in general to represent in this game's playable roster. But then, if not Akira... who?
I opted for
Pai-Chan for a few reasons. Firstly, she's been around since the very first game, and has continually maintained a generally similar concept and design overall - taking inspiration from various Chinese martial arts films as well as fighting with the unique Chinese martial art of Mízōngyì. (For the record, despite their conceptually similar designs, Pai-Chan is
very different to Chun-Li!) Plus, whilst the
Virtua Fighter series is typically a little less flashy than other fighting games,
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax's interpretation of Akira suggests that we could always tone things up for the Smash series - whilst keeping the same sense of "flow" present throughout the VF series that really differentiates it from other fighting games, 3D or otherwise.
On top of this - Pai-Chan's role as a central icon of the series has resulted in her having a lot of crossover appearances already, such as appearing alongside Akira as a pair unit in
Project X Zone 2, appearing as Akira's assist in the aforementioned
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, and even being playable in
Dead or Alive 5 alongside Akira and Sarah Bryant! This means she's got some pedigree with crossover appearances already, so she's more prominent in the public consciousness compared to, say, Jeffrey McWild.
I feel like a
Virtua Fighter representative is a natural choice for
Smash representation for a wide variety of reasons, and Pai-Chan - given Akira is probably off-limits - feels like a solid, logical, but fun choice.