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Chun-Li

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Chun-Li
File:Sf3reaching.jpg
In-universe information
AffiliationICPO Special Detective

Chun-Li (チュンリー or 春麗, chūn-lì "beautiful springtime") is a video game character created by Capcom. She is part of the Street Fighter game series, and is the first female playable character to appear in a mainstream fighting game. Introduced in Street Fighter II in the 16-bit era, Chun-Li was the only female character in the game, and while not as physically powerful as the other characters, she was by far the quickest. Her most famous attack is the Hyakuretsukyaku (known in English as Lightning Leg/Lightning Kick), where she repeatedly kicks her opponent from a standing position with incredible speed.

Chun-Li is one of the earliest female video game protagonists to achieve widespread popularity. Prior to Street Fighter II being released in 1991, most female characters in games existed as objectives to be rescued or cast in the roles of other supporting characters, such as townspeople, girlfriends, the occasional opponent, or simply background decoration; as such, there were very few heroines in action-based video games. After the success of Street Fighter II and Chun-Li's popularity, female protagonists became increasingly common. Since then, in games with selectable characters, at least one or two of them will almost always be female; and a number of games released since that have placed a female character in the lead role.

Name

Older official sources from the early 90s indicate Chung was Chun-Li's surname, although it is worth noting this could be very well not the case anymore. In the live-action Street Fighter movie, Chun-Li was given the surname Zang/Xiang, but Capcom has not officially recognized it.

Story

Chun-Li was an Interpol investigator who had been searching for clues to the recent death of her father. Getting into a friendly spar with an old teacher of hers and friend of her father, Gen, he gives her a lead into who may have killed her father—the mysterious crime syndicate Shadoloo. Finding its leader, M. Bison, she demands he tell her what happened to her father. To her surprise, Bison attacks and basically makes quick work of her, then flies away, laughing at her and telling her if she attacks him again he will kill her just like he did to her father. With tears in her eyes, Chun-Li swore revenge.

Chun-Li teamed up with an United States Air Force member, Charlie, to try to track and take down Shadoloo. She then ran into someone she would not have expected at all. It was Charlie's good friend and fellow lieutenant, Guile. Telling him he should not get in over his head and to leave the two be, she learns he has orders to bring Charlie back. Attempting to use force to stop him, she instead finds herself defeated; nonetheless, she insists that she and her partner be left alone, to which Guile replies that he will never abandon friends in need. Eventually, learning that Bison tricked the Air Force into cancelling the planned bombing of the main Shadoloo base, she rushed over to the two soldiers to tell them they were tricked and would have to destroy the base on their own. Chun-Li proceeded to plant bombs about the base as Charlie and Guile headed inside to destroy the Psycho Drive, but Guile then came rushing out, grabbing Chun-Li and telling her Charlie had urged both of them to get away. Along the way, Chun-Li saw a young girl escaping with several others (who turned out to be Cammy White leading the Dolls away from the base). Despite being distraught over the initial lack of evidence to prove Shadoloo's crimes, Interpol and Chun-Li managed to shut down much of the evil crime empire.

Chun-Li received an invitation to the second World Warrior tournament, and discovered that Bison had apparently survived the Thailand base's destruction. With this, she had the clear motive of destroying Shadoloo and avenging her father once again. The outcome of this tournament is not clear, but there are strong hints that Chun-Li earned the right to face Bison and possibly won the tournament, although Bison, himself, was killed by Akuma in the long run.

Having made her peace, she continued her work as a police officer, and retired from mainstream street fighting to teach young children martial arts after taking down Shadoloo for good. Urien kidnapped a young girl for his scientific projects and Chun-Li manages to catch up to him. Challenging him, she does her best to fight him and Urien, impressed by his opponent's fighting spirit, agrees to let the child go. Since then, Chun-Li has continued to raise her adopted kids.

Appearance

File:Chun-Li SFA.jpg
Chun-Li's Street Fighter Alpha outfit.

Chun-Li's appearance has differed several times in the Street Fighter series, as well as in official art and cameos she has made in other works.

Clothing

Chun-Li wears the qipao, a traditional Chinese dress popular among girls during the early 20th Century. Her outfit is modified to allow a far wider range of movement than a normal qipao. She also wears combat boots and dark brown sheer pantyhose with her blue qipao. She was originally supposed to wear a peach-colored qipao, as seen in her in-game profile and ending in the original Street Fighter II. This was corrected to the blue one in Street Fighter II: Champion Edition.

During the period covered in Street Fighter Alpha, she wore an embroidered vest, unitard and athletic shoes, as well as studded wristbands. It is unclear why she chose to stop using this outfit and switch to a qipao. With the switch to the qipao, she also swapped her wristbands for spiked training bracelets.

In various official art, she has also been shown in her police outfit, as well as (presumably) her favorite casual attire: a varsity-style jacket, T-shirt, and jeans. It has been shown in some official art that when wearing her casual attire she also wears her Alpha wristbands.

Hairstyle

Her hairstyle is called "ox horns", a typical style in which Chinese children dress their hair; depictions of girls in Chinese paintings frequently show girls in ox horns.

During the Alpha series, she chose to wear them unadorned, while in the remaining games, she uses silk brocades and ribbons to cover them, presumably to match her qipao.

Gameplay

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Fighting Game Moves/Capcom/Chun-Li

Chun-Li is the original fast character in the Street Fighter series, utilizing multiple rapid attacks rather than the slow damaging strikes of larger characters like Zangief.

In Street Fighter II Turbo, Chun-Li was the original hybrid character, using both charge input moves like Guile, and command input moves like Ken. However, Chun-Li depends less on her special moves than other characters, and more on her normal kicks and punches and dexterity to overwhelm an opponent.

Special moves

File:Chun-Li SF2 Screen001.PNG
Chun-Li, as she appeared in the Street Fighter II series.
  • Hyakuretsukyaku (百裂脚) <yīlièjiǎo "100-split-legs">: Also known as the "Lightning Leg/Kick". Chun-Li's signature move. She stands on one leg and kicks blindingly fast with the other (allegedly, as the name says, one hundred times).
  • Spinning Bird Kick (回転的鶴脚蹴): Chun-Li flips, does the splits and spins across the screen upside down, with her legs spinning like helicopter blades. In some games, this move could be performed in the air.
  • Sen'en Shuu (旋円蹴) <Circle Rotation Kick>: Chun-Li, goes into a handstand, flips forward and kicks her opponent while landing in a split. This overhead attack replaces the Spinning Bird Kick in the Alpha series.
  • Hazan Shuu: A variant of the Sen'en Shuu which incorporates a full body flip and landing in a more side ways split, which replaced the Sen'en Shuu in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.
  • Hienshu: An attack available to Chun-Li in the Street Fighter EX series. Chun-Li somersaults forward, kicking her opponent as she lands.
  • Kikouken (気功拳) <qìgōngquán "Qigong fist">: Chun-Li releases a projectile of ki. This move was first seen in Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting.
  • Tenshoukyaku (天昇脚) <Heavens Rising Legs>: Chun-Li performs rising kicks to knock opponents out of the air. This move was first seen in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and is an uppercut move, similar to the Shoryuken.
  • Sou Hakkei: An attack available to Chun Li in X-ism style of the game Street Fighter Alpha 3. Chun-Li performs a double palm thrust that knocks the opponent both down and back.
  • Tenshin Enbu: A throw attack available to Chun-Li in the SNK-Playmore game SvC Chaos: SNK vs Capcom. Chun-Li clutches the opponent and performs a handstand flip over the opponent. This attack does no damage but does leave the opponent momentarily open for attack.
  • Sankaku Tobi: Although technically not a special move in itself, Chun-Li was the first character who could leap against the side of the screen and use it as a wall to jump back towards the opponent, gaining more height. Vega and Guy are two characters who gained this move in later games.

Super Arts

  • Senretsukyaku (千裂脚) <One-Thousand Split Legs>: Also known as the "Thousand Burst Kick". Chun-Li's original Super Move. She lunges forward twice while kicking her opppnent each time, and follows with a Hyakuretsukyaku.
  • Kikoushou (気功掌) <Qigong Manipulation>: Chun-Li creates a giant sphere of energy in her palms, which is much larger in the Marvel vs. Capcom series and the Street Fighter III games. In Street Fighter EX 3 the Meteor version is called the Kikoushou Goku, which is an exceptionally larger, and more powerful energy sphere.
  • Hazan Tenshoukyaku (覇山天昇脚) <Supreme Heavens Rising Legs>: Chun-Li performs several more rising kicks to knock opponents out of the air.
  • Houyoku Sen: A variant of the Senretsukyaku which ends in a vertical kick which she learned in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Widely regarded as her best super.
  • Tensei Ranka: A multiple-hitting Sen'en Shuu that travels straight up. She leaps up while surrounded by blue energy and comes down with a split kick that cause a large blade like effect on the ground. Widely regarded as her least-effective super move damage-wise; it is only useful for surprise attacks.
  • Shichisei Senkuu Kyaku: In Marvel vs. Capcom, Chun-Li had a Shun Goku Satsu style move that was a simple aerial kick that caused a massive burst of lightning in the background and five Chinese characters spelling out the move's name blazed across the screen, which translates as "Seven Star Air Flash Kick".

Actors

In a number of games since Street Fighter Alpha, her voice is provided by actress/singer Yuko Miyamura, while in Street Fighter III, Capcom Fighting Jam, and the RPG Namco x Capcom she is performed by Atsuko Tanaka. In Capcom vs. SNK and Capcom vs. SNK 2, Chun-Li is voiced by Michiko Neya. In SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom, Chun-Li is voiced by Mari Jitsukawa. Chun-Li is portrayed by Ming-Na in the live action movie. She wears a qipao during the movie, though it is red rather than blue. She is also a news reporter in this movie, rather than an Interpol agent.

Pop culture references

Trivia

  • Gen was a friend of Chun-Li's father, as mentioned, but a popular image depicts a young Chun-Li being taught martial arts by an old man shows not Gen, but rather her uncle Shao-Efei. Still, Gen did teach her father some moves that apparently got passed down to her anyway. A good example is her crouching Roundhouse attack, Gen Den Anshatshushuu which translates to Gen's Legendary Assassin Kick, the same kick Gen uses in the original Street Fighter.
  • Artwork from Street Fighter Alpha 2 reveals that she is friends with Ken Masters and Ryu, as well as Sakura Kasugano.
  • In the Marvel vs. Capcom series, Chun-Li receives an offer to join the X-Men despite not having any mutant powers. She considers mutant abilities to be nothing out of the ordinary, citing her abilities to fire a projectile (the Kikouken).
  • Chun-Li has an alternate version in Marvel vs. Capcom called Shadow Lady. The appearance is a palette swap of Chun-Li but with darker colors. Her fighting style hints that it may be a clone of Chun-Li similar to Shadow. She also has a Shun Goku Satsu-like move as Shadow does, called Final Mission, sending her opponent to the air with her standing High Kick prior to the actual attack.
  • She has a poster of Bruce Lee in her room at all times and seeing a movie of him at five years old convinced her to take up martial arts.
  • Due to Urien's comments in 3rd Strike, Chun-Li is a popular contender for winner of the second World Warrior tournament. However, her ending in the Street Fighter II series indicate she was happy destroying Shadoloo and not Bison himself for her father's memory, and this is supportive of the fact Guile's ending is the only one that truly needs Bison to be fought personally for it to make sense. However, it is unclear if he actually fought Bison.
  • Chun-Li is shown to break the fourth wall in various win quotes, and even in a win pose in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, where she faces the camera and says "Xie xie" (Chinese for thank you).
  • Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie contains a popular piece of fanservice, depicting Chun-Li taking a shower. In the Japanese version, the shower scene was shown in its entirety. In the unrated red box American version, she is shown partially nude. In the UK and U.S. yellow box version, as well as the version included in Street Fighter: The Anniversary Collection, this scene was edited so that it does not contain nudity. As of April 2006, an uncut edition has been announced for North American release by Manga Entertainment.
  • In Pocket Fighter, Chun-Li has a super move where she is dressed as a traffic cop, and signals a group of cyclists to ride by her while saying literally 'Yes, come here" in Cantonese. The cyclists are in fact the same Chinese cyclists in the background of her Street Fighter Alpha 2 stage, seemingly taken from the same sprites.
  • In Pocket Fighter one of her special moves transforms her into Jill Valentine of Resident Evil fame, another one of Capcom's greatest hits.
  • Her name "Chun Li" means "Spring Beauty" in Chinese.
  • One of Chun-Li's win quotes in 3rd Strike has her saying, "Hey, leave me alone! I'm a fighter, not a news reporter!" This is a direct reference to how she was portrayed in the live action Street Fighter movie as well as the subsequent American cartoon that was shown on the USA Network.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Chun-Li.

Notes and references

  • The Street Fighter video game series and related video games
  • Arcade Flyers concerning the Street Fighter series; many can be found at ArcadeFlyers.com
  • Instruction booklets from the home versions of the Street Fighter video game series
  • Studio Ben (ed.) 2000. All About Capcom Fighting Games 1987-2000. Japan: Denpa Shinbunsha. ISBN 4885546761 -This book contains official statements by Capcom about plot details not included in the games themselves.
  • Tiamat's Street Fighter guide: Contains translated information found in various official Japanese language Capcom sources, such as All About Street Fighter Zero 3, Eiga Street Fighter II Memorial Koushiki Fanbook ISBN 4-09-102491-2 , Official Street Fighter Zero 3 Guidebook, Street Fighter 3: New Generation Bible, Street Fighter Eternal Challenge.
  • Kikouken.Com - An extensive fansite dedicated to Chun-Li.
  • Omiod.Com - Chun-Li background and related characters.

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