Unless you’re a big fan of a certain other SNK character
Terry Bogard’s inclusion on the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was probably one of the most surprising for the DLC, especially for those outside of the fighting game community who may have never heard of Guilty Gear.
Since SNK themselves never really seemed to have said much about Terry appearing alongside Street Fighter’s Ryu, Tekken’s Kazuya Mishima and over 80 other gaming icons, I decided to ask them about it myself.
After getting to try out Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves for a few hours, I was able to interview Director Hayato Konya and Producer Yasuyuki Oda where I decided to see if they’d answer some more fun questions beyond the new game itself.
Since Oda worked at SNK from 1993 until 2000 and designed Garou: Mark of the Wolves before joining back up in 2014, I figured he’d be the one to ask.
So I hit him with a question as to whether he or anyone else overseeing Terry’s incorporation into Smash Bros. had any nitpicks or complaints during his development that may or may not have been fixed, and his answer was a bit unexpected.
“The fact that Mai couldn’t be shown as a background character for all the good boys and girls,” said Oda with a laugh.
This is of course in reference to the Mr. Sakurai Presents “Terry Bogard” presentation where Smash Ultimate Director Masahiro Sakurai was going over the cameo SNK characters in the background of the King of Fighters Stadium stage.
Although fighting game icons like Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Geese Howard, Joe Higashi, Athena Asamiya and over a dozen more could appear on Terry’s stage, Mai was left out with a now infamous message from the man who made Smash.
“By the way, you may have noticed that a very important character from the Fatal Fury series was not included, said Sakurai all the way back in 2019. “Yes, Mai Shiranui. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is for good boys and girls of many different ages, so we decided not to feature her. Please forgive us.”
He didn’t come right out and say it exactly, but the implication was that Mai was simply too sexy for Smash Bros., which is a bit funny when Bayonetta is on the roster.
It could be the developers / Nintendo was worried her skimpy dress and assets may force a change to their E10+ ESRB rating or a different one somewhere around the world, so it was easier to leave her out.
Those at SNK have not forgotten, however, it seems even if just in jest.
This hasn’t stopped Mai from crossing over to a bunch of different games too considering she just popped up in a mobile zombie game of all things.
You can find more of my interview with Konya and Oda here where we actually talk about the new Fatal Fury.