After the Street Fighter II series started to become popular in 1991 there were many other fighting titles that began to emerge afterwards that were quite impressive.  One of the games that many people got to see in arcade centers was Fatal Fury back in 1992.  When it comes down to the Fatal Fury one of the most popular characters in the entire series was Mai Shiranui.  In terms of popularity some would argue that Mai Shiranui was SNK’s version of Chun-Li.  During a time period where there were hardly any female characters featured in fighting games Mai Shiranui was one of the first recognizable names in the genre during the early 90’s along with Chun-Li.

In terms of sex appeal both Mai Shiranui & Chun-Li were evenly matched and they were both interesting characters that people could easily get into.  One of the main differences between the two characters iwas the amount of mainstream exposure they both had. While Chun-Li was more of a mainstream character in the fighting genre Mai Shiranui along with the rest of the characters in the King Fighter series  felt like they represented the underground circuit of the same category.  The same thing can be said for other characters like Morrigan Aensland from DarkStalkers when people think about the game she is probably the very first person that comes to mind.  Similar to Morrigan Aensland the amount of popularity that Mai Shiranui had in the Fatal Fury & The King of Fighters series makes it appear as if she is the overall main character of the series.  In regards to the  King of Fighters series Mai Shiranui might easily be seen as the Chun-Li of SNK even though many people would argue that she was not quite as popular as her.