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Poison (Final Fight)
Encyclopedia
is a fictional character
in the Final Fight
and Street Fighter
series of video games. Created by Akira Yasuda
for Capcom
, Poison first appeared in Final Fight alongside a similar character, Roxy, later appearing in Capcom-produced games, media and merchandise related to the Street Fighter
franchise. She is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka
in the Street Fighter III
series, and Masae Yumi in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.
Originally conceived as a female thug in Final Fight and part of the game's antagonist group, Mad Gear, concerns about reactions from North American audiences to fighting women resulted in the character being changed to a newhalf. After the Final Fight series she later appeared alongside wrestler Hugo, acting as his manager, with her schemes revolving around finding a tag team partner for him or developing their own wrestling organization. Poison was also to appear in both Capcom Fighting All-Stars
and Final Fight: Streetwise
; however, the former was canceled, and she was omitted from the latter as development progressed.
Because of the alteration to the character during Final Fights development, her gender has been debated by both fans and media alike. IGN
described her as one of the most memorable "traps" in video games, "a psychological, Crying-Game mental twist for gamers". Regardless of her gender, she has been noted as one of the most attractive video game characters by UGO.com, and praised for her design by others such as magazine editor Wataru Maruyama and GameDaily
.
featured her and a palette swap
character named Roxy as recurring minor enemies for the player to fight. Named after the band
by an unnamed female employee at Capcom, she was designed by Akira Yasuda to contrast against the bigger characters in the game and move about randomly. According to the book All About Capcom Head to Head Fighting Games, the characters were originally planned to be female, but were changed to transvestites
(or more specifically "newhalfs
") due to the suggestion that "hitting women was considered rude" in America and the concern that feminist groups would sue.
A later appearance by Poison as playable character in Final Fight Revenge
, an American-produced 3D fighting game spinoff of Final Fight, portrayed the character in a highly feminine manner and had her romantically interested in Final Fight hero Cody. Commentary about her ending in the game in All About Capcom suggested that the character might have gotten a sex change
. The Final Fight-related character profiles featured in the 2005 compilation Capcom Classics Collection
acknowledges Poison's transvestite characterization, while addressing Roxy as a "she" who dislikes Poison's cross-dressing.
The discrepancy regarding Poison have been addressed more than once in interviews with former and current Capcom employees. Final Fight developer and Arika
founder Akira Nishitani stated he supposed the character could be male, but added it was up to the viewer to decide. Street Fighter IV
, stating that it would be too confusing to include her due to the region-specific gender.
used in attacks, though the character has not been shown with one in other titles or artwork. Poison stands about 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall and has three sizes
of 34-25-35" (88-66-89 cm).
Poison was given a secondary outfit for Capcom Fighting All-Stars alongside her primary classic attire. Made of shiny, silvery material it consisted of boots that extended halfway up her thighs and a combined sleeveless shirt/short skirt with a plunging neckline. Gloves and a small hairband were also added, as well as a belt, with the handcuffs hanging off of it. Her arm straps were removed, though the strap around her neck remained.
The concept art section of the promotional comic for Final Fight: Streetwise
showcased concept art by designer Trent Kaniuga for the game, including a reimagined Poison. The design features red hair, a red micro skirt showing a hint of underwear, jacket, button-up white shirt showing some of her abdomen, black high-heeled boots, gold belt, and a wool cap. In August 2006, Kaniuga revealed three additional alternate designs on ConceptArt.org's internet forum
; one being the classic look; another being a white button-up shirt with red pants, high heels, and short hair; and the third keeping the high heels and pants, but adding shades, returning her hair to full length and swapping the shirt for a jacket with deep cleavage. All four designs use the same color scheme, belt, and handcuffs.
, her behavior was represented as womanly and sultry, ranging from flirtatious comments to pole dancing
. She frames Cody for her assault crimes and gets him arrested by Edi E., though she later visits him in jail having developed romantic feelings for him. In the Street Fighter III series, she reappears working as a wrestling manager
for her friend Hugo, who could not find a tag team
partner due to his immense strength. From here their plots would focus on the two searching for a tag partner or starting their own wrestling association
, echoed in their SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos appearance.
Poison was also planned to appear both in Capcom Fighting All-Stars and Final Fight Streetwise, though the first game was canceled and she was cut from the second. In Mighty Final Fight
, a super deformed
parody
of the character named "Poison Kiss" appears as a generic enemy, a corrupt cop and characterized as her younger sister. Poison has also appeared based on her role as Hugo's manager on cards for SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
and the game's Nintendo DS
sequel, as well as the related printed trading card game
. Poison appears as one of the spectators in the Metro City stage in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
. Poison has also been confirmed to be playable in the upcoming Street Fighter X Tekken
.
In the original Final Fight, Poison and Roxy both utilized standing and acrobatic
flip kicks to attack the player. As one of the fighters in Final Fight Revenge, her moveset was expanded heavily, and she was armed with a whip. The whip is used primarily in her Cat Claw and Thunder Whip attacks (which are comparable to shoryuken/shinryūken styled attacks, respectively), and can be used to steal a weapon from the opponent. Additionally, her handcuffs can be thrown as a horizontal projectile
move to immobilize the opponent for a short time.
One particular attack, Poison Kiss, has her blow a large heart-shaped kiss at the opponent that travels in a sine wave
path. If it connects, a quick peep show
of Poison in several erotic
poses is displayed, and afterwards the opponent is shown stunned with hearts dancing over their head. Defeating an opponent with this attack results in Poison doing a pole dance
for her win pose, with her whip serving as the pole. Though not playable in the beta test of Capcom Fighting All Stars, promotional material released by Capcom for the title show that this move would have been retained for her gameplay.
, an American playtest
er working for Capcom reviewed the content during the localization
process with one of the Japanese designers, and objected to the protagonist hitting females. Akira Yasuda pointed that the "female" enemies were actually transvestites, and despite his objections, Poison and Roxy were replaced with regular male punks named "Billy" and "Sid" in the English localization. This change has been repeated with every English port to Nintendo consoles
, including the Game Boy Advance
version Final Fight One and the Wii
's Virtual Console
. English versions of the Sega CD port censored the characters in a different manner, redrawing both with longer shirts and shorts, and covering the under-cleavage
shown when the characters were struck.
. Additionally she has been used as a cameo character three times in the Street Fighter Alpha series. In terms of merchandise, an immovable model was being made for the 2008 Capcom Girls Collection line of figurines by Mitsumasa Yoshizawa, using her Final Fight attire and at 1/6 height, standing nearly 11 inches tall. A similar model was released later on, identical to the previous figurine except with her giving a thumbs down gesture and darker colors. A version with blonde hair was later released as well. In Capcom's press kit
for the 2010 release of Final Fight: Double Impact, a pink hair spray was included in tribute to the character, with the text describing it as "For men, women, and everything in between." Capcom later featured her as one of the characters for their Capcom Girls 2011 calendar.
Because of uncertainty regarding her gender, there has been constant debate whether she is technically male or female on several fronts. IGN
listed Poison as one of the most memorable "traps" in video games, stating "Final Fight Poison isn't a trap in a gameplay sense, but proved to be a psychological, Crying-Game
mental twist for gamers." GamesRadar
named her one of twelve Street Fighter related characters they wished to see in Super Street Fighter IV
, arguing that her gender should not be an issue against her inclusion and that the character deserved another stand-alone appearance of her own. Joystiq named her their favorite character of the Final Fight series, stating that her "hypersexualized appearance and random flipping" made the character memorable, and that the controversy over her gender made the character even moreso.
In February 1991, Gamest magazine named her one of the top fifty characters in video games of 1990, placing her twenty-sixth on their list. UGO.com ranked her thirtieth on their "Top 50 Videogame Hotties" list, citing her as "one of the most controversial video game characters to date." Former Tips & Tricks
executive editor Wataru Maruyama cited her design as an example of how an outfit is worn compared to its complexity can make a character memorable and stand out, stating "to use a phrase I don’t particularly like to use, she totally worked it." She has also been a subject drawn by non-Capcom artists, such as Falcoon
. GameDaily
ranked her twenty-third on their "Top 25" list of their favorite Capcom characters, stating "The Mad Gear gang is a feisty bunch, and we could've picked anyone from the list...Instead, we selected Poison".
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the Final Fight
Final Fight
is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up game originally released by Capcom as a coin-operated video game in . It was the seventh game released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware...
and Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
series of video games. Created by Akira Yasuda
Akira Yasuda
is a Japanese animator, character designer, game designer and mecha designer, who works under the pen name "Akiman".-Career:...
for Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
, Poison first appeared in Final Fight alongside a similar character, Roxy, later appearing in Capcom-produced games, media and merchandise related to the Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
franchise. She is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka
Atsuko Tanaka
is a Japanese voice actress who works for Ezaki Productions. Her deep and sultry voice is often used to portray villainesses and mature female characters.-TV anime:*Angel Links *Black Cat *Berserk *Cowboy Bebop...
in the Street Fighter III
Street Fighter III
is a fighting game in Capcom's Street Fighter series, originally released as coin-operated arcade game in . Street Fighter III was produced for the CD-ROM-based CP System III hardware, which allowed for more elaborate 2D graphics than the CPS II-based Street Fighter Alpha games , while revamping...
series, and Masae Yumi in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.
Originally conceived as a female thug in Final Fight and part of the game's antagonist group, Mad Gear, concerns about reactions from North American audiences to fighting women resulted in the character being changed to a newhalf. After the Final Fight series she later appeared alongside wrestler Hugo, acting as his manager, with her schemes revolving around finding a tag team partner for him or developing their own wrestling organization. Poison was also to appear in both Capcom Fighting All-Stars
Capcom Fighting All-Stars
Capcom Fighting All-Stars: Code Holder was a 3D fighting game planned for the arcade and PlayStation 2 that was to be developed by Capcom. Like KOF: Maximum Impact, it was designed to translate a 2D fighting game series into 3D. This was done previously in the Street Fighter EX series, which...
and Final Fight: Streetwise
Final Fight: Streetwise
Final Fight: Streetwise is a 3D beat-'em-up produced by Capcom, released in North America and the PAL region for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in . It is a spin-off of the original Final Fight developed by the American team of Capcom Production Studio 8...
; however, the former was canceled, and she was omitted from the latter as development progressed.
Because of the alteration to the character during Final Fights development, her gender has been debated by both fans and media alike. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
described her as one of the most memorable "traps" in video games, "a psychological, Crying-Game mental twist for gamers". Regardless of her gender, she has been noted as one of the most attractive video game characters by UGO.com, and praised for her design by others such as magazine editor Wataru Maruyama and GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
.
Conception and history
Poison's first appearance in Final FightFinal Fight
is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up game originally released by Capcom as a coin-operated video game in . It was the seventh game released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware...
featured her and a palette swap
Palette swap
A palette swap is a practice used in video games, whereby a graphic that is already used for one element is given a different palette, so it can be reused as other elements. The different palette gives the new graphic a unique set of colors, which make it recognizably distinct from the original...
character named Roxy as recurring minor enemies for the player to fight. Named after the band
Poison (band)
Poison is an American glam metal band that achieved great success in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. To date, Poison has sold over 30 million records worldwide and have sold 15 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted ten singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100,...
by an unnamed female employee at Capcom, she was designed by Akira Yasuda to contrast against the bigger characters in the game and move about randomly. According to the book All About Capcom Head to Head Fighting Games, the characters were originally planned to be female, but were changed to transvestites
Transvestism
Transvestism is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing clothing traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, the word often has additional connotations. -History:Although the word transvestism was coined as late as the 1910s,...
(or more specifically "newhalfs
Futanari
Futanari is the Japanese word for androgyny or hermaphrodite. Until 1644, the appeal of sexually ambiguous, futanari characters portrayed by onnagata actors was a popular element in Japanese drama, and there is a flourishing futanari anime and manga genre in Japan today.- History in Japanese...
") due to the suggestion that "hitting women was considered rude" in America and the concern that feminist groups would sue.
A later appearance by Poison as playable character in Final Fight Revenge
Final Fight Revenge
is a 1999 American-developed 3D one-on-one fighting game. The game was produced by the American division of Capcom , the same team that later produced Maximo: Ghosts to Glory and Final Fight: Streetwise. Final Fight Revenge was released for the arcades on July 1999 and ran on the Sega ST-V arcade...
, an American-produced 3D fighting game spinoff of Final Fight, portrayed the character in a highly feminine manner and had her romantically interested in Final Fight hero Cody. Commentary about her ending in the game in All About Capcom suggested that the character might have gotten a sex change
Sex change
Sex change is a term often used for gender reassignment therapy, that is, all medical procedures transgendered people can have, or specifically to sexual reassignment surgery, which usually refers to genitalia surgery only...
. The Final Fight-related character profiles featured in the 2005 compilation Capcom Classics Collection
Capcom Classics Collection
Capcom Classics Collection is a compilation of arcade games released by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on September 27, 2005. It was developed by Digital Eclipse Software . A second volume, Capcom Classics Collection Vol...
acknowledges Poison's transvestite characterization, while addressing Roxy as a "she" who dislikes Poison's cross-dressing.
The discrepancy regarding Poison have been addressed more than once in interviews with former and current Capcom employees. Final Fight developer and Arika
Arika
is a Japanese video game developer. It was formed in 1995 by former Capcom employees. The name of the company itself is the reverse of the name of the company's founder, Akira Nishitani, who created Street Fighter II. Arika's first arcade game was Street Fighter EX...
founder Akira Nishitani stated he supposed the character could be male, but added it was up to the viewer to decide. Street Fighter IV
Street Fighter IV
is a fighting game produced by Capcom. It is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom since . The coin-operated arcade game was released in Japan on July 18, 2008, with North American arcades importing the machines by August...
Street Fighter IV
is a fighting game produced by Capcom. It is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom since . The coin-operated arcade game was released in Japan on July 18, 2008, with North American arcades importing the machines by August...
, stating that it would be too confusing to include her due to the region-specific gender.
Designs
Poison is shown to be a Caucasian female with long pink, somewhat rugged, hair. She wears a black cap, blue cutoff shorts, red high heels, and a tanktop cut just below her breasts. In Final Fight Revenge and some artworks, her hair is shown to be purple instead. She wears several armbands around her right arm and neck, and has chains and a pair of handcuffs suspended off her shorts. Final Fight Revenge features her also possessing a whipWhip
A whip is a tool traditionally used by humans to exert control over animals or other people, through pain compliance or fear of pain, although in some activities whips can be used without use of pain, such as an additional pressure aid in dressage...
used in attacks, though the character has not been shown with one in other titles or artwork. Poison stands about 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall and has three sizes
BWH
BWH is an abbreviation of bust, waist, and hip measurement. Also informally called vital statistics, these measurements are a common method of specifying body proportions for the purpose of fitting clothes. It is also often used in women's personal ads or Internet profiles to indicate their...
of 34-25-35" (88-66-89 cm).
Poison was given a secondary outfit for Capcom Fighting All-Stars alongside her primary classic attire. Made of shiny, silvery material it consisted of boots that extended halfway up her thighs and a combined sleeveless shirt/short skirt with a plunging neckline. Gloves and a small hairband were also added, as well as a belt, with the handcuffs hanging off of it. Her arm straps were removed, though the strap around her neck remained.
The concept art section of the promotional comic for Final Fight: Streetwise
Final Fight: Streetwise
Final Fight: Streetwise is a 3D beat-'em-up produced by Capcom, released in North America and the PAL region for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in . It is a spin-off of the original Final Fight developed by the American team of Capcom Production Studio 8...
showcased concept art by designer Trent Kaniuga for the game, including a reimagined Poison. The design features red hair, a red micro skirt showing a hint of underwear, jacket, button-up white shirt showing some of her abdomen, black high-heeled boots, gold belt, and a wool cap. In August 2006, Kaniuga revealed three additional alternate designs on ConceptArt.org's internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
; one being the classic look; another being a white button-up shirt with red pants, high heels, and short hair; and the third keeping the high heels and pants, but adding shades, returning her hair to full length and swapping the shirt for a jacket with deep cleavage. All four designs use the same color scheme, belt, and handcuffs.
In video games
Introduced in the original Final Fight, Poison is an orphan from Los Angeles. She enjoys fighting and uses it as a means to stay in shape, making use of her ties with the original Mad Gear gang to keep herself out of prison. In Final Fight RevengeFinal Fight Revenge
is a 1999 American-developed 3D one-on-one fighting game. The game was produced by the American division of Capcom , the same team that later produced Maximo: Ghosts to Glory and Final Fight: Streetwise. Final Fight Revenge was released for the arcades on July 1999 and ran on the Sega ST-V arcade...
, her behavior was represented as womanly and sultry, ranging from flirtatious comments to pole dancing
Pole dance
Pole dance is a form of performing art, a combination of dance and gymnastics. It involves dancing and performing acrobatic tricks with a vertical pole and is an increasingly popular form of fitness and dance, practised by many enthusiasts in gyms or dedicated dance studios...
. She frames Cody for her assault crimes and gets him arrested by Edi E., though she later visits him in jail having developed romantic feelings for him. In the Street Fighter III series, she reappears working as a wrestling manager
Manager (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
for her friend Hugo, who could not find a tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
partner due to his immense strength. From here their plots would focus on the two searching for a tag partner or starting their own wrestling association
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...
, echoed in their SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos appearance.
Poison was also planned to appear both in Capcom Fighting All-Stars and Final Fight Streetwise, though the first game was canceled and she was cut from the second. In Mighty Final Fight
Mighty Final Fight
Mighty Final Fight is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up released by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System in . It is a spinoff of Capcom's arcade game Final Fight, which was previously ported to the Super NES in two different editions...
, a super deformed
Super deformed
Super deformed or SD is a specific style of Japanese caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads, to make them resemble small children...
parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the character named "Poison Kiss" appears as a generic enemy, a corrupt cop and characterized as her younger sister. Poison has also appeared based on her role as Hugo's manager on cards for SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash is a series of SNK Playmore games between 1999 and 2006 for hand-held consoles.This game has a CCG theme, spun off from the popular series of fighting games by SNK and Capcom, and also including references to many other kinds of games from both companies. The...
and the game's Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
sequel, as well as the related printed trading card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
. Poison appears as one of the spectators in the Metro City stage in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom. It features Capcom's own characters and characters from American comic book company Marvel Comics. It is the fifth installment of the Marvel vs...
. Poison has also been confirmed to be playable in the upcoming Street Fighter X Tekken
Street Fighter X Tekken
is an upcoming crossover fighting game being developed by Capcom. The game was announced at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International by Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono. The game is set to release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Vita sometime in March 2012. The game...
.
Gameplay
Acrobatics
Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the performing arts, as well as many sports...
flip kicks to attack the player. As one of the fighters in Final Fight Revenge, her moveset was expanded heavily, and she was armed with a whip. The whip is used primarily in her Cat Claw and Thunder Whip attacks (which are comparable to shoryuken/shinryūken styled attacks, respectively), and can be used to steal a weapon from the opponent. Additionally, her handcuffs can be thrown as a horizontal projectile
Projectile
A projectile is any object projected into space by the exertion of a force. Although a thrown baseball is technically a projectile too, the term more commonly refers to a weapon....
move to immobilize the opponent for a short time.
One particular attack, Poison Kiss, has her blow a large heart-shaped kiss at the opponent that travels in a sine wave
Sine wave
The sine wave or sinusoid is a mathematical function that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation. It occurs often in pure mathematics, as well as physics, signal processing, electrical engineering and many other fields...
path. If it connects, a quick peep show
Peep show
A peep show or peepshow is an exhibition of pictures, objects or people viewed through a small hole or magnifying glass. Though historically a peep show was a form of entertainment provided by wandering showmen, nowadays it more commonly refers a presentation of a sex show or pornographic film...
of Poison in several erotic
Eroticism
Eroticism is generally understood to refer to a state of sexual arousal or anticipation of such – an insistent sexual impulse, desire, or pattern of thoughts, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality and romantic love...
poses is displayed, and afterwards the opponent is shown stunned with hearts dancing over their head. Defeating an opponent with this attack results in Poison doing a pole dance
Pole dance
Pole dance is a form of performing art, a combination of dance and gymnastics. It involves dancing and performing acrobatic tricks with a vertical pole and is an increasingly popular form of fitness and dance, practised by many enthusiasts in gyms or dedicated dance studios...
for her win pose, with her whip serving as the pole. Though not playable in the beta test of Capcom Fighting All Stars, promotional material released by Capcom for the title show that this move would have been retained for her gameplay.
Censorship
When Final Fight was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment SystemSuper Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
, an American playtest
Playtest
A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and flaws before bringing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise....
er working for Capcom reviewed the content during the localization
Internationalization and localization
In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...
process with one of the Japanese designers, and objected to the protagonist hitting females. Akira Yasuda pointed that the "female" enemies were actually transvestites, and despite his objections, Poison and Roxy were replaced with regular male punks named "Billy" and "Sid" in the English localization. This change has been repeated with every English port to Nintendo consoles
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
, including the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
version Final Fight One and the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
's Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
. English versions of the Sega CD port censored the characters in a different manner, redrawing both with longer shirts and shorts, and covering the under-cleavage
Cleavage (breasts)
Cleavage, anatomically known as the intramammary cleft, is the space between a woman's breasts lying over the sternum. Cleavage is exposed by a garment with a low neckline, such as ball gowns, evening gowns, swimwear, casual tops and other garments....
shown when the characters were struck.
Promotion and reception
Poison has been featured in various promotional Street Fighter related artworks, as early as Street Fighter IIStreet Fighter II
is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...
. Additionally she has been used as a cameo character three times in the Street Fighter Alpha series. In terms of merchandise, an immovable model was being made for the 2008 Capcom Girls Collection line of figurines by Mitsumasa Yoshizawa, using her Final Fight attire and at 1/6 height, standing nearly 11 inches tall. A similar model was released later on, identical to the previous figurine except with her giving a thumbs down gesture and darker colors. A version with blonde hair was later released as well. In Capcom's press kit
Press kit
A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use...
for the 2010 release of Final Fight: Double Impact, a pink hair spray was included in tribute to the character, with the text describing it as "For men, women, and everything in between." Capcom later featured her as one of the characters for their Capcom Girls 2011 calendar.
Because of uncertainty regarding her gender, there has been constant debate whether she is technically male or female on several fronts. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
listed Poison as one of the most memorable "traps" in video games, stating "Final Fight Poison isn't a trap in a gameplay sense, but proved to be a psychological, Crying-Game
The Crying Game
The Crying Game is a 1992 psychological thriller drama film written and directed by Neil Jordan. The film explores themes of race, gender, nationality, and sexuality against the backdrop of the Irish Troubles...
mental twist for gamers." GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
named her one of twelve Street Fighter related characters they wished to see in Super Street Fighter IV
Super Street Fighter IV
is a 2010 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is an updated version of Street Fighter IV and has been said to mark the definitive end of the Street Fighter IV series. Having been deemed as too large an update to be deployed as DLC, the game was made into a standalone title, but given a lower price...
, arguing that her gender should not be an issue against her inclusion and that the character deserved another stand-alone appearance of her own. Joystiq named her their favorite character of the Final Fight series, stating that her "hypersexualized appearance and random flipping" made the character memorable, and that the controversy over her gender made the character even moreso.
In February 1991, Gamest magazine named her one of the top fifty characters in video games of 1990, placing her twenty-sixth on their list. UGO.com ranked her thirtieth on their "Top 50 Videogame Hotties" list, citing her as "one of the most controversial video game characters to date." Former Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks is an American video game magazine published by Larry Flynt Publications . For most of its existence, the publication was devoted almost exclusively to strategies and codes for popular video games...
executive editor Wataru Maruyama cited her design as an example of how an outfit is worn compared to its complexity can make a character memorable and stand out, stating "to use a phrase I don’t particularly like to use, she totally worked it." She has also been a subject drawn by non-Capcom artists, such as Falcoon
Falcoon
Tatsuhiko Kanaoka, better known by the art-name Falcoon , is a Japanese artist formerly working for SNK Playmore. He has been involved in several iterations of The King of Fighters franchise....
. GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
ranked her twenty-third on their "Top 25" list of their favorite Capcom characters, stating "The Mad Gear gang is a feisty bunch, and we could've picked anyone from the list...Instead, we selected Poison".