Breaking the Culture Barrier: Western, Eastern, and pop culture. Part 1
To help make the War as much a visual treat as an evolutionary step for the franchise the character element has to be settled and cultural barriers must be broken. You may ask yourself culture barriers? What culture barriers? Aren't all fighting games created equally? Well yes and no.
Any person that has played a fighting game will tell you that most fighting games they've played all have stylish characters with their own unique special moves. However those same players can readily identify the differences between characters that have heavy Japanese design roots and those that are subtly created. As far as fighting games go the best character design has had a timeless appeal. However many designers today are focused on creating characters with a pop look. These modern day fighting game characters are soon forgotten as the market is flooded with many “I'm hip too” designs.
In order to have a character with a timeless appeal the designer must first understand the stereotypes and cultural associations placed on a character and then attempt to break those stereotypes. The easiest way for me to demonstrate the problems with associating pop culture with character design can be seen in the King of the Fighters (KOF) series by SNK.

Since KOF’s inception the majority of new characters introduced into the SNK universe have been progressively and visually based more and more on Japanese pop culture. Beginning with Kyo Kusanagi in 1994 and most recently Ash Crimson in 2003. All of the major male and female characters introduced in the series have been based in the Japanese concept of what is trendy, hip and cool.
The problem lies in that these games are released to an international crowd and Western audiences don’t perceive the same characters as cool or trendy. In fact characters that are designed to be cool first often mean that they are fighters secondary. Almost as if the characters released in most fighting games are about high fashion rather than fighting. Where is the proof of this?
Japanese pop (j-pop) stars are huge because their musical acts are almost as flamboyant as the way they present themselves. Gackt is one of the biggest pop stars in Japan. He is a good singer and musician, however his sense of fashion has gone on to influence almost every aspect of Japanese culture including videogame characters. In effect whatever Gackt is wearing at the moment becomes the standard for character design.
Upon looking at Gackt a Western audience is most often put off by his feminine or androgynous look. The term "Metrosexual" comes to mind regarding Gackt and the KOF men. A Metrosexual is a well-groomed, high maintenance man. On appearance Gackt is very similar to the American artist Prince. The feathered hair, mascara, fingernail polish look is considered the pinnacle of cool in Japan. You can see this influence in the main characters in many games. Seig Wahrheit and Victor Delacroix from Chaos Legion, Dante from Devil May Cry, Tidus and Seymour from Final Fantasy X are just a few of the character designs either directly or indirectly influenced by Gackt.

Culture Barrier P. 1, Culture Barrier P. 2