Fighting games are filled with some of the most definitive and iconic character designs in all of video gaming. Many fighting game characters have designs that allow players to quickly glean what a character is capable of, such as a character wielding a bow or gun specializing in ranged attacks, or an enormous brut being a close-quarters menace.
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While characters likeRyu, Guile, and Chun-Li ofStreet Fighterand Scorpion and Sub-Zero ofMortal Kombatare among some of the most recognizable characters in video games, there are many characters who were less fortunate in their designs. Whether they’re misleading or just plain hideous, there are characters that players would prefer to forget about. So, today, we’re going to examine the ten worst character designs from across fighting game history!
10Dr. Bosconovitch (Tekken 3)
TheTekkenfranchise offers up a diverse roster that features characters that use real forms of martial arts, as well as goofier inclusions such asrobots, and even a velociraptor. Despite the large range of characters, the series has featured more questionable roster members in the past, as well.
One such character is Dr. Boscononvitch. First appearing inTekken 3, Doctor Bosconovitch is an elderly scientist with no fighting background who’s fighting style is made up of randomly flailing his limbs. While this is as hilarious as one would expect, it feels quite out of place in a game like Tekken.
9Bedman (Guilty Gear Xrd)
Design and style contribute quite a bit to our perception of some fighting game characters, and the quirky design of thisGuilty Gearfighter has lead to a ton of attention from fans. However, Bedman ofGuilty Gear Xrdis the antithesis of this sentiment, and is a character who is mounted to a mechanical robot bed, fighting every round while completely unconscious. We’d argue that this is taking things just a bit too far.
8Necrid (Soul Calibur II)
In console versions ofSoul Calibur II, the game included a character designed by an acclaimed guest artist Todd McFarlane, the creator ofSpawn.While McFarlane’s involvement in the creation of a newSoul Caliburcharacter had a great deal of potential, the result, Necrid, was far from stellar.
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A being mutated and warped by Inferno, Necrid is a monstrous, green-skinned fighter who wields energy constructs in battle. To say that Necrid is out of place inSoul Calibur’s roster of samurai and knights would be an enormous understatement.
7Sylvie (The King Of Fighters XIV)
When it comes to the design of a fighting game character, less is often more. Iconography is often rooted in simplicity, and this can be seen through the designs of many of the mosttime-tested fighting game character designs, from Sub-Zero to Zangief.
With this in mind, Sylvie fromThe King of Fighters XIVis one of the most garishly over-complicated designs in the entirety of the genre. With a dress comprised of a pastel rainbow, a polka-dot bow, stripes, and numerous giant eyeballs she’s far beyond gaudy.
6Mokap (Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance)
Appearing inMortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Mokap is a secret character who was nothing more than a guy in a motion-capture suit. In a series of otherworldly beings and masters of martial arts, a normal human being in a motion capture suit is perhaps the least exciting option that a player could choose to use. While Mokap may initially appear to be an Easter egg that was removed from the story, he is indeed canon, existing as a friend of Johnny Cage.
5Rufus (Street Fighter IV)
Rufus is in the running for theworst-lookingStreet Fightercharacter of all time. Rufus is the perfect example of how to not make an overweight fighting game character. From his outfit to his hair, Rufus is incredibly unflattering to behold, taking the spot of Ken’s rival and treating him as a joke.
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This is quite unfortunate, as, while Rufus is a Rushdown character who is much faster than his design would suggest, his design is a strictly worse alternative to the character of Bob fromTekken.While both characters are quite speedy despite their weight, Bob’s simplistic and endearing design are standing the test of time, while Rufus’s blatantly repulsive design hasn’t been seen sinceStreet Fighter IV.
4Meat (Mortal Kombat 4)
Mortal Kombatis often regarded for its excessive violence and gore, featuring grisly fatalities in every entry. This means that within each entry are a significant amount of visual gore assets that can be used for each character’s fatalities.
The laziest entry of this list, Meat fromMortal Kombat 4is a human being with no skin. That’s it. As gross as it seems, Meat’s inclusion was little more than the developers deciding to take a skinless body that is used when a character was subjected to a fatality that removed their skin.
3Abigail (Street Fighter V)
Street Fighter V’s Abigail originally appeared as a boss in 1989’sFinal Fight. InFinal Fight, Abigail was a stronger boss variation of the Andore enemies, which were based on the pro wrestler Andre the Giant.
However, when Abigail was included inStreet Fighter V, he received a terrible redesign that grew the character to a massive scale and provided him with an automotive motif, even putting tires around his biceps. With unsettling proportions and a face that can… well, speak for itself, no character design ofStreet Fighter Vwas as poorly received as Abigail.
2Leopaldon (Guilty Gear Isuka)
While theGuilty Gearseries is often noted for it’s sleek and flashy character designs, Leopaldon is perhaps one of the most egregious character designs in not just the genre of fighting games, but in the gaming medium as a whole. A being that rides alongside his dog inside of the mouth of a large abomination known as a gear, Leopaldon’s massive sprite takes up half the screen, and it’s often hard for players to figure out exactly what they’re looking at when the character is on screen.
Only appearing inGuilty Gear Isuka,Leopaldon is one of the only characters ofIsukato never appear in another game.
1Mega Man (Street Fighter X Tekken)
WhileCapcom’s Mega Manis one of the most widely celebrated characters of the 8-bit era, his appearance inStreet Fighter X Tekkenis perhaps the most abhorrent character designs in the history of video games. Rather than utilizing the character’s iconic design, the character was used as a joke, bringing back his notoriously terrible depiction from the American box art of Mega Man for the NES.
Overweight, middle-aged, and never depicted in a positive light, this iteration of the character is so universally panned that it’s been universally dubbed “Bad Box Art Mega Man.”
