History Headscratchers / FinalFight

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* The apparent reason why Poison/Roxy are transgender characters is because Americans would've thought "[[DoubleStandard beating up women]] [[MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial is WRONG!]]", and they were replaced with two male Mooks in the console ports to avoid UnfortunateImplications. So here's my question for Mr. Tanaka or whoever was responsible: If they wouldn't let you use them as enemies when they were simply ''women'', what would make you think you'd get away with being able to beat them up if they were transgender/LGBT characters? Not only do they still look like women, but transsexual characters would've been even more unusual to have in a video game made during the late 80s/early 90s, at least to Western audiences...who the changes were [[LogicBomb MADE FOR]].
** The change was not made for American audiences. In fact, there never was a change; Poison was transgender in design stages (concept art referred to her as 'newhalf' which is a male-to-female transsexual in Japanese). Nintendo of America however did protest the apparent violence against women in Final Fight and wanted it changed for consoles to avoid controversy from feminist circles. The revelation that Poison at least was trans didn't placate them. They felt is was even more inflammatory, so they insisted on the sprite change. Aside from this, the supposed motives aren't that dubious for its time. Nintendo of America may have made the right decision sidestepping any transsexual abuse, but this was a progressive move back then. Violence and intolerance towards LGBT people was much more common and accepted in the 80's, and often an unfortunate fact of life for those who travel in same circles as Poison. Audiences would have though 'he deserved it' for being a trap if Nintendo had greenlit a game with transsexual enemies whom the player beats up.
** Understand too that the "violence against women" angle of it never applied to Double Dragon(which has Linda), Bad Dudes(female ninjas as enemies) or any other game which managed to have female villains either as random mooks or named characters. While it could be a valid concern in some respects, an enemy coming after you with a weapon intending to harm or kill you doesn't warrant the same consideration as an innocent bystander. Ultimately Poison's gender issue feels more like manufactured controversy over what would have been an otherwise random, generic mook character in the game. Would anyone have taken special notice if she was just female with no real bio to make her special against the other characters? Even then, did the issue really matter compared to other characters? Capcom has found ways to keep the hype going on this by constantly retconning or flip-flopping their stance(I think as of 2o17 she's trans in the US but born female in Japan, come on Capcom, make up your mind!)

** The change was not made for American audiences. In fact, there never was a change; Poison was transgender in design stages (concept art referred to her as 'newhalf' which is a male-to-female transsexual in Japanese). Nintendo of America however did protest the apparent violence against women in Final Fight and wanted it changed for consoles to avoid controversy from feminist circles. The revelation that Poison at least was trans didn't placate them. They felt is was even more inflammatory, so they insisted on the sprite change. Aside from this, the supposed motives aren't that dubious for its time. Nintendo of America may have made the right decision sidestepping any transsexual abuse, but this was a progressive move back then. Violence and intolerance towards LGBT people was much more common and accepted in the 80's, and often an unfortunate fact of life for those who travel in same circles as Poison. Audiences would have though 'he deserved it' for being a trap if Nintendo had greenlit a game with transsexual enemies whom the player beats up.

** The change was not made for American audiences. In fact, there never was a change; Poison was transgender in design stages (concept art referred to her as 'newhalf' which is a male-to-female transsexual in Japanese). Nintendo of America however did protest the apparent violence against women in Final Fight and wanted it changed for consoles to avoid controversy from feminist circles. The revelation that Poison at least was trans didn't placate them. They felt is was even more inflammatory, so they insisted on the sprite change.

Aside from this, the supposed motives aren't that dubious for its time. Nintendo of America may have made the right decision sidestepping any transsexual abuse, but this was a progressive move back then. Violence and intolerance towards LGBT people was much more common and accepted in the 80's, and often an unfortunate fact of life for those who travel in same circles as Poison. Audiences would have though 'he deserved it' for being a trap if Nintendo had greenlit a game with transsexual enemies whom the player beats up.

* The apparent reason why Poison/Roxy are transgender characters is because Americans would've thought "[[DoubleStandard beating up women]] [[MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial is WRONG!]]", and they were replaced with two male Mooks in the console ports to avoid UnfortunateImplications. So here's my question for Mr. Tanaka or whoever was responsible: If they wouldn't let you use them as enemies when they were simply ''women'', what would make you think you'd get away with being able to beat them up if they were transgender/LGBT characters? Not only do they still look like women, but transsexual characters would've been even more unusual to have in a video game made during the late 80s/early 90s, at least to Western audiences...who the changes were [[LogicBomb MADE FOR]].