Did you know the first Black female fighting game character appeared in NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal's 1994 video game Shaq Fu?
Although far and few between, since then several iconic Black female video game characters have being playable characters in fighting games.
These badass women (who are often underrated in their respective games) stand out not only for having unique character designs, but also their hard hitting moves and quirky backstories.
10. Shaq Fu - Voodoo
Critics called Shaq Fu one of the worse video games ever, but as the first fighting game to introduce a black female character let's give credit where credit is due.
The game features several oddball characters including a purple haired Haitian voodoo priestess who has fell countless victims with ancient magic. She wears a tight red dress and fights barefoot.
In combat Voodoo is an agile woman who can summon a bird and morph into a wolf at her leisure. After each victory Voodoo threatens to turn her opponents into pigs or use her doll on them.
9. Fighting Vipers - Grace
The most recognisable face from Fighting Vipers is American bombshell Grace, a rollerblading chick and fashion model who has curly permed hair and wears protective gear from head to toe.
Her dreams of becoming a professional ice skater during high school went up in smoke when Grace's coach/lover cheated on her. After their breakup, she instead turned her attention to inline skating.
All of Grace's fighting moves involve kick combos.
When SNK decided to add a strong-willed female with African roots to Samurai Shodown in 2019, the result was Darli Dagger, a headstrong shipwright raised on an island by carpenters and pirates.
Darli is a boatbuilder who is extremely confident she can build an unsinkable ship and backs down from no one in a fight. She has a purple locs hairstyle and very revealing style of dress.
As a strong muscular woman who carries around a humongous saw-blade sword, Darli is an elite swordswoman who can also let her hands go. While many of her blade attacks are slow, they can cause devastating damage.
7. King of Fighters XV - Dolores
Dolores is a supernatural woman from Mali, Africa who lives a hermitic lifestyle and possess the ability to psychically communicate with the spirits of the earth. This allows her to exploit holy soil at will, which she uses to sling rocks in battle.
6. Arms - Twintelle
The most popular character from Nintendo's 2017 fighting game is a fashionable a-list celebrity with a lot of junk in the trunk. Possessing a pigtail hairstyle while wearing tight leather pants and high heels, her style is unmatched.
Unlike other characters who fight with elastic arms, Twintelle is unique because she attacks opponents with her durable hair and has normal arms for limbs.
5. Mortal Kombat 4 - Tanya
Tanya was introduced in Mortal Kombat 4 as an apparent innocent from Edenia, however she was revealed to be a deceitful and traitorous woman who would sell her soul to the devil. This was seen in her MK4 ending when she lured Liu Kang to his death.
Serving as a minor antagonist who has sided with multiple major villains in the series, Tanya is a satisfyingly cruel henchwoman. In Mortal Kombat 4, she has a ponytail hairstyle and wears a yellow leotard costume with thigh high boots.
4. Mortal Kombat 11 - Jacqui Briggs
Introduced in Mortal Kombat X, Jacqui is a kombat kid and the daughter of series veteran Jax Briggs. She is hard hitting professional kickboxer and special forces who can hold her own against anyone.
3. Street Fighter - Elena
Street Fighter's first Black woman is a happy-go-lucky and pure hearted capoeira fighter from Kenya with blue eyes and white-silvery straight hair.
As someone with a sunny disposition, Elena wants to travel the world and meet new people. This is her main motivation for joining the 3rd world tournament while choosing to study abroad.
Capcom giving Elena blue eyes and non textured hair was odd considering she's Kenyan. However even more strange is the fact she is based on Japanese model Yuki Uchida.
2. Tekken 7 - Master Raven
Master Raven is a united nations secret agent and a woman on a mission. Introduced in Tekken 7, she is the replacement for her subordinate and male counterpart Raven. She's also one of the first Black female Tekken characters.
As someone who could be best described as a afrofuturist futuristic ninja, Master Raven's fighting style incorporates Ninjutsu. She is a mature woman who has chest length locs, wears a tight ninja jumpsuit and is equipped with a long blade.
1. Street Fighter 6 - Kimberly Jackson
Kimberly is a spunky American teenager and ninja girl who has trained under Bushinryu veteran Guy from Final Fight to become his prodigy. She has thick braids which reach down to her back.
She is a girl who is obsessed with 80s pop culture and art, hence why she carries around a cassette player and graffiti spray cans.
Character designer Kaname Fujioka has gone on record to say that Kimberly serves as the Chun-Li for the new generation of Street Fighter fans.