Mai Shiranui/Trivia


 * Due to Mai's vast popularity among fans around the world, she has been in most promotional arts, game arts, themes and merchandise out of any character, making her the main female mascot and main sex symbol of SNK. Mai was rated #4 in GameSpy.com's "Top Ten Babes in Games" feature and #5 in Game Informer's "Top Ten Hottest Girls of the 16-Bit era." Along with the many figures and merchandise that have been made in her image, she has made an outside game appearance in the spin-off series Queen's Gate. Her great reputation has also influenced other female fighters in other fighting games, mainly Dead or Alive in which Mai herself makes two DLC appearances (in the fifth and sixth installments).


 * In the Neo Geo Freak's 1997 Volume 8 character poll, she was voted as the third favorite character with a total of 1,604 votes. 199 votes from the male fans and 1,405 votes from the female fans. And in Neo Geo Freak's August 1998 issue, she was ranked as the 7th best character. In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, she was voted as the fifth favorite character with a total of 2,380 votes. On Falcoon's SNK 40th anniversary page he states that both Mai and Terry are his favorite SNK characters.


 * In Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mai does not appear among the important characters from the Fatal Fury universe. According to Masahiro Sakurai, the game's developer, this was due to CERO (the rating board in Japan) seeing her to be too suggestive for an A rating game. The English translation for this reasoning was stating that Mai "wasn't for good boys and girls".
 * As a result, many memes spawned from it. Some memes include Mai being paired her with Waluigi from the Super Mario franchise, getting kicked out by either Kirby or Sakurai and/or failing at entering Smash or even have her joining the bad guy's side as a result of this as a worst case scenario. In Japan however, the memes mostly portrays Sakurai as a hero for preventing kids from seeing this kind of characters at an early age.


 * Mai was born in January 1st, on New Year's Day. This is highlighted in her favorite foods and hobbies.


 * One of Mai's most striking features, the swinging boobs, has been censored several times in other countries outside of Japan. In these situations, the swing remains only in its victory poses, for a brief period of time.
 * In the KOF XIV 's Chinese version, her boobs and butt are censored, with larger panties covering it. The same censure in the game occurs with Alice Nakata, Zarina and Ángel.


 * In SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy, during the boss scene with Nakoruru, Mai breaks the fourth wall when she mentions the fact that both are the "SNK 's most famous female fighting duo."


 * Mai's current voice actress, Ami Koshimizu, is particularly known for providing voice for younger male characters and borderline tomboyish females, especially those with strong personalities. She is also the voice actress for a younger Rock Howard in The King of Fighters: Destiny.


 * Mai's absence in The King of Fighters XII particular was extremely controversial among fans, leading to the catchphrase "No Mai, No Buy".