Cammy
Cammy White, also known as Cammy and the codename Killer Bee in Street Fighter Alpha 3, is a video game character in the Street Fighter fighting game series and the second female fighter to appear in the series. She debuted in 1993 as one of the four new characters in Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. She has also been featured in the Street Fighter Alpha games, first as a secret character and then as a playable character. The games explore her backstory as one of the evil M. Bison's deadliest assassins or "dolls" turned an amnesiac MI6 operative for the British government.
Cammy has also appeared in other Street Fighter media, such as the 1994 live-action Street Fighter film and its animated spin-off, as well as . She has also been featured in various official comics and merchandise, as well as in the crossover series Marvel vs. Capcom and SNK vs. Capcom. Cammy has garnered positive, critical reception from critics and fans, with praise towards her backstory, game play, and character design. She is a frequent subject of cosplay and is particularly noted for her sex appeal. Cammy is one of the most popular characters in the series, often winning fan polls regarding who they want to see in new Street Fighter titles and spin-offs.
Character design
's research and development head Noritaka Funamizu stated that Cammy's inclusion in Super Street Fighter II stemmed from his feeling that the game needed another female character besides Chun-Li. She was originally designed by the same person who had previously made Street Fighters Sagat and later also Morrigan Aensland for Darkstalkers. Compensating for the difference in sheer strength, Chun-Li and Cammy are faster than the other characters in the game.Cammy is a fighter with a slender yet muscular body. She has long blonde hair which she usually wears in two braided pigtails, blue eyes and a scar on her left cheek. In Super Street Fighter II, she is shown wearing a green sleeveless thong leotard, a military red beret, red gloves and black boots, with green camouflage stains on her legs. This iconic incarnation is known as Delta Red Cammy and appears in the Street Fighter II series of games, in some other games, in the American film and television productions, in several manga and comic book adaptations, in the home versions of Street Fighter IV and its updates. Street Fighter V retains largely the same look, with the addition of a black harness on her torso and a gun holster around her right thigh, but no longer wears the camouflage paint on her legs. Delta Red Cammy is approximately 19 years old in Street Fighter II and 22 by the time of Street Fighter IV.
's concept art of Shadaloo Cammy in X-Men vs. Street Fighter|alt=
A different look was introduced in X-Men vs. Street Fighter, where her style and moves are similar these of both Spider-Man and Psylocke. This time, Cammy was depicted wearing a light blue, long sleeve thong leotard, a matching garrison cap, red gloves, brown leather boots, and a yellow necktie. The camouflage of her legs was replaced with blue stains in the shape of lightning bolts. This incarnation is known as Shadaloo Cammy' or "Killer Bee" and appears in the Street Fighter Alpha, Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK series of games, as well as in Namco × Capcom and in several manga and comic adaptations. Shadaloo Cammy is approximately 16 years old.
In Street Fighter IV, in addition to the Delta Red attire, her default, Cammy has an alternate appearance which is reminiscent of the Shadaloo version. This consists of her wearing a blue zipped-up fleece thong leotard with matching knee-high boots with woolen trim, a Delta Red garrison cap, midnight-blue gloves and arm braces, and blue camouflage on her legs. In the consecutive Super Street Fighter IV, she gains an additional alternate costume based on M. Bison's, mostly by its red color and the similarly shaped hat and accessories. However, she still wears a thong leotard and camouflage paint on her legs. Her fourth alternative costume in the game has her in a catgirl-like costume, with metal gauntlets and leg coverings. In Street Fighter X Tekken, Cammy gains an additional two alternate costumes: one is based on King from Tekken, and the second is an all-original design inspired by a punk rock type of look, with her sporting a huge red bow, a black vest with a pink top, a red skirt with leather straps and black leather knee-high boots; she also got a leopard motif costume in an update. In Street Fighter V, Cammy has various different alternate outfits, from combat swimsuit to schoolgirl uniform, along with another catgirl, as well as crossover costumes inspired by Haunting Ground and Resident Evil. One of her poses in that game has been globally censored due to the West's new sensibilities, disappointing and upsetting fans.
Cammy has a strong personality. She has a tough attitude, where one wrong word to her could mean a snapped neck, and is fearless in battle. She refuses to go down without a fight, using her extensive skills and abilities to her advantage. She is a driven and determined young woman; with a strong sense to help others in need. She wants to see herself as a protector of others as noted in her Street Fighter V story where she is seen taking care of Juni and looking out for her as she recovers from being a brainwashed Doll. Cammy is gentle, respectful, and kindhearted, but she can also be very irritable and dismissive, and can be very harsh on herself when she makes mistakes. One of Cammy's most notable characteristics is her love for cats. This is her appearance in SFV at the top.
Appearances
''Street Fighter'' games
Cammy was introduced in the fourth revision, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, as one of four new characters joining the previous games's roster. In this game, Cammy is a teen-aged agent of the fictional Delta Red commando task force within Britain's Secret Intelligence Service formed to investigate and eradicate global crime syndicates. In the Japanese version of her ending, she is revealed to have been an agent working for the villain M. Bison in the past, but lost her memories during a past operation. The American version instead reported her as a previous lover of M. Bison's, but equally suffering from amnesia. Other members of Delta Red include Commander Watson, Colonel Wolfman, Lt. Col. Hannah Ackerson, 1st Lieutenant Lita Luwanda, Matthew McCoy, and George Ginzu.A younger version of Cammy appears as an assassin working for Bison's Shadaloo organization, with the codename "Killer Bee", first in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, where she appears as a hidden character available exclusively in the second player and training modes, and then in Street Fighter Alpha 3, where she is a full-fledged playable character. In Alpha 3, Cammy is revealed to be a clone created from M. Bison's DNA. The Game Boy Advance version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo: Revival and the Xbox Live and PSN remake Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix take into account this revelation in their versions of Cammy's ending.
Cammy is again featured in Street Fighter IV. Set after the after the events of Street Fighter II, it depicts Cammy as having come to terms with her past as a brainwashed super soldier from Shadaloo and is now embarking a new mission with her Delta Red comrades. This is the first time since the Street Fighter II era that Cammy has appeared in her Delta Red depiction as opposed to her Shadaloo depiction, and also the very first time in which she actually speaks with an English accent as per Cammy's birthplace being officially listed as Britain. However, due to her nature as a clone of Bison, this might not be her true place of origin. In her ending in this game, she destroys the BLECE data, believing the project to be what Bison had used to brainwash her in the first place. In the update Super Street Fighter IV, Cammy still remembers her time as a "doll" and affectionately refers to the "Dolls" as her sisters, vowing to rescue them from Shadaloo. Her penultimate, "rival" fight is against newcomer Juri, on whom Cammy swears revenge for her ill actions towards the "dolls", only for Juri to counter the accusation by bringing up Cammy's dark past. In her new ending, Cammy consoles a recovering former "doll" ; this new ending establishes the fact that she is recovering her memories, or at least trying to atone for the things she did in the past. In Ultra Street Fighter IV, Decapre, an early result of the Shadaloo cloning experiments that created Cammy, appears as a playable character. Cammy returned in Street Fighter V.
Other video games
Cammy appears in her Alpha incarnation as a playable character in crossover fighting games X-Men vs. Street Fighter, ', ', Capcom vs. SNK 2, and Street Fighter X Tekken. She also appears as a playable character in the shoot 'em up Cannon Spike, where she appears in her SSFII costume for her default form and in her Alpha outfit as an alternate appearance, in the browser-based social games Onimusha Soul, where she is re-designed to fit the feudal Japan theme, and Street Fighter Battle Combination, as well as in the mobile puzzle game Street Fighter: Puzzle Spirits, where she is a super-deformed character.In the crossover tactical role-playing game Namco × Capcom, Cammy appears as a brainwashed enemy character who later joins the player's side as a partner to Chun-Li. Cammy has also made guest appearances in other non-Capcom games, such as Destiny Child, Gunslinger Stratos 2, ', and Valkyrie Connect.
A redesigned Cammy appears in the beat'em up ' as one of the underground pit fighters who challenges the player. In the action role-playing game Monster Hunter Frontier Online, players can dress up their hunters in Cammy's Shadoloo outfit, while Breath of Fire 6 and Monster Hunter Explore have her Delta Red costume. Frank West in Dead Rising 4 can also be dressed up as Cammy.
Film and animation
Cammy appears as one of the main heroes in the 1994 film Street Fighter, portrayed by Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue, who also played Cammy in both Street Fighter: The Movie video games. The film's Cammy is a British intelligence agent that is serving as Colonel Guile's intelligence officer and aide-de-camp in the Allied Nations Army.Cammy appears in two Street Fighter anime productions by Group TAC. In ', Cammy appears in a scene early in the movie, where she assassinates British minister Albert Sellers after being brainwashed by Shadaloo. She is later seen being interrogated by Chun-Li. Her status after that is unclear, with Bison's last orders to Sagat being the elimination of Vega and Cammy. In the English dub of the film, Cammy is portrayed as American rather than British.
In the Street Fighter II V series, Cammy is a former special forces operative-turned-assassin who is hired by Balrog to assassinate Chun-Li's father, but is stopped by Fei Long. After her fight, she realizes that Balrog had tricked her and nearly kills him. Cammy has a completely different look in the series, wearing black leather pants a black body fit shirt, red gloves, red boots, and a black necklace with a silver cross. This incarnation of the character does not have a scar on her cheek and wears her hair in a single ponytail. As in the animated movie, the series' English dub depicts Cammy as American instead of British.
In the American Street Fighter animated series, Cammy appears in several episodes during the first season and is the central focus of a sub-plot in the second season. During the first season, she is an ally of Guile who has a flirtatious relationship with him, and is eventually made part of his team. However, she is brainwashed by Bison and becomes one of his underlings, fighting both Street Fighters and Delta Red during the remainder of the series. She turns on Bison when she learns that he had killed her parents, and switches sides back to her original allies.
Cammy was mentioned in ' episodes "Fight & Flight" and "Mission Critical". She appears in a cameo appearance in the 2012 animated film Wreck-It Ralph, alongside other Street Fighter characters.
Other appearances
In addition to appearing in the manga adaptations of the Street Fighter games and anime, Cammy was the central character in Masahiko Nakahira's 1994 manga Super Street Fighter II: Cammy, which was released in English by Viz Communications. It explores the 19-year-old Cammy's background: her commando training in the UK, the years she lost to amnesia, and the encounters with M. Bison and his minions that changed her life. The plotline is not directly tied to the World Warriors tournament, instead introducing many new characters. Cammy would appear in Nakahira's subsequent 1996 manga adaptation of Street Fighter Alpha, where she appears as a brainwashed test subject named "Killer Bee", a codename that was later adopted for the video game storyline. The X-Men vs. Street Fighter depiction of Cammy also appeared in the 1997 manga , too by Nakahira. In Sakura Ganbaru! she is first named "Cammy" by Sakura by chance, the name coming from a cat in her neighborhood Cammy reminds her of.In addition to publishing English-language adaptations of the Street Fighter Alpha and Sakura Ganbaru! manga, UDON released an original comic book series retelling the Street Fighter story. In it Cammy, working as Bison's "Killer Bee" assassin, is the one directly responsible for the death of Chun-Li's father. Elsewhere, she is tracking Ryu in San Francisco under orders from Shadaloo, when she is confronted and captured by Rose, who undoes Shadaloo's brainwashing then leaves her in front of the British embassy in Italy. Cammy has no memory of anything leading up to that moment, but a terrorist attack on the embassy suddenly triggers her latent fighting ability and she foils the threat, after which Delta Red promptly sign her on as a member. While she completes missions with Delta Red, Cammy pieces together remnants of her memory and does her best to make up for any sins she might have committed in Shadaloo's name. During the second series, Cammy takes a leave from Delta Red to find out more about her past. She travels to Mexico with Chun-Li to meet T. Hawk for a joint investigation, but they are intercepted by M. Bison, who recaptures her and demands she represent Shadaloo in the upcoming tournament he is hosting. Cammy is brought back to Shadaloo where her brainwashing is resumed during the third series, but Vega frees her from the brainwashing before the tournament finishes. Cammy acts as though she is still under Bison's command but enlists the help of Chun-Li and Guile. In the aftermath she has rejoined Delta Red.
Cammy History, a two-volume light novel by Yuka Minakawa featuring Cammy as the main character, was published by Wani Books in 1995. Cammy artwork was featured on an officially licensed lenticular print Nubytech/UDON joypad for the PlayStation 2, and a Mad Catz wireless joypad for the PlayStation 3. She was also a subject of numerous figures from various manufacturers, including Funko, Kotobukiya, S.H. Figuarts, and many others. Assorted merchandise included a line of women's lingerie and a figurine that came with a DyDo drink.
Reception
Cammy has become and remained one of the most popular characters in the Street Fighter franchise, starting as the most successful of the new characters from Super Street Fighter II. She won Capcom's official poll "Which character do fans most want in SFIV?" in 2008, gathering almost as many votes as all the other seven characters in the list combined. She also came second in Capcom's previous poll of 85 characters for the 15th anniversary of Street Fighter II in 2005 and won a 2008 poll put forth by Capcom asking the fans to choose which character they would like to see to return for Street Fighter IV, motivating Yoshinori Ono to implement her as fast as possible to meet the demand. In an official poll by Namco, Cammy has been the fourth-most-requested Street Fighter side character to be added to the roster of Tekken X Street Fighter, taking 15% of all votes. In 2014, users of the Japanese internet board 2channel voted her second most kawaii female Street Fighter character. In a 2018 worldwide poll by Capcom, Cammy was voted 11th-most-popular Street Fighter character. Official Sega Saturn Magazine described themselves as "big fans of Cammy" and her other fans included Jamie Lee Curtis.Cammy has been rated highly among the Street Fighter characters by many media outlets. Tips & Tricks stated about X-Men vs. Street Fighter: "If anything XSF is a great game simply because it marks the return of Cammy." IGN placed her as number nine in their 2008 list, noting her sex appeal and unique gameplay and adding "of the four new fighters in Super Turbo, she's the only one who made a return appearance in future games," while GameDaily ranked her at seventh place in their list of top Street Fighter characters for her "incredible" assassin skills and "her military motif that showcases some of the best legs in video games." In 2010, UGO Networks similarly placed her at seventh spot on their list of top Street Fighter characters, stating that while she does not have any projectile attacks, she "makes up for the lack of distance fighting with quick and close kicks." IGN Japan ranked her seventh in 2018.
Upon her deput, GamePro described Cammy as "one of the most risque characters ever seen in a video game!" Brazilian Ação Games opined she "comes to finish the hegemony of Chun Li" and Hyper similarly commented she "replaces Chun Li as the resident SF2 sex symbol". GamesMaster resubtitled Super Street Fighter II as "SSF2: Cammy Forever". She was given the "Hottest Game Babe of 1993" award by Electronic Gaming Monthly.
Cammy has continued to be critically acclaimed for her sex appeal for many years. She was ranked as the fifth-sexiest character in games by Ação Games in 1997 and included among the "Miss Consoles" by German Video Games in 2000, described as superior to Chun-Li. In 2003, GameSpy listed her alongside Chun-Li as one of the top ten "babes in games" at sixth place, noting that with "leg-revealing outfits she showed the world that pixelated Brit girls are sexy." In 2008, Spike ranked Cammy as the tenth-top "video game vixen", praising her attractiveness and attire, while GameDaily ranked her tenth in their list of the "hottest" female characters in video games, and News.com.au named her as the fifth-sexiest characters in video games as "a kickass character with good looks to boot." In Unreality's "Queen of the Iron Fist Tournament" 2008, Cammy won against Seong Mi-Na, Christie Monteiro, Morrigan Aensland, and Kasumi, before losing in the final round against Taki. In 2009, FHM listed Cammy among the nine sexiest "bad girls of videogame land". UGO included her in their 2010 list of top "videogame hotties" and also ranked her second on their 2011 list of fighting games's finest female fighters. In 2012, Cammy was ranked as the fourth-hottest video game character by Complex as well as the fifth-hottest female video game character by Gadget Review, while MSN included her among the 20 "hottest women in video game history" and JoBlo.com placed her third on their list of hottest video game characters. That same year, she was also included among the sexiest female characters in games by IGN Spain, with ZoominGames ranking her as the second-top "game babe" overall, while PLAY ranked her as number one top "hottest" blonde in games, calling her "the undisputed queen of all gaming blondes."
James Hawkins of Joystick Division ranked her as the sixth-top "badass lady" in video games in 2010, chosen for fearlessness. In 2012, Complex ranked her as the 26th-most-dominant fighting-game character for her looks and her assassination scene in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, further including her "How does it feel getting beaten by a tiny girl like me?" among most humiliating victory quotes in fighting games, and herself among greatest soldiers in video games, commenting: "Never mind that her uniform isn't exactly standard issue; she still kicks a lot of ass." The magazine further ranked her role in the 1994 film as ninth on the list of "hottest women in video game movies" in 2011. Retrospectively, Famitsu included her among the top female characters of the 1990s gaming in Japan.
In 2011, ScrewAttack ranked her alternate outfit in Street Fighter IV as the fourth-sexiest costume in gaming and commenting it can not even be called "a full outfit, because it's pretty much just a snow jacket and some knee-high boots." Cammy had also previously topped ScrewAttack's 2010 list of top buttocks in video games. She also placed second on the list of "nicest asses" in video games by Ripten in 2008, ninth on the list of the "greatest asses" in video game history by Joystick Division in 2011, and fourth on the list of "best butts in games" by ZoominGames in 2012. On the other hand, GameDaily desfibed her Alpha series costume as "simply asking for trouble". NBC News included Cammy on their 2012 list of the top five most preposterous video game outfits: "e have one simple piece of advice: Put on some pants." She was additionally cited as an example of what GamesRadar considered "the most shameless—and least surprising—character cliché of all time"; that is, "a half-naked woman".