the most popular arcade girls, circa april 1994

loki · February 6, 2018, 10:47am

as reported by gamest gal’s island 3

some of these results are really surprising!

30 west angel, mahjong sailor wars (7 votes)
29 castle angel, mahjong sailor wars (9votes)
25= c. myao, knuckle heads / poppy, samurai shodown / arabian moon, superior soldiers / oume gouketsuji, gouketsuji ichizoku (14 votes each)
24 nancy, super chase (15 votes)
23 pai chan, virtua fighter (16 votes)
22 emiri, gusson oyoyo (17 votes)
21 sarah bryant, virtua fighter (19 votes)
20 ryoko, fighters impact (20 votes)
19 erain, gaiapolis (22 votes)
18 chita, mahou daisakusen (23 votes)
17 anny, goutesuji ichizoku (25 votes)
16 hong-hua, night slashers (28 votes)
15 alteeno, batsugun (30 votes)
14 beltian, batsugun (32 votes)
13 yuu, super real mahjong piv (35 votes)
12 kaori, super real mahjong piv (39 votes)
11 otane gouketsuji, gouketsuji ichizoku (50 votes)
10 sharon, numan athletics (66 votes)
9 mana, super real mahjong piv (75 votes)
8 rachael, martial champion (140 votes)
7 charlotte, samurai shodown (175 votes)
6 cammy white, street fighter (271 votes)
5 ryoko, world heroes (291 votes)
4 janne, world heroes (320 votes)
3 chun li, street fighter (418 votes)
2 mai shiranui, fatal fury (603 votes)
1 nakoruru, samurai shodown (1210 votes)

who would have ever thought that there would be not only one, but two world heroes characters in the top 5, ahead of the likes of cammy and sarah. also, mahjong pervs please leave.

there’s also a top 10 retro girls listed too! which also has some unexpected entries!

10 maomao, sonic wings (25 votes)
9 mary, pu-li-ru-la (32 votes)
8 artemis, phelios (39 votes)
7 ki, tower of druaga (50 votes)
6 melora, twinbee (66 votes)
5 arle, puyo puyo (86 votes)
4 yuri sakazaki, art of fighting (98 votes)
3 winbee, twinbee (130 votes)
2 king, art of fighting (223 votes)
1 valkyrie, legend of valkyrie (268 votes)

kind of weird that art of fighting and sonic wings are already considered retro in 1994.

geist · February 6, 2018, 11:59am

wow nak has double the votes of anyone else. a true powerhouse of kawaii~~

Mikey · February 6, 2018, 3:08pm

Art of Fighting always felt weirdly archaic to me even at the time.

notbov · February 6, 2018, 5:43pm

hold the fuck up Japan

villain · February 7, 2018, 1:22am

Nakoruru? No thanks! Charlotte is the best.

(King is also the best).

schroeder · February 7, 2018, 8:24pm

Seriously. Not even the top 20?

a_new_duck · February 7, 2018, 9:10pm

I think I need to know who drew the illustration on the left.

ferrets · February 7, 2018, 9:14pm

loki · October 17, 2018, 8:05pm

remembered last night that i’ve had a copy of gals island 2 lying around for more than 6 months, so let’s see who the belles of the ball were in february 1993!

30 - acha, toypop (14 votes)
29 - miyuki, ordyne (16 votes)
28 - tong pooh, strider hiryu (17 votes)
27 - some blue-haired girl whose name is all in kanji also who cares it’s a fucking mahjong character, super real mahjong piii (18 votes)
26 - eliza, street fighter ii (20 votes)
25 - cindy, death brade (21 votes)
21= - pure, capcom world 2 (22 votes)
21= - waya-hime, bravoman (22 votes)
21= - alice, marchen maze (22 votes)
21= - aria, dragon spirit/saber (22 votes)
19= - siria, dragon saber (27 votes)
19= - sayo, kikikaikai (27 votes)
17= - mel, pu li ru la (28 votes)
17= - another mahjong character for fuck’s sake, super real mahjong pii (28 votes)
15= - sylphie, forgotten worlds (29 votes)
15= - sfoibmsofjbnidgj, super real mahjong piii (29 votes)
14 - irene, xexex (32 votes)
13 - momo, wonder momo (33 votes)
12 - athena, athena (36 votes)
11 - mao mao, sonic wings (43 votes)
10 - melon, twinbee (44 votes)
9 - artemis, phelios (49 votes)
8 - king, art of fighting (58 votes)
7 - ki, tower of druaga (78 votes)
6 - cotton, cotton (81 votes)
5 - winbee, twinbee (82 votes)
4 - janne, world heroes (146 votes)
3 - rosa, undercover cops (185 votes)
2 - valkyrie, legnd of valkyrie (247 votes)
1 - chun li, street fighter ii (333 votes)

there’s a lot more variety in this poll, due to it happening just as fighting games were still on their way to the popularity they’d have a year later. also, chun li won this poll with 333 votes, but came third in the following year’s poll with 418. i guess street fighter ii, as well as igniting fighting game fever, also rejuvenated arcades in general?

also, there’s a ton of cool stuff in gals island 2. there’s paper dolls of chun li, janne, athena, and rosa to cut out, a pretty big section of rare official art for girls who didn’t make the top 30, a huge fanart section with lots of girls well known and obscure being represented, and a short comic which sees the top 4 all meeting up!