10 Video Game Character Redesigns NOBODY Asked For
7. Vanessa Lewis - Virtua Fighter 5
If most of these redesigns simply stoked the fires of fan-rage, Virtua Fighter 5's reinvention of Vanessa Lewis - who made her debut in the prior game - sparked intense discussions about representation and "white-washing" in video games.
In Virtua Fighter 4, Vanessa's skin colour was black, only for the sequel to inexplicably "bleach" her skin to a shade of white.
Fans vocally expressed their outrage, that a bastion of representation in the fighting game community had been erased. It wasn't just infuriating, it was offensive.
Moreover, beyond the skin colour change, Vanessa's extremely lean physique was toned down considerably, presumably in order to make her more conventionally appealing to mainstream players.
Though fans could technically restore Vanessa's original skin tone in the game's options, the fact that her default look was changed in such a blatant and incendiary way sent out a pretty terrible message to players. To call it a bad look is an understatement.