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Black Orchid (Killer Instinct)

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Black Orchid
Killer Instinct character
Orchid in Killer Instinct (2013)
First gameKiller Instinct (1994)
Created byKevin Bayliss[1]
Designed byKevin Bayliss (KI)[1]
David Robert Donatuchi (2013)[2]
Voiced byAnzu Lawson (2013)[3]
Motion captureKevin Bayliss (KI-KI2)[1]
Louise Stamper (FMV, KI-KI2)[1]
In-universe information
OriginUnited States
NationalityAmerican
Fighting styleKobudō

Black Orchid (often shortened to "B. Orchid" or just "Orchid") is a player character in the Killer Instinct fighting game series created by Rare. Introduced in the original Killer Instinct in 1994, Orchid is featured as a playable character in all three installments. A mysterious spy and fighter, she is the female protagonist of the series, along with her younger brother Jago, and is one of the most popular Killer Instinct characters. Though, she's received some criticism for her stereotyped portrayal in the games.

Conception and design

Created and designed by Kevin Bayliss for Rare, the character was originally a blonde woman called "Wanda" made for the fighting game Brutal Force. Wearing a red leotard, matching knee-high boots and headband, and using a long pole as a weapon, she was described in the design document simply as "a fearless acrobat".[4] As the project changed to Killer Instinct, she was changed to a darker skinned woman with black hair. Standing 5 ft 3 in tall, her leotard covered more of her hips and was changed to green, her weapons changed to batons, and her background changed to a secret agent trying to infiltrate Ultratech, the game's antagonist.[5] While fellow Rare employee Louise Stamper performed the motion capture for the game's cutscenes, Bayliss also assisted, putting on high heels and attempting to "walk like a lady".[1] Several of her moves were also designed by him, such as a finishing move where she turns her back to the screen and flashes her breasts at the opponent.[6] Her design was modified for the game's sequel, the leotard changed to expose more skin while her weapons were changed to tonfas.[7]

When creating Orchid's appearance for the 2013 reboot of the Killer Instinct franchise, the developers focused on a "rebel freedom fighter" motif for the character. To this end they focused on giving her attire a "military utilitarian" aesthetic, creating designs built around green armor, headgear and "a sense of danger". Art director David Robert Donatuchi incorporated goggles and her original batons into her design, and as it progressed he wanted to emphasize a panther aesthetic in her appearance. Her outfit was changed to a tank top and shorts, while grenades were added to give her a "rebellious dangerous side". While her clothing was meant to invoke the same imagery of her one-piece in the earlier games, the updated attire was meant to give a more "realistic" look of a spy fighting as a soldier of fortune.[2]

Appearances

In Killer Instinct (1994), Black Orchid is a 23-year-old enigmatic and lethal secret agent for a vigilante-oriented international spy organization. Posing as a secretary, she infiltrates Ultratech, the company which organizes the Killer Instinct tournament, to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearances related to it. In her ending, she successfully gathers enough information to defeat Ultratech.

In the sequel, Killer Instinct 2 (1996), it is revealed that the now 24-year-old[8] Black Orchid has destroyed Eyedol, which sent the Ultratech building two millennia into the past. Now she seeks to destroy Gargos, and find a way home to start a new life.[9] In her endings, the warrior Jago is revealed as her younger[10] brother.

Orchid appears in the series reboot, Killer Instinct (2013). Orchid exhibits emotional instability from a young age, once nearly burning down her school while placing blame on what she refers to as "the Firecat". Following this, her Seal Team 6 father Jacob takes her to an isolated mountain cabin for training, as Orchid had inherited the ability to summon the Firecat from her grandmother, who gained it following her participation in the Project Aries 9 experiment during World War II. Fearing the government or Ultratech would use her as a tool, he teaches her combat, weapons usage, and summoning the Firecat. Two years later, they are found by the Special Warfare Department, a covert sect of the U.S.'s Homeland Security, and Jacob is forced to return to service in exchange for her freedom, being killed in a suicide bombing a year later. Running from her new foster family and living on the streets, the teenage Orchid is eventually found by SWD commander Major Weaver, who reveals Jacob was in fact assassinated by Ultratech, giving her his journal, and asks her to join the organization. Orchid agrees, learning from Jacob's journal that he had an affair and fathered a son.

A decade later, Weaver assigns Orchid to a deep cover operation at Ultratech posing as a scientist, where she first learns of the Pinnacle Protocol and that several SWD members are under ARIA's control. However, her cover is blown and she destroys the lab with her Firecat and escapes. Disbelieving her findings, Weaver claims that Orchid has become paranoid and unstable and dismisses her, but is killed in a bombing later that night. Framed for Weaver's murder, Orchid is branded a terrorist and forced to flee the country. Orchid emigrates to the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe, where she forms an underground spy ring known as the Disavowed, made up of others wronged by Ultratech who seek to take them down.[11][12] During her missions, she meets and befriends Maya and recruits Eagle to the Disavowed, sending him to infiltrate the Killer Instinct tournament. When Eagle is reported dead, Orchid takes on the Black Orchid persona and joins the tournament to find out what happened, where she is almost killed by Jago before realizing he is her brother, the two vowing to find out what had happened to Orchid's father and Jago's mother. Orchid later teams up with T.J. Combo to destroy an Ultratech laboratory and broadcast evidence of their crimes to the world. She joins Maya's rebel force alongside T.J. and Jago, but they are trapped by Ultratech forces while ARIA's plan to summon Gargos is brought to fruition. However, the attack is halted for reasons unknown, with Ultratech's forces ordered to retreat.[13] She and the other rebels are later forced to join ARIA's alliance in order to stop Gargos when he proves too strong to defeat alone.

Outside of the game series, B. Orchid is featured in the 1996 Killer Instinct comics,[14] where she is one of the main protagonists. In 2008, Rare created Vision Cards based on her and other Killer Instinct fighters for use in their video game Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise.[15]

Though Black Orchid's race is not mentioned in the games, when questioned on the issue Rare stated that she is mulatto.[16]

Gameplay

Black Orchid's fighting style emphasizes Kali (aka Eskrima) stick fighting in the original Killer Instinct and the 2013 game, and Okinawan tonfa in Killer Instinct 2. In all games, she also uses kicks,[10] including one special move that resembles Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick. In Killer Instinct, one of her special moves has her morph into a "fire cat".[17] In Killer Instinct 2, Orchid was given a complete gameplay overhaul,[18] which included losing her tiger morph special move.[19]

One of Orchid's original finishing moves has her giving a defeated enemy a heart attack by stripping and showing her breasts to them. It was featured only in the first game for the arcades and SNES; the Game Boy version features only the other one, where she turns an enemy into a frog and then stomps on it.[20] Orchid turns her back to the player when performing the flashing move. A popular rumor stated that by positioning her in front of a mirror and performing this finishing move, the player could see her breasts reflected in the mirror. In response to this rumor, designer Ken Lobb pointed out that there is no mirror in any of Killer Instinct's stages.[21]

While Orchid retains many of her classic moves in the 2013 title, she has also been given several new skills, such as the ability to use her Fire Cat as a projectile in Instinct Mode and as part of her Shadow moves.[22][23] Her classic "retro" costume was included as unlockable content in a patch for the game.[24] According to Prima Games, Orchid is a very balanced character who "lives and dies by the 50/50 mix-up".[25] While Orchid "seems lacking compared to the other characters" in that "her special moves are mostly unsafe and she doesn't have that one abusive tactic that most of the other characters seem to possess", she has the fastest movement speed and her Instinct mode is one of the best in the game.[26]

Critical reception

Lucas Sullivan at GamesRadar claimed "For some old-school gamers, B. Orchid stands above Chun-Li as the iconic First Lady of fighting games." Sullivan examined her appearance in the 2013 Killer Instinct game, stating "Orchid's attire this time around actually matches her profession: secret agent, looking to expose UltraTech as the evil megacorporation that it is."[27] In a review of the aforementioned 2013 game by Polygon, Arthur Gies stated "It can be a little hard to handle some of the more blatant stereotypes and overt sexualization of Killer Instinct's currently available roster of characters," highlighting Orchid and Sadira as examples. Gies attributes Orchid's sexualized pre-fight cutscene as a reason for this.[28] Rob Bricken at Topless Robot included her as one of the ten "most ridiculously stereotyped fighting game characters," who praised her design, but also felt that she "[may be] the fighting-game world's most blatantly objectified female character."[29]

Pedro Vázquez-Miraz, author of the study Review Of A Recent Article By Díez-gutiérrez (2014) And Qualitative Review Of The Video Games Analyzed In Díez-gutiérrez Et Al. (2004), described her as "hypersexualized", while reasoning "she is dressed with tight and provocative clothing, representing the stereotype of the femme-fatale."[30] Retropolis magazine author Trev was negative of her being the only human female character in the original Killer Instinct game, due to "[boosting her] sex appeal to 300%," and estimated her measurements to be "around 100-40-90."[31] David Surman, author of Gaming, Uncanny Realism & Technical Demonstration, mentioned the game Killer Instinct "set a precedent for the promotion of games using still images of highly rendered computer-generated representations of the games player-characters. Debates around the realism and function of hyperreal game characters were yoked to this new marketing strategy," while citing Orchid as an example, due to her "large breasts and oriental 'mystique' made her the first of a succession of clichéd fantasy images to occupy this new gaming image culture." Surman also considers Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider series to be Orchid's "[successor to] this phenomenon."[32] Game designer Celia Pearce, writing for Playing Dress-Up: Costumes, roleplay and imagination, listed Orchid as one of the four examples of female characters who "reveals a male fantasy about watching women in battle, rather than a female fantasy of empowerment."[33]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Killer Instinct". Retro Gamer. No. 123. September 2016. pp. 48–51.
  2. ^ a b Killer Instinct: Ultra Fan Book. Prima Games. November 2013. pp. 159–177. ISBN 9780804162760.
  3. ^ "Orchid Voice - Killer Instinct (2013) (Video Game)". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2021. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  4. ^ Rare Replay - The Making Of Killer Instinct. 2015-08-07. Event occurs at 0:45. Retrieved 2024-04-09 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ "Animal at E3: Killer Instinct". Games World. No. 14. August 1995. p. 20.
  6. ^ "Desert Island Discs: Martin Hollis". Retro Gamer. No. 46. 2008. pp. 80–81.
  7. ^ Cockburn, Andrew; Martinez Jr., Frank. "Killer Instinct 2 Strategy Guide". DieHard GameFan. p. 40.
  8. ^ "GamePro - Issue 092 Volume 08 Number 05 (1996-05) (IDG Publishing) (US)". May 1996. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  9. ^ "GamePro - Issue 092 Volume 08 Number 05 (1996-05) (IDG Publishing) (US)". May 1996. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  10. ^ a b "Killer Instinct Xbox One character guide - which fighter suits you best? - Xbox 360 - The Official Magazine". Oxm.co.uk. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  11. ^ "Killer Instinct - Exclusive Sadira Trailer". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2013-09-26. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
  12. ^ "Killer Instinct Adds Orchid, Spinal To The Roster". Cinemablend.com. 3 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  13. ^ "The Firecat's Summoning". 17 November 2015. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  14. ^ "B. Orchid (Character)". Comic Vine. Archived from the original on 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  15. ^ Miller, Ross (2008-10-16). "Viva Pinata vision cards fan the Killer Instinct flames". Joystiq. Archived from the original on 2014-08-20. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  16. ^ "More Racy Issues". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 89. Ziff Davis. December 1996. p. 338.
  17. ^ "Killer Instinct's latest fighters include Black Orchid and Sadira". Polygon. 2013-09-23. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  18. ^ Video Games The Ultimate Gaming Magazine 90 (July 1996) page 43.
  19. ^ "GamePro - Issue 090 Volume 08 Number 03 (1996-03) (IDG Publishing) (US)". March 1996. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  20. ^ "Computer and Video Games - Issue 170 (1996-01) (EMAP Images) (UK)". January 1996. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  21. ^ "Orchid Flasher? Killer!". Next Generation. No. 26. Imagine Media. February 1997. p. 46.
  22. ^ "News: Killer Instinct's Orchid gameplay trailer revealed, Spinal teased as next new character - Xbox 360 - The Official Magazine". Oxm.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  23. ^ Cajili, Adrian (2013-10-30). "Killer Instinct: Orchid revealed, Spinal teased". TechGeek. Archived from the original on 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  24. ^ "Have Killer Instinct Ultra Edition? Unlock Orchid's Retro Costume Now!". playxbla.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-22. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  25. ^ "Killer Instinct Beginner's Tips | Tips". Primagames.com. Archived from the original on 2014-05-18. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  26. ^ "Killer Instinct: Orchid Advanced Tips | Tips". Primagames.com. Archived from the original on 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  27. ^ Sullivan, Lucas (November 21, 2013). "How does the old Killer Instinct compare to the new one?". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on May 3, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  28. ^ Gies, Arthur (December 10, 2013). "Killer Instinct review: original sin". Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  29. ^ "The 10 Most Ridiculously Stereotyped Fighting Game Characters". Topless Robot. Archived from the original on March 27, 2024. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  30. ^ Pedro Vázquez-Miraz. Review Of A Recent Article By Díez-gutiérrez (2014) And Qualitative Review Of The Video Games Analyzed In Díez-gutiérrez Et Al. (2004) (PDF). Universidad de A Coruña- España. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 17, 2024. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  31. ^ Trev. Retropolis (jeux rétro). Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  32. ^ David, Surman. Gaming, Uncanny Realism & Technical Demonstration (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  33. ^ Janine Fron; Tracy Fullerton; Jacquelyn Ford Morie; Celia Pearce. Playing Dress-Up: Costumes, roleplay and imagination (PDF). University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 14, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
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