SNK does actively acknowledge May Lee's presence, even very recently. When Kim was announced as DLC for The King of Fighters XV, he had an in-universe interview with Bellamy on the KOFXV website. In that interview, he directly names May Lee as one of his former teammates. That's as ringing an endorsement as a character like her can get for now, but it's something.
@@elgatofelix8917 I don't even play her (my mains in 2002 UM are Nameless, Heidern and K' / Kula), I just mostly love her because of her design and personality.
I find it weird how they treat May Lee different from characters K9999 or Angel. All 3 of these characters debuted in the same game and up until KOF XIV, none of them were playable. Sure, they kept a long running joke with K9999, but Angel wasn’t even mentioned in the Ash saga, so it’s very inconsistent who SNK decides to bring back. Malin is nowhere near a popular character. She wasn’t popular enough to be put into KOF All Star, but she got notable cameos in XIII and XIV?
It's not inconsistent. You may not like it, but SNK actually does care about their lore. If characters aren't important to the story, their chances of returning are a wish, never a promise. The western fans have wanted the American Sports team to return for decades at this point. But we haven't seen them since '94(I'm not counting '98 because that's a dream match, non canon). And the reason why is because the American sports team are utterly irrelevant to the plot. May Lee just has the worst luck.
@@Ninja07Keaton I understand that SNK cares about their lore, but I’m saying May Lee could’ve been in a couple more games. Team American Sports is a different case cause they’re treated as joke characters that have a reason why they won’t return. May Lee isn’t going to be in the main plot any time soon, but there was still a place for her in some games like the Ash saga. She would’ve been perfect for Team Korea in 03 instead of not having Chang & Choi on the same team.
@@chefvideogame In reality though, fans have been asking for Team American Sports so loudly and for so long, that recently (KoF XV DLC time-recently) SNK said in an interview that they always thought people were in on the meme and were just asking for them as a joke, but that now they're not so sure. We *may* see them make an actual comeback for KoF XVI.
@@WoobertAIO I’m not saying Team American Sports isn’t a popular request. I’m just saying that SNK had a reason for why they didn’t want to bring them back. I really want them back too.
May Lee, yes, Momoko no. May Lee was mostly positivity received and Momoko was read as trash immediately (notice her being a total one and done.) If they bring any forgotten ladies from SNK back, Kisarah (Aggressors of Dark Combat-although she was in NGBC), Carol Stanzack (Savage Reign-her story was pretty great actually there), and Rosa (Kizuna Encounter-she’s Leona’s inspiration) need coming back before a loli trash character.
LMAO! I'm pissed they remember to acknowledge that damn loser. Also that theory to me isn't sound cause SNK uses Angel any chance they get so I think SNK just has an oversight issue. I do hope they remember May Lee sooner than later. Possibly making a return in KOFXV in the upcoming season
Angel was technically not designed by SNK or the new guys. It was designed by some Mexican developers who absolutely smoked the SNK devs in their own game.
Krohnen had moves removed that made way too much direct reference to Tetsuo from Akira. Certain references and hints are OK, but blatant “inspiration“ are punishable by Japanese law. If they do the same with May Lee by removing all the blatant “inspiration“ from Kamen Rider and who knows what else to comply with copyright laws, all is left is the name, the sunglasses and the face.
So May Lee was named after an Eolith bigwig who ran the company at the time of creation, therefore that’s probably why they hesitate to use her. Also her continually using Kamen Rider poses maybe another factor. As far as I can tell she was mostly positively received and she had a unique play style.
SNK's thing with May Lee is something that makes no head or tail... we are in 2024, almost 2025, more than 2 decades have passed since what happened with May Lee in 2001 and 2002, let them hate the character and continue leaving her absent For THAT reason, it would be a cry baby attitude on SNK's part, I doubt that's what it is, it would also show that the company doesn't care what the fans want unless it suits them. The problem really is that they haven't done ANYTHING with her since 2020 with her skin in KOF All Stars, that's the problem, not that she's not in KOF XV, that doesn't matter, SNK DELETED HER FROM THE MAP, they practically insult all the fans who asking her, including me. And the copyright thing is a half-truth, because K9999 was a character with even more blatant references than May Lee and she still managed to return with the necessary changes, why May Lee is prevented from bringing her because of that then? SNK simply doesn't care, I don't think they hate her, they just don't care, which for me, with all the demand that the character had is a decision that makes no sense whatsoever. It will sound exaggerated, but to the people who are upset with this, I would recommend NOT buying the new Fatal Fury or NOT supporting something new that comes out of KOF XV, SNK is a company, its final objective will always be to make money, and if we want make us listen and notice our discontent, the best way to do it is NOT to give them our money, simple, right there they will see that something is wrong and they will start to listen to us, I know it sounds stupid considering the cause so to speak (I'm talking about May Lee) But there is no other way, it will be useless to complain if at the end of the day we buy their games or products, since at the end of the day that is the ONLY thing that matters to them...
With the way how I feel about the roster of 15 SNK may INDEED have a bias for certain characters or they simply don't care. I've been playing 2002UM recently and I was having quite the fun with Zero and Lin. SNK needs to do better by acknowledging that we desire characters to comeback. If they can bring back the likes of Angel and K9999 then they can do the same for May Lee and the others. It's crazy to me that they wont acknowledge their own creation, or in this case the creation from another company who had tried to kept your business afloat for a time. I believe they won't bring her back because she was made from a different company or rather they don't have love for the character same for the others like the American Sports team Eiji Krauser etc. I'm willing to support this company because of the struggles they went through and they're not as devious as other companies, but if they're going that route then I'll just stick what I'm playing atm instead. Cant believe SNK repays the fanbase like this of all the times they supported them even in the darkest of days Oda and the team need to change that mindset. It seems like Oda and the SNK team are down to earth ppl but I doubt it for some reason, they're mindset that has to change! And change with the times because they still believe they can still do things like they did in the 90s. The fact that Gang Il got a mention instead of May Lee is bogus.
@@kaceejones2282 SNK at this point is a mediocre and conformist company, as they already have a loyal fan base they are going to stay calm in their comfort zone and are not going to take any risks, and bringing in characters like May Lee would be taking a risk, for They will NEVER do that, not because they hate her or anything like that, they are NEVER going to take risks, they will always play it safe, that's why they brought Mature and Vice, they are the characters that will take the least effort to make, there is no other reason, good for the fans who loved them, but as a fan of KOF and May Lee I feel that they treated me like garbage these years, both the company and certain deviant fans who treated me as toxic when I commented something about it, I'm very sorry for SNK, but that's how I I can not support you anymore...
@@AmukScrap This SNK is different with the new team the Original SNK actually took risks and wanted to try something to see if it worked or ppl would be satisfied or not. I understand that they were on a budget but now they have it now to where they add even more variety and flavor to the roster adding more single player and myltiplayer modes, adding costumes and other promotional material in game and out, better marketing and stronger e-psorts representation an pots. This SNK seems to want to stay in a bubble trying to get the series popular in the US, trying to maybe appeasse the American FG audience by conforming to certain standards. The OG SNK was willing to push certain boundaries to deliver spectacularly in all aspects of their games they always went above and beyond to ensure that the consumer and especially hardcore fans, they aimed for getting the absolute best out of their games for the players. Modern games are missing that these days. Don't want SNK going down the rabbit hole of these other companies they need to learn tb open and considerate to the ppl who got them there in the first place. It was the LATAM and Asian regions especially that supported them along side North Africa the Middle East and South East Asia. Be grateful and appreciative to the ppl who got to where u are now!
SNK probably doesn't have the full rights to the character In Asia, it is very common for companies to share the rights to characters, the best example of this is BAKI, which has its rights divided between several companies so May Lee must be in this situation going to SNK won't pay EOLITH to use the character if they can get their own character more popular than her to put in the game Now about Seth, he's not very popular in Asia, so much so that he changed his look in Kof 11 and he still couldn't gain popularity
There's a thing May Lee and Seth have in common though: Both of their original VAs have passed away. This is just speculation, but maybe they don't want to celebrate birthdays of characters who's voice actors have passed away because it's some sort of taboo in Japan...? (like how some animes keep characters with dead VAs silent or use audio archives for cameos and stuff, to not recast the role unless its very necessary) Then again, May Lee was recasted for KOF ALLSTAR, but it might have been a decision made mainly by Netmarble and not SNK. Seth still uses archived audio though.
Thats a pretty fascinating fact and I promise I purely picked Seth at random when finding a character SNK also didnt acknowledge. Makes me want to look at other characters that SNK has acknowledged to see if it applies to some of them as well.
I can understand that maybe they didn't want to make it feel like the original VAs that brought life to these two when they debut. But I think if they want to pay respects to them, why not just mention them and congratulate them for all the work they put into making them come to life for their work.
its honestly not fair to may lee. she doesn't deserve to be forgotten and deserves to be recognized appreciated and love. I hope she'll be the added characters for kofxv
Since you mentioned birthdays I checked what characters were born on my month June they’re: Alice Nakata, Benimaru, Chizuru, Genjuro, rock Howard, Shiki (my wife), Slyvie Paula Paula, and Zarina.
Watch SNK either pull another K99 ARG, or have her be announced as a season 3 KoF 15 DLC. Also, why's no one talking about the GBA roster? I want Jun, Miu, and Reiji back.
The GBA characters are owned by Marvelous Entertainment Inc. they're not SNK/Playmore characters as those KOF Spin-offs were licensed titles made by the mentioned company MMV which explains.
Would you like to see May Lee as a non canon guest character for COTW? Like she doesn't need to be involved in the story, she'll just be like a What If character they could have, they don't even have to age her up.
I also did my little research so I would like to add this: 1- Angle also was owned by eolith but they used her in resent games! 2- May Lee was included in KOF Portal website meanwhile K9999 didn't exist! 3- May Lee was also included in KOF revamp project video! In conclusion, I think SNK own the characters rights! but for the birthday thing my theory is especially after watching your video that SNK didn't want to post birthday card for requested characters like May Lee & Seth cuz they don't want to give the fans false signs! even that now it's confirm that we will get more content to KOFXV I think her birthday was before SNK give the devs the green light (I think that happened when Oda post the KOFXV art). So I think it's about time we will get May Lee as a DLC in KOFXV or if not maybe we will get her in KOF XVI.
Well you should if a loud enough minority shouts their hatred of the character more than the people who love the character. Getting One Guy'd is not exclusive to streamers.
I was a fan of her, mostly cause I'm a fan of Kamen Rider and loved that she's also an obvious superfan of the series. I'm still a fan of her and the weapons chick that showed up after her...honestly I didn't know just how WELL she did on the DLC vote polls....I mean I still want Oswald back but I'd also be happy to see May Lee as well the fact a season 3 HAS been confirmed for KOF 15 gives me some hope, we'll just have to wait and see when they release the first trailer whenever that will be. Speaking of Kamen Rider...I wish they would ditch "Leona Blade" for Leona's Climax special...it's got a LOT less impact and is over far quicker than her "Rebel Spark" super she USED to have...Leona Blade is supposed to be an upgraded version but it's over too quickly and lacks the impact that the slower ending of Rebel Spark, complete with it's Kamen Rider pose had....honestly I'd argue it's WORSE than Ramon's Climax special...which is just him doing a running faceplant with his opponent, but at the least it's not over in like...3 seconds.
the problem about maylee is she's a difficult character to learn. especially if shes DLC , SNK is afraid of risks right now , people may not buy her since there's a huge skill wall to master her. same situation for capcom's makoto and for KOF's jun hoon.
In Japanese entertainment, it's customary to retire (or dramatically reduce the presence of) characters whose voice actors have died. Having said that, it's worth noting that May Lee's voice actress died in 2011.
Raito already brought this up... They recast May Lee (Aimi Tanaka) in KOF All Star which followed roughly 7 years after Tomoko Kawakami's death. Oddly enough Seth's VA also passed and they just re-dubbed his voice for him in KOF All Star (& just simply reused them for MI) To give another example, outside of KOF, the original VA of Slayer (from Guilty Gear) also passed and he was recast and brought back not that long ago. Customary it might be, but these examples show that there are exceptions that were made for one reason or another.
May Lee is an interesting character, but it's one of my issues with fighting games and leaving the past behind. USA Sports Team, where they at? Malin, where she at? Momoko where she at? Lin where he at? Hell where is anyone from Maximum Impact? I strongly feel that as technology gets better they have more chances to bring back a majority of the cast, the hard part is getting them ready the first time, so everytime after that it should be easier. Imagine how difficult it would have been to make Abel in SF4, now ask yourself is it easier to touch him up vs making someone who wasn't in SF4/SF5 for SF6? I'm using SF as an example because you could say the same thing about Maximum Impact. Thanks for the vid.
Some potential other stuff that might factor into this. May Lee's debut in KOF was actually somewhat controversial at first, as some fans back then were a bit upset at her replacing Jhun (and later King in vanilla 02). I dunno if that might have anything to do with it, especially since that has pretty much died down and she's become a pretty popular character in her own right. Another thing that might factor into it is circumstances around her character voice, as her original VA Tomoko Kawakami sadly passed away due to health complications. I doubt this particularly figures into it as the new games did give her a new voice actor in Aimi Tanaka, but there have been some cases in fighting games where the passing of a voice actor results in a character being declared dead in canon, such as the death of Kaneto Shiozawa being the ooc reason behind the deaths Hyo Imawano from Rival Schools dying Zato-1 from Guilty Gear (at least until he came back in Xrd, since Arcsys has gotten more comfortable with other VAs filling in roles) Of course, we obviously can't rule out the lack of acknowledgement of May Lee's bday just being the guy running the SNK Twitter having an "I forgor" moment.
"They forgot" is the most likely explanation. And in this case "they" is whoever it is that cares for SNK's social media accounts. There's no big conspiracy here, honestly.
Maybe it's like K9999, they don't feel good with using a idea someone else(albeit this be reaching) made for a character than their own plus not knowing what to do afterwards
*siiiiiigh*... Would it seriously hurt or kill some of you to listen and think about stuff before you say it? #1 - This isnt a video just "complaining about May Lee". I brought up an interesting observation that someone made, did a retrospective about her time in KOF and other games, and used that to try to piece together a reason as to WHY this character hasnt been ACKNOWLEDGED in years. Not just being playable...ACKNOWLEDGED BY SNK. Which brings me to... #2 - YOU brought up Jhun Hoon...a character that HAS been acknowledged by SNK, not just in terms of their signature birthday shout outs (he has TWO: one from 2022 and one from 2023), but he has even made MORE canon cameos than May Lee INCLUDING KOF XV. Ergo, he CLEARLY has more of a place in the KOF lore/universe compared to May Lee. I dont hate Jhun Hoon, but Im not a super huge fan of his either. Go make your own video complaining about Jhun's absence or go find someone else to talk about him. Dont try me.
SNK hates her? No. Well, at least not for the reasons you think. SNK has lost the IP for the Eolith created characters? No. Unlike the case of Mui Mui and Love Heart which they lost when Chinese SNK sold the pachinko division to Japanese investors, SNK still own all the other characters. the proof is that they can still use Angel from Evoga and Eolith, K9999 modified as Krohnen from Eolith and the KOF MI ones from Noise Factory. KOF doesn’t want to use names from real people from their once Korean partners that ended in very bad terms and high animosity from the SNK Playmore IP recovery frenzy? Yes... and no. Common names (especially names incredibly common as most Korean are), are not under copyright. They indeed had omitted a few full names but not the characters. In the case of this character, just like with Kim, she could have been called just May... if SNK could use her. So, why can’t SNK put her in a game unless is a rerelease of her former appearances? Because of current Japanese anti-defamation, anti-parody and anti-homage copyright laws. In case you didn’t notice, in recent years, many video game characters have undergone through some head-scratching and extreme makeovers while others have been erased. Fei Long has been erased (this was also because the Bruce Lee Estate has enforced the copyright worldwide), Krohnen had some moves and attacks removed that made direct reference to Tetsuo from Akira so it could be added to KOF XV. The problems with May Lee Jinju are just too many. Clothing, accessories, poses, attacks, phrases: unlike the Krohnen case, the changes needed to add May Lee to a new game developed in 2024 onwards, would result in a completely different character that might only retain the name or a part of the name. That’s the real reason.
Neither K9999 or Fei have been erased due to legal reasons. I already made a whole video about how SNK hid stuff concerning K9999 to keep the big lie going as KrispyKaiser himself said. Everyone keeps talking about Nameless "replacing" him, but then can't explain why both he and K9999 have their likeness on cards on KOF x Garou Densetsu. If he was truly K9999's replacement, there shouldn't have been ANY K9999 cards in that game. SNK lied about him for whatever reason...regardless it got people talking about him yet again. Hell, if K9999 was such a forbidden character, there should have been NO K9999 cards at all. The Bruce Lee controversy with Fei Long was a hoax as well. The SFV composer Daniel Lindholm made that claim during a livestream which he deleted after Bruce Lee's estate disconfirmed said statement when it started blowing up in the news. Lindholm said he was taken out of context, but without the original clip being available, it's unknown how he was originally taken out of context.
i would have had her in another kof in a heartbeat. she deserved to have a second canonical appearance, but so did gang il, foxy and mr big. there should have been a team korea in kof comprising of gang il, may lee and jhun hoon. it would have been the first team korea in kof not to feature kim kaphwan. i wish snk put aside whatever dispute with eolith. she had an interesting moveset and she wasn't a clone fighter. snk missed a trick by not having her in the base roster.
Let me think. 1) Problematic design - “May” is not a Korean name, at least not in mainland Korea, to the point that they had to give a separate name in the Korean version, it’s really ignorant. her motive as a Kamen rider which again, unrelatable and unnecessary. 2) Needlessly difficult character gameplay both to play and balance, and most importantly, not fun to fight against. There’s also Angel, a much more popular character, pretty much takes over her archetype 3) legality: not worth recasting the old VA
Something to note, May Lee isn't actually that popular of a character. Sure, she have her fans and she does show up in polls but when you look up closely its only on western polls, she hardly appears on Japanese polls at all.
Most of us did not bat an eyelash for may lee.. Annoying, LOUD, Ear shatterring VA, Hated for being an Eolith character that was forced into KoF, Chae Lim was a better choice by Miles. We also hated her for replacing Jhun Hoon with an awful back story.
I wanted to watch this video but it's like 30 seconds of nothing relevant in the start, like come on get to the point lol. The x gonna give to ya joke was NOT funny and not worth putting in twice in that time lol
SNK does actively acknowledge May Lee's presence, even very recently. When Kim was announced as DLC for The King of Fighters XV, he had an in-universe interview with Bellamy on the KOFXV website. In that interview, he directly names May Lee as one of his former teammates. That's as ringing an endorsement as a character like her can get for now, but it's something.
Just looked it up and I hate that overlooked it.
Good looking there.
Honestly, May Lee is such a peak character. I absolutely adore her and wish for her to come back.
@@elgatofelix8917 I don't even play her (my mains in 2002 UM are Nameless, Heidern and K' / Kula), I just mostly love her because of her design and personality.
One of these days they gotta bring back May and Xiangfei.
Now that you made this video, it would be hilarious if May Lee is one of the first characters revealed for KOFXV season 3.
I just wish a KOF 15 Season 3 would happen in the first place.
@@sharzinlalebazri5673 It is happening.
@@marplatense31 Wait, for real? Like... is it confirmed?
@@sharzinlalebazri5673yes, in an interview with Rooflemonger
@@sharzinlalebazri5673yeah. Chrisn Lotus just made a video all about that.
I find it weird how they treat May Lee different from characters K9999 or Angel. All 3 of these characters debuted in the same game and up until KOF XIV, none of them were playable. Sure, they kept a long running joke with K9999, but Angel wasn’t even mentioned in the Ash saga, so it’s very inconsistent who SNK decides to bring back. Malin is nowhere near a popular character. She wasn’t popular enough to be put into KOF All Star, but she got notable cameos in XIII and XIV?
It's not inconsistent. You may not like it, but SNK actually does care about their lore. If characters aren't important to the story, their chances of returning are a wish, never a promise. The western fans have wanted the American Sports team to return for decades at this point. But we haven't seen them since '94(I'm not counting '98 because that's a dream match, non canon). And the reason why is because the American sports team are utterly irrelevant to the plot. May Lee just has the worst luck.
@@Ninja07Keaton I understand that SNK cares about their lore, but I’m saying May Lee could’ve been in a couple more games. Team American Sports is a different case cause they’re treated as joke characters that have a reason why they won’t return. May Lee isn’t going to be in the main plot any time soon, but there was still a place for her in some games like the Ash saga. She would’ve been perfect for Team Korea in 03 instead of not having Chang & Choi on the same team.
@@chefvideogame In reality though, fans have been asking for Team American Sports so loudly and for so long, that recently (KoF XV DLC time-recently) SNK said in an interview that they always thought people were in on the meme and were just asking for them as a joke, but that now they're not so sure.
We *may* see them make an actual comeback for KoF XVI.
But malin was mentioned by yuri in kof 15 in team super heroine story ending
@@WoobertAIO I’m not saying Team American Sports isn’t a popular request. I’m just saying that SNK had a reason for why they didn’t want to bring them back. I really want them back too.
Seriously, she and Momoko need to come back someday, maybe form their own team with...idk, the Kula robot? Andrew Jackson from SamShoVI?
May Lee, yes, Momoko no. May Lee was mostly positivity received and Momoko was read as trash immediately (notice her being a total one and done.) If they bring any forgotten ladies from SNK back, Kisarah (Aggressors of Dark Combat-although she was in NGBC), Carol Stanzack (Savage Reign-her story was pretty great actually there), and Rosa (Kizuna Encounter-she’s Leona’s inspiration) need coming back before a loli trash character.
Pray for her inclusion in Season 3 of KOF 15.
LMAO! I'm pissed they remember to acknowledge that damn loser. Also that theory to me isn't sound cause SNK uses Angel any chance they get so I think SNK just has an oversight issue. I do hope they remember May Lee sooner than later. Possibly making a return in KOFXV in the upcoming season
Angel was technically not designed by SNK or the new guys. It was designed by some Mexican developers who absolutely smoked the SNK devs in their own game.
If they hate May Lee, you guys should have looked to what they did to K9999.
Krohnen: Did I miss something?
Krohnen had moves removed that made way too much direct reference to Tetsuo from Akira. Certain references and hints are OK, but blatant “inspiration“ are punishable by Japanese law.
If they do the same with May Lee by removing all the blatant “inspiration“ from Kamen Rider and who knows what else to comply with copyright laws, all is left is the name, the sunglasses and the face.
May 24 is my birthday too! So wonderful watching a video with my birthday showing so much in it 😊
So May Lee was named after an Eolith bigwig who ran the company at the time of creation, therefore that’s probably why they hesitate to use her. Also her continually using Kamen Rider poses maybe another factor. As far as I can tell she was mostly positively received and she had a unique play style.
SNK's thing with May Lee is something that makes no head or tail... we are in 2024, almost 2025, more than 2 decades have passed since what happened with May Lee in 2001 and 2002, let them hate the character and continue leaving her absent For THAT reason, it would be a cry baby attitude on SNK's part, I doubt that's what it is, it would also show that the company doesn't care what the fans want unless it suits them. The problem really is that they haven't done ANYTHING with her since 2020 with her skin in KOF All Stars, that's the problem, not that she's not in KOF XV, that doesn't matter, SNK DELETED HER FROM THE MAP, they practically insult all the fans who asking her, including me. And the copyright thing is a half-truth, because K9999 was a character with even more blatant references than May Lee and she still managed to return with the necessary changes, why May Lee is prevented from bringing her because of that then? SNK simply doesn't care, I don't think they hate her, they just don't care, which for me, with all the demand that the character had is a decision that makes no sense whatsoever. It will sound exaggerated, but to the people who are upset with this, I would recommend NOT buying the new Fatal Fury or NOT supporting something new that comes out of KOF XV, SNK is a company, its final objective will always be to make money, and if we want make us listen and notice our discontent, the best way to do it is NOT to give them our money, simple, right there they will see that something is wrong and they will start to listen to us, I know it sounds stupid considering the cause so to speak (I'm talking about May Lee) But there is no other way, it will be useless to complain if at the end of the day we buy their games or products, since at the end of the day that is the ONLY thing that matters to them...
With the way how I feel about the roster of 15 SNK may INDEED have a bias for certain characters or they simply don't care. I've been playing 2002UM recently and I was having quite the fun with Zero and Lin. SNK needs to do better by acknowledging that we desire characters to comeback. If they can bring back the likes of Angel and K9999 then they can do the same for May Lee and the others. It's crazy to me that they wont acknowledge their own creation, or in this case the creation from another company who had tried to kept your business afloat for a time. I believe they won't bring her back because she was made from a different company or rather they don't have love for the character same for the others like the American Sports team Eiji Krauser etc. I'm willing to support this company because of the struggles they went through and they're not as devious as other companies, but if they're going that route then I'll just stick what I'm playing atm instead. Cant believe SNK repays the fanbase like this of all the times they supported them even in the darkest of days Oda and the team need to change that mindset. It seems like Oda and the SNK team are down to earth ppl but I doubt it for some reason, they're mindset that has to change! And change with the times because they still believe they can still do things like they did in the 90s. The fact that Gang Il got a mention instead of May Lee is bogus.
@@kaceejones2282 SNK at this point is a mediocre and conformist company, as they already have a loyal fan base they are going to stay calm in their comfort zone and are not going to take any risks, and bringing in characters like May Lee would be taking a risk, for They will NEVER do that, not because they hate her or anything like that, they are NEVER going to take risks, they will always play it safe, that's why they brought Mature and Vice, they are the characters that will take the least effort to make, there is no other reason, good for the fans who loved them, but as a fan of KOF and May Lee I feel that they treated me like garbage these years, both the company and certain deviant fans who treated me as toxic when I commented something about it, I'm very sorry for SNK, but that's how I I can not support you anymore...
@@AmukScrap This SNK is different with the new team the Original SNK actually took risks and wanted to try something to see if it worked or ppl would be satisfied or not. I understand that they were on a budget but now they have it now to where they add even more variety and flavor to the roster adding more single player and myltiplayer modes, adding costumes and other promotional material in game and out, better marketing and stronger e-psorts representation an pots. This SNK seems to want to stay in a bubble trying to get the series popular in the US, trying to maybe appeasse the American FG audience by conforming to certain standards. The OG SNK was willing to push certain boundaries to deliver spectacularly in all aspects of their games they always went above and beyond to ensure that the consumer and especially hardcore fans, they aimed for getting the absolute best out of their games for the players. Modern games are missing that these days. Don't want SNK going down the rabbit hole of these other companies they need to learn tb open and considerate to the ppl who got them there in the first place. It was the LATAM and Asian regions especially that supported them along side North Africa the Middle East and South East Asia. Be grateful and appreciative to the ppl who got to where u are now!
SNK probably doesn't have the full rights to the character In Asia, it is very common for companies to share the rights to characters, the best example of this is BAKI, which has its rights divided between several companies so May Lee must be in this situation going to SNK won't pay EOLITH to use the character if they can get their own character more popular than her to put in the game Now about Seth, he's not very popular in Asia, so much so that he changed his look in Kof 11 and he still couldn't gain popularity
There's a thing May Lee and Seth have in common though: Both of their original VAs have passed away.
This is just speculation, but maybe they don't want to celebrate birthdays of characters who's voice actors have passed away because it's some sort of taboo in Japan...? (like how some animes keep characters with dead VAs silent or use audio archives for cameos and stuff, to not recast the role unless its very necessary)
Then again, May Lee was recasted for KOF ALLSTAR, but it might have been a decision made mainly by Netmarble and not SNK. Seth still uses archived audio though.
Thats a pretty fascinating fact and I promise I purely picked Seth at random when finding a character SNK also didnt acknowledge.
Makes me want to look at other characters that SNK has acknowledged to see if it applies to some of them as well.
I can understand that maybe they didn't want to make it feel like the original VAs that brought life to these two when they debut. But I think if they want to pay respects to them, why not just mention them and congratulate them for all the work they put into making them come to life for their work.
Never lore dived SNK in its heyday but KOF Allstars not only made me a May Lee fan, but a top 5 member of the entire franchise.
its honestly not fair to may lee. she doesn't deserve to be forgotten and deserves to be recognized appreciated and love. I hope she'll be the added characters for kofxv
Buakaw K1 Muaythai Fighter was in KOF Online (Only Thai server I think)
They are still going to release kof characters for the latest kof game.
Here to show my support after another bi monthly May Lee video. At least mobile games put her in
Since you mentioned birthdays I checked what characters were born on my month June they’re: Alice Nakata, Benimaru, Chizuru, Genjuro, rock Howard, Shiki (my wife), Slyvie Paula Paula, and Zarina.
imagine if May Lee is added in Season 3 and is revealed to be Gang-Il's daughter.
What is the thumbnail art from?
The background is from KOF 2002 UM (specifically the Justice Team's ending) and the avatar in the foreground is from Kimi Wa Hero.
GANG-IL got a shout-out before GTA 6 came out
The Gang-Il part 💀
Watch SNK either pull another K99 ARG, or have her be announced as a season 3 KoF 15 DLC.
Also, why's no one talking about the GBA roster? I want Jun, Miu, and Reiji back.
The GBA characters are owned by Marvelous Entertainment Inc. they're not SNK/Playmore characters as those KOF Spin-offs were licensed titles made by the mentioned company MMV which explains.
@@ni8anttana Damn, I had the feeling that was the case, after writing this.
Would you like to see May Lee as a non canon guest character for COTW? Like she doesn't need to be involved in the story, she'll just be like a What If character they could have, they don't even have to age her up.
The hype alone might kill me
I also did my little research so I would like to add this:
1- Angle also was owned by eolith but they used her in resent games!
2- May Lee was included in KOF Portal website meanwhile K9999 didn't exist!
3- May Lee was also included in KOF revamp project video!
In conclusion, I think SNK own the characters rights! but for the birthday thing my theory is especially after watching your video that SNK didn't want to post birthday card for requested characters like May Lee & Seth cuz they don't want to give the fans false signs! even that now it's confirm that we will get more content to KOFXV I think her birthday was before SNK give the devs the green light (I think that happened when Oda post the KOFXV art). So I think it's about time we will get May Lee as a DLC in KOFXV or if not maybe we will get her in KOF XVI.
May Lee has a great design.... her moveset on the other hand needs a major overhaul in the originality department.
Oh please I love May Lee. If they hate her who cares. I want May Lee in kof15 so I can be the power ranger player of kof
Well you should if a loud enough minority shouts their hatred of the character more than the people who love the character.
Getting One Guy'd is not exclusive to streamers.
I was a fan of her, mostly cause I'm a fan of Kamen Rider and loved that she's also an obvious superfan of the series. I'm still a fan of her and the weapons chick that showed up after her...honestly I didn't know just how WELL she did on the DLC vote polls....I mean I still want Oswald back but I'd also be happy to see May Lee as well the fact a season 3 HAS been confirmed for KOF 15 gives me some hope, we'll just have to wait and see when they release the first trailer whenever that will be. Speaking of Kamen Rider...I wish they would ditch "Leona Blade" for Leona's Climax special...it's got a LOT less impact and is over far quicker than her "Rebel Spark" super she USED to have...Leona Blade is supposed to be an upgraded version but it's over too quickly and lacks the impact that the slower ending of Rebel Spark, complete with it's Kamen Rider pose had....honestly I'd argue it's WORSE than Ramon's Climax special...which is just him doing a running faceplant with his opponent, but at the least it's not over in like...3 seconds.
Ángel is created by Eolith and she appears in recent games. I think SNK probably doesn't want to add her or will add her in a future game.
the problem about maylee is she's a difficult character to learn. especially if shes DLC , SNK is afraid of risks right now , people may not buy her since there's a huge skill wall to master her.
same situation for capcom's makoto and for KOF's jun hoon.
In Japanese entertainment, it's customary to retire (or dramatically reduce the presence of) characters whose voice actors have died. Having said that, it's worth noting that May Lee's voice actress died in 2011.
Raito already brought this up...
They recast May Lee (Aimi Tanaka) in KOF All Star which followed roughly 7 years after Tomoko Kawakami's death.
Oddly enough Seth's VA also passed and they just re-dubbed his voice for him in KOF All Star (& just simply reused them for MI)
To give another example, outside of KOF, the original VA of Slayer (from Guilty Gear) also passed and he was recast and brought back not that long ago.
Customary it might be, but these examples show that there are exceptions that were made for one reason or another.
2:23 Don't forget that Some part of May Lee's dress it's also a reference to Dokonjo Gaeru (Hiroshi and raponchi) and old comedy anime from 1972.
how will SNK Bring back May Lee without getting Sued by Toei?
Why they decide to make her existence in the first place?
I like her, and she does need a push. She could be SNK's answer to Juri Han.
X gonna give it to ya is not an omega striker reference right?
It's a rap song by DMX.
May Lee is an interesting character, but it's one of my issues with fighting games and leaving the past behind. USA Sports Team, where they at? Malin, where she at? Momoko where she at? Lin where he at? Hell where is anyone from Maximum Impact? I strongly feel that as technology gets better they have more chances to bring back a majority of the cast, the hard part is getting them ready the first time, so everytime after that it should be easier. Imagine how difficult it would have been to make Abel in SF4, now ask yourself is it easier to touch him up vs making someone who wasn't in SF4/SF5 for SF6? I'm using SF as an example because you could say the same thing about Maximum Impact.
Thanks for the vid.
Some potential other stuff that might factor into this.
May Lee's debut in KOF was actually somewhat controversial at first, as some fans back then were a bit upset at her replacing Jhun (and later King in vanilla 02). I dunno if that might have anything to do with it, especially since that has pretty much died down and she's become a pretty popular character in her own right.
Another thing that might factor into it is circumstances around her character voice, as her original VA Tomoko Kawakami sadly passed away due to health complications. I doubt this particularly figures into it as the new games did give her a new voice actor in Aimi Tanaka, but there have been some cases in fighting games where the passing of a voice actor results in a character being declared dead in canon, such as the death of Kaneto Shiozawa being the ooc reason behind the deaths Hyo Imawano from Rival Schools dying Zato-1 from Guilty Gear (at least until he came back in Xrd, since Arcsys has gotten more comfortable with other VAs filling in roles)
Of course, we obviously can't rule out the lack of acknowledgement of May Lee's bday just being the guy running the SNK Twitter having an "I forgor" moment.
Seth is god tier in 2000.
"They forgot" is the most likely explanation. And in this case "they" is whoever it is that cares for SNK's social media accounts. There's no big conspiracy here, honestly.
Athena: Magical girl
May Lee:Masked Rider/Tokusatsu Hero
Pretty reasonable(Like Precure and Rangers for Toei)
Maybe it's like K9999, they don't feel good with using a idea someone else(albeit this be reaching) made for a character than their own plus not knowing what to do afterwards
Thank God KOF XV Redesign, & Rensme him.
May Lee is perhaps my 2nd favorite KOF female character.(Angel being my 1st and Athena 3rd). I'm baffled why she isn't as popular as she should be.
I like Gang-il.
if SNK Brings her back, They should use SF5's Zeku as a Blue Print.
Next video suggestion: What's capcom's problem with Maki?
boy, you complain about Maylee? what about Jhun?!! my boy has been injured for more than 2 decades!!!
*siiiiiigh*...
Would it seriously hurt or kill some of you to listen and think about stuff before you say it?
#1 - This isnt a video just "complaining about May Lee". I brought up an interesting observation that someone made, did a retrospective about her time in KOF and other games, and used that to try to piece together a reason as to WHY this character hasnt been ACKNOWLEDGED in years. Not just being playable...ACKNOWLEDGED BY SNK. Which brings me to...
#2 - YOU brought up Jhun Hoon...a character that HAS been acknowledged by SNK, not just in terms of their signature birthday shout outs (he has TWO: one from 2022 and one from 2023), but he has even made MORE canon cameos than May Lee INCLUDING KOF XV. Ergo, he CLEARLY has more of a place in the KOF lore/universe compared to May Lee.
I dont hate Jhun Hoon, but Im not a super huge fan of his either. Go make your own video complaining about Jhun's absence or go find someone else to talk about him. Dont try me.
@@TheChrisLotus it was ajoke, I appreciate your video and your comment.
Short answer is just that she wasn't one of their characters. Eolith made her.
Manufactured scarcity or simple slip.
5:04 unlimited not ultimate
I never got to play as her, but as a fan of both Kamen Rider and TaeKwonDo, I hope they bring her back soon.
Also liked the jab at DSP 😂.
SNK hates her? No. Well, at least not for the reasons you think.
SNK has lost the IP for the Eolith created characters? No. Unlike the case of Mui Mui and Love Heart which they lost when Chinese SNK sold the pachinko division to Japanese investors, SNK still own all the other characters. the proof is that they can still use Angel from Evoga and Eolith, K9999 modified as Krohnen from Eolith and the KOF MI ones from Noise Factory.
KOF doesn’t want to use names from real people from their once Korean partners that ended in very bad terms and high animosity from the SNK Playmore IP recovery frenzy? Yes... and no. Common names (especially names incredibly common as most Korean are), are not under copyright. They indeed had omitted a few full names but not the characters. In the case of this character, just like with Kim, she could have been called just May... if SNK could use her.
So, why can’t SNK put her in a game unless is a rerelease of her former appearances? Because of current Japanese anti-defamation, anti-parody and anti-homage copyright laws.
In case you didn’t notice, in recent years, many video game characters have undergone through some head-scratching and extreme makeovers while others have been erased. Fei Long has been erased (this was also because the Bruce Lee Estate has enforced the copyright worldwide), Krohnen had some moves and attacks removed that made direct reference to Tetsuo from Akira so it could be added to KOF XV.
The problems with May Lee Jinju are just too many. Clothing, accessories, poses, attacks, phrases: unlike the Krohnen case, the changes needed to add May Lee to a new game developed in 2024 onwards, would result in a completely different character that might only retain the name or a part of the name.
That’s the real reason.
Neither K9999 or Fei have been erased due to legal reasons.
I already made a whole video about how SNK hid stuff concerning K9999 to keep the big lie going as KrispyKaiser himself said. Everyone keeps talking about Nameless "replacing" him, but then can't explain why both he and K9999 have their likeness on cards on KOF x Garou Densetsu. If he was truly K9999's replacement, there shouldn't have been ANY K9999 cards in that game. SNK lied about him for whatever reason...regardless it got people talking about him yet again. Hell, if K9999 was such a forbidden character, there should have been NO K9999 cards at all.
The Bruce Lee controversy with Fei Long was a hoax as well. The SFV composer Daniel Lindholm made that claim during a livestream which he deleted after Bruce Lee's estate disconfirmed said statement when it started blowing up in the news. Lindholm said he was taken out of context, but without the original clip being available, it's unknown how he was originally taken out of context.
@@TheChrisLotus snk hated k49 for being the most unoriginal kof character ever made and they're not wrong about it
8:15 well he's the master of a popular character so....
i would have had her in another kof in a heartbeat. she deserved to have a second canonical appearance, but so did gang il, foxy and mr big. there should have been a team korea in kof comprising of gang il, may lee and jhun hoon. it would have been the first team korea in kof not to feature kim kaphwan. i wish snk put aside whatever dispute with eolith. she had an interesting moveset and she wasn't a clone fighter. snk missed a trick by not having her in the base roster.
Let me think.
1) Problematic design - “May” is not a Korean name, at least not in mainland Korea, to the point that they had to give a separate name in the Korean version, it’s really ignorant. her motive as a Kamen rider which again, unrelatable and unnecessary.
2) Needlessly difficult character gameplay both to play and balance, and most importantly, not fun to fight against.
There’s also Angel, a much more popular character, pretty much takes over her archetype
3) legality: not worth recasting the old VA
Darksyde-il😂
Something to note, May Lee isn't actually that popular of a character. Sure, she have her fans and she does show up in polls but when you look up closely its only on western polls, she hardly appears on Japanese polls at all.
🗣️They're not beating Goku!
This is so stupid put her in Mark of the wolf's she's a Kamen rider character.
May Lee is definitely a horrible character. May he never return again!
Most of us did not bat an eyelash for may lee.. Annoying, LOUD, Ear shatterring VA, Hated for being an Eolith character that was forced into KoF, Chae Lim was a better choice by Miles. We also hated her for replacing Jhun Hoon with an awful back story.
"We"? My guy, aside from you, I haven't seen a single May Lee hater, lmao.
Genuine question, who are the “Eolith characters”? I’m pretty new to the series and this isn’t the first time I see it mentioned
@@wolf_skin may lee, k trash, the kyo clones, kula trash. I could be wrong.
@@Theop75 you mean K'? he's one of my favourites!
I'll agree on the others though. Kula ... I neither care nor hate, just meh.
Agreed....
I dislike May Lee because she was a cheap King replacement in 2002. They shoulda brought Xiangfei/Hinako/Kasumi and have them team up.
I don't like May too
I wanted to watch this video but it's like 30 seconds of nothing relevant in the start, like come on get to the point lol. The x gonna give to ya joke was NOT funny and not worth putting in twice in that time lol