Many
fighting games have characters who are either confirmed or suspected to be gay. Having gay male characters in these fighting games can challenge the traditional perception of homosexuals as weak sissies. Nevertheless, hints about a particular character's sexual orientation in a fighting game often take the form of effeminate or otherwise sissifed features, in an otherwise tough and stereotypically masculine character.
The
Street Fighter character
Zangief has long been thought of as being gay, although this was disputed in
Capcom Fighting Evolution, where it was stated that he had a girlfriend (however, this may only indicate that he's bisexual, although the game isn't canon). The
Street Fighter character
Eagle, who appears in the original
Street Fighter as well as in
Capcom vs. SNK 2, has however been confirmed to be gay (as a tribute to
Queen singer
Freddie Mercury), although several of Eagle's quotes obviously displaying his orientation were censored in the US version of the game.
In the
Guilty Gear series, the main character
Sol Badguy, who is also heavily based on
Freddie Mercury, is often rumored to be gay; this has been neither disputed nor confirmed, but questioned with his rival
Ky Kiske who he is shown to continue to rescue despite their rival status. The character
Venom, however, is most clearly in love with his deceased leader,
Zato-1, although his feelings do not seem to have been returned.
Being
succubi,
Lilith Aensland and
Morrigan Aensland in Capcom's
Darkstalkers series have been long portrayed as being rather openly bisexual.
An obscure game known as
Groove on Fight is currently the only known fighting game featuring an openly gay couple, the somewhat stereotypical characters
Rudolph Gartheimer and
Damian Shade.