On the Prowl

When she’s not dismembering zombies with a bedazzled chainsaw, Juliet Starling is a cheerleader at San Romero High. Although she usually wears frilly skirts, she also has a couple dozen alternate outfits. Everything she owns is dripping with sex appeal. She looks great in Daisy Dukes, for example, and she has the perfect bikini body. She also cosplays as various anime characters, and she even plays homage to Ash Williams from Evil Dead. Her aptly-named “Sexy Rider Suit” is arguably her hottest outfit, and I love the way the latex hugs her body. It reminds me of Britney Spears in her Oops… I Did It Again days, and the reference was almost certainly intentional. Juliet’s outfit leaves little to the imagination, and she keeps the zipper down in an apparent bid to maximize cleavage. I can only imagine how sweaty she must get, so I’m sure the added ventilation helps.

Nina Williams is an assassin who treats everyone with indifference. She’s defined by her cold personality, but her outfits are smoking hot. Whether she’s wearing military camo or a strapless wedding dress, she always looks amazing. She’s obviously not afraid to experiment with new styles and materials from time to time, but she tends to gravitate to tight clothing and the color purple. Her default attire from Tekken 5 is arguably her most celebrated outfit since she wears it in several games, but I’m not sure if it’s a good fit for this list. Her purple catsuit from Death By Degrees isn’t as iconic, but it’s much more streamlined and more in line with the spirit of this list. In either regard, I love the concept of a silent assassin who dresses in the most conspicuous way imaginable.

The Beauty and the Beast Corps is a group of unstable female soldiers who were given special mechanical suits. Each suit resembled a specific animal, and the soldiers adopted code names and attributes from the animals in question. Laughing Octopus had eight limbs, Raging Raven could fly, Screaming Mantis had multiple arms, and Crying Wolf crawled around on all fours. The woman all wore form-fitting catsuits under their mechanical shells, and I’m recognizing them as a group since they all dress the same. Needless to say, the differences between their “beauty” and “beast” forms is glaring. The women have curves in the right places, and their outfits are so tight that they’re practically see-through. The initial plan was for them to be naked during cutscenes, and their final designs weren’t too far off.

Fiercely intelligent and stunningly beautiful, Cate Archer is a groovy spy who embodies all the best traits of James Bond and Austin Powers. As a covert operative for British-based counter-terrorism organization, Cate is sent on missions to exotic locales like Morocco, the Caribbean, and the Swiss Alps. She even ends up fighting villains on a space station! Cate wears various outfits during these assignments, but her spiffy orange-and-white catsuit perfectly exemplifies what her character is all about. No One Lives Forever is a love letter to 1960s pop culture and fashion, and Cate’s outfit would look out of place in any other era. A single glance at the colorful outfit can tell you a lot about the game’s setting and overall tone. Any outfit that reminds me of a peach campino is an automatic win in my book.

Juri Han is a sadist who derives pleasure from inflicting pain on others. She fights with the brutality of an untamed animal, and she’s driven by an insatiable thirst for power. Although she lives for the thrill of the battle, Juri also enjoys teasing her opponents and goes out of her way to be provocative. The leather bodysuit she wears in Street Fighter V technically shows off less skin than her earlier outfits did, but it also draws more attention to her curves. The outfit is clearly designed to highlight her ample cleavage, and it would be fair to describe it as a form of fetish fuel. In that sense, the catsuit is an accurate reflection of her personality. Juri often make suggestive comments about her opponents, and it’s only fitting that she’d wear an outfit that underscores her femme fatale tendencies.

D.Va is a professional StarCraft player from Korea who was able to parlay her gaming skills into a gig piloting a state-of-the-art mecha in defense of her homeland. Her high-tech jumpsuit is exactly what you’d expect a mecha pilot to wear under their armor. She spends most of her time riding around in a bipedal suit modeled in the likeness of a pink bunny, and she can call for a new one if her mecha is destroyed. Her colorful jumpsuit lacks the firepower and defensive properties of her mecha, but it’s an effective way to generate revenue. D.Va is a walking billboard for all of her sponsorship deals, and companies are apparently lining up to have their names plastered on her body-hugging jumpsuit. A number of the Overwatch heroes wear form-fitting outfits, but none have inspired more cosplayers than D.Va has.

Taki doesn’t show as much skin as some of her Soul sisters, but she makes up for it with her close-fitting bodysuit. I can only assume her outfit was made from the 1580s equivalent to Lycra spandex, and I’d probably believe you if you told me that it was painted on. Taki is known for her agility and an acrobatic fighting style, so she obviously needs an outfit that’s as flexible as she is. It’s also paramount that her outfits provide support where she needs it the most. Against all odds, her skin-tight clothes are somehow able to contain her comically large breasts. Those things are a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen, and it’s amazing that Taki is even able to move. An orthopedic bra would probably look out of place in a fighting arena, but Taki’s outfit is the perfect combination of comfort and style.

Ann Takamaki is a high school student who leads a double life as a Phantom Thief. This group has the ability to enter the hearts of other people in order to steal the corrupting influences that reside within them. They’re not your run-of-the-mill robbers, but secrecy is still important to them. Each Phantom Thief takes on a code name and dresses in an outfit that aligns with their alter ego. In Ann’s case, she goes by the name Panther and dresses like one as well. Her red latex catsuit comes with a panther mask and it even has a matching tail! The outfit is a little tight for Ann’s liking and she’s somewhat embarrassed by it at first, but her peers seem to appreciate it. At the end of the day, the prospect of a metaphysical cat burglar dressing up like an actual cat is exactly what this list is looking for.

Without question, Bayonetta is one of gaming’s best-dressed women. Her standard outfit looks like a typical leather catsuit, but it’s actually made out of her hair. She fights with incredible fluidity and grace, so it’s seems appropriate for her outfit to be a literal extension of her body. Her lustrous locks are also used as a conduit to summon infernal demons, and it’s not uncommon for the oversexed witch to remove her clothes in the middle of a battle! It’s the perfect way to tease her opponents. When she’s not channeling her inner stripper, her form-fitting outfit highlights her curves and illustrates her flexibility. Whether she’s overwhelming her enemies with spectacular high kicks or transforming into a literal panther, Bayonetta has the agility of a cat and an outfit to match.

The first few Metroid games suggested that Samus Aran wore bathing suits under her Chozo Power Suit, but her body-hugging Zero Suit is her outfit of choice when her equipment fails. The iconic blue jumpsuit was introduced in Metroid: Zero Mission and has been part of her wardrobe ever since. The suit has even been featured as an unlockable costume in games outside of the Metroid series. Its streamlined design lends itself well to Samus’ acrobatic movements, and I think we can all agree that it’s a more practical choice than a bikini. A skintight jumpsuit is honestly the most logical thing you could wear under power armor, so the fact that it accents her ass is just a case of serendipity. The Zero Suit is practical and sexy, and it’s almost as iconic as her Power Suit.