When it comes to fighting games, there's no shortage of combatants duking it out to be number one. And while the likes of Ken and Ryu (Street Fighter), Scorpion and Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat), and Heihachi and Marshall Law (Tekken) are busy battling to be crowned King of the Hill, there's only one undisputed, quick-kicking queen reigning over the genre ... Street Fighter's own Chun-Li

Chun-Li made her first public appearance with gamers back in 1991's Street Fighter II, when she made waves as the only female combatant entered into M. Bison's World Warrior tournament. Chun-Li wasn't just another pretty face, though. She came to the tournament with a purpose. As an agent of INTERPOL, Chun-Li had gone undercover as a fighter to bring down Bison's Shadowloo crime syndicate, the group responsible for her father's disappearance. By the end of the tournament, Bison was defeated, Chun-Li had her revenge, and it looked like she was ready to hang up her fighting boots for good.

The popularity of the Street Fighter games didn't go unnoticed in Hollywood. Capcom developed a live-action film based on the game starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile and Ming-Na as Chun-Li. The film took a few "liberties" with the fighters' established histories, and left a sour taste in the collective mouths of fans. Despite the lukewarm reception, Capcom decided to release a live-action arcade tie-in to the movie, once again with the actors from the film as opposed to returning to the original stars of the series.

Luckily for gamers, it was around this time that Capcom decided to return the Street Fighter series to its root. The video game publisher managed to convince Chun-Li to step back into the World Warrior arena in Street Fighter Alpha series, a prequel to the events of the Street Fighter II games. After putting herself through some rigorous training and battling against a new cast of characters in the three Alpha games, Chun-Li decided to cash in some vacation time and take a personal leave from the franchise. After being MIA in the first two iterations of Street Fighter III, Chun-Li made her grand return in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and never looked back.

Now living the life of a video game superstar, Chun-Li hasn't been content to rest on the laurels of her Street Fighter success. She's managed to work out plenty of side deals, making cameos and guest appearances in other games like Pocket Fighter, Final Fight 2, and even Sony's hit LittleBigPlanet game. Chun-Li even tried to make a return to Hollywood, courtesy of 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li flick, with Kristin Kreuk stepping into the hair buns of our high kicking heroine. Sadly, the film suffered a bigger beatdown at the box office than Chun-Li had in any of the World Warrior tournaments. Despite that setback, Chun-Li had no problems getting back in the game, and when Capcom put out the call for a corporate team to compete against rosters of fighters from other companies, she was one of the first to sign up. Whether it was Capcom vs. SNK, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Marvel vs. Capcom, or the upcoming Street Fighter x Tekken, Chun-Li proudly represented Team Capcom in every crossover game released.

So what's next for the belle of the butt-kicking ball? Well, after the success of the recently release Street Fighter IV games for the PS3 and Xbox 360, Chun-Li and the rest of the fighters decided they needed to add a little more depth to their characters ... literally. Fighting game fans can finally check out Chun-Li's "Spinning Bird Kick" in full 3D, thanks to the recent release of Super Street Fighter IV 3D for Nintendo's new 3DS handheld console. Even though fans may be content to carry Chun-Li in the palms of their hands, her continued success just goes to show that she's got those same fans eating out of hers.