Catsuit

Overview

Catsuits are usually seen as a sexualised form of clothing due to their tight-fitting nature and synonymity with fetish culture. They may or may not cover the hands or feet and when covering the feet usually end in high heels, although they can end in simple sock-like coverings. Catsuits that do not cover the hands or feet are often worn with boots or gloves, and catsuits may also have zips at the front or back. They are usually black in colour and have become associated with dominatrices, although it's not unusual for them to also be worn by female action heroes. One misconception occasionally believed about catsuits is that they must have feline characteristics to be considered as catsuits, however this is entirely untrue.
 

Appearances in Video Games

One of the most famous uses of catsuits in video games is that of Samus Aran's Zero Suit, a light blue catsuit that Samus wears under her power armor in all Metroid games from Zero Mission onwards. It usually appears at the beginning or end of Metroid games where Samus traditionally does not wear armor, although it also appears as an unlockable costume in the game Fatal Frame IV. The Zero Suit is a rare example of Nintendo possibly sexualising a female character. Captain Falcon is another character that can be noted for wearing a catsuit.
 
Another well-known appearance of a catsuit in a video game is the one worn by the character Bayonetta in the game Bayonetta. Although it appears to be made from leather it is actually an extension of Bayonetta's hair that magically clings to her body. When she performs magical attacks the catsuit unwraps itself from her body and shapes itself into a fist, a boot, or a creature that will attack her enemies. Jeanne from Bayonetta also wears what is arguably a catsuit, as does Sasha, a character from another Platinum Games title, Anarchy Reigns.
 
Catsuits have often been worn by comic book characters that have appeared in video games such as Catwoman, the Black Cat, and Harley Quinn, and have also been worn by female characters in a number of fighting games, such as Christie in Dead or Alive 3 and 4, Taki in the Soul Calibur series, and Nina Williams in the Tekken series, who has worn a number of different catsuits throughout the series.
 
In the Perfect Dark games, the protagonist, Joanna Dark dons black and blue catsuits, and in Resident Evil 5 Jill Valentine wears a purple and black catsuit. Video game sex symbol Lara Croft has also worn more than one catsuit throughout the course of the Tomb Raider series and Trinity from The Matrix franchise has appeared in games wearing her trademark PVC catsuit from the movie The Matrix: Reloaded. In the Mass Effect games, while a number of female characters have appeared wearing full-body clothing, the character Miranda Lawson in particular is notable for wearing a white catsuit with black boots and gloves, and after completing her loyalty mission the player can equip her with a black, shinier catsuit. A black catsuit unzipped down to the waist is incidentally the last unlockable costume for Jennifer Mui in Mercenaries 2, and a catsuit with a large v-shaped gap is also the clothing of Kasuga from Sengoku Basara. Near the end of Destroy All Humans 2 the character of Natalya wears a catsuit, in the Splinter Cell games Sam Fisher wears one, and on both the cover of The Operative: No One Lives Forever, and in-game Cate Archer wears a catsuit.
 
The Ghosts from the Starcraft fiction wear white catsuits, while the female Black Ops forces in Half-Life wear black catsuits, and many of the characters in the Metal Gear games also wear catsuits.