Yasuda himself commented that as far as her gender, he considers her transgender in North American localizations, but cis in Japan. He later clarified in a discussion on Twitter that in his personal view Poison was a woman. In 2007 Nishitani stated that he supposed the character "could be male", but added it was up to the viewer to decide. However, concept artwork included in the 2005 compilation Capcom Classics Collection of the pair specifically uses the kana for 'newhalf' (ニューハーフ), contradicting the statement the change occurred post-release. According to the book All About Capcom Head to Head Fighting Games and Final Fight director Akira Nishitani, the characters were originally planned to be cisgender women, but were changed to " newhalfs" (a Japanese slang term for trans women) after the game's release, due to the suggestion that "hitting women was considered rude" in America and the concern that feminist groups would sue. Named after the band by an unnamed female employee at Capcom, she was designed by Akira Yasuda to contrast against the bigger characters in the game and move about randomly and described as a "cool and rebellious woman". Poison's first appearance in Final Fight featured her and a palette swap character named Roxy as recurring minor enemies for the player to fight. The character's potential status as a trans woman, consciously left ambiguous by the developers, has remained a topic of frequent debate by both fans and media alike. She was also added as a playable character to Ultra Street Fighter IV. Following those aborted attempts, she ended up appearing as a playable character on Street Fighter X Tekken.
She was also to appear in both Capcom Fighting All-Stars and Final Fight: Streetwise however, the former was canceled and she was omitted from the latter as development progressed. Poison first appeared as a playable character in Final Fight Revenge.
After the Final Fight series, she later appeared alongside wrestler Hugo, acting as his manager, with her schemes revolving around finding a tag team partner for him or developing their own wrestling organization. However, that was not considered satisfactory and both Poison and her palette swap Roxy were replaced by the male characters "Billy" and "Sid" and have been for every subsequent North American port of the title on Nintendo consoles and handhelds. Originally conceived as a female thug in Final Fight and part of the game's antagonist group, Mad Gear, concerns during the game's development about reactions from North American audiences to fighting women led to the character being re-imagined as a " newhalf".
She is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka since the Street Fighter III series and Masae Yumi in SNK vs. Created by Akira Yasuda for Capcom, Poison first appeared in the original Final Fight alongside a similar character, Roxy, later appearing in Capcom-produced games, media and merchandise related to the Street Fighter franchise. Poison ( ポイズン, Poizun) is a fictional character in the Final Fight and Street Fighter series of video games. Atsuko Tanaka ( Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Street Fighter X Tekken, Ultra Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition).Kaoru Fujino ( Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact).Karen Strassman ( SFXT, USFIV, SFVAE).