Bikini

Overview

A bikini is a women's swimsuit consisting of two pieces that cover the breasts and groin area, and the buttocks to varying degrees depending on the style. In the classic bikini the two pieces resemble women's undergarments, though g-strings, thongs, square shorts, tankinis, and camikinis could be included in the extended family of bikinis. The original bikini dates back to Greco-Roman bathing wear, and the modern bikini first appeared on the beaches of France in 1947. It was invented by French engineer Louis Reard in 1946. It was given the name "bikini" to suggest that the reaction it elicited was comparable in power to that of nuclear weapons tests in the Bikini Atoll.

Bikinis in Games

Bikinis appearing in games often add a flair of sexuality to the action without being overly explicit. True to the intended excitement for the original bikini, putting a videogame character in a bikini is meant to make the game more thrilling for the player, as it does in Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball or the zombie-slaying Onechanbara series (see also: sexualized women.) The image of a female character in a bikini has also been used as an Easter egg or special reward: one famous example is Samus Aran's appearance in a bikini at the end of Metroid on the NES.