This is the first time I've ever discussed this (I didnt even know what it was until yesterday) so please excuse me for blurting a lot out at once.
I definitely have a thing for cruel, sexy women in other media, Famke Jansen's characters in Goldeneye and I Spy were 2 of my favorites. But I find I enjoy videogames more, and especially scrolling beatemups.
I suppose that my biggest obsession in zako characters are Poison and Roxy. I've always found them incredibly sexy, and they definitely cost me quite a few coins when playing Final Fight in the arcade. And I don't know how many scenarios I've thought up involving them over the years. There's just so much that I find hot about them that it would be a post in itself.
There are quite a few others that I like as well, although many have already been mentioned.
The dominatrix from Vendetta / Crime Fighters 2, I love the way she stands on you after you get knocked down.
Carol and Brenda from Captain Commando - wearing rubber bikinis and armed with electro tongs.
The female ninja (kunoichi) Midori / Luna etc from the punisher - I don't always find ninja type characters interesting but these ones have the right kind of mean and sexy look (the rubber swimsuit surely helps here!)
The axe wielding women from Golden Axe (Strobaya / Lemanaya etc)
Electra from Streets of Rage
In more recent games, I can't think of so many that have caught my attention - the lack of modern beatemups hasn't helped much - God Hand was a real treat though, hats off to whoever thought of the 'take a bad girl over your knee and spank her' move!
I can totally agree with DynamiteFetish that Dynamite Deka has some fantastic zako fan-service. For someone like me who's both into ryona and reverse ryona the fighting dynamic here is great - the way that one moment you can have some bikini clad showgirl on her knees begging for mercy, next thing she's punched you in the nuts, grappled you to the ground, straddled and pummeled you some more, and when she's done she stands and laughs at you- it's pretty much the best I've seen. I think that if I was ever going to make my dream game, it would have a very similar fighting style to this.
Apart from that, I don't know of many more. I like the look of that dominatrix from The Watchmen, so I'll check that out some more. I've also got hopes for Saints Row 3, but havent had a chance to play it yet. Often if find the trouble with these games is that they are more gun based, so they often don't have the up close and personal thing that I'm into the most.
BTW over the last few years I've commissioned a few artists on deviantart to produce some fanarts of my favorite characters - so far they've just been pinup type of poses to help to establish how I imagine the look of the characters beyond their pixellated form - I hope to get into some more kinky stuff later on ;) Right now I'm in the process of commissioning a fanart of Carol and Brenda, as well as another scene featuring Poison & Roxy where they've got Jessica prisoner. I'll post some when I next get a chance.
