# Bayonetta Bayonetta is the titular gun-wielding witch of PlatinumGames' third-person action series, launched in 2009 and directed by Hideki Kamiya. The character crossed from a Devil May Cry-style action game into Nintendo's Super Smash Bros roster and later became the center of a 2022 pay dispute involving her original English voice actor. ## Overview Bayonetta is the titular witch of PlatinumGames' third-person action series that launched in 2009, set in the fictional European city of Vigrid where she fights angels and demons with a handgun strapped to each of her four limbs[4]. She summons giant Infernal Demons out of her ankle-length black hair, which doubles as her clothing and unravels off her body whenever she casts her strongest attacks[1]. The look combines glasses, a beehive hairdo, and a bodysuit woven from that hair, all built around director Hideki Kamiya's brief for a modern witch with four guns[1]. Character designer Mari Shimazaki stretched the character's limbs beyond typical female game-character proportions so she'd read as an action lead, and gave the whole cast a shared "fashionable" aesthetic with intentionally subdued ornamentation[2]. Kamiya built the game as a second stylish action title after his work on Devil May Cry, and Bayonetta drops references to that earlier work throughout its runtime. ## How It Spread Bayonetta 2 was announced on September 13, 2012 as a Wii U exclusive after Nintendo picked up publishing duties, and at Nintendo's E3 2014 event the company confirmed the sequel would ship packaged with a port of the original in one box[4]. That combo drew critical acclaim and pinned the series to Nintendo hardware for every installment that followed. Bayonetta 3 entered the picture at The Game Awards on December 7, 2017, when Nintendo dropped a teaser trailer alongside news of Switch ports of the first two games[3]. Kamiya celebrated by posting a biscuit shaped like the new logo, and Bayonetta 1 and 2 both launched on Switch on February 16, 2018 in Europe and North America, with the original packed in as a download code inside physical copies of the sequel[3]. A full trailer for Bayonetta 3 followed during a Nintendo Direct broadcast on September 23, 2021, confirming a 2022 release window. The character also crossed platforms and audiences. Bayonetta joined the Super Smash Bros 4 fighter roster on Nintendo hardware, and picked up a dedicated fan wiki plus a subreddit alongside her own Urban Dictionary entry, where writers described her as a "sexy girl boss" lesbian icon and shorthand for someone classy but confident[5]. ## How to Use Bayonetta gets used online as a shorthand for a specific kind of over-the-top, hyper-stylized action heroine, and often shows up in gaming discussions about character design, difficulty curves in the character-action genre, and PlatinumGames' back catalog. Urban Dictionary entries treat the name as a compliment for someone who dresses sharply, carries themselves with confidence, and gets what they want[5]. Fan communities also use the character in cosplay, fanart, and pinup-style illustration, with the beehive-plus-glasses silhouette being the easiest visual shorthand. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Bayonetta? Bayonetta is a PlatinumGames third-person action series and its titular witch character, a gun-wielding lead who fights angels and demons across a fictional European setting called Vigrid[4]. ### Where did Bayonetta come from? Director Hideki Kamiya and character designer Mari Shimazaki created her at PlatinumGames between 2007 and 2009 from a three-keyword brief: female lead, modern witch, four guns[1]. ### What does Bayonetta mean? Online, the name has picked up second meanings as a shorthand for a sharply dressed, confident woman who gets what she wants, per Urban Dictionary entries written by fans[5]. ### How do you use Bayonetta? The name gets used in gaming conversations about character-action design and in fandom spaces for cosplay, fanart, and the specific archetype of a witch protagonist with a beehive hairdo and glasses[5]. ### Is Bayonetta still popular? The franchise is a classic entry in the character-action genre with three mainline games and a Switch spin-off, and it still has an active fan wiki and subreddit[4]. ### Who created Bayonetta? Hideki Kamiya directed the first game at PlatinumGames and Mari Shimazaki designed the character, having previously worked on stylized action projects at the studio[1]. ### Why does Bayonetta's outfit come off during fights? Her clothing is made from her own hair, and she uses that hair to summon Infernal Demons in battle, so the outfit unravels whenever she casts her strongest attacks[1]. ### Why is Bayonetta associated with Nintendo? Nintendo funded and published Bayonetta 2 as a Wii U exclusive announced on September 13, 2012, then bundled the original with the sequel and later brought the whole series to Switch[4]. ### When did Bayonetta 3 come out? Bayonetta 3 was first teased at The Game Awards on December 7, 2017, got a full trailer during the Nintendo Direct on September 23, 2021, and launched on Switch in 2022[3]. ### What was the Hellena Taylor boycott about? On October 15, 2022, the original English voice of Bayonetta posted a Twitter video saying she had been offered only $4,000 to voice Bayonetta 3 and asked fans to boycott the game[4]. ### Who designed Bayonetta's rival Jeanne? Mari Shimazaki designed Jeanne as an intentional counterpoint to Bayonetta, giving her red instead of black and a large lapel she compared to the Japanese mascot Pon De Lion[2]. ## References 1. [https://www.platinumgames.com/official-blog/article/1278]() 2. [https://www.platinumgames.com/official-blog/article/1520]() 3. [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-12-08-bayonetta-3-is-coming-exclusively-to-switch]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bayonetta]() 5. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bayonetta]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/bayonetta Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library