Marcin "Gulash" Górecki of "Secret Service" ranked her as the second-best female fighter in the genre's history in 1996 while a 1997 article in "Ação Games" ranked her as the 12th overall best female video game character yet. A 1998 article in "Saturn Power" mentioned among the female fight game characters that can be more deadly than their male counterparts. In 1999, actress Tamala Jones chose Sonya and "Soulcalibur"'s Ivy Valentine as the game characters she most identified with. GamesRadar later chose Sonya as one the iconic video game "babes" of the early 1990s era and "Retro Gamer" included her among the classic "strong lead female characters". In 2016, Game Revolution included her among ten best female characters in video games, stating she had "stood the test of time." However, Sonya and Kano were the least popular characters among the players of the original "Mortal Kombat", with Sonya herself soon surpassed in popularity by Kitana and Mileena. "Hyper" also reported a minor "controversy over the character Sonya Blade in the first "Mortal Kombat". Some men complained they didn't want to kill her, and not just because they were fond of her big breasts and long legs - they just didn't feel they could hit a girl." Fan rumors surrounding Sonya in later games included a secret possibility to fight her in "Mortal Kombat II" and her having a "Nudality" finishing move in "Mortal Kombat 3". Sonya Blade and her actress Kerri Hoskins were both given the special award "Best Videogame Babe" by "Game Players" in 1995. GameDaily had her featured among "the next wave of video game babes" in 2008, further showcasing her as one of the "hottest" blondes in the video game world in 2009. She was included in Unreality's Queen of the Iron Fist Tournament, winning against Anna Williams but losing to Ivy Valentine. Sonya also shared eighth place with Kitana and Mileena on the list of the "hottest" women in video games" by "Complex". MTV ranked her as the second "best babe" in video games of 2011, stating that "few gaming babes portray raw sexuality better and more effectively." That same year, UGO ranked her as the third "foxiest fighting female to be ever pixelated," stating that "in her early appearances, Sonya Blade wasn't quite as sexy as other women on this list, but her moveset more than made up for it."