In 2004, Nich Maragos and David Smith of 1UP.com ranked Ibuki as the sixth overall best ninja character in video games, calling her "one of the coolest-looking characters" in "Street Fighter III" but "also one of the least capable in competition." That same year, Aubrey Sitterson of UGO featured her on a list of the 25 "foxiest fighting females to ever be pixelated" and commented that Ibuki is "not only super-hot, but she's also a ninja, which is like a 'chocolate in my peanut butter' situation." UGO's Paul Furfari further stated that she "set the new standard in female fighters," adding, "forget Chun-Li". GameZone included the "amazing" Ibuki in their 2011 list of "best video game ninjas" and stated: "We’re glad she’s still a staple in this series to this very day – but when is she going to come over to "Marvel vs. Capcom" territory?" Márcio Pacheco Alexsandro of Brazil's Game Hall placed her at tenth spot of his 2014 list of top kunoichi characters in games, opining that she is "far from having such status as Chun-Li, but has her charm, especially if you like Japanese schoolgirls." Joe Pring from WhatCulture.com placed Ibuki at 19th spot on his 2015 list of the greatest female fighting game characters of all time: "Ninja's are always cool, but Ibuki takes that awesome factor to a whole new level." In 2016, Steven Hanson from Destructoid described her as "everybody's favorite schoolgirl ninja." A poll for the most erotic girl in the history of fighting games conducted by Japanese web portal Goo had Ibuki and Ayane, a school-aged ninja from "Dead or Alive", share the 11th/12th place (out of 50 contesters) in 2016; she was voted ninth in 2018.