Capcom's Taisaku Okada said Ibuki was the most popular of the "Street Fighter III" women characters, probably because of her appearance contrasting a young girl "of the current times" with "this old-time ninja look". Nevertheless, MTV's Brad Nicholson blamed Ibuki's "bland, tan, and masked getup that hasn’t changed much since her days in "Street Fighter III"," for her not appearing on the cover of "Super Street Fighter IV" despite all her "ravenous fans." Giovanni Simotti, designer of "Akane the Kunoichi", intended look of the titular character on the game's cover as "a small tribute to two of the most famous kunoichi from the history of the videogames – a mix of Mai Shiranui with a bit of Ibuki." In 2012, Gelo Gonzales of "FHM" included Ibuki among the nine "sexiest ninja babes in games" and compared her to Sam Pinto. GamesRadar's Sullivan compared the "Killer Instinct 3" character Sadira to Ibuki, as similarly being "an agile fighter who can orchestrate a lot of very tricky setups from the air."