Created by Daisuke Ishiwatari and first appearing in the 1998 video game Guilty Gear, Baiken was originally depicted as being male, before being changed to female tomboy to give her more impact as a character.

[1] Designed by series creator Daisuke Ishiwatari, originally the character was intended to be a male ronin with a stubble beard inspired by the manga Blade of the Immortal.

[9] Over the course of the franchise Baiken's design has changed little, outside of the addition of a goggle eyepatch over her left eye in Guilty Gear Xrd, and her breasts becoming larger and more prominent as the series has progressed.

[14] In terms of personality, Baiken is a tomboy,[15] described as easy to anger and prone to fights, as well as "loyal, self-centered, assertive, and independent of other people's opinions".

Primary focus to this end came from showing her as "a beautiful woman in a kimono", stating that while it was possible to go for a simple Japanese look with such attire, he wanted to illustrate it as a fashion item despite admitting that may not entirely fit her personality.

[26] In print media, Baiken appears in the third chapter of manga Guilty Gear Xtra, a story set between the events of the first game and its sequel.

In it, she attacks the manga's protagonists due to their connection to Gear body parts falling from the sky, only to be stopped by series character Ky Kiske.

[28] As part of a collaboration between Arc System Works and distillery Wakatsuru, the latter produced a rice sake themed after the character in 2024, to celebrate the Guilty Gear series' 25th anniversary.

[29] In another collaboration, this time between Team Ninja and Arc System Works, Baiken's outfit from Xrd was one of several released as downloadable content for the character Momiji in the game Dead or Alive 5 Last Round.

[14] The book ”Fragile Avatars?” cited her as positive representation of disability in gaming, praising that while the primary focus was on her sword arm, her mechanical prosthesis replacing the other allowed for more elaborate combination attacks.

Citing her heavy drinking and smoking, brashness, and machismo, in their opinion she represented the opposite of the "Yamato Nadeshiko" archetype he felt was often prevalent for female characters in samurai fiction.

Instead, they argued that she embraced a "ronin anti-hero" vibe typically attributed to men in media, and felt the rejection of the "demure, reserved, traditional Japanese woman" cliche coupled with her wide arsenal of weapons made her one of the sexiest female characters in gaming.

He added thought that he did like her regardless, stating that despite "originally being a Kenshin palette swap with boobs", he enjoyed her intricate design, as well as elements such as her "no time for your shit" attitude and prominent drive for vengeance that helped her stand apart from similar characters.

A thesis for the Federal University of Bahia cited her as an example of how Asian women are often portrayed with a sexualized orientalist design in fighting games, noting that while her kimono covers most of her body it still emphasizes her thighs and breasts.

While he questioned just how much larger Arc System Works planned to make them, Walker appreciated the discourse the change to her character design caused.