SNK Gals’ Fighters (Neo Geo Pocket Color)

When I played SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, I had no idea it was actually a follow-up of sorts to SNK Gals’ Fighters, both games taking ladies from SNK’s many fighting games and having them face off in a 2D fighter. While SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy tried to mix sexiness with silliness, SNK Gals’ Fighters instead is a more playful take on bringing the girls together, the playable heroines looking like they usually do but shrunk down into chibi form while bearing a range of quirky fighting moves for a tournament that is ultimately a lot less serious than the King of Fighters.

 

SNK Gals’ Fighters sees many of the ladies who participate in the King of Fighters tournament and a few from elsewhere all invited to a new Queen of Fighters tournament hosted by the mysterious Miss X.. The prize for this unofficial showdown though is quite the motivator, the K’ Talisman able to grant the wish of whosoever might be the winner. In SNK Gals’ Fighters though, the participants don’t really seem to be dreaming big. The rather serious soldier Leona thinks it might be the way to rid of her recent toothache, Shermie sees it as a chance to pamper her hamster, and the pop idol Athena Asamiya intends to use it to reverse her recent haircut. There is the surprisingly serious desire from Shiki to have her child back, but otherwise you can expect most characters to have a comical ending to their run through the tournament should you pick them, what brief interactions do happen between matches also silly like Akari Ichijou insisting she’s an English expert despite being from 19th century Japan.

The more playful approach to a fighting game extends into the characters’ move sets as well. Similar to Fatal Fury: First Contact, you execute punches and kicks with the A and B buttons, holding them down instead to unleash stronger moves. However, many moves in SNK Gals’ Fighters are exaggerated beyond realism. Already the small character sprites have some unrealistic proportions so it’s easy to read their movements on the Neo Geo Pocket Color’s screen, but when Yuri Sakazaki swings her fist at you, it can grow to be as big as her head. Special moves can be rather strange like Akari launching herself out of the mouths of giant heads as a form of teleportation, but the willingness to get a little strange also leads to some very fun attack concepts. The unlockable character Yuki is not a fighter in her home series, just the girlfriend to one of the fighters, and that’s embraced fully as her attacks feel more like a schoolgirl doing her best rather than a seasoned martial artist. She’ll open her briefcase to spill school supplies on you, wave her hand forward wildly while looking away in fear, and even just shout the word “NO” so loudly that it covers the air above her as a damaging attack. Many of the girls are bringing over familiar attacks from their series, Shermie having a focus on throws, Shiki attacking with her blades, and Nakoruru can call in her animal helpers like a falcon and wolf for some attacks, but you’ll also sometimes see some fun new attacks thrown into their repertoire to better suit the almost cartoonish combat, there even times you can get in a dust cloud of frenzied combat and have to mash a button to stop the scuffle.

 

Thankfully, despite the less than serious attacks that supplement the martial arts and supernatural powers these girls usually bring to bear, there are legitimate combos to string together with the quick and responsive fighting system. Special moves aren’t too hard to execute, many involving quick quarter or half circle motion inputs that aren’t too hard to commit to memory, and basic specials are fairly similar to activate across the cast of 11 fighters. To pull off more powerful attacks though you will need to build up power in your Gal Gauge. By actively fighting you can build up to three reserves of Gal Gauge energy, these opening up the option for some strong special attacks the game amusingly calls Mighty Bops. Mighty Bops are often powerful but can usually be guarded against or need to be positioned properly to do their hefty damage, but one of the most interesting parts of them is what happens when you use them to win a round. Even if it isn’t the deciding round in the best of 2 combat format, if you knock out someone with a Mighty Bop, the character will essentially have their life flash before their eyes, three nostalgic images of their past appearing to give your victory an interesting extra touch.

There is another way to spend your Gal Gauge meter though, and that is on Pretty Bursts. Despite that name, these are less bursts and more situational abilities that sometimes don’t even take the form of an attack. Each character has their own specific Pretty Burst, some of them being things like a small heal or an enhanced state where they’ll generate meter power very quickly while others are more direct attacks or can inflict an effect on the opponent like preventing them from using their meter attacks for a while. Pretty Bursts are usually riskier to pull off as they’re not usually too easy to combo into, so even the healing ones won’t tip things too heavily in a player’s favor. There are some defensive uses of meter power like the Special Blow-Away Attack that can force back a player who’s attacking into your guard, and with free and quick dodge rolls as well, there’s good counter play in place to help overcome strong incoming attacks from people who aren’t properly setting up for them.

 

For a player on their own though, SNK Gals’ Fighters only really offers a straightforward training mode for some practice matches and then the Queen of Fighters tournament where you’ll face off with a few of the other girls before confronting Miss X.. Different difficulties can allow you to tailor it to your skill level, but there is incentive to do so beyond just giving yourself more of a challenge as SNK Gals’ Fighters contains quite a few unlockables. Beyond the three hidden characters who aren’t too far out of reach, there are also items, and when you start the Q.O.F. Mode, you’ll be able to pick one to help influence the matches. This can be something as powerful as starting with your Gal Gauge at max level or the enemy missing a chunk of their life already or it can be as simple as winning in the case of a Double KO or getting a bit of a power boost to your Mighty Bops. The game does not tell you any of the requirements for unlocking items though, so naturally harder tasks are tied to better items and items will disappear should you lose so there’s some risk involved in bringing the better aids. Some hints to make item collection a more interesting quest would be nice, but they are a nice extra reward to pursue. The game does also have multiplayer so you can keep the action going should you have another person to play with, but SNK Gals’ Fighters ends up in a similar boat to Fatal Fury: First Contact where the fighting is snappy and entertaining but you only really experience it by facing off in sequences of standard matches.

THE VERDICT: The fighting system in SNK Gals’ Fighters is enjoyable, quick, responsive, and pretty creative, character personalities able to come through in attacks fairly well because of the focus on playful exaggeration. The female fighters on show remain faithful to their source material when it comes to their battle fundamentals, meaning there are cool and powerful attacks alongside the sillier ones, and the fighting system manages power moves well to keep things competitive. Items aren’t quite there as a way to keep you playing after seeing every ending to the Queen of Fighters tournament, but the well-tuned and amusing combat can still draw you back for multiplayer matches with some meat to them.

 

And so, I give SNK Gals’ Fighters for Neo Geo Pocket Color…

A GOOD rating. 11 characters who all fight in distinct ways that are allowed to get a bit crazier through the game not taking itself too seriously makes for a fighting game that is fun to play and fun to figure out. Seeing some of the stranger moves in a move set is often delightful because it is done all in good fun, these girls all capable and carrying over much of what makes them fun in their home series just with a bit more of a laidback tone. Athena can be unleashing a power move one moment and then carefully filling out an autograph she hurls as an attack the next, Nakoruru can use her hawk as a way of flying above the battle but then when she calls in some help from a wolf she’s hanging onto its tail and waving around like she’s completely lost control. As Yuki shows though, even a move set that looks silly can be capable in this game’s battle, there being enough depth even with the limited Neo Geo Pocket Color controls for fights to be interesting exchanges of frequent combos, strong specials, and impactful power moves. It would be nice if there was more to do in the game of course, a common fighting game problem of mostly leaning on multiplayer and a fairly straightforward sequence of battles about what you’d expect from any game in the genre, and perhaps items could have been that element to bring you back. A focus on fighting in interesting ways to expand a collection would have been a nice challenge to have, but at present you don’t know what you’re meant to be doing and the items end up more nice surprises than a goal to shoot for.

 

SNK Gals’ Fighters does edge out Fatal Fury: First Contact in one way, and that is it’s easier to recommend. The female fighters mixing new moves with their usual attacks makes them play differently than the fighting games they came from, that effort to achieve a different tone than a normal fighter leading to a game with more personality and some truly unique elements like Yuki actually being able to hold her own despite having no martial arts ability. SNK Gals’ Fighters is also pretty easy to pick up because of its quick attack speeds and some simpler special moves before you dig deeper into a move set. While I had thought SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy was a bit of a failed attempt to honor SNK’s many wonderful women, SNK Gals’ Fighters is the game that gives these girls their due by being a creative crossover that represents them well while also adding its own bits of flavor that make it fun to figure out what’s changed about the ladies you love.