SNK Gals’ Fighters is good, even for a game from a failed system back in 2000. It is progressive in its gameplay design and a fun fighter for a two-button control scheme. It needed to be translated fully onto a Nintendo Switch screen, but it’s manageable with the screen options the game provides you.
Oh, man. I must have missed this game back in 2000. I would have played the hell out of it on my NEO GEO Pocket, rather than wasting time on Resident Evil-based card games (I would have wasted time on that too). Anyway, SNK has brought back a female-led fighting game called SNK Gals’ Fighters from 2000 that was available on the short-lived NEO GEO Pocket portable system and placed it onto the Nintendo Switch. Did it survive the test of time? Debatable. Let’s talk.
To be blunt and honest, no, it visually did not survive the test of time. If you had the good fortune of owning the NEO GEO Pocket, you would understand that the small screen that accompanied it didn’t give much real estate to games. To put this in perspective, Pac-Man released on the system and as Pac-Man went through the game, the level he traversed had to literally move the entire screen to account for his movements. In short, it was a tiny screen and Pac-Man’s level didn’t fully fit on it — at least not comfortably. For some reason, SNK felt the need to keep that screen size the same with Gals’ Fighters instead of using the Switch’s screen size. While I understand that SNK probably didn’t want to expend the time/money to translate it onto the Switch’s screen, and Gals’ Fighters isn’t exactly on someone’s top ten list, it still needed a bit more love and care to make it a fun experience. In other words, I would have loved to play this game on the Switch’s entire screen.
To accommodate the screen size, they do put the game on a graphically replicated version of the NEO GEO Pocket, which only seems to mock the fact that you don’t get to use the entire Switch screen. To tell you the truth, it was neat to see NEO GEO Pocket system again, which doesn’t make the gameplay anything more comfortable. It just makes it neat to see the system again.
Now, the positive here is that SNK allows you to zoom into the NGP’s screen on the Switch’s screen, though it doesn’t fully fit on the Switch’s screen comfortably. It’s nice to have that option, and while the visual pixelation and age of the game does rear its head in the zoom feature, it’s still nice to have the ability to do that in the game. This is the worst part of the gaming experience, which, in the scheme of things, isn’t that bad. At least, in a way, SNK preserves the game as it was, which is a plus for classic game enthusiasts looking for perfect replication of the title.
Beyond the visual presentation and representation, the game actually is quite fun and unique for its time.
The gameplay for SNK Gal’s Fighters is interesting. In 2000, fighting games were a big deal and slowly gaining button complication with more than 8+ buttons usually in the mix. Fighting games certainly hit their stride and peak by the mid-2000s, with games like Soulcalibur and Street Fighter III-IV-V bringing more and more fascinating control schemes and power-ups, so it’s no surprise that something like Gals’ Fighters made its appearance in the midst of fighting game climb.
While the NGP’s button limitation kept the gameplay controls down to essentially a punch/kick button scheme (literally two buttons), SNK’s ability to mix it up a bit to give more options to the player is the genius of the title. Players could build up special moves through a meter in the game, which climbed from 1-3, something you see echoed in fighting games nowadays.This meant that you can pull of special moves as you build up the meter, something that you would find in games like Street Fighter vs. Marvel Super Heroes, and by doing so give you a sizable advantage over your opponents. This kept you fighting and fighting, as well as strategizing when to pull off said special move. Again, if you played a fighting game within the last 20+ years, you understand how this works, but in 2000 this was still very new, especially to a portable fighting game.
If that wasn’t enough complication for a two-button based fighting game, SNK Gals’ Fighters also rewarded players with items that worked as power-ups in the game. For example, I earned a teacup within the game, as well as a few other items that helped boost the moves of the character and provide an advantage over my opponents. For a game that released in 2000, this was very forward-thinking and gave another dimension to it beyond just kicking/punching. It actually helps motivate the player to keep fighting, which is what you want to preserve the longevity of the title.
If that didn’t float your boat, this version of the game now provides a second player option for someone else with a Switch and provides a training mode to figure out the best moves. I know a few people, such as my son, who would play it just for the training mode.
Beyond the above, the game is incredibly easy out of the gate, which isn’t representative of most good fighting games. Typically, a fighting game will slowly ramp up the difficulty arc as you progress, but Gals’ Fighters actually feels like you get a steady, yet light stream of difficulty that doesn’t challenge you. Is that bad? Not really, but it is a change from other fighters. Most of the time, you get a difficulty spike with the third opponent, but not here. It’s like watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where you’re seeing a lot of good happen and you’re waiting for the movie to drop something huge to break it all up, yet it never happens. It just stays good throughout.
Overall, SNK Gals’ Fighters is good, even for a game from a failed system back in 2000. It is progressive in its gameplay design and a fun fighter for a two-button control scheme. It needed to be translated fully onto a Nintendo Switch screen, but it’s manageable with the screen options the game provides you.
