When it comes to fighting games, SNK hands down has some of the more unique and varried fighter. You have Fatal Furry, ARt of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, World Heroes, King of the Monsters and of course King of Fighters. We’ve even seen SNK team up with their main rival Capcom on numerous occasions, and have lent one of their characters to Namco for Tekken 7. So when it was announced that in celebration of their 30th anniversary that they would develop a fighting game that stars some of their most popular female fighters, many of their core fans were excited. And then things got weird as the first trailer dropped. How weird? Let’s take a look at SNK HEROINES Tag Team Frenzy for the Switch .
Girls just wanna have fun
Super simple controls for casuals/beginners- One of the things that players will notice right away then they start a match is how simple the controls are. In most SNK fighting games, there is a four button layout that goes as follows: LP (lite punch), HP (heavy punch), LK (light kick) HK (heavy kick). With SNK HEROINES they layout is as follows: LA (lite attack), HA (heavy attack), special move and dream finish (more on that in a bit) on the face buttons, while block and grabs are left and right trigger respectively. The reason for this layout is that the game is geared towards those who want to play fighting games but are intimidated by the more complex button inputs once you get past the basics and casual fighting game fans
The waifu wars- SNK HEROINES Tag Team Frenzy is filled with some of SNK favorite female fighters from various SNK fighters. SNK fighters have always seemed to attract anime fans due to the art style of their games, And with SNK HEROINES being an all female fighter, anime and otaku fans will surely flock to this game and claim a waifu pairing. I myself am partial to a Terry and Leona team. Not to mention cosplayers will have fun trying to create costumes base on the fighters.
New gameplay elements- Even though that SNK HEROINES uses conventional gameplay elements, it also adds in some new elements to make it standout (besides having an all female roster). One of those elements is the addition of a stamina bar. This bat ties in with the special moves button, in which whenever the player press the button and performs a special move (take Terry’s burning knuckle for example) they expend stamina.If they spam the move too many times then they won’t be able to use special moves until the bar refills. This forces players to be mindful of their stamina consumption and their next move, which makes for more tactful play. Another element that has been added in are dream finishes. These are one hit KO moves that each fighter has that can end the fight. In order to be able to use a dream finish, a player mus get their opponent’s life bar to a critical state or lower. Once the opponent is weakened, the dream finish prompt appears and that’s the player’s cue to strike. Pressing the R shoulder button triggers the dream finish, but if the player happens to miss then they have to either tag their other character in or wait for the dream finish meter to fill up again. By putting these two mechanics together, you get a tactical race to see who can lower the opponent’s health first and pull off a dream finish.
Tons of unlockables- Traditionally unlockable extra content such as concept art, a music jukebox sampler, secret characters and much more were common place in most games. Now it seems that even the smallest item is locked behind a paywall as DLC. SNK HEROINES brings back the joy of working unlocks in tow ways. The first way is to play the game normally, you know fight in matches and overall just look at everything. The other way is to earn in game gold. Each time a player wins a match, they earn gold. If they earn enough gold, then they are able to unlock various items such as extra costumes, accessories and other things. Things are priced pretty fairly and not behind a real money paywall. While this might sound like a lot of of work, there is another way to earn gold if your feeling lucky.
Place your bets- In addition to playing through the story mode or survival mode to earn gold, you can also earn gold online against other players by betting on your match. To do this, first enter quick match from the online menu. Then select gamble battle. Once you have matched with another player, right before the fight, you then bet an amount of gold. If you win, you get your opponent’s gold, but if you lose, you lose your gold. This is the quickest way to earn gold, and like the saying goes: where there’s high risk there’s high rewards.
Post launch DLC/updates- While DLC can be annoying at times, if its content that is developed after the game has been released, then most fans won’t mind. This is the direction that SNK is taking with the game after seeing how poorly Arc System Works handled announcing DLC for BlazBlue Cross Tag Team Battle. So far the only post-DLC character that has been annoucned is Square Enix’s Thief Arthur from a mobile game called Million Arthur. Even though this has been the only piece of DLC that has been announced, the devs of the game have expressed that if the fans demand to see more characters, then they will add more characters.
In addition to talks about DLC, the devs have also recently updated the game to support arcade stick. So if you happen to be a stick warrior, then get ready for a fun times.
Hot mess
Too simple/streamlined controls- Even though I did praise SNK HEROINES controls for being streamlined and simple, for those who have more experience with fighting games might find the controls a bit too simple/streamlined. Even with the addition of using an arcade stick instead of a controller, advance players will find it too easy for them.
SNK HEROINES Tag Team Frenzy is a very entertaining fighting game that celebrates the spirit of SNK previous fighters. Its simple and streamlined controls helps draw in casuals and beginners in and lets them experience the fun of fighting games. It will also bring out anime fans, otakus, and cosplayers, making SNK HEROINES appeal to a much broader audience. The new gameplay elements brings some freshness into the genre, even if it feels like a gimmick. Earning unlocks and betting on matches gives players incentives to keep playing, while post launch DLC gives players hope that their favorite lady will make the roster. SNK HEROINES does falter a bit with advance players and hardcore fans. That doesn’t take away the fact that SNK HEROINES Tag Team Frenzy is a solid and fun game. If you love waifus or are intresting into getting into fighting games but just want to ease your way in, the give the game a shot. especially if you have a Nintendo Switch.
