SNK Gals' Fighters

Originally a 2000 Neo Geo Pocket Color release, SNK Gals' Fighters makes its reappearance on the Nintendo Switch. Despite its low price, there's a lot more effort than you might expect to make this celebratory release feel cared for.

Gals’ Fighters might fly under many people’s radars, but it shouldn’t. This is fighting game that deserves to hit a wider audience now than it did in 2000 by being on Switch. If you’re looking for something different but with the quality and pedigree that SNK is known for, Gals’ Fighters is worth a download.

A fun little competitive romp, a unique part of the history of fighting games and a heartfelt love letter to SNK all in one. [Issue #47 – July/August 2020, p. 23]

SNK Gals' Fighters is a pocket-sized triumph with exciting combat, a fun selection of female fighters from throughout SNK's various franchises, and collectible items to keep coming back for. It may be a very short play and there's nowhere near the amount of mods you'd find in a modern brawler, but it's a fun distraction and absolutely adorable throwback that you can throw down a few bucks for on Switch – especially if you're an SNK Heroines fan.

20 years before it was spiritually reawakened as SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, the Neo Geo Pocket Color added another fine string to its bow with the enjoyable handheld combat of SNK Gals’ Fighters. With a few extra changes for Nintendo Switch – namely support for far easier to set up local multiplayer and a handy rewind feature – this classic portable fighter is now in the rudest of health. It’s not the deepest of fighting games, but with an already strong Neo Geo presence on the platform, this cutesy battler is a fine way to perfect your combos on the go.

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.

I wondered what the NeoGeo Pocket Color used as a stick, and I found out it’s a “clicky stick,” eight-directional D-pad, which I kind of wish the Switch had because that sounds better. Apart from that, SNK Gals’ Fighter is a fantastic little game. There are lots of overlay options as well: you can toggle different screen frames, zoom in or out, swap between two filters, change the button inputs, reset the game into Japanese or English, view the game manual (which you’ll want to read), and there’s even a rewind feature. I hope that SNK continues releasing NeoGeo Pocket Color games on the Switch so those of us who missed out on that short-lived handheld can experience them for the first time.

SNK Gals’ Fighters repays whatever effort you’re willing to put in. It’s a full-featured package with lots of well-polished fighting action and surprising depth to its diminutive setting. It’s just a crying shame about the lack of online.

SNK Gals’ Fighters does a fine job at bringing back a 20-year old fighting game originally made for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, with all its features and limits. But even if the game has not been expanded to face up to today's offers, this piece of retro gaming has quite a charming appeal in its simplicity. If only its local multiplayer had been improved with the adding of an online component, that would have been even better.

SNK GALS’ FIGHTERS will find success on the Nintendo Switch by appealing to nostalgia. Those who can appreciate what this 2D fighter did back in the day should still appreciate it now, shallowness and all. Especially at only $7.99, considering an original cart could find you spending hundreds.

This new release of Gals' Fighters is, of course, a game with a very specific audience. You've got to really love your fighting games to get much long term value out of it. And yet, for something so "retro", Gals' Fighters feels incredibly modern, with few of the quirks and design flaws of yesteryear that you generally expect going in to an "old" game. Rather, this feels like something produced by a team that deliberately limited themselves as a creative challenge. You may not get long play sessions over extended periods of time from this one, but as a curiosity, it is fascinating... and so much cheaper on Nintendo Switch than trying to track down a physical copy for your actual Neo Geo Pocket Color.

Overall, SNK Gals' Fighters is a fun retro portable fighting game that's a bit too basic to thoroughly enjoy in this day and age.

Few retro handheld fighting games hold up today, but SNK had already done a good job getting the gameplay of The King of Fighters functioning well on the Neo Geo Pocket Color, and SNK Gals' Fighters still proves fun for some casual bouts in this Nintendo Switch port. A lack of gameplay depth, inability to convert some moves to unused buttons, and confusion in how to unlock characters is a shame, but the additional options introduced, including the excellent multiplayer setup to allow for instant local fights on the go, really make this more enticing, and much more tempting given the price.