Growing up in the 90’s, fighting games were a dime a dozen. Prior to Midway entering the game with Mortal Kombat, SNK was Capcom’s biggest competition with the Fatal Fury saga, which was my gateway into the world of true fighting games as a kid. Throughout the years, SNK has continued to release fighters, yet none have reached the critical or commercial acclaim that other titles on the market have. Is their newest release, SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy going to change that? Probably not, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

The game offers a story mode that follows any two of the game’s fighters as they’ve been taken captive by a mysterious villain (who looks eerily similar to Destiny‘s Xur on a night on the town), and in Terry Bogard’s case, turned into a woman. Even though this mode is only six fights per team, it’s mostly forgettable, but always strange and hilarious. Between fights you’ll find short, poorly animated (we’ll come back to this) cut scenes that consist of your chosen fighters trading some of the worst banter I’ve ever seen, with trendy words such as “bae” (I feel dirty just quoting that) being the norm. In many cases, the secondary character’s reply might as well have been “I like goldfish,” because the conversations just don’t add up. With the exception of the scenes at the midpoint and end of the mode, which are the same regardless of the character, all of these scenes play out in a voyeuristic manner, appearing to be filmed via a CCTV with the operator fixated on the all-female cast’s naughty bits. In addition to the story mode, the token survival, versus, and practice modes are in place for offline play, and a few online options.

The game changes up the tried and true tag team fighting mechanics with a few variations, but whether they work for you will depend on the player. The biggest thing that stood out to me is almost every move in any of the character’s move list can be pulled off by simply pressing one button and a directional button for variations, making this the perfect fighter for the participation trophy generation of today. Want to tag out? Yup, just one button (I’ll let this one slide, since tagging is often a chore in other fighters). Oh, you want to do the crazy, super ultra-move? You got it, just hit R2. Even the standard special moves that used to require quarter circle motions in past entries are dumbed down to simply pressing the O button on the PS4. Call me crazy, but I feel like fighting games should present more of a challenge, be it in the actual combat or mastering specific characters. This could be attributed to me making the quarter circle motion in the womb, but who knows.

The one button method makes the next change a bit more manageable, as instead of simply reducing the opponent’s life bar, causing the round/match to be over with everyone going on about their day; you have to complete the super move as the final attack to end the match. Failing to land this attack will require you to either tag out or wait it out until your character has enough stamina to bust out the move again. Initially, I took this as a cheap way to make their fighter more accessible, which is still kind of is, but the mechanic works to give the lesser skilled players a chance, when other games would simply see them hit the pavement over and over again.

The last “new” mechanic is less drastic, as you’ll find small yellow bubbles pop into the play field regularly, akin to the Infinity Stones used by Capcom in their Marvel Comics based fighters from the past. Hitting one of these will allow you to use one of many items, which are mostly throwaways that often inflict damage on those who activate them. I found myself simply using most of the ones that did not provide a health bump immediately, just to get rid of them hoping for something substantial to come along.

The roster of 14 characters are mainly busty (to the point that they all would probably suffer from more back problems due to their chest than the actual combat) women from past SNK games, giving the DOA girls a run for their money in terms of their bouncing “physics.” Of the 14 characters, there are only a few that really stand out as memorable combatants, and even less that feel much “different” in terms of playstyle. When so many other fighters on the market offer twice, if not more fighters out of the box, the roster a bit disappointing to say the least, especially when SNK has a huge roster of characters. Each of the fighters can be outfitted with accessories or costumes (*gasp* not requiring DLC?!?!?! I’m sure there will be plenty), essentially allowing players to play dress up using items they’ve unlocked by using the gold earned across any game mode. The level options don’t fare much better in terms of options, with only seven choices available, all of which are from the same mansion that remind me of an anime inspired version of the Spencer Mansion from Resident Evil.

The delivery is an overall improvement on the more recent SNK games, leaving the 2D hand drawn animations in the past, using a 3D rendered 2D environment akin to Street Fighter V. The visuals look a bit dated, especially when comparing them to other newly released fighters, but hold up quite well in battle despite the screen being overly busy. Every attack results in poo emojis, unicorns, or other random visuals flying from the character’s limbs – so much so you’d think the game would suffer when it came down to the frame rate. To my surprise, no matter how crazy the screen became, the action never stuttered. The anime inspired design looks passable in battle, but the mid battle scenes I mentioned previously make the small visual issues more prevalent. The combatants’ faces look stiff; similar to those found on the pre-battle trash talking scenes from Soul Caliber II. Multiple characters have hands that would be able to palm a beach ball, and the clothing as well as the hair often looks painted on, opposed to flowing as they would in real life.

Sure, SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy looks dated and has some wonky, poorly implemented mechanics, but at its heart is a solid fighter that has a nice middle ground allowing casuals and masters to compete. I highly doubt we’ll see this game on the next EVO lineup, but it’s a fighter that offers some fun, even if it’s from laughing at its many shortcomings.

7 out of 10

Pros

• So Bad It’s Good Writing
• Super Finishers
• Accessible Controls
• Tagging In and Out is Super Easy

Cons

• Small Roster
• Dated/Ugly Visuals
• Lacking in Challenge

SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy was developed by SNK and published by NIS America. It launched on NS, PS4 and arcades on September 7th, 2018 for $49.99. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy, check out the official site.

 

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