SNK Gals' Fighters is a chibi-style two-dimensional fighting game, developed by Yumekubo and Paon, that was the first all-female fighting game published by SNK. It was released on the Neo Geo Pocket in 2000, proving to be one of the best fighting games on a console that had no shortage of great fighting games.
Female fighters compete in the Queen of Fighters tournament. Eight characters are available from the start. SNK's most popular fighting game series are represented, with playable characters including Athena Asamiya from Psycho Soldier and The King of Fighters series, Yuri Sakazaki from the Art of Fighting series, Akari Ichijou from The Last Blade series, Mai Shiranui from The Last Blade and The King of Fighters series, Nakoruru and Shiki from the Samurai Shodown series, plus Leona Heidern and Shermie from the The King of Fighters series
In addition, Whip, Miss X, and Yuki, all from the King of Fighters series, are unlockable. Miss X is Iori Yagami in disguise as a female fighter and Yuki is Kyo Kusanagi's girlfriend who makes her only playable appearance.
The Neo Geo Pocket family of systems were unique for their time in that the systems each included an digital micro-switched eight-directional pad controlled with a thumb pad. This made it uniquely suited, at the time not withstanding its mere two action buttons, for arcade-style games such as fighting games. Fighting games benefit from precision control to pull off special moves.
The port through emulation, as part of NEOGEO Pocket Color Selection Vol.1, to the Nintendo Switch and Steam for Windows support controllers with analog thumbsticks. These lack the clicky feel of the Neo Geo Pocket and feel a bit off as a result, but it is still fun to play. The compilation also supports the directional pad, and I personally used both control methods, with the thumbstick for movement and the D-pad for pulling off special moves. If you have never used the Neo Geo Pocket Color D-Pad, it is possible that this won't be an issue, since both control methods do work quite well.
Like most fighting games, especially at the time of the release of Gals' Fighters, the story is quite simplistic. There is an artifact that is said to grant one wish to anyone who possesses it. Every character has their own story related to the artifact, and their wishes are not always as expected. Some of them are quite comical. These amusing endings definitely go a long way toward convincing the player to play through the game with the other characters to experience them all. Winning matches also sometimes gives items, which can be used to affect gameplay, although some objects have no effect at all.
SNK Gals' Fighters is not only one of the best fighting games on the Neo Geo Pocket Color system, it is one of the best games on the console regardless of genre. The fighting is fast, precise, and smooth, the characters are fun and quirky, and the art style is pleasing. The super deformed characters still look pleasingly cute today, although the two-color palette of the characters stand out more than they did at the time of release. This is mitigated, however, in the fact that the backgrounds use the full color palette available on the console and fit with the art style of the characters well. If you ever get the chance to try this game, it is well worth the play.
Final Verdict:
4 out of 5
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