SNK Gals' Fighters (2000)

(This was retro game club game #6 on the Grouvee forum.)

I sadly never had a Neo Geo Pocket Color, but I still have a soft spot for it anyways. It was out the same time as the Dreamcast, a console I loved -- and like the Dreamcast it was cool, had plenty of fun games, and most people just missed out on it. Luckily there is currently a bit of an effort being made to re-release some of the NGPC classics on the Switch, and I hope people give some of them a try! The three currently available (King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, and this) are all fighting games that look and play quite similarly to each other, and they're all SNK quality so you can't go wrong with any of them.

That said I'm going to recommend Gals Fighters most of all, because it's just delightful. This one was made as a sort of "swan song" for the NGPC, a game for the fans who enjoyed all of SNK's past handheld fighters. The crossover cast of ladies is of course the main draw here, but what stands out most IMO is just how funny the game is when playing it. Gals Fighters aims for a very lighthearted tone, and gives the chibi characters a nice variety of creative attacks and amusing animations.

I especially loved what the characters do for winning and losing poses, as well as their "time out" losses. For example, after winning Nakoruru expects her trusty falcon to fly down to her arm, but it never does so she sighs dejectedly. And if she loses for a "time out," she hides under a blanket and sobs. It's great.

Fighting in this game is kept relatively simple, which can be a plus or a minus depending on what you want from the genre. But I think it works great for quick pick-up-and-play sessions on a handheld. For replayability, the game also offers a clever item system that allows you to equip various upgrades for your character, which can make playthroughs easier or just change up how you approach your battles.

Fun game! Probably not something to sink a ton of hours into, but it's a charming diversion at the very least.

Played it a bit thanks to the Monthly Retro Game Club. I'm nowhere near the end of it because I suck at fighting games and this one, although described as "friendly" by some reviews, has no time to teach me anything about its systems. I barely managed to discover some light combos (like Back -> Down -> Forward -> A) and even those I cannot perform reliably. The upshot is that I get my ass handed to me constantly by the AI (described by some guide as a "crappy-level player"), who regularly performs epic combos that drain half my health bar in 2 seconds.

However, what I do like a lot about the game is how well it looks. The colourful and friendly designs are cute and invites you to play. The animations are also great and fluid. It's astonishing that this game, released 20 years ago, would not felt out of place if released today (which it was) without any remastering or graphic polish.