Quick Look: SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy

It's probably too much to hope they've realized since UPF that this is actually a pretty fun fighter that is super tongue in cheek and while making some changes to fighting conventions and a bit simplistic it is still surprisingly deep.

boooooooo

@synthesis_landale: this guys are scientists

Wonder who would buy this over any other fighting game.

@meierthered: Guilty

Gross

This could have been pretty neat if only they just played it fucking straight. The system they used pretty much makes it a non fighting game in my eyes. (Like Smash tbqh)

@synthesis_landale: you can hide a lot of seediness under the cover of being "super tongue in cheek"

I enjoy the game, fighters don't have to be super technical to be fun.

.......i just want the hat

I'm convinced SNK was in cryo-stasis for the past few years. It's the only way I can explain their thinking, "Koei Tecmo abandoned their Dead-or-Alive-creepy-lingerie-edition games because they didn't sell outside the Asian market at all? AWWW YEAHHH, now we can move onto that gold mine!"

why do they all like emit/shoot pastry and weird emoji things?

(viewing the tails)

"Uhh, that...that placement doesn't look like where it should, uhh, go, umm naturally.."

Jeff: "Nope. that's fine. I can show you some videos."

Man, it's really too bad about the combat system. It could have been an ace game otherwise.

... Let's just write this off and hope the new Samurai Shodown game will be high quality.

Edit: I just noticed Shermie looks more or less like she normally looks. She's not even creepily embarrassed to be there either. Strange.

Yea, it's surprisingly quite fun. Watching Maximillion Dood play it a few days ago on stream made me kinda love the whole 'super is required to win' thing too, they had some great matches where they were both in the red just trying to open up the other person to win. It's real fun!

EDIT: I don't know if they found it since I haven't had a chance to finish the video, characters share health bars. As you lose health your super/special meter grows. Special attacks (circle + a direction moves) use up the meter, if you use them with no meter they do less damage. When you have 4 segments/bars of the special meter you can do a super (it glows pink instead of the rainbow-y colours).

EDIT2: there's also a poser thing in the game, hit left/right on the customization screen. There's a lot. And oof, that online play. Had that with one person in my group when we played last. It was rough, worked perfectly fine with the others.

It's a shame they're judging the game for what it's not rather than what it is and dismissing it before they understand how the game works. It's actually a really interesting game mechanically when you get over the fact that it's not trying to be a KoF lite or a Street Fighter lite. I actually really appreciate the approach SNK took with this game over other simplified games, where it's not just a bad version of a game that already exists, they didn't take Street Fighter and arbitrarily remove things to make it "simplified", they made a new experience. I'd highly recommend everyone watch the launch tournament SNK held for the game, it's on their YouTube channel, and it's a good window into what the game is like when people are more familiar with how to play the game. The mechanics actually do work really well together and feel very cohesive when you get beyond mashing. You can tell everything was really meticulously designed and made intentionally. It's a shame the bad rap this game is getting.

This is what happens when you let anime take over your site.

At no point did they "dismiss" this game other than its half-assed attempts at being a sexy girl game. They learned the mechanics quickly and gave due diligence to engaging with its systems.

It completely lacks the polish and style needed to be what it's going for.

@Relshak: At no point did they ever learn the mechanics. It took them the entire video to figure out that the pink meter was your special meter. They never understood that when you don't have meter, your special moves don't work properly, which is why you get the "bonk" noise. They never figured out that throws steal meter, which circles around to the main gameplay design the game is going for, which is constant tagging and meter management. They never figured out that light, light, light isn't the only combo you can do. They never found the jump cancel attacks. I could keep going, but the point is to say that they learned the mechanics and engaged with its systems is being incredibly unfair to the game. I'm not expecting them to be masters of it or amazing fighting game players, but they legitimately didn't even scratch the surface on how the game works. On UPF, Jeff played 1 game for all of maybe 3 minutes and already declared that the game sucks. They very much have been dismissive of the game before learning how the game works and this video is just more of it.

I could also mention how Jason said there was no tutorial and then later in the video passed right over the tutorial, or how they mentioned that in other games the "gallery" will let you pose the characters and this doesn't have that, except it totally does, you just hit left or right in the first menu, but those aren't really the core issues I have with how they went about doing this video they clearly didn't want to do and put in the bare minimum effort to record.

As someone who hasn't played this, it just seems like a very strange way to design a ground-based fighting game. Looks more like a control scheme you'd see in Psychic Force or something. As far as the cheesecake nature of the aesthetic, if Senran Kagura can continue to exist then sure, why not this. Girls who are missing in this roster: King, Blue Mary, Kasumi, Hinako, Vanessa, Chizuru. My big takeaway from this is that KoFXIV is still pretty good.

They stripped the mechanics down to nothing and still didn't successfully make it playable one handed smh at least please the target audience

@mezmero: It's not a ground based fighting game, it has air dashes and a ton of crazy launcher and juggle options. It's SNK's take on anime. Higher level play is near Arcana Heart levels of the ground is lava.

Looks like the rainbow meter determines when you can do specials/supers. If you try to use a special with no meter it 'bonks' and doesn't do damage. Also the super meter gets longer as your life gets lower. Kind of a neat idea I think.

Edit: Jeff came to the same conclusion.

I guess there's really not much room to maneuver once you've decided to go for "only the chicks from a fully established fighting game" but they really don't leave much opportunity for players to hide behind a veneer of modesty.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, yup, the game is as bad as it seemed on UPF.

I will also state for the record, it doesn't look like a game where certain people couldn't find it fun. Its possible the battle-system they went with appeals to some people over other options. Its possible the boobs and physics of such in this game appeal to people over that found in other games.

I would also think the percentage of people for whom both things are true is fairly small, but not non-existent or 'wrong and should feel bad'. At least anymore then you care to feel bad about games in this 'bounce' genre.

That said, majority opinion seems to be in the negative and I'm in agreement with it.

King best gurl.

Even past all the questionable decisions with this game, why did they ditch each character's iconic outfit?

Can't wait to get this game

When it's $10

@kdr_11k:They didn't. Their default outfits are unlockable costumes.

@johnxuandou: Yeah... my thoughts exactly having watched the video. It's obvious they didn't want to like this game from the start (UPF) and neither took the time to at least learn how to play or what's included in the game before this quick look.

Looks like a fun game, the costumes and customization look really nice too.

Loves It!

I definitely got this same impression. Not that the game would be wonderful, because it's clearly primarily seeking to provide something else (fanservice), but if you don't want to give the systems even a reasonable chance in the first place then....well, you're getting what you're asking for.

also this could be OK for cheap, as a kind of SNK anime game. but definitely not full price.

@jroa: I genuinely believe it's a better fighter than it is fanservice game. There's definitely fanservice to be had, but the mechanics are shockingly in depth and enjoyable. It's not going to be the new UNIST, it's not the most complex game on the block, but there's enough strategy to sink your teeth into that it's a fun game to explore and play.

@wiqidbritt: You can actually do special moves with no meter, they just do less damage/not as effective Nakoruru's bird special for example goes full screen when you have meter, or just in front of her when you have none like what was shown in the video at one point. You just can't do a super without 4 bars.

It's pretty cool how some of you guys are able to read people's intentions over the internet. I usually just have to take people at their word when they say they wanted to like a game they ended up not liking.

Doesn't matter what the mechanics are. The game is a gross disappointment. Just make a fighting game featuring all the SNK girls. Innovate on systems if you want. There's no reason to make it into a horny creepfest. I don't have a problem with fanservice when it's done right. This goes beyond fanservice. I'm happy Jason and Jeff are unamused, because I sure am.

At least the DOA volleyball girls consented to wearing bikinis and seemed happy to be there.

BMX Heroines XXX Frenzy

@garwalk: If you call being tricked into thinking the next DoA fighting tournament is on that island consent, then sure.

Make a fan service game

Keep the awful rendering style of KoF14

At least make your fan service look good SNK cmon

A quick look where they got a lot of things wrong? Say it aint so.

Honestly, that's my biggest issue too. I thought 14 looked like shit and I think looks like shit too.

I'm kinda indifferent on the fanservice. It's far, far from the creepiest thing the industry has to offer, but I don't think it earns it's defenders either if I'm being honest. That's just me though.

They should have just committed and made it fully playable one-handed for maximum enjoyment. They tried to skirt (hah) the line and have it both ways and failed.

"That's not a pipe! That's a picture of a pipe!"

Video game characters can't consent, fine. But what about video game characters being portrayed as not having consent? A distinction without any meaningful difference, as they say.

Why did you call this a fighting video game? Video game characters are virtual depictions of art and cannot interact in such a manner that would be considered "fighting" as we do in the real world and on the internet.

Anyway, if they wanted this game to be taken seriously for its fighting mechanics, they wouldn't have risked packaging it in fanservice like this. It's full of scantily clad characters who aren't normally depicted that way, and the only way to win a match is to fill up a pink bar and climax all over your opponent.

Is it me or they look just like Barbies straight from a PS2 game on the thumbnail? The super smooth skin always creeps me out (the weird hair too).