Update: SNK Gals’ Fighters is now available on Switch, priced at USD $7.99 / NZD $13.20.
It looks like SNK is planning some sort of re-release of SNK Gals’ Fighters this week as part of NeoGeo 30th Anniversary celebrations. Specific platforms have not yet been confirmed, though a Switch port, at least, looks likely.
“It’s been 30 years since the #NEOGEO first launched on April 26th, 1990!” SNK tweeted yesterday. “In celebration, we are proud to announce SNK GALS’ FIGHTERS will be available to play on April 29th (PDT)!”
It’s been 30 years since the #NEOGEO first launched on April 26th, 1990!
In celebration, we are proud to announce SNK GALS’ FIGHTERS will be available to play on April 29th (PDT)! Also, more info on the SAMSHO NEOGEO COLLECTION is coming soon–so stay tuned for more updates!#SNK pic.twitter.com/2ZEaRXRcsT— SNK GLOBAL (@SNKPofficial) April 27, 2020
Gals’ Fighters originally came out in 2000 for NeoGeo Pocket Color. It featured women from a wide range of SNK games, including The King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, The Last Blade, and Fatal Fury, competing in the “Queen of Fighters” tournament. Like other NeoGeo Pocket fighting games, Gals’ Fighters uses a chibi art style and somewhat simplified game systems to fit the Pocket’s two-button control scheme.
Earlier this month, a Switch version of Gals’ Fighters was listed by South Korea’s ratings board, the Korean Game Rating and Administration Committee. Given the game’s handheld origins, Switch seems like a natural fit, though there’s no reason it couldn’t come to other systems as well—PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC all have extensive (and growing) collections of classic SNK games.
In 2018, SNK released something of a spiritual sequel to Gals Fighters in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, although that game had a very different combat system and a greater focus on fanservice than fighting. As much as I disliked the direction Heroines went, the basic idea of an all-women crossover fighting game is neat. SNK Gals’ Fighters delivers on that concept well, and I’m looking forward to revisiting it again this week.
Sources: Siliconera, SNK, @gatoray_kof