It’s a wonderful thing to think of almost any genre and see how well it’s represented on Nintendo Switch. Take the ever-competitive arena of modern fighting games; as the console continues to roll through its third year we’ve got full-fat ports of the biggest names in virtual hand-throwing, including Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection and, of course, the city-sized roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. And that’s not counting more obscure entries such as Blade Strangers, Brawlout and SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy. It’s an eclectic bunch and one that's made all the more strong by the fashionably-late arrival of Skullgirls 2nd Encore.
Despite the development and legal troubles that would have sunk most other games, Skullgirls has weathered the storm since its original launch in 2012, offering a Western-made 2D fighter that manages to take just enough inspiration from its peers without feeling wholly derivative. And those inspirations and are easy to see, too. The colourful 2D character models and their cartoonish sketch aesthetic bring to mind the Darkstalkers series (and even a splash of ClayFighter); the team-based mechanic smacks of the early Capcom vs. SNK games, and the speed of combat is BlazBlue to a tee.
What Skullgirls brings to Switch so well is how it combines these elements into its own chaotic form of battle. You can choose up to three characters for your team, with the sacrifice/benefit coming in the form of your health bars. More characters provide greater variety in your move set and the ability to pull off team-based assists, but the more you use, the weaker their health bar becomes. Opt for a single fighter and you’ll have less offensive tactics at your disposal, but your combatant will possess a far hardier constitution. It’s not a particularly new system (even if you ignore the fact the series is seven years old itself), but it still effectively urges you to change up your tactics depending on the DNA of your opponent.
The version of Skullgirls released on Switch is actually notably faster in terms of gameplay speed than original Skullgirls release (by about 2%, which might not seem like a lot, but it makes a real difference when you’re counting frames), but the developer has added in an extensive tutorial mode that breaks down each mechanic into bite-size chunks. There’s a lot to take in – such as how best to use Dramatic Tension meter (which levels up as a fight progresses, unlocking more powerful Blockbuster attacks as you land and take damage), how to preemptively and re-actively use certain types of blocks and when to chain certain strong, medium and hard attacks into an effective combo – but it leaves you completely informed how and when to utilise these elements in battle.
The level of detail developer Reverge Labs has hand-crafted into each fighter is astounding. With an art style that borrows heavily from the cartoonish end of the anime spectrum and classic American animation from the early 20th century (and a soundtrack from Michiru Yamane that splices arcadey synths with jazzy saxophone solos), Skullgirls oozes character and charisma at every turn. There’s perhaps a little too many characters practically spilling out of their undersized costumes, but if you’re going to take such heavy inspiration from Japanese animation, it’s hardly a surprising byproduct.
Skullgirls’ roster is still a little thin by modern standards with only 14 fighters to choose from, especially when compared to the likes of Mortal Kombat 11, BlazBlue Centralfiction Special Edition and the latest Smash (which is so big it’s more of a population than a roster) – even when you consider this version includes the five DLC characters that were released post-launch to help bulk out an even sparser roster at the time. Thankfully, there’s enough variety in the fighters on offer to help negate this feeling somewhat, especially in regards to the new additions. Big Band – with his bio-mechanical instrument move set – is a real highlight, as is Squigly, an undead opera singer with some nifty stance cancels.
In terms of content, this version of 2nd Encore doesn’t differ from the ones that have been available on PC and other consoles for years now, but there’s still a fair few modes to keep you playing. For solo players, there’s the Story mode, a gauntlet-style Survival mode and your usual arcade mode offering. There’s also support for local and online play, including both tournament and lobby-based play. It’s not particularly eye-catching in terms of its modes, but then again, this is a game produced by a small indie team so it’s pointless to expect the kind of rolling content support you get from the likes of NetherRealm. Being able to select an online opponent based on their ping is a nice touch, but we did encounter a few matches affected by serious lag or freezes that kicked us back to the menus. Hopefully, these are just launch-window teething problems for the netcode.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a new fighting game experience and you’ve somehow managed to avoid Skullgirls over the last seven years, then Skullgirls 2nd Encore is as good as any opportunity to do so. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table to distinguish it from the other iterations of the update that dropped back in 2016 – and some new characters would have really helped sell its arrival on Switch – but with its catchy jazzy soundtrack and memorable character animations, it’s still one of the most underrated fighters to emerge in recent generations.
Comments 23
I'm honestly baffled by this review. Like I'm glad you enjoyed it, but the Switch version has many notable blemishes that go unmentioned. Ear-piercing audio bugs in every battle. Lack of voices in story mode despite it being advertised. Some really weird graphical glitches with certain attacks and background characters, like Squigly getting multiple Leviathans after certain attacks.
Did you seriously not notice these things but noticed a 2% speed increase? Or did you actually not experience them?
I have grown to love fighting gamespre over the years, I can't get past the artsyle for skull girls though.
Umdernight has me more interested.
I adored this game on the PS4 I might just have to pick it up for the switch. Love the hand drawn art style and the colorful cast of characters. This game I believe only has one clone type fighter, I forget her name.
Don't let the small cast of fighters deter you from this amazing title. All of the characters are extremely unique and the designs are very well done! I am probably hot garbage at this game (I wouldn't be able to tell since the online was dead when I played it) but this is a must have if you haven't played it yet.
Wow this is clearly a cuphead ripoff /s
I own the physical on psvita and I’ve played this game a lot on ps3 and ps4. I recommend this to any fighting game lover, especially people that love the 2D fighters of old.
Solid fighter here, not sure I wanna triple dip at that price though. worth playing though if you haven't.
It is a fun fighter to kill time with if you're the more skill type in these kind of fighting games.
It's a great indie fighter but also an old one
SkullGirls Mobile is probably the only IOS game I still play to this day, and I've been anxiously waiting for the Switch release since 2018
Sad to hear about the port bugs, but I'm buying it anyway
I also have some issues with this review. I fail to see how a lack of Switch exclusive features is bad. It's a port and it feels like a weird criticism to have now especially when other ports aren't marked down for the same thing. Also disappointing to see no mention of the lack of voice acting in story mode despite every other version of 2nd encore having fully voiced story mode.
Accessible? This game is so combo-heavy and the execution barrier can be steep for effective combo completion. Yes, great training mode, but accessible the game is not.
Solid fighter.
@nimnio
Yeah, I would consider the "light" roster a joy rather than a con. For me, having a tight, manageable, well-balanced roster is a blessed relief in this day and age of fighting games with absurdly bloated character rosters, especially for someone coming into the franchise for the first time. I hate being smacked in the face with an exhausting wall of 50 characters that I will never have the time to properly explore (compared to when I was a kid and was able to become an expert with all of Street Fighter 2's 8 playable characters). Plus you can't really compare the roster of (essentially) the first game in a series to long-running franchises that have accumulated characters over 20-30 years.
I like this game a lot. Bought it day 1 on Xbox 360 some years ago. Then got 2nd Encore for PS4 at a discount. Now I have it on Switch, although I noticed some sound issues with Switch. I recommend it.
I'd rather have a cast of unique characters than 100 with 15 repeats - mostly pallette swaps with minimal changes between them (like Ken / Violent Ken)
It feels like a 2.3% speed increase to me...
I prefer slower paced fighters, so this one is probably too fast for me. I'll pass.
As far as indi fighters go, would how might one rank this against Blade Strangers? I'm looking for a 2D fighter and am kinda narrowing it between those two.
Weird review. Games got a plethora of single player modes in an era largely lacking in this area (Tekken 7, BBCTB, SoulCalibur, SFV, etc), one of the best fighting game tutorials available, one of the best training modes of any fighter with a plethora of options and data, and one of the most varied rosters in the genre. Why is it then an issue this doesn't have more characters? There's more character variety here than on DBFZ. As much as I love Ultimate, it's character "population" also consists of half a dozen variations of Marth (and the general "swordie" trope that's existed since Melee), three Links, at least a dozen generic reflect/counter specials, several dozen three hit neutral pokes, a plethora of generic kick neutral airs, and so on. It's certainly more varied than SG or DBFZ but I see no reason for you bringing it up in this review. I really wish the equivocation of size and quality would die out pretty soon because it really deters new players from picking up fighters like this.
Can anyone tell me if this is better than the iOS and Android versions? I have probably put 49 hours into this game on Android and I'd love to play it on switch but if it's pretty much the same I'll stick with the free version. Any info would.be greatly appreciated thank you!
@Minfinity Bladestrangers use directional controls for moves and is a little slow, It is accesible. Skullsgirls is faster, more complex and requieres a lot of training. Two great options but for different audience.
I'm very late to the party but what? Small roster size is a con? How about how each of those 15 characters have totally different movesets, with totally different animations, hell even Robo fortune
Who is just robot fortune, is soo different, A smaller roster of fantastic characters is better then having a roster with sammy characters, and some shared moves.
@Snatcher I tend to agree… know if they fixed the issues with audio and other glitches?
@BlubberWhale Hm, I’m not to sure, I need to look into it, I will let you know when I figure it out.
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