PAX East 2018 SNK Heroines Demo Gameplay Notes

For this article, I’m guest author, TigerTigrez, and I went with Saltamiya to PAX East 2018!

Shermie wasn’t in the demo and we could only select palette swaps of the basic costumes.

Below is a playlist of my gameplay before Saltamiya got hungry from all the food on the screen.

The new up and coming game, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, is a spin-off game of the popular SNK series, The King of Fighters. People familiar with the series are in for a wild ride, as the development team has completely overhauled the game mechanics. While we may see familiar faces already revealed on the demo roster, keep in mind that many of the core mechanics that are native to the King of Fighters series have been completely redone or are altogether absent from this iteration. Note that the following changes discussed represent the demo from PAX East 2018, and many things may be subject to change in the final release.

To begin, the controls have been remapped. The usual A, B ,C, and D commands that are found in The King of Fighters have been altered for SNK Heroines. Since the demo version was played on a Nintendo Switch pro controller, the following notation that will be used will refer to specific buttons for that controller. The face buttons, X, Y, B, and A, are all mapped differently. In this game, the strong attack and light attack options have been replaced. There is no light kick, heavy kick, or light punch, and heavy punch respectively. The Y Button gives access to a single light attack, which can be pressed repeatedly to auto chain a combo. The X button is your heavy attack. You can use the heavy attack independently, or chain it after a single light hit, or two light hits. Some characters such as Yuri can chain it after a third light hit. It is not possible to chain a regular grab from a combo, and grapplers were not present during the demo build.

The A button has all your special attacks for that specific character. For example, if you want to use a specific special move then you simply press that A button in conjunction with a specific direction. Note that the regular method for inputting special moves has been discarded. For example, trying to do Athena’s psycho sword input while inputting light or heavy attack will not give you the psycho sword command. You will end up throwing out a regular normal. All specials must be input by using the designated special attack button.

The same rule applies to SDM moves, which have been mapped to the right shoulder button of the controller. SDM moves can only come out by pressing that button. Trying to input the regular command method for Athena’s shining crystal bit will only result in a regular normal. That being said, all characters shown in the demo have access to two different SDM moves. These SDM moves have a very special property, which will be discussed later.

The grab system has also been changed. In this game, you cannot grab by walking up to an opponent and hitting forward X, or backwards X. There is now a dedicated grab button, which is the B button. You can only throw by using the B button, as any other command will result in a normal. However the method for breaking grabs are also different. You don’t break grabs by pressing forwards or backwards heavy. You now break grabs by pressing the designated grab button the moment you are grabbed by an opponent. Doing so will reset both of your positions. Grab range has not been noted to have been reduced or altered.

Another major change is the blocking system. In other KOF games, you block by holding your joystick in the opposite direction of an attack. That system is absent in this game. If you hold back while an opponent attacks you, you will be hit. Blocking now is mapped to the left shoulder button. Holding down that button will put you in a constant guard position for as long as you hold the button. While in the guard position, you will block all incoming attacks. The guard has a special property in that it is a universal guard.

For SNK Heroines, there are no overheads or low attacks. You cannot crouch in this game. This eliminates low attacks, and overheads are also gone. If you jump in with an attack and the opponent is blocking, they will block the attack. However while in the blocking state, you are still susceptible to grabs. Further note, if you move your character left or right while blocking you will roll in that direction. The regular method of holding both attack buttons to roll has been replaced. The roll can be instant. So you do not have to go into guard to roll. You can choose to roll without committing to a guard. You can still be grabbed out of a roll.

The right trigger button enables you to tag in your other character. The tag is instant, and has a unique property. It has some frames of invincibility. It is possible to tag as a light hits you, making the light attack miss you and allowing you for a follow up. You can also tag to avoid a throw, which can make for some interesting scenarios. You can also tag in the middle of a chain combo to continue your attack, however doing so will consume special meter. You do not consume special meter by tagging in neutral, only in the middle of attacks. It is possible to start a combo, tag mid combo and follow up with a Dream Finish if a person has sufficient meter to do so.

Movement has changed as well. You can back dash, still. However, the back dash has changed. For example, in other KOF titles, Athena has the ability to do her phoenix bomb or psycho sword in the middle of her back dash. This is no longer the case even with moves that are possible even in the air. You cannot do Athena’s shining crystal bit mid back dash, and you cannot do Mai’s Chou Hissatsu Shinobi-Bachi from a back dash. You can however do these moves from a jump.

The blowback move has also been reworked. You cannot do a blowback by holding both attacks buttons. By inputting forward twice, your character will start in a sprint for as long as you hold the forward direction. From there, if you press the heavy attack button while sprinting your character will perform a blowback move. This will send the opponent flying across the stage and can cause them to bounce off the wall in certain circumstances. This allows for combo follow ups.

Air mobility is different. The variable jump system is not present in SNK Heroines. All characters so far have a universal jump, except for characters that have a special command jump like Yuri. There are no short hops or hyper hops, just one jump that remains consistent for every character. It is not was not tested to see if Athena an Mai still have their triangle jumps available to them off a wall. In the air you have three options for movement. You can simply jump normally. Inputting forward twice on the controller while in midair will give you an air dash. You can attack out of an air dash. All characters have an air dash so this property is not unique to specific characters. Pressing the block button while in midair will allow your character to perform and air feint. The air feint will have your character twirl, and fall backwards. This cancels forward momentum, and can be used in a neutral jump to fall backwards as well. You can also air feint during an air dash for further movement options. You cannot feint, then air dash. You can however, air dash, then feint. You can also grab in midair, but you cannot tech in midair

The biggest change so far is the health bar. In this game if your health bar reaches zero, then you simply get put into a stunned state which you get out of by repeatedly hitting the attack buttons. This stunned state occurs when hit with any special move, normal, or throw. You will not win the game by normal circumstances. To win, the opponent’s life must be drained to zero by an SDM move. SDM moves have been renamed to Dream Finishers in this game. For example, if a character is in neutral and they are hit by a Dream Finisher while their life is close to zero, they will be knocked out. The opponent who hit them with the Dream Finish will win. If a character is put into a stun state by having their health bar reach zero by anything other than a Dream Finish, it is still possible to KO them with a Dream Finish. Chip damage does not exist in this game, so hitting a guarding opponent at critical health with a Dream Finish will not KO them. You must hit confirm into the Dream Finish or hit them when they are not guarding for you to win. Hypothetically, the match can continue on and on if the opponent is not hit by a Dream Finish no matter how often they are stunned.

You have access to two characters, however the health bar is shared. If you have low health with Yuri, and you tag in Kula who has not been hit, she will share the same critical life that Yuri has. Special meter is not shared however, so both characters have their respective special meter. Special meter recovers naturally. It can be drained by being hit by any attack. You do not gain special meter by successfully attacking an opponent. It recovers over time. Note that your health bar and special bar are shared. The more health you lose, the more special bar you have. Your special bar can take the place of the health you have lost.

Your primary and secondary characters recover special meter separately. For example, if your primary character gets hit, their meter will drain but not your secondary character that is tagged out. The same goes true for the opposite. If your secondary character gets hit, their meter will drain independently of the primary character that has been tagged out. They also recover independently. Meter has a special usage in the game besides being used for Dream Finishers. Having special meter can also change the property of your special attacks. For example, hitting the opponent with Yuri’s Chou upper special move will only result in the opponent flinching and not getting knocked down. This only occurs if the special move is used without meter being available. When you have meter available, using special moves will drain the special meter and give it different properties. If Yuri’s Chou Upper is used when meter is available, then the Chou Upper will gain the property of being able to knock down the opponent. The same goes for multiple special moves.

Using a special move at the end of a chain combo, without having meter available, will still result in that special move lacking its property. Athena’s psycho sword done at the end of combo will not knock down an opponent, leaving you wide open to attack even though you hit confirmed the move. Doing Athena’s psycho sword at the end of a combo with meter available will result in the special move gaining that special property and knocking down the opponent. It was not tested to see if having meter results in moves gaining other properties such as initial invincibility on startup, or making the user safe on block. The meter itself has no special access button. There is no max mode in this game, and likewise there are no EX moves either.

Another thing occurs upon reaching critical health. You get an automatic item in your inventory. Items have been added to this game and are available to use in your arsenal by pressing any direction on the right thumb stick. Items spawn naturally during the course of a match, and the items that do spawn are random. Regularly picked up items get different effects when used in battle, for example a statue that falls down and stuns anything that it comes into contact with. This can stun you as well even if you called in this item. When critical health is reached, a character specific item will be available for use. Note that this character specific item depends on who is currently on the sidelines. Leona for example, will provide the player with a giant version of her Baltic launcher appearing for a limited time behind the opponent. This can be used as a setup in a manner similar to Urien’s Aegis reflector. Note that in this case, the character specific item will not harm the user.

According to the NIS America representative present on the showroom floor, SNK Heroines was designed to be a fun party game in which easy execution and accessible gameplay are emphasized. This is why they radically simplified many gameplay aspects from the main SNK fighting game titles. As shown in the gameplay videos, I believe that they accomplished their goal. The game controls very well and the people present were very pleased with the demo. Anyone can pick up a controller and start doing combos and chaining special moves. The gameplay is fast-paced and addicting. Let’s have a blast on September 7, 2018!