{"id":102925,"date":"2019-11-01T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/skullgirls_2nd_encore"},"modified":"2019-11-01T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T18:00:00","slug":"review-skullgirls-2nd-encore-a-western-2d-fighter-that-might-surprise-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/11\/01\/review-skullgirls-2nd-encore-a-western-2d-fighter-that-might-surprise-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Skullgirls 2nd Encore &#8211; A Western 2D Fighter That Might Surprise You"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/137f7a07d2343\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/137f7a07d2343\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Skullgirls 2nd Encore Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100609\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100609\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Skullgirls 2nd Encore Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>It\u2019s a wonderful thing to think of almost any genre and see how well it\u2019s represented on Nintendo Switch. Take the ever-competitive arena of modern fighting games; as the console continues to roll through its third year we\u2019ve got full-fat ports of the biggest names in virtual hand-throwing, including <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/mortal_kombat_11\">Mortal Kombat 11<\/a>,<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/street_fighter_30th_anniversary_collection\"><strong>Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection<\/strong><\/a> and, of course, the city-sized roster of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/super_smash_bros_ultimate\"><strong>Super Smash Bros. Ultimate<\/strong><\/a>. And that\u2019s not counting more obscure entries such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/blade_strangers\"><strong>Blade Strangers<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/brawlout\"><strong>Brawlout<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/snk_heroines_tag_team_frenzy\"><strong>SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s an eclectic bunch and one that&#8217;s made all the more strong by the fashionably-late arrival of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/skullgirls_2nd_encore\"><strong>Skullgirls 2nd Encore<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>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 <em>just<\/em> 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 <strong>Darkstalkers<\/strong> series (and even a splash of <strong>ClayFighter<\/strong>); the team-based mechanic smacks of the early <strong>Capcom vs. SNK<\/strong> games, and the speed of combat is <strong>BlazBlue<\/strong> to a tee.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Skullgirls 2nd Encore Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100608\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100608\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Skullgirls 2nd Encore Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>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\u2019ll have less offensive tactics at your disposal, but your combatant will possess a far hardier constitution. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019re counting frames), but the developer has added in an extensive tutorial mode that breaks down each mechanic into bite-size chunks. There\u2019s a lot to take in \u2013 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 \u2013 but it leaves you completely informed how and when to utilise these elements in battle.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Skullgirls 2nd Encore Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100605\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100605\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Skullgirls 2nd Encore Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The level of detail developer Reverge Labs has hand-crafted into each fighter is <em>astounding<\/em>. 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 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2014\/04\/castlevania_composer_michiru_yamane_joins_flying_hamster_ii_team\">Michiru Yamane<\/a> that splices arcadey synths with jazzy saxophone solos), Skullgirls <em>oozes<\/em> character and charisma at every turn. There\u2019s perhaps a little too many characters practically spilling out of their undersized costumes, but if you\u2019re going to take such heavy inspiration from Japanese animation, it\u2019s hardly a surprising byproduct.<\/p>\n<p>Skullgirls\u2019 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, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/blazblue_centralfiction_special_edition\"><strong>BlazBlue Centralfiction Special Edition<\/strong><\/a> and the latest Smash (which is so big it\u2019s more of a population than a roster) \u2013 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\u2019s enough variety in the fighters on offer to help negate this feeling somewhat, especially in regards to the new additions. Big Band \u2013 with his bio-mechanical instrument move set \u2013 is a real highlight, as is Squigly, an undead opera singer with some nifty stance cancels.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Skullgirls 2nd Encore Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100604\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100604\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Skullgirls 2nd Encore Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>In terms of content, this version of 2nd Encore doesn\u2019t differ from the ones that have been available on PC and other consoles for years now, but there\u2019s still a fair few modes to keep you playing. For solo players, there\u2019s the Story mode, a gauntlet-style Survival mode and your usual arcade mode offering. There\u2019s also support for local and online play, including both tournament and lobby-based play. It\u2019s not particularly eye-catching in terms of its modes, but then again, this is a game produced by a small indie team so it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re looking for a new fighting game experience and you\u2019ve 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\u2019t bring anything new to the table to distinguish it from the other iterations of the update that dropped back in 2016 \u2013 and some new characters would have really helped sell its arrival on Switch \u2013 but with its catchy jazzy soundtrack and memorable character animations, it\u2019s still one of the most underrated fighters to emerge in recent generations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a wonderful thing to think of almost any genre and see how well it\u2019s represented on Nintendo Switch. Take the ever-competitive arena of modern fighting games; as the console continues to roll through its third year we\u2019ve got full-fat ports of the biggest names in virtual hand-throwing, including Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter 30th [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}