Skullgirls 2nd Encore

Genre: Fighting Game

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local), 2-8 Competitive Tournament (Online)

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: Lab Zero Games

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Review:

Skullgirls is a Fighting Game released to multiple platforms in 2012, with subsequent releases of the game adding new characters and game modes and gaining the subtitle Encore and now 2nd Encore, with the 2nd Encore version of the game coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2019.

One of the more noteworthy things about Skullgirls is its art style, which eschews the pixel art anime-esque look of most 2D fighting games in favor of a hand-drawn Western style of animation that hearkens back to the golden age of American animation, with some characters looking like the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse or Betty Boop if this style of animation continued in that form into the current day with full color high-definition visuals while maintaining the same expressive, fluid animation work. This is accompanied by a soundtrack that’s similarly unique, with its Jazz-inspired themes. The result is a fighting game that is fairly distinct in its presentation, and quite striking.

In terms of the gameplay, Skullgirls is a tag team-based fighter that actually allows players to select the size of their tag team – they can opt for a full three characters to take advantage of the added flexibility that variety offers, as well as their assist attacks, or they can reduce that to a team of two or even just one fighter in exchange for their remaining fighter or fighters being stronger as a result. It’s a clever mechanic that definitely sets the game apart from much of the others in the genre.

Another thing that sets this game apart is its roster of characters, which is simply bonkers. A catgirl with a detachable head, a girl who fights with her hat that has giant gorilla arms, a giant hulking one man band… there are some wacky character designs here, all extremely expressive thanks to the game’s unique art style.

This comes with a wildly diverse array of abilities, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you’ll definitely find each character to be fairly unique, but on the other, it does make learning the ins and outs of each character a bit more daunting. And this is all despite that the roster is fairly limited, with only 14 characters. With such a small lineup of characters, even the modest price tag of $25 seems a bit on the high side, especially when the game’s online servers are deserted.

In the end, Skullgirls is a solid Fighting game with a fantastic presentation and a small but diverse roster of characters. At times I feel like these characters can be a bit too wacky, but for fans of the genre looking for something a little different, this is well worth a look, as long as you can catch it in a decent sale.

tl;dr – Skullgirls is a solid Fighting game with a fantastic presentation and a small but diverse roster of characters. It’s a tad overpriced for the size of its roster, and the unusual nature of most of these characters makes this a game newer players may struggle to get into, but fans of the genre who can catch the game on sale should still give it a look.

Grade: C+

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