SNK HEROINES ~Tag Team Frenzy~ producer says the game doesn't over-sexualize females, says there's a reason for the costumes

SNK HEROINES ~Tag Team Frenzy~ is an all-female fighting game coming to the Switch. As some have noticed, the game features some rather risque outfits, and they're not sitting well with everyone. Game Informer brought up this topic with the game's producer, Yasuyuki Oda. You can see his response below.

GI: Culturally, where do you think this game actually fits in with a modern, more broad gaming culture? There has been backlash against games of this type that kind of flirt with sexuality as a driving force. Do you think this game follows in that, do you think it bucks that trend?

Oda: There is exposure of female parts, but we don't feel like it's overly sexualized. It is there, but we want to push the cute aspect of things, the elegant-ness of the women, and we feel like we are able to cull the people that would bash this game for there being too much exposure.

GI: Do you feel like that the game, with reference to sexuality, tends to respect the characters? Mai has always been a very sexualized character, but for example Leona hasn't. She's been a very stoic character, and yet in this game she's wearing a catsuit in a thong. What would you say to a fan who has loved that character for years, but sees this and doesn't jive with what they know of that fighter?

Oda: There's a reason they're wearing these costumes. They're not just wearing these costumes because we wanted them to. There's a full story behind it which we can't really go into details about at this moment, but if you play the story I think our fans would better understand why they were put in this situation. We made an effort to make sure the image of our characters will stay the same, even after people play this game.