I can't believe there's only 14 characters. How do you go from 50 characters in KOFXIV to 14? SNKH is mostly re-using character assets from XIV and XIV still has more female characters than SNKH.
Because they gave people 50 characters day one with XIV and most didn't give a fuck.
A month after release people were asking for DLC characters, even though they were given 50 fucking characters at launch.
Heroines isn't a full priced game and it is aimed at a new/casual audience. You do not throw a gigantic roster at this crowd. 14 characters at launch with a steady stream of post launch DLC makes a lot of sense to try.
SNKH isn't a celebration of women. It doesn't honor these characters. It's a dumb joke game aimed at I don't know who.
When did SNK say it was supposed to be that?
From day 1 it was pretty damn obvious it was a joke game. The damn thing was preceded by a joke comic over a year before reveal, and the comic itself started on April fools.