Guilty Gear Strive reinvents the long-running series

Guilty Gear is one of the longest running legacy fighting game series out there. Since the first edition in 1998, it has been greatly appreciated by those in the know about fighting games. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean much to the average gamer looking for a new fighting game. In order to attract new players, Guilty Gear must learn from other fighting games and change its formula, which was done with great success in the latest entry. Guilty Gear Strut.

There are several fighting game series that are able to crack this casual awareness. Games like Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Super Smash Bros., and even Virtua Fighter are some of the few that you could possibly have a casual conversation about with someone at the local coffee shop. Guilty Gear is a whole different story.

Guilty Gear is sometimes viewed as the street fighter of the anime fighting games; it is considered to be one of the forefathers of the subgenre. An anime game, loud Infils Fighting Game Glossary, is “a particular style of fighting game that often uses hectic, heavily air-based combat (including to throw air) and wild character designs, often drawn with a Japanese anime aesthetic. ”The themes, quirks, character designs, and super-cartoon nature associated with the animation type are not always appealing to the average gamer. However, the biggest barrier holding the subgenre back is the difficulty of the genre’s two flagship titles, Guilty Gear and Blazblue.

While general competitive fighting games can often have a difficulty curve that discourages new players, they stay relevant by reinventing themselves. Compare Street Fighter Alpha to Street fighter 3 or 5, Mortal Kombat 9 to Mortal Kombat 11, or also Tekken 6th to 7th. These series change things regularly. Street fighter 3, for example parades and selectable supers, instead of decades of ISM mechanics from the alpha Series run through. With each new iteration, these games change completely, presenting players with new mechanics, characters, movesets, and more. This is never just for the fun of creating something new, but rather to spark interest in an age-old series for veterans and newcomers alike. Changes also help to level the playing field a bit and allow new players to take part in the competition.

On the anime gaming side, this reinvention is usually non-existent. Anime fighter sequels are usually known for feeling like the advancement of the mechanics of their predecessors. This is not only the case with classic 2D fighters like Guilty Gear, but also with others like the series Dragon Ball Z: Budokai and Naruto: Clash of Ninja. New episodes in anime fighting game series usually keep the same familiar mechanics and either edit them or just add more.

For example, Guilty Gear’s Roman Cancel system first appeared in the second game in the series. Guilty equipment X. The use will stop the player’s attack and return them to their neutral position. In the next game Guilty equipment XX (also known) X2) developer Arc System Works added the Force Roman Cancel, which allowed players to cancel projectiles and wiffing moves from Roman Cancel. The next true episode of Guilty Gear is coming in Xrd Series, players had access to three different types of Roman Cancels, each with their own skill set and reason to be a technique to be mastered.

The series creator, Daisuke Ishiwatari, touched upon this story of building on old titles in a recent interview with Eurogamer, “For the previous Guilty Gear games up Xrd, they start in the gambling halls. Because there have been a lot of fans who have been playing Guilty Gear since then, each game building on the other. For the fans who have been playing for a long time, there are many things that they no longer need to learn. When a new Guilty Gear comes out, they are already very familiar with it. “

While this may be good for the series’ die-hard series, it can also turn away players who are new to the genre or even those who are already versed in other fighting games and don’t want to learn the mechanics of a decade and the metagame behind it. This can be seen in the competition scene of Guilty Gear, where, in addition to EVO, the largest major tournament numbers of the previous GG Repetition, Guilty Equipment Xrd, were low – typically in the high 100s or lower 200s range.

Coming off the heels of Dragon Ball Fighter Z‘s popularity with a more laid-back crowd and with the promise of a great netcode that would allow players to compete against other states and still feel like they are sitting right next to you, Guilty Gear Strut an important opportunity for Arc System Works. Endeavor Made many changes to the Guilty Gear formula: for example, the classic Gatling system, which allowed for a longer chain of normal attacks to be traded in for something simpler, has disappeared. Added higher damage to speed up the games to ease the loss process for newbies. Okizeme, a term referring to the mind games and confusions one player can play with another when knocked down, has been heavily nerfed to put less pressure on the players. Like in an interview with various people Endeavor Developer of The player, the team even went so far as to tone down the “fantasy genre vibes” of character designs to make them easier for the average gamer.

As a result, Endeavor felt heavier and more grounded than before Guilty Gear games. Many hardcore fans called it a skewed entry aimed at players more familiar with the gameplay of something like Street Fighter. While many player Hoping that Arc System Works would go back to the drawing board and be a little more reminiscent of previous titles, the team behind the game went on and just started fine-tuning its new systems and mechanics.

“In general, the Guilty Gear range has become something only the core fans have been able to compete with. So we wanted to do something completely new for new audiences to enjoy, ”Daisuke said Eurogamer. Endeavor‘s developers took notes from more popular series and realized that reinvention is necessary, especially when it comes to achieving this broader appeal Dragon Ball Fighter Z did, minus the mainstream IP power boost.

Guilty equipment Endeavor has now been released and lo and behold, it was a huge hit with the skeptical longtime fans of the series and newcomers who bring their controllers with them Dragon Ball Fighter Z. The game could very well be the strongest seller in the series, having 500,000 units sold worldwide. Guilty Gear Strut quickly surpassed all peaks for concurrent players for Street fighter 5 and Tekken 7 on Steam. To put it in perspective Endeavor‘S Start day number of Steam players was ten times more than its predecessor Guilty Equipment Xrd and + RIt’s all time simultaneous numbers of players.

The series is reaching competitive numbers that it has never seen before, with tons of series veterans even that once carefully those who enjoy their time playing the game and find the same highly technical taste that one comes in + R and Xrd. There are also tons of new players like Nitrobros, LegendaryPredd, Hikari and more to join in and make a name for themselves quickly thanks to easy access to the competition due to the amazing netcode that makes it possible to host and visit serious tournaments from Comfort of your home. Online tournaments for Endeavor compete and beat previous numbers with weekly tournaments like Bums “City of chaos” and Tampa never sleeps More than 100 participants and large events like Leffens “LEVO” are moving in continuously 546 participants.

Bringing a fighting game like Guilty Gear to a wider audience isn’t a new idea. It’s been seen with Super Smash Bros., Marvel vs Capcom, Mortal Kombat, and more. It’s not the easiest transition out there for every gamer, but it’s necessary to breathe life into the future of the series.