"Heaven or hell, lets rock!"
The Guilty Gear series is known for its fast-paced rock and roll themed action. You can't go wrong with its beautiful 2D art style and adrenaline inducing heavy rock soundtrack.
Today, I’m going to go over the main series of Guilty Gear in honor of it. A port of Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus was announced to hit Xbox 360, and PS3.
No official release date was announced but I am sure as hell excited.
Guilty Gear debuted on the PlayStation in 1998. The 2D fighter was heavily focused on the use of combo techniques. The game stood out from other fighting games, to me. I remember watching people play it in the Arcades and my jaw dropping when I witnessed my first "Instant Kill Destroy Attack." It’s a move that (as its title implies) instantly kills your opponent. The downside is that it's very difficult to land.
The characters were also so zany and fun, it kept me entertained. I loved it. Game Informer named the game one of the top weirdest games of all time in April 2008. The story was basically fighters from across the world joining a tournament. The story got really cool, you had a ninja from America fighting a time traveler from the 20th century, trying to find his way home. The game took place after a 100 year war against Bio weapons called “Gears”. The tournament was held to stop a Gear named Testament from wiping out humanity.
Gears were creations made for war and only a few of them had the ability to think for themselves. Playing through the series' story will make you want to learn more about them. You won't be disappointed with the storyline, it's pretty entertaining. The main antagonist is a Gear called Testament trying to resurrect a Gear called Justice, in order to wipe out humanity.
The Second Game Guilty Gear X debuted in Japan in the Arcades of July 2000. The game started off two weeks after the first game, where they discovered the existence of another Gear. This caused a huge commotion because people were worried another 100-year Gear war would start. A huge bounty was put on the Gears' head in hopes of preventing another war.
The game was ported to multiple consoles, and even had a plus edition with two extra characters. The plus edition was sadly exclusive to Japan. When it was released on Dreamcast, it came with three CD’s containing art and music. Altogether the game was ported to PS2, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, and Microsoft Windows, from the Arcades.
The third game, Guilty Gear XX debuted in Japan in 2002.
The story took place two weeks after Guilty Gear X. It lied within each character's perspective, trying to complete their own tasks. The main antagonist being I-no, trying to protect her master, who is supposedly the creator of the Gears. New additions to the game were included such as air throws, and force roman canceling witch is canceling while doing certain moves. This game had the most revisions of the series.
Reloaded, Slash, Accent Core, and Accent Core Plus. Each release included new combat, music and characters. Guilty Gear XX Reload contained darker music themes. I absolutely love the soundtrack to it. The games and its revisions were also released on multiplatforms, from Xbox, Windows, PS2 to Wii. I sure can’t wait for its release on Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 including online play.
The last game of the main series is Guilty Gear 2 Overture. The game is a completely different genre than the other series. Instead of being a 2D traditional fighter, it was a strategy action 3D game. The story takes place five years after the first Guilty Gear gear game. The Gears have been sealed away for years and are suddenly vanishing, on top of that the county of Lllyuria is being attacked by an unknown enemy. The game debuted in Japan in 2007 for Xbox 360. It’s a very interesting game, and broke the tradition of the series being just a 2D fighter game.
The series certainly stands out for being unique. Once the port of Accent Core Plus releases for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, I hope it sells well enough for Arc System Works to maybe make another sequel. Maybe even a crossover game between Blazblue, its other fighter series.
Check back for part 2 of "The History of Guilty Gear," next month (April).
