Guilty Gear (video game)

Gameplay

After selecting one of the ten characters available from outset, the player must to defeat the enemy in battle by winning two out of three rounds. It uses a six-button layout: four of which are responsible for the attacks—one punch, one kick, and the other two for weapon attacks—, and the other two for special actions. Guilty Gear also features instant kill techniques that, if successfully lands on an opponent, ends the match.

It uses a tension gauge, which fills up when the character gets hit or takes damage. When it is full, characters become stronger, and can input certain commands to activate special-moves called Chaos Attacks. The game has a feature called Chaos Mode that is activated when a character's health is at the half-way point (yellow bar). A red aura will surround the character and he/she is able to perform unlimited Chaos Attacks.

It features three modes: "Arcade Mode", single mode, culminating in battles with the bosses, and the only one that reveals character's reasoning for fighting; "Versus Mode", which gives the opportunity to play against another player; and "Training Mode", which allows to practice. The game settings allow the player to set the duration of the round, but not allow to change the number of rounds in a fight, and the difficulty in the single mode.

Plot

Guilty Gear follows the story of ten combatants entering "The Second Sacred Order Tournament" for reasons of their own. It is set in 2180, in a bleak future in which its present time has just recovered from a 100-year-war against man-made bio-organic weapons called Gears. A Gear named Testament began a plan to resurrect Justice, the Commander Gear who has the power to control the Gears, and wipe out the human race. Fearing this, the Union of Nations began a fighting tournament in order to find fighters who would be able to defeat Testament and the coming revival of Justice, giving the winner the prize of being able to acquire anything they desire. As the combatants fight through the stages of the tournament they begin to find out the true meaning of the tournament. After defeating Testament in the second to last stage of the tournament, the character aids Justice's revival by being the sacrifice. After defeating the threat of Justice, order is restored with an uneasy peace.

Characters

Guilty Gear features ten playable characters available from outset. The characters have different styles of fight, special abilities, as well as weapons, which some do not have, fighting only with their bodies. Aside from the initial ten, the player can unlock three hidden characters to use them only in the "Versus Mode". The outset characters are Axl Low, Chipp Zanuff, Dr. Baldhead, Kliff Undersn, Ky Kiske, May, Millia Rage, Potemkin, Sol Badguy—the main character—, and Zato-1, while Baiken, Justice, and Testament are boss characters that are unlockable.

Development and release

Daisuke Ishiwatari has conceived the game before joining Arc System Works, during the period he was in a vocational school. Eventually, Ishiwatari entered the company, where he was working on other things until the day he revealed to the president he wanted to make a game in Street Fighter-likeness. With the president's acceptance, Ishiwatari started to work on it along with a cast of about 12 people, the so-called "Team Neo Blood", lasting a year and a half in its development. With influences of the manga Bastard‼, Ishiwatari created the series hoping it would appeal not only to game fans but to anime fans too. Originally, the game was designed with rendered 3-D visuals, but this was later replaced by hand-drawn artwork.

Ishiwatari was convinced that the game "should be something difficult" because he saw fighting games trying to appeal to casual players and failing on it. He explained his main focus was to create a product that would satisfy its players, and that could "expand the possibilities of the game itself." A different layout of buttons, "one of the things that defined" the game, was necessary because "we wanted to come up with something different to the other games – it needed to be different." For this reason, the instant-kill techniques were added; its function was also to add tension to the fight—as someone who was winning could be defeated suddenly—, "something we really wanted to be a strong theme for the game."

Guilty Gear was first released in Japan on May 14, 1998 for the PlayStation by Arc System Works. In August of the same year, Arc System Works licensed a North American release to Atlus. The company let players choose the game's box art by voting for their favorites from three available box arts. When the contest ended, Atlus released the game on October 31, 1998. In Europe, it was licensed and published by Studio 3 in May 2000.

Reception

Reviews for it were generally positive, with an aggregate score of 78.44% from GameRankings. PlayStation Power reported that both Japanese and American reviewers commended the combination of humor and "futuristic manga-style" action, and the variety of moves and combos. IGN staff said it would be well received by fans of traditional 2D fighting video games and considered it one of the bests of the genre on PlayStation. Writing for Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM), a reviewer dubbed "Sushi" said it is the second best 2D fighter on PlayStation behind Street Fighter Alpha 2. Harry Slater of Pocket Gamer and Eurogamer's Wesley Yin-Poole affirmed it has been regarded "by many to be the greatest 2D, one on one fighter of the era" and "the greatest fighting game off all time", respectively.

Its graphics have been well received by James Mielke of GameSpot, who qualified it as "fast and fluid animation". Allgame's Michael L. House also used the latter adjective. Writing for Eurogamer, Tom Bramwell noted "The classic 'cartoon' look suits Guilty Gear perfectly", and Randy Nelson from IGN qualified it as "unrivaled animation quality". Slater stated "it's one of the coolest 2D fighters from a time when 2D fighters just weren't cool". In opposition, Ed Lomas of Computer and Video Games declared, "The graphics aren't great, but a lot of effort has been put into certain characters, especially in terms of animation. An EGM reviewer deemed the graphics and animation as "the big draw" of Guilty Gear, while a Jeuxvideo.com contributor said it could be "more polished".

Its gameplay has been praised, with Mielke, House, and Nelson describing it as "fast, [and] furious". Conversely, Play criticized its speed as "Guilty Gear takes it away too far." Lomas praised its combo system, and compared to Street Fighter Alpha games, while IGN staff also commended its "over-the-top" combos. Bobba Fatt of GamePro, however, complained about the difficult to perform some special moves. Mielke declared it is "one of the few non-Capcom or SNK 2D fighters to make any sort of impact on the genre." Though stated Capcom was still the best developer, Nelson said Guilty Gear is "better than 90% of those [2D fighting games] on the market". Similarly, Jeuxvideo.com writer thought it was the game that "finally provide a valid alternative to Capcom's hegemony" in the niche.

While Lomas called the characters "unoriginal", "OK" and "cool-looking" were used by John R and Shawn from EGM to describe the characters. Nelson, on other hand, called them "the best ... outside Capcom/SNK", and Mielke found they "truly awesome", noting their diversity "keeps Guilty Gear fresh". House declared "superb is the only way to describe them", asserting they are all "pretty original". Jeuxvideo.com commentator wrote that they are "varied enough not to bore", while Fatt praised the characters' uniqueness as each have "distinct looks and strategies."

Jeuxvideo.com reviewer praised its music and sound, while Mielke said its combination create "a truly awesome sound experience". Conversely, House and Nelson felt it "is very unoriginal", and "[s]trictly average", respectively. Most of criticism, however, is directed to how the AI makes the game difficult and how there are some attacks that cause too much damage. EGM's four critics consensus was that the worst feature of the game was the balance of characters. Both Nelson and Bramwell felt the aforementioned problemes are the two major issues of the game. On this matter, House commented "the computer will destroy you a lot", and that "[a] few characters can execute attacks that really take off way too much damage and this is real the problem with the game". In spite of it, Game Informer considered the instant-kill move to be the "biggest" concept introduced by Guilty Gear.

Lomas did a more negative review, saying it "is initially totally unappealing, with ... nothing that hasn't been done loads of times before", and Game Informer has named the game one of the top ten weirdest of all time. In contrast, most of critics were positive in the statements that summarize their opinions. Mielke said it "is as good as it gets", and it was described by House as "just a solid, well executed 2D fighting game that has class, personality and a great engine". Nelson declared "[n]o true fan of the genre should be without a copy", and Bramwell urged "If 2D beat-em-ups are moving toward extinction, they really are ending on a high note with stuff like this." In retrospect, Evan Shamoon wrote for the Official Dreamcast Magazine that Guilty Gear is one of the most "beloved-yet-under-appreciated" games, commenting it defined itself for its balance, "wonderful art design", and "extremely tigh control."

Legacy

The Guilty Gear game was the first installment of the series that is considered a cult classic among video game fans. It was followed by four direct sequels, Guilty Gear X (2000), Guilty Gear X2 (2002), Guilty Gear 2: Overture (2007), Guilty Gear Xrd (2014), and several spin-offs. Arc System Works rereleased Guilty Gear in a "reprinted edition" (復刻版, Fukkoku-ban) on September 22, 1999 for a cheaper price. It later became available by download on PlayStation Store as a PSone Classic in Japan on May 31, 2007, in Europe on January 7, 2010, and in PAL region on January 8, 2010. It was also released as a mobile game for PlayStation certified devices in 2012.

Other media

In the same year of the game release, a strategy guide titled Official Walkthrough Fanbook Guilty Gear Complete Bible (公式攻略ファンブック　ギルティ・ギア　コンプリートバイブル, Kōshiki Kōryaku Fanbukku Giruti Gia Konpurīto Baiburu) was released by Takarajimasha on May 28 in Japan.

Following the game's original release, a soundtrack album was released by Nippon Columbia on May 21, 1998. Guilty Gear Original Sound Collection was composed by Ishiwatari, Takahiro Uematsu, Hatsuaki Takami, Takuya Moritou, arranged by Yasuharu Takanashi, and consisting mostly of rock and heavy metal music.

The album was well received by critics; Don Kotowski of Square Enix Music called the tracks "very enjoyable", but he felt it is "less refined" than subsequent soundtracks. Another reviewer from the same site, GoldfishX, said the only drawback the disc has is the mastering of the CD which can difficult to hear the guitars on rhythm in some tracks. As it is not a problem related to composition, he gave a perfect score to the soundtrack.

Several themes featured in the game, such as "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead)", were used in subsequent games, and its soundtrack as a whole became one of the aspects the series is most known for.