Fighting Games Friday: Is Guilty Gear 2020 Heaven or Hell?

New installments in fighting games always come with notable changes compared to their predecessors, and the new Guilty Gear title (referred to as Guilty Gear 2020 by fans, since there’s no official name yet) is no exception. But this became a big concern for the fanbase just after its reveal, when series creator, director, character designer, and composer Daisuke Ishiwatari posted a statement about the development team’s intent for this newest title. Ishiwatari claimed it would be a reconstruction of the series and would act as a bridge that connects people. This implied that its game systems would be simpler compared to previous installments, but fans feared oversimplification.

Arc System Works has now shown a significant amount of gameplay footage, and while some fans feel their fears were justified, others are fine with what they’ve seen. Debate about the changes is tearing the fanbase apart, and they can’t agree about whether it’s Heaven or Hell. The title of this post isn’t entirely there for show.

Six characters have been revealed thus far: Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, May, Axl-Low, and the just-revealed Chipp Zanuff and Potemkin. The developers and English streamers took time to stream the game following the reveal of the last two characters, detailing all the changes along the way. The list is quite extensive compared to the preceding Guilty Gear Xrd titles.

Ostensibly minor changes will actually make for big alterations. The increased frames for throws will make them a bit more difficult to land, and they’re risker to use thanks to the addition of throw whiff animations. Several longer combos characters (and their players) could use in previous games are gone, with shorter-but-damaging combos in their place. Combos that have been part of the franchise for decades will no longer be possible. Normal attacks performed from the ground can be blocked in the air, like in many other fighting games. While chip damage (damage from blocking) still exists, this will no longer cause a KO when a character’s life bar has been depleted.

Other changes are significant right on paper. Knocking characters down is harder to do, but if a successful knockdown is performed, a quick off-the-ground attack is possible. Corner combos will eventually break the wall and knock the opponent into an alternate segment of the stage, to prevent players from feeling trapped in the corner with few ways to escape for too long. As compensation, the character that knocks the opponent into the segment will build their Tension meter faster. Fatal Counters will now trigger a special animation to indicate how damaging they are to players. Lastly, the ability to stun and stagger the opponent is gone, along with the admittedly-divisive Danger Time feature from the Xrd games.

Returning features either work similarly or have been slightly altered. Bursts work as they always have, but Roman Cancels can be used for more extensive combos on grounded or airborne opponents.

Several of these changes will make this installment less intimidating to pick up and play compared to previous installments, especially the shorter combos and deemphasis on corner games. It doesn’t have auto-combos like other Arc System Works games, though that’s still an option through the Stylish Mode; but the changes are enough for some fans are panicking over the possibility of it being too dumbed down. The new GG title will feel like a different game compared to previous installments, but whether that will be for the better is hard to say. I wish I had a better answer here other than “try the game for yourself before completely judging it,” but there you go.

It’s been a while since I’ve even been halfway good at a GG game, and I’m no longer in the mood to spend hours upon hours learning combos and the intricacies of gameplay systems in Training Mode these days. The changes sound good to me, and I’m not alone with that attitude. But I also understand why fans are skeptical, outside anyone hyperbolic for the apparent sake of it. The developers mentioned how they’re still taking feedback into account, but whether they’ll make serious changes from here remains to be seen. There’s also the chance of skeptics liking it when they get to play it for themselves.

If there’s one thing fans can agree on, it’s the excellent presentation. The game is a sight to behold, with animations that dwarf even Arc System Works’ previous efforts in this style — namely, the GGXrd games, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and the upcoming Granblue Fantasy: Versus. The themes accompanied by Naoki Hashimoto’s vocals were among the most popular in the Xrd games, so they appear to have answered that by making every theme a vocal one. I say “appear to” because these could be placeholder themes intended to be used in other parts of the game, though I hope that’s not the case. Arc also answered fans’ requests by releasing the now-memetic “Smell of the Game,” promotional theme on streaming services.

The new Guilty Gear is scheduled for a release sometime in 2020, hence the “Guilty Gear 2020” fan name. It will be playable at the ArcREVO World Tour Finals on November 16th and 17th, and fans who go hands-on will undoubtedly have a lot to say about what they experienced.

Meanwhile, another character besides Samurai Shodown’s Haohmaru was confirmed for the second season of Soulcalibur VI: Hilde. She debuted in Soulcalibur IV and returned in V, and stood out thanks to her strong sense of justice and duty compared to other characters and her fully-armored default outfit. That’s not quite the case for her SCVI appearance, to no surprise given this game’s trends. Her personality’s still intact, but she’s equipped with boob armor this time. Hopefully she’s just as fun to play. though without the game-breaking Ring Out combos like in SCIV.

As I’ve said in many, many previous posts: The fighting game news never ends. Stick around for more, though don’t be surprised if I have a feature to post in subsequent weeks — maybe even next week.