Fighting Games Friday: A Release Date to Strive For

From an aesthetic standpoint, Guilty Gear Strive has looked fantastic since its reveal at Evo 2019. Its animation is notably improved from the already-impressive-looking Guilty Gear Xrd titles. But Strive’s promotional campaign has been uneven. Announcements of the roster additions have continued to be worth celebrating, despite not every highly-requested character making it. But the gameplay changes have been divisive compared to its predecessors, with developer Arc System Works’ desire to make a title that’s easier to play for a larger audience. The closed beta did little to change that perception among its most vocal critics. The campaign was also partially thrown off kilter through no fault of its own thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, partially responsible for the game being delayed from a release this fall to early next year.

The campaign is back on track now, following a stream that showed off a new character and small changes made to the core game. This is, of course, not suggesting that every vocal fan is impressed with the newest showing.

Nagoriyuki won’t be the only new character in Strive; he’ll be joined by Giovanna. She’s an officer born in Brazil who works in a special ops unit that protects the President of the United States, a country that still exists in a noteworthy form in the Guilty Gear universe. She primarily uses her long legs to fight, but also gets assistance from wolf Stand companion Rei. Her design brings to mind Vanessa from SNK’s The King of Fighters series with a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure-style Stand, and works as a counterpart thanks to Giovanna primarily using her legs instead of a street boxing style which relies on fist use like Vanessa. Her name, combined with her companion, also make her sound like a shout out to Giorno Giovanna from JoJo’s fifth part, Golden Wind. That could be bullshit, but I’d believe it.

The trailer also teased the return of Anji Mito, remarkably the first returning who didn’t appear in the Xrd games. His last appearance was in the Guilty Gear X series.

If you’re hoping for more returning characters from the older games like Anji, that’s unlikely for the initial roster. The game will launch with 15 characters, 14 of which are known, and chances are the final roster entry will be the final boss. This seems low for a new fighting game, but it’s a normal amount for a new Arc System Works title that isn’t a successor to a prior title. There’s no clue as to who the final character could be, but there are plenty of guesses (or perhaps “hopes”) for the illusive-yet-omnipresent series villain That Man. Their identity will be revealed sometime after Anji is properly shown.

More gameplay was also shown on the stream, this time featuring characters who weren’t available in the closed beta earlier this year, like Millia Rage, Zato-1, and Nagoriyuki. Seeing the game in action here made it clear that the development team has no intention of altering the core gameplay much compared to previous demonstrations. Balance adjustments have been made, with specific combos and command throws doing less damage, but simpler combos and arena wall destruction to prevent prolonged corner traps aren’t going anywhere. The matches themselves, which featured tournament players, were nonetheless entertaining.

Arc System Works notably listened to one point of criticism concerning Nagoriyuki’s face. His overall design is great, but the reddish lips were an unfortunate touch that brought to mind caricatures of black people. They’ve fortunately fixed it by darkening his lips, alone proof that they’re taking even the smallest criticisms seriously.

Strive will release worldwide on April 9th for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Steam, but anyone who purchases the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions will get the game three days earlier on April 6th. That’s three extra days in the lab to hone combos, to give higher-paying players a leg up on the online competition. Every sign suggests Arc won’t offer a next-gen upgrade, which blows, but at least no one’s told them how some publishers are charging $70 for their next-gen games. Think of the little victories.

This is a modern fighting game release, so of course there will be a Season Pass. It will eventually offer five more characters, two more stages, five extra colors for each character, and an extra “Another Story” scenario. Heavily requested characters that didn’t make the base roster could be among the DLC offerings. Also, anyone who purchases the game early will have the option to swap colors for Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske for a very fun time.

In the meantime, keep your eye out for info on the open beta test. Additionally, Arc System Works is uploading the story sequences for the Xrd games to their YouTube account.

One week after announcing Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (which I still think should be “Ultimate Mortal Kombat 11”), NetherRealm Studios has released the first gameplay trailer for one of its returning characters: Rain. True to his name, he uses the power of water with many attacks, though he doesn’t quite bend it if you get my drift. My favorite attack is the Fatality shown in the trailer, which bears a hell of a resemblance to Krillin’s Destructo Disc/Kienzan from the Dragon Ball series. Rain will release on November 17th as part of the Kombat Pack 2 DLC, alongside Mileena and new guest character John Rambo.

You may have noticed that fighting game news is starting to come at a good pace again, perhaps due to companies adjusting their schedules during the pandemic. Don’t be surprised if there’s another entry like this next week, though I’m not guaranteeing it.