gameing

I consider myself mildly susceptible to hyperfixations. Nothing has ever gripped my attention as quickly and aggressively as Guilty Gear.

Guilty Gear is a series of fighting games created by Daisuke Ishiwatari and published by Arc System Works. The first game, subtitled as The Missing Link, was released on May 14, 1998 for the Playstation. Since then, there have been multiple releases, including those for home consoles and arcades. Most recently, Guilty Gear Strive was released in 2021, and is still being updated with new DLC.

The story of Guilty Gear can be rather complex, and some of the background is found in materials outside of the games, such as in manga and drama CDs. The basic premise is that magic was discovered in (what was at the time of release) the near future, and humans begin trying to combine magic with biology. This creates powerful beings called "Gears," which the U.S. Government hopes to use as military arsenal. However, the Gears do not obey the orders of their creators, and begin the attack humans. In an effort to control them, researchers work to turn a human into a "command class" Gear, which would have control over all Gears. They create Justice, who soon turns on them and begins the Crusades, a 100-year war between Gears and all of humanity. Finally, Justice is defeated and locked away in a dimensional prison where she waits to be resurrected. The first game picks up when a tournament is announced, and the 10 playable characters join to fight to the top.

There is so so so much more to Guilty Gear. All of that happens before the first game, and that was a basic summary. I didn't even name any other characters. But, of course, if I keep explaining all the story and background and events that I enjoy this post will be much too long. DM me if you wanna hear more lol.

Before we get into the games I've played and what I like about them, I want to take some time to tell you about what I like about the series as a whole. First off, the soundtrack is incredible. From the oldest game to the newest installment, I love more songs than I can keep track of. I actually have a Guilty Gear playlist on Spotify which I listen to frequently if you want to have a listen for yourself. The characters are really great, and I have a lot of favorites. My general mains are Chipp Zanuff and Anji Mito, although I enjoy playing very many characters. In terms of the characters themselves, though, I like so so so many of them. Some of my favorites besides my mains are Answer, Sol Badguy, Sin Kiske, Bedman, Slayer, Baiken, and Potemkin. There aren't really any characters I dislike, to be honest. The games are also just really fun to play. I had never picked up a fighting game before I tried Guilty Gear, but then Smiley got me into it and now it's the only thing I do with my free time lol. We've also gotten many Marsupials into it, including Zag, Jay, and Nick! We play REV 2 together since thats the game we all have at the moment :) Smiley, Zag, and I also play a WHOLE LOT of Strive now that I've bought it

I figure the best way to organize this list is chronologically. Conveniently, the games I care about the most were released in the order that I experienced them. So, the first game I played in the series was Plus R!

As the long name suggests, this game was the last of a series of updated versions for the original Guilty Gear X2, which was released in 2002. To give you an idea of the life cycle of the game, this final installment was released ten years later, and tournaments for it still occur regularly. This was the last game to use the classic Guilty Gear graphics, which use a 2D pixel style for everything, including sprites, stages, and menus. The sounds in this game alone make it fun to play. They're really crunchy and good. Unlike the games released since, it isn't exactly... newbie-friendly lol. I had an easy enough time learning how to play on my own, but there is so much that they don't explain, such as what different moves do or what certain icons mean. Still, now that I know the game, I really like playing this one.

Plus R has 25 playable characters. I can decently play a few of of them, but I like them all at least conceptually. My main in this game is Anji Mito, but I also like to play Chipp Zanuff, Slayer, Sol Badguy, and Order Sol.

One thing I will say is that sometimes X2 is REALLY hard. It's not as mistake-friendly as the newer games, but it's definitely still a ton of fun to play. It's pretty cheap on Steam at $15, but I got it on sale for something like $3.

The next game I played, and my favorite, was Xrd REV 2. As the third and final revision of Xrd, it was released in 2017, three years after the original Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-.

I think a lot of people would agree that this is probably the best Guilty Gear game. It changed a lot about the series as a whole. First, they started using 3D models rather than 2D sprites, which allowed for animated cutscenes within matches and in the story. They also introduced fishing, which everyone knows is what makes a video game good, and doing so unlocks cool things like alternate character palettes, additional content like music and interviews, and the beloved digital figures, which is where you can collect figurines of characters and display them. The gameplay also became more beginner-friendly, with different game modes designed to teach the basics and advanced mechanics of the game. The inputs for many characters also got more streamlined and simpler to execute. Most notably, they implemented the ability to choose technical or stylish play. Technical uses your regular inputs and command list, while stylish adds a special button that let's you input many of your specials, at the cost of a bit of defense.

REV 2 has a roster of 25 playable characters, and I think they are more balanced than previous games have been. Out of those, I like pretty much all of them :) I main Chipp Zanuff and I also like to play Sol Badguy, Sin Kiske, Slayer, Johnny, Answer, Leo Whitefang, and Jam Kuradoberi.

REV 2 is a bit more expensive, but not crazy. You can find it on Steam for $30, or catch it during a sale like I did. I really highly recommend this game, most of any of the three!

Last (for now) is Guilty Gear Strive, the newest main series game.

If you've been on the internet in the past year, you probably at least heard of Strive, or maybe one of it's characters. This is because there was a lot of talk about it after they released Bridget for the Season 2 DLC, who is now officially a trans girl and has an adorable design. Since then, there have been countless posts and videos on how to get into fighting games with Strive, and for good reason: not only is it currently in the public eye more than other games have been, but it's also decidedly one of the easiest fighting games out there to pick up and play. They simplified many of the inputs even more than REV did, made the input reads more forgiving, and even added detailed descriptions and visuals of how different moves and combos work in the game. Unfortunately, this isn't without complaint, as some people (like me) are upset by how some of the characters lost half their command list in favor of simplicity, or how they got rid of instant-kills which was one of the things that set GG apart back in the day. Still, I think there are a lot of positives. Additionally, this game moves even more into the 3D side of things. Cutscenes have gotten even more visually interesting, stages have multiple areas which can be reached by wall-breaking—a new, scary way to get your ass beat—and they've once again implemented the digital figures feature.

I finally purchased my own copy of this game! I play a lot with Smiley and Zag and we have a lot of fun :) My favorite characters to play as out of the current roster (which will continue to expand until 2024, I think) are Chipp Zanuff, Anji Mito, Sol Badguy, Sin Kiske, Bridget, and Zato-1.

If you're interested in this game, it's on Steam for $40-$80. Price depends on if you buy DLC, which includes characters you otherwise wouldn't have access to. I honestly don't think it's worth it to buy this game at full price, but that's just me. Do what you love. Follow your dreams.