205-620: Guilty Gear Strive (stylized as GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- ) is a fighting video game developed and published by Arc System Works . It is the seventh mainline installment of the Guilty Gear series, and the 25th overall. The game was released for PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 and Windows in June 2021, for Japanese arcades in July 2021, and for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in March 2023, with
410-483: A 3rd Strike semi-final match held at Evolution Championship Series 2004 (Evo 2004) between Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong . During this match, Umehara made an unexpected comeback by parrying 15 consecutive hits of Wong's "Super Art" move using Chun-Li while Umehara had only one pixel on his health bar. Umehara subsequently won the match. "Evo Moment #37" is frequently described as the most iconic and memorable moment in
615-408: A Nintendo Switch port scheduled for a January 2025 release. Guilty Gear Strive received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its visuals, gameplay and netcode , and has sold over 3 million copies as of July 2024. Intended as a "complete reconstruction of the franchise", Guilty Gear Strive retains the core essence of the series but revamps many features and mechanics, except for
820-623: A Gear becomes slower, due to being shot by Chaos with the same material which created Nagoriyuki's katanas. He arrives at Washington as guest of the White House during a peace meeting with Asuka, where the Gear Maker is targeted by Chaos and I-No for the possession of the Tome of Origin. Sol's story concludes as he lets Asuka remove the Flame of Corruption from him to restore his humanity. Despite
1025-485: A Gear by the Post-War Administration Bureau for the purposes of experimenting and developing new weapons. Unlike most Gears, they still retained their sense of self. However, Justice turned them against humanity, and they found themself on the opposite side of the war from which they started, causing them to become cynical and filled with regret after being freed from Justice's mind control at
1230-517: A bakery shop. Slayer ( スレイヤー , Sureiyā ) is one of the few surviving species a nearly extinct ancient vampire race Nightless ( ナイトレッスン , Naitoressu ) , who founded the Assassins Guild. He comes out of hiding when the Guild dives into chaos after Zato's disappearance. Cultured and debonair, Slayer enjoys haiku and spends his time with his wife Sharon, another immortal. He also has
1435-604: A being similar to that of Zato's Forbidden Beast, Eddie. In XX , Millia has three different endings. In the first, faces Slayer just before she is about to confront Eddie. After a fight Millia manages to hold her ground but is unable to defeat him, Slayer tells Millia that her hair is of the same origins as Eddie, though Millia says she already knows it. In the second ending, she defeats Slayer and subsequently kills Eddie. The third ending shows that, after killing Eddie, she buries Zato's body. In Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus (2008), Millia sets off to find and kill Eddie and destroy
1640-571: A best-of-three matches format like later fighting games, and has training bonus stages . The Player vs Player edition of Karate Champ , released later that year, is also the first fighting game to allow two-player duel. It influenced Konami 's Yie Ar Kung Fu , released in October 1984. The game drew heavily from Bruce Lee films, with the main player character Oolong modelled after Lee (like in Bruceploitation films). In contrast to
1845-475: A boxing game featuring a behind-the-character perspective, maneuvers such as blocking and dodging, and stamina meters that are depleted or replenished by blows. Karate Champ was developed by Technōs Japan and released by Data East in May 1984, and is credited with establishing and popularizing the one-on-one fighting game genre. A variety of moves can be performed using the dual-joystick controls. It uses
2050-519: A brutal and gruesome finishing move onto the defeated opponent. Prompted by the announcer saying "Finish Him!", players have a short time window to execute a Fatality by entering a specific button and joystick combination while positioned at a specific distance from the opponent. The Fatality and its derivations are arguably the most notable features of the Mortal Kombat series with cultural impact and controversies . Fighting games often include
2255-547: A captain of the IPF after rescuing a beaten Dizzy and entrusting her to Johnny 's care. When he returns to work, Ky is thrust into a new conspiracy which includes robot clones of himself—called Robo-Ky ( ロボカイ , Robokai ) —, a secret organization, I-No , and his rival, Sol Badguy. In its sequel, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus (2008), after discovering Post-War Administration Bureau 's interest in Dizzy, Ky abandons his post in
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#17327946010272460-411: A character's health, and the round continues until a fighter's health reaches zero. Hence, the main goal is to completely deplete the health bar of one's opponent, thus achieving a " knockout ". Games such as Virtua Fighter also allow a character to be defeated by forcing them outside of the arena, awarding a "ring-out" to the victor. The Super Smash Bros. series allows players to send fighters off
2665-468: A demon-like sorcerer Happy Chaos. With the help of Anji and Chipp, during Chaos' terrorist attack on the U.S. white house, or rather an airship Tir Na Nog, Millia and the rest of the world learned the true identity of I-No's accomplish, his past relation to Asuka and the previous events. After I-No's demise at the hands of Sol Badguy (now a human named Fredrick Bulsara), Millia and Zato are last seen being regular customers of Venom and Robo-Ky's Bakery. Millia
2870-469: A fight against Dizzy , who has a half-million dollar bounty on her head. However, he spares her life in all of them, losing against her in his second ending, and judging that she is not a threat to the world in the other two. In the subsequent game, Guilty Gear X2 (2002), his story-line involved chasing down I-No . In his first ending, his defeat of I-No led to a direct confrontation with Asuka, who casually deflected all of Sol's attacks, saying that Sol
3075-470: A fixed-size arena along a two-dimensional plane , where characters navigate the plane horizontally by walking or dashing, and vertically by jumping. Some games allow limited movement in 3D space, such as Tekken , while some are set in fully three-dimensional environments without restricting characters' movement, such as Power Stone and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm ; these are sometimes referred to as "3D arena" fighting games. The fighting game genre
3280-487: A fully recovered Jack-O interrogates I-No, when she suddenly surrendered herself on purpose after releasing Happy Chaos from Ariels' body. Ky and Jack-O suspect there might be more than just one traps during Chaos' invasion in U.S. white house, or rather, the airship Tir Na Nog. Ky and Jack-O arrive on time, after Sol, Asuka and U.S. president Vernon got rid of Happy Chaos at a same time witnessing Asuka reverting Sol back to his former human-self Frederick Bulsara through removing
3485-511: A game that featured unprecedentedly detailed pre-rendered 3D graphics and vastly improved on the core concept of combos, presenting a way faster gameplay than most other games of that era, specific combo-breaker maneuvers, and the "Ultra", a series of combined finishing moves surpassing the number of 20 hits. Many of the games of that period were low budget clones of the more popular games, and in some cases this led to controversy; in 1994, Capcom USA took unsuccessful legal action against Data East over
3690-509: A god-killer weapon Outrage, thereby saving the universe from being destroyed and reset multiple times. In the epilogue, he and Dizzy are visited by Testament, introducing them to their new family. In the epilogue of Another Story A, set after the White House incident in the main story, Ky, and his son and wife, Sin and Dizzy are at the Illyrian Castle to celebrate the latter’s ceremonial welcome as an official Gear representative leader to
3895-417: A greater number of animations, but otherwise play like those rendered in two dimensions. Games that are fully three-dimensional without a 2D plane are sometimes referred to as "3D arena" fighting games. Aside from restricting movement space, fighting games confine the player's actions to offensive and defensive maneuvers. Players must learn each game's effective combinations of attacks and defenses. Blocking
4100-598: A hard time understanding higher level play and lose interest in watching or improving. Unlike other entries, detailed explanations of the game's mechanics are absent from the game's tutorial as to "[...] show new players that it is possible to enjoy fighting games without knowing about the battle mechanics [...]". The game's network play also does not include a Ranked Mode, a gameplay mode in videogames that match players based on their skill level, measured by matches won, as to not force players to constantly improve against more skilled opponents and to play at their own pace. The game
4305-482: A hit when countering zoning. The opposite of turtling , rushdown refers to a number of specific aggressive strategies, philosophies, and play styles across all fighting games. The general goal of a rushdown play style is to overwhelm the opponent and force costly mistakes, either by using fast, confusing setups or by taking advantage of an impatient opponent as they are forced to play defense for prolonged periods of time. Rushdown players often favor attacking opponents in
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#17327946010274510-403: A kind blonde man from her past. In private, Jack-O' reveals to Sol and Ky Kiske that I-No is "incomplete" and must join with her other half to achieve godhood. She suggests sacrificing herself to turn I-No into a regular human, but Sol refuses. Realizing something will happen at G4, Sol leaves for the U.S. with the third Illyrian King Daryl, while Milla Rage and Zato-1 are enlisted by Daryl to aid
4715-403: A laser cannon. Nagoriyuki reveals Chaos' true weakness is on his right palm and helps Sol land the shot, mortally wounding I-No. In her last moments, I-No realizes Axl was the blonde man from her past and dies happy. In the aftermath, "Sol" is given a funeral, having retired as a scientist under his original name, Frederick. He lives with Jack-O' and works on a rocket to visit Asuka, who now hosts
4920-459: A legendary hero since the previous event, Sol remains a bounty hunter, now accompanied by a fully recovered Jack-O, and the nation often goes to Ky to message Sol for urgent matters. Having had taken a request from a weakened Ariels to stop I-No, Sol realizes that Happy Chaos, a demon-like sorcerer who possessed Ariels body and formerly Asuka's mentor known as The Original had been manipulating entire events alongside I-No herself. Sol's healing power as
5125-432: A man called Tsuyoshi ( 毅 ) . He offered Chipp into his care, and trained Chipp in the art of Ninjutsu . They lived peacefully together until an assassin syndicate ordered Tsuyoshi's killing. Chipp, in an attempt to pursue the culprits responsible, entered the second sacred order tournament in order to get him a lead in his travels. Sometime during the events of XX onward, Chipp founded a kingdom called East Chipp Kingdom in
5330-604: A monster. By Guilty Gear Xrd (2014), Millia had made peace with Venom and worked together with him to find the resurrected Zato-1. Working with a reformed Assassin Guilt led by Zato-1, Millia became a new director of a reformed Post-War Administration Bureau in Guilty Gear Strive (2021). Both Millia and Zato are summoned by the third king of Illirya Kingdom, Daryl to investigate I-No's next plan, after she took something from an imprisoned Ariels, later revealed to be
5535-576: A noble first king of Illriya, Ky Kiske and has a son named Sin, Dr. Paradigm begin to work for the kingdom. Izuna ( イズナ ) is another playable character who made his debut in Guilty Gear 2: Overture . Along with Valentine , Izuna also comes from the Backyard . Izuna is a Japanese fox spirit from a mysterious race called the Yokai . Unlike most spirits of his kind, Izuna gained a physical form through
5740-555: A number of games that sparked another surge in fighting game popularity. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in early March 2008 to universal acclaim and went on to set a new record in sales, at one point selling at 120 units per minute. Another game was Street Fighter IV , the series' first mainline title since Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike in 1999, which was released in early 2009 also to critical acclaim, having garnered praise since its debut at Japanese arcades in July 2008. The console versions of Street Fighter IV , as well as
5945-407: A once lawless southern part of Africa. During Ariels' descent to madness, he is the first to discover that she is possessed by Happy Chaos, the true mastermind who manipulated the events and used Asuka as a scapegoat for the cause he did not commit. Justice ( ジャスティス , Jasutisu ) is the original Command Class Gear, created by Asuka from Aria as a means to end war. Through Happy Chaos's influence,
6150-406: A personal connection with Gabriel, the president of Zepp, but seems to be acquainted with all of the movers and shakers of the Guilty Gear universe. He has the apparent motive of either observing the cast, or warning them of being targeted by the Post-War Administration Bureau . He personally knows "That Man"/Asuka and that character seems to hold him in high regard since he apologizes to Slayer. He
6355-431: A player at any time. The game also introduced pressure-sensitive controls that determine the strength of an attack, though due to causing damaged arcade cabinets, Capcom replaced it soon after with a six-button control scheme offering light, medium, and hard punches and kicks, which became another staple of the genre. In 1988, Home Data released Reikai Dōshi: Chinese Exorcist , also known as Last Apostle Puppet Show ,
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6560-615: A popular genre for amateur and doujin developers in Japan. The 2002 title Melty Blood was developed by then-amateur developer French Bread and achieved cult success on the PC . It became highly popular in arcades following its 2005 release, and a version was released for the PlayStation 2 the following year. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the rise in online gaming . In 2004, Mortal Kombat: Deception , Dead or Alive Ultimate , and
6765-454: A radio show. Axl reunites with Megumi, his lover from the past and I-No's alternate past-self, implied to have received time travel abilities from her fallen future counterpart. In a post-credits scene, Chaos appears alone on an unknown beach. While the incident in America triggered by Asuka R. Kreutz’s surrender unfolds, Ramlethal Valentine, now a Special Brigade Commander of Illyria heads to
6970-441: A realistic fighting engine that features three-dimensional environments while abandoning time limits and health bars in favor of an innovative Body Damage System, where a sword strike to a certain body part can amputate a limb or decapitate the head. Video game enthusiasts took an interest in fictional crossovers , which feature characters from multiple franchises in a particular game. An early example of this type of fighting game
7175-469: A response to hackers of the original Street Fighter II game to add new features. However, criticism of these updates grew as players demanded a true sequel. By 1995, the dominant franchises were the Mortal Kombat series in America and the Virtua Fighter series in Japan, with Street Fighter Alpha unable to match the popularity of Street Fighter II . Throughout this period, the fighting game
7380-581: A second Sacred Order of Holy Knights at the start of Guilty Gear (1998) after hearing rumors of the possible resurrection of Justice , a Commander Gear who was in the leadership of the Gears during the Holy War. In Guilty Gear X (2000), Ky hears new rumors, these ones of a new Commander Gear that does not wish to harm humans— Dizzy . He sets out to find the flaws of his own concept of justice. In Guilty Gear X2 (2002), he returns to his normal duties as
7585-613: A series of bosses , and Enter the Dragon (1973), about an international martial arts tournament. Other inspiration is Japanese martial arts works, including the manga and anime series Karate Master (1971–1977), and Sonny Chiba 's The Street Fighter (1974). Before martial arts games, the earliest video games with fist-fighting are boxing games , featuring battles between characters with fantastic abilities and complex special maneuvers. Sega 's black-and-white boxing game Heavyweight Champ , released for arcades in 1976,
7790-487: A set number of lives (called stocks) for each player (usually three), and if the score is tied between two or more fighters when time runs out, then a " sudden death " match will take place by delivering a single hit to an opponent with 300% damage. Fighting games widely feature health bars , introduced in Yie Ar Kung-Fu in 1984, which are depleted as characters sustain blows. Each successful attack will deplete
7995-493: A set number of rounds (typically three ), beginning with the announcer's signal. If the score is tied after an even number of rounds (such as 1-1), then the winner is decided in the final round. Round decisions can also be determined by time over, which judge players based on remaining health to declare a winner. In the Super Smash Bros. series, the rules are different. Instead of rounds, the games usually give players
8200-545: A sickness. She fights her enemies in a similar same style to Dr. Baldhead, using a syringe that once belonged to her late mother. She appeared in the WonderSwan exclusive game Guilty Gear Petit and its sequel, Guilty Gear Petit 2 . Her endings in both games show a big connection with Dr. Baldhead. In the first she is wondering why Dr. Baldhead disappeared; in the second she is saying goodbye because she knows she will never see him again. Robo-Ky ( ロボカイ , Robokai )
8405-473: A single-player campaign or tournament, where the player must defeat a sequence of several computer-controlled opponents. Winning the tournament often reveals a special story-ending cutscene , and some games also grant access to hidden characters or special features upon victory. Tekken introduced the concept of story modes in 1994 with the first arcade full motion video cutscenes for each character's victory. In most fighting games, players may select from
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8610-599: A special operations unit officer who is accompanied by her wolf spirit, Rei. New characters have been released as downloadable content via multiple season passes ; three seasons of content are currently available, with a fourth season in development. Some of these characters first appeared in the story mode prior to becoming DLC characters. Currently, the DLC roster consists of 11 returning characters from previous installments, and five new characters: Goldlewis Dickinson , an American secretary who fights with an alien-like partner who
8815-465: A type of action game where two (in one-on-one fighting games) or more (in platform fighters ) on-screen characters fight each other. These games typically feature special moves that are triggered using rapid sequences of carefully timed button presses and joystick movements. Games traditionally show fighters from a side view, even as the genre has progressed from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) graphics. Street Fighter II , though not
9020-482: A variety of playable characters with unique fighting styles, special moves, and personalities. This became a strong convention for the genre with the release of Street Fighter II (1991), and these character choices have led to deeper game strategy and replay value. Custom character creation, or "create–a–fighter", is a feature of some fighting games that allows a player to customize the appearance and move set of their own character. Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium
9225-426: A variety of computer-controlled fighters, Street Fighter II allowed players to play against each other. The popularity of Street Fighter II surprised the gaming industry, as arcade owners bought more machines to keep up with demand. Street Fighter II was also responsible for popularizing the combo mechanic, which came about when skilled players learned that they could combine several attacks that left no time for
9430-474: A weapon to gain great power. With this power, he made himself leader of the Assassins Guild. However, as his body weakened, Eddie was able to take control until Zato-1's death at the hands of Millia Rage . While his body was taken by Eddie from Guilty Gear XX onward, after the death of his voice actor Kaneto Shiozawa , Zato-1 was resurrected by the Conclave as part of their experiment and serving them until he
9635-605: A zoo's cage. To regain his freedom, he escaped from his colony and pursued "That Man" for answers. He fights with a pair of hand-held fans called Zessen ( 絶扇 ) . It is implied that Anji stole the Zessen Wind Fans, which had been stored in the Japanese colony, before escaping. However, after Asuka turned himself in to the government and joined the world peace project in Strive , he is not "That Man" whom Anji refers to, it
9840-523: Is a basic defense against basic attacks. Some games feature more advanced blocking techniques; for example, Capcom's Street Fighter III features a move termed " parrying ", which can be immediately followed by counter-attack, skipping the temporary stun a block would have put them in. A similar stun state is termed "just defended" in SNK 's Garou: Mark of the Wolves . An integral feature of fighting games
10045-451: Is a common element of gameplay . Fighting games emphasize the height of blows, ranging from low to jumping attacks. Thus, strategy requires predicting adversarial moves, similar to rock–paper–scissors . In addition to blows, players can utilize throwing or grappling to circumvent blocks. Most fighting games allow a grapple move by pressing two or more buttons together, or simply by pressing punch or kick while being directly adjacent to
10250-435: Is a milestone 2D fighting game that raises the bar for anime-like fighters in terms of its visuals, online netcode, and sheer creativity found in all aspects of its design." GameSpot said "If you're up for a challenge, or just want a cool, sharp-looking fighting game to mess around with, Strive knows all the right moves." Guilty Gear Strive won awards for Best Fighting Game at The Game Awards 2021 and Fighting Game of
10455-411: Is also a playable character in the spin-off games Guilty Gear Petit (2001), Isuka (2003), Dust Strikers (2006), and Judgment (2006). Potemkin ( ポチョムキン , Pochomukin ) , a massive slave -soldier of Zepp, a floating continent controlled by a military dictatorship, Potemkin was forced into the first tournament by his superiors. However, during the tournament, the government of Zepp
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#173279460102710660-468: Is an alternate timeline version of William ( ウィリアム , Wiriamu ) . Chipp Zanuff ( チップ＝ザナフ , Chippu Zanafu ) was a youth who struggled to live life on the streets of America. Chipp was a drug trafficker that soon became a drug user. He found himself in a complicated situation that led to him fleeing from the Mafia. Chipp had become outnumbered and was almost dying, but his pursuers were dispatched by
10865-485: Is an artificial life-form, or homunculus , that was created by a scientist who lived within "Frasco" ( フラスコ , Furasuko ) mountain. However, before her birth, her creator was taken away by the military . A.B.A found herself alone within Frasco, and lived the first ten years of her life in total isolation until she managed to escape from Frasco. She began to collect keys to find relief from her sadness as they represented
11070-501: Is an orphan raised by the Assassin's Guild. Venom became an apprentice and the devoted right hand of Zato when he saved him from being executed by the Guild who were displeased by Venom's reluctance to kill. Once Millia began to hunt Zato and the parasite Eddie began taking more control, Venom began his quest to save his beloved master. He fights using a cue stick . In -Revelator-/Rev 2 storyline, he met and befriended Robo Ky. After
11275-481: Is at constant conflict towards his own ineptitude of being a father and a husband due to its bias regarding Gears. Ky is a playable character in Guilty Gear Xrd (2014). He entrust his old friend Leo as his replacement of being a current king of Illriya. After Dizzy's return, his son, Sin begins to call him, "dad", much to Ky's happiness to hear it from his son. In the final chapters of the story mode during
11480-751: Is composed of young women, but when it comes to the protection of his crew, Johnny is a selfless acting man who will protect the lives of his crewmates as well as others if need be. He is protective of Dizzy, defending her from bounty hunters in Guilty Gear X and I-No's attack in Guilty Gear XX . He fights with a wood-handled Japanese sword and uses the Iaidō style of swordsmanship. Johnny made an NPC appearance again in Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- before returning as playable in Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- and Guilty Gear Strive . Venom ( ヴェノム , Venomu )
11685-414: Is considered the first video game with fist fighting. Vectorbeam 's arcade video game Warrior (1979) is sometimes credited as one of the first fighting games; in contrast to Heavyweight Champ and most later games, Warrior is based on sword fighting duels and uses a bird's-eye view . Sega 's jidaigeki -themed arcade action game Samurai , released in March 1980, features a boss battle where
11890-502: Is considered to be the "Dark Age" of fighting games. The two most prolific developers of 2D fighting games, Capcom and SNK, combined intellectual property to produce SNK vs. Capcom games. SNK released the first game of this type, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium , for its Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld at the end of 1999. GameSpot regarded the game as "perhaps the most highly anticipated fighter ever" and called it
12095-466: Is defeated by Faust. He later returns to the Assassins Guild and played a role in its reformation into a legit intelligence organization. Anji Mito ( 御津 闇慈 , Mito Anji ) , real name unknown, is among the few people born of Japanese descent. Because of this, he is protected by the government since full-blooded Japanese are an endangered race. While there are those who accept this lifestyle, Anji does not—he compares acceptance of government to living in
12300-473: Is defeated, I-No frees the powerful magic-user Happy Chaos from her body. Asuka turns himself in to U.S. president Colin Vernon E. Groubitz, intending to join the White House's G4 peace summit from a holding cell and ask the other nations for assistance in ridding the world of the Tome of Origin and Sol Badguy. The world's leaders fear an attack from I-No and hire knights from each country, including Sol Badguy, now
12505-458: Is distinctly related to the beat 'em up genre, which pits many computer-controlled enemies against one or more player characters. The first video game to feature fist fighting is Heavyweight Champ (1976), but Karate Champ (1984) actually features the one-on-one fighting game genre instead of a sports game in arcades . Yie Ar Kung-Fu was released later that year with various fighting styles and introduced health meters , and The Way of
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#173279460102712710-420: Is given a hero's burial. Now going by his original name, Frederick goes off the grid and opens a shop with Jack-O at the abandoned space station Iseo. He was also a playable character in the spin-off games Guilty Gear Petit (2001), Isuka (2003), Dust Strikers (2006), and Judgment (2006). Along with Ky Kiske, he is one of the only characters to appear in every Guilty Gear game. Orphaned at
12915-411: Is inside a coffin dubbed "U.M.A"; Happy Chaos , the overarching series antagonist; the late Bedman 's now sentient weaponized bed frame (dubbed "Bedman?"), who is accompanied by his surviving sister, Delilah ; Asuka R. Kreutz , a recurring non-player character from previous games; and Unika , a character from the forthcoming Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers anime series. Strive 's DLC also adds
13120-476: Is mitigated by technology such as GGPO , which synchronizes players by quickly rolling back to the most recent accurate game state, correcting errors, and then jumping back to the current frame. Such games include Skullgirls and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition . The first fighting games were fundamentally inspired by martial arts films , especially Bruce Lee 's Hong Kong action cinema . Films include Game of Death (1972), where Lee fights
13325-606: Is not a port , but a separately produced game based on the same premise. Capcom released Street Fighter III in 1997 which features improved 2D visuals, but is also unable to match the impact of earlier games. Excitement stirred in Japan over Virtua Fighter 3 in arcades, and Sega eventually ported the game to its Dreamcast console. Meanwhile, SNK released several fighting games on its Neo Geo platform, including Samurai Shodown II in 1994, Real Bout Fatal Fury in 1995, The Last Blade in 1997, and annual updates to its The King of Fighters franchise. Garou: Mark of
13530-453: Is not related to Dizzy, due to her mother being Justice, who was once Aria. His allies began to theorize his connection with the two female Gears, which caused Ky—Dizzy's husband—and Sol to scream out in horror at the supposed revelation that the two rivals are in-laws. After Ariels' defeat, Jack-O took Elphelt's place and fused with Justice, becoming a reincarnated Aria, and Sol revealed to his allies That Man's true identity—Asuka R. Kreutz. In
13735-569: Is not simply one character, but in fact a line of robotic copies of Ky Kiske created by the shadowy Post War Administration Bureau. For some reason, Robo-Ky is often mistaken for the real Ky Kiske and vice versa during the game's story mode, even though his face is obviously metallic, his voice is higher-pitched and robotic, and he constantly blurts out *GIGIGI* or *BZZZT* noises during story sequences. As of Xrd , there's only one Robo-Ky left who survived its last appearance in XX Accent Core ,
13940-421: Is now "cured" from S-Ko's possession and now working for a paranormal investigation team at Illyria, under direction of the third king Daryl. By the time he reunites with Faust, Zappa soon stumbled upon what Faust had been reading, realizing the true masterminds behind manipulating the Conclave to attack humanity wants something to do on annihilating the Japanese for their extra ordinary Ki. A.B.A ( アバ , Aba )
14145-629: Is one of the sealed Gears from the dimensional plane Backyard ( バックヤード , Bakkuyādo ) during the era of the Genocide Gear Justice in the Crusades. This action was done so Justice could not control his mind using her Commander Gear abilities. Paradigm was later released when the 100-year war was over. Dr. Paradigm is a strongly skilled magician with a fairly large book of magics. He has a protective bubble around him which appears to be permanent. Due to Justice's daughter, Dizzy married to
14350-729: Is the 1996 arcade release X-Men vs. Street Fighter (which later became the Marvel vs. Capcom series), featuring comic book superheroes and characters from other Capcom games. In 1999, Nintendo released the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series, which allowed match-ups from various franchises, such as Pikachu vs. Mario . In the early 2000s, the fighting genre boom turned to bust. In retrospect, multiple developers attribute its decline to its increasing complexity and specialization, and to other factors such as over-saturation . This complexity shut out casual players, and
14555-405: Is the boss of Guilty Gear Isuka . He is a good man at heart who somehow manages to control a giant Gear, his faithful dog. A killer who shows absolutely no mercy, he is also a formidable beast. Judgment was originally Raymond, a mad scientist working on the remote island of Isene and exploiting its inhabitants, trying to create a living weapon that would surpass even the Gears. He believed his work
14760-519: Is the final boss in the arcade mode. The mist steps also allow combos to be performed as a manner of "crouch dashing," or when the Mishima player could run to the opponent while crouching since regular running prevented executing easy combos. Polygonal fighters became trendy and many developers started to make them. Further all-new titles were released in 1995: Zero Divide on the PlayStation,
14965-511: Is the use of "special attacks", also called "secret moves", that employ combinations of directional inputs and button presses to perform a particular move beyond basic punching and kicking. Some special moves, which play an animation portraying an aspect of the character's personality, are referred to as taunts . Originated by Japanese company SNK in Art of Fighting (1992), these add humor, and they effect gameplay in certain games, such as improving
15170-430: Is to force an opponent to take significant risks to approach the zoning player's character, or to stall out the in-game timer, which causes the player with more health (typically the one doing the zoning) to win. The effectiveness of the latter strategy varies from game to game, based on the effectiveness of zoning tools as well as the length of the in-game timer and the rewards characters can receive for successfully landing
15375-551: Is unstable and would turn her into a suicide bomber. With the help of Bedman, whose soul now lives in his weaponized bed, Faust is able to administer a cure to permanently negate Delilah’s self destruct power at the cost of finally sacrificing Bedman and weakening Faust. Sometime after the White House incident ended, the G4 World Peace summit succeeds and Delilah is cured. The main Kiske family members (Ky, Dizzy and Sin) greets
15580-499: The Gundam: Battle Assault series. This genre is distinctly related to beat 'em ups, another action genre involving combat, where the player character must fight many enemies at the same time. Beat 'em ups, like traditional fighting games, display player and enemy health in a bar, generally located at the top of the screen. However, beat 'em ups generally do not feature combat divided into separate "rounds". During
15785-413: The Guilty Gear series, including various characters' names and moves, which were inspired by rock and heavy metal bands like Queen , Guns N' Roses , and Metallica . For instance, the main character, Sol Badguy , was named after Queen's lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury . Both his real name, Frederick, and his last name were influenced by the singer, whose nickname was "Mr. Badguy". Introduced in
15990-455: The Tekken , Soul and Dead or Alive franchises continued to release installments. Classic Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat games were re-released on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade , allowing internet play, and in some cases, HD graphics. The early part of the decade had seen the rise of competitive video gaming, referred to by the term Esports . The rise in esports saw
16195-656: The Xbox version of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection became the first fighting games to offer online multiplayer and have received positive reception from critics. While the genre became generally far less popular than it once was, arcades and their attendant fighting games remained reasonably popular in Japan during this time period, and remain so even today. Virtua Fighter 5 lacked an online mode, but still achieved success both on home consoles and in arcades; players practiced at home and went to arcades to compete face-to-face with opponents. In addition to Virtua Fighter ,
16400-462: The samurai player character confronts a boss samurai in one-on-one sword-fighting combat. One-on-one boxing games appeared on consoles with Activision 's Atari VCS game Boxing , released in July 1980, and Sega's SG-1000 game Champion Boxing (1983), which is Yu Suzuki 's debut at Sega. Nintendo 's arcade game Punch-Out was developed in 1983 and released in February 1984, as
16605-559: The "Outrage", which he called a supreme Anti-Gear weapon. The Outrage has eight components called "Jinki" (Godlike Weapons), which greatly amplify their wielders' magical ability. Later, he was himself recruited into the order, as a bounty hunter named Sol Badguy. Sol took part in the Crusades, during which he was a member of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights (Seikishidan), acquiring the nickname "Flame of Corruption" ( 背徳の炎 , Haitoku no Honō ) . However, he later became disenchanted with
16810-470: The 1980s to 1990s, publications used the terms "fighting game" and "beat 'em up" interchangeably, along with other terms such as " martial arts simulation" (or more specific terms such as " judo simulator") and "punch-kick" games. Fighting games were still being called "beat 'em up" games in video game magazines up until the end of the 1990s. With hindsight, critics have argued that the two types of game gradually became dichotomous as they evolved, though
17015-466: The 1993 arcade game Fighter's History , which supposedly plagiarized Street Fighter 2 . Data East's largest objection in court was that their 1984 arcade game Karate Champ was the true originator of the competitive fighting game genre, which predated the original Street Fighter by three years, but the reason the case was decided against Capcom was that the copied elements were scènes à faire and thus excluded from copyright. Sega AM2 debuted in
17220-458: The Assassin's Guild. In her first ending, she finishes her vendetta, as she slays Eddie. She continues to live on a run from the Assassin's Guild but did not falter in her mind and continues to keep her hair under control. In the second ending, however, she loses control of her hair and accidentally kills Bridget . As she stands horrified on her act, she is accidentally stabbed in the back by her fan, but she felt content as she died as herself, not as
17425-514: The Conclave's ambush in using Justice to attack Illriya, Ky was ambushed and being shot by the Conclave's member, Axus to death. However, Ky gets back on feet immediately to finish Axus. Upon awakened from Axus' fatal shots on him, Ky's left eye becomes red and has a gear mark, originating from a result of his relationship with Dizzy and the birth of Sin, resulting Ky to acquire a Uno Scale Gear Cell through exchanging half of his normal human eye with Sin's half of Gear eye at time after his son's birth. It
17630-658: The Crusades. After decades serving as commander, he resigned from his position and entrusted it to Ky. For the rest of the Crusades, Kliff remained as an instructor, training new recruits. With the Crusade's end and the disbanding of the Order after Justice's defeat, Kliff finally retired. But after only a couple years later, he would join the Second Holy Order Selection Tournament.and would lose his life to his own child. May ( メイ , Mei ) ,
17835-649: The Exploding Fist (1985) further popularized the genre on home systems. In 1987, Capcom 's Street Fighter introduced special attacks , and in 1991, its highly successful sequel Street Fighter II refined and popularized many genre conventions, including combos. Fighting games subsequently became the preeminent genre for video gaming in the early to mid-1990s, particularly in arcades. This period spawned dozens of other popular fighting games, including franchises like Street Fighter , Mortal Kombat , Super Smash Bros. , and Tekken . Fighting games are
18040-991: The Exploding Fist borrowed heavily from Karate Champ , but nevertheless achieved critical success and afforded the burgeoning genre further popularity on home computers in PAL regions, becoming the UK's best-selling computer game of 1985 . In North America, Data East ported Karate Champ to home computers in October 1985, becoming one of the best-selling computer games of the late 1980s. Other game developers also imitated Karate Champ , notably System 3 's computer game International Karate , released in Europe in November 1985; after Epyx released it in North America in April 1986, Data East took unsuccessful legal action against Epyx over
18245-513: The Flame of Corruption in him. Unfortunately, Sol's de-transformation back to Frederick is on a bad timing when Chaos is still on the airship, taking a form of one of Giovanna's boss from security agency, and using the real Tome of Origin which fused with Asuka to fuse the Gear Maker's former master himself with I-No, restoring her full godlike power which Chaos split. With the help of Axl Low and Chaos' former servant Nagoriyuki, Ky uses Uno's Dragon Install to weakeaned I-No, allowing Sol to kill her with
18450-401: The Flame of Corruption's removal being on a bad timing when Chaos fused with I-No into a godlike being, Sol manages to kill a godlike I-No, with the help of Ky, Axl, and a redeemed Nightless samurai Nagoriyuki. He also saves Jack-O from sacrificing herself to stop I-No, declaring his love for her as Jack-O, not as Aria. With I-No's demise, Sol is officially declared dead by the U.S. government and
18655-477: The Guild, Millia seals him within a dimensional portal, and abandons the guild shortly thereafter, finding no comfort in the cruel ways of an assassin. In Guilty Gear (1998), Millia uses the Second Holy Order's Fighting Tournament as a method of tracking down Zato, who has escaped from the dimensional prison, to kill him. However, she can not do it as she is manipulated like the rest of the cast, and
18860-905: The Season Pass 2. Ver. 1.05 added Korean voices, marking the 3rd game in the franchise to have a Korean dub, alongside Guilty Gear X Plus and Guilty Gear X2 #Reload . Versions for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S were announced at Tokyo Game Show 2022 , and were released on March 7, 2023. A port for Nintendo Switch was announced in August 2024 at PAX West , and is scheduled for release on January 23, 2025. More characters are planned for release as downloadable content , with five announced for Season Pass 1 on June 6, 2021, and four announced for Season Pass 2 on August 7, 2022. A third and fourth season pass were also announced. Guilty Gear Strive received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic . IGN said " Guilty Gear Strive
19065-459: The UK physical charts at number 26. On Steam, the number of concurrent players reached a peak of 30,939, surpassing both Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 . The game sold 500,000 copies as of July 2021 and has sold one million copies as of August 2022, becoming the best-selling title of the franchise. As of July 2024, it has sold more than 3 million copies. A sequel-based anime television series adaptation titled Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers
19270-481: The Universal Will took over Justice in an attempt to manifest into the physical world using her and the population of Japan. Asuka was forced to override Justice and force her to annihilate Japan to stop this. The ordeal shattered Aria's mind - she forgot her past and began the century-long conflict known as the Crusades, only regaining her memories as Aria when Sol killed her. However, Justice's body ended up in
19475-566: The Western-developed FX Fighter on PC and Criticom on console, and Sega's arcade Fighting Vipers - on top of Tekken 2 , an updated Battle Arena Toshinden 2 , and console ports of Tekken and Virtua Fighter 2 . A multitude of new polygonal releases arrived in 1996 from both prime and smaller developers, major games being Virtua Fighter 3 , Soul Edge , Dead or Alive , Last Bronx (in Japan), and
19680-417: The White House, where Asuka explains he intends to take the Tome and spend the rest of his life on the moon. Asuka reveals he planned to remove the Flame of Corruption from Sol's body, allowing Sol to live a normal life as "Frederick Bulsara", and reconcile their friendship. Soldiers on the ground find that the "Chaos" in the escape pod is a brainwashed guard, and the real Chaos is still on the ship. Chaos steals
19885-531: The Wolves from 1999 (part of the Fatal Fury series) was considered one of SNK's last great games; the company announced that it would close its doors in late 2001. Electronic Gaming Monthly reported that in 1996, U.S. gamers spent nearly $ 150 million on current generation fighting games, and in Japan, fighting games accounted for over 80% of video game sales. The fighting game genre continued to evolve, with several strong 3D fighting games emerging in
20090-457: The Year at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards . The PlayStation 4 version of Guilty Gear: Strive sold 11,722 physical copies during its first week of release in Japan, making it the eighth bestselling retail game of the week in the country. During the same week, the PlayStation 5 version was the twenty-second bestselling retail game in Japan, with 3,547 physical copies being sold. The game entered
20295-463: The age of 10 during the Holy War, a 100-year-war between mankind and bio-organic weapons called "Gears", he met the then-commander of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights (Seikishidan), Kliff Undersn . Ky was told to come back after five years of training if he really wanted to fight, and it was what he did. Due to the Undersn's retirement, the 16-year-old Ky Kiske was named the new chief of the Order. With
20500-536: The appointment, he was given the Fuuraiken ( 封雷剣 , Thunderseal Sword) , one of the Order's holiest treasures and a weapon that allows the wielder to manipulate lightning. He led them to win, ending the war, and with its aim reached the Order was disbanded. Five years later, Ky entered the International Police Force, where he is the captain. Ky enters a tournament that will select members for
20705-437: The arcades in 1996, porting it for the PlayStation in 1998. It spawned a long-running franchise , known for its fast-paced control system, innovative counterattacks , and environmental hazards . The series again included games important to the success of their respective consoles, such as Dead or Alive 3 for the Xbox and Dead or Alive 4 for the Xbox 360 . In 1998, Bushido Blade , published by Square , introduced
20910-498: The basis for his fighting game Street Fighter . Nintendo's boxing sequel Super Punch-Out was released for arcades in late 1984 and ported by Elite to home computers as Frank Bruno's Boxing in 1985, features martial arts elements, high and low guarding, ducking, lateral dodging, and a KO meter. This meter is built up with successful attacks and, when full, enables a special, more powerful punch to be thrown. Broderbund 's Karateka , designed by Jordan Mechner and released at
21115-472: The battle, I-No reappeared to murder Order-Sol , which, in turn, caused Sol's present form to cease existing. In his other ending, the same set of events played out, but Sol's present form, strangely, is unaffected by his past self's death. After escaping the time rift, Ky confronted and engaged him in battle. After the fight, Sol and Ky finally settled their differences and went their separate ways, with Ky asking Sol to promise that they will meet again. Though it
21320-583: The best fighting game ever to be released for a handheld console. Capcom released Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 for arcades and the Dreamcast in 2000, followed by sequels in subsequent years. Though none matched the critical success of the handheld version, Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO was noted as the first game of the genre to successfully utilize internet competition. Other crossovers from 2008 included Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe . The most successful crossover, however,
21525-403: The best-selling fighting arcade video game franchises that have sold at least 10,000 arcade units . The prices of fighting game arcade units ranged from $ 1,300 (equivalent to $ 2,800 in 2023) for Street Fighter II Dash ( Champion Edition ) in 1992, up to $ 21,000 (equivalent to $ 44,000 in 2023) for Virtua Fighter (1993). In addition to unit sales, arcade games typically earned
21730-547: The bloodshed from the tournament releases Justice from her slumber. She is still in search of Zato in Guilty Gear X (2000). Panicked about a Gear with free-will, countries establish another tournament, awarding a prize to whoever captures the Gear. Millia uses this as another chance to find Zato. Canonically , she finds him, seemingly killing him. Unknown to her, a symbiotic creature named Eddie takes control of Zato's body. In Guilty Gear X2 (2002), she receives sightings of
21935-408: The character each player is currently using. As a result of this, a concept called "footsies" has emerged, frequently defined as players jockeying for position and using low-commitment moves at distances where neither character has a particular advantage. Depending on the game, character, and move used, a player may be rewarded for a decisive blow with a strong positional advantage, strong enough that
22140-509: The character's same skins or style, and so he wanted every character "to be unique in their own way." Kazuhiko Shimamoto 's characters were also noted as an inspiration for the male characters, with Ishiwatari saying they needed to be "chivalrous person-like characters", and citing Anji Mito "the most closest to this type". The female ones, on the other hand, have not followed a standard, with Ishiwatari only remarking that they needed to look like real women. There are many musical references in
22345-478: The corner of a stage or as they get up from a knockdown; both situations severely limit the options of the opponent and often allow the attacking player to force high-risk guessing scenarios. Spacing is the act of positioning a character at a range where their attacks and movement tools carry the lowest risk and the highest reward. The concept is somewhat akin to that of footwork in martial arts. The desired position for play varies based on what tools are available to
22550-440: The critically acclaimed Virtua Fighter 5 was released to very little acclaim in 2007, its update Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown received much more attention due to renewed interest in the genre. Numerous indie fighting games have also been crowdfunded on websites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo , the most notable success being the tag team fighting game Skullgirls in 2012. Later, in 2019, Ubisoft reported that
22755-423: The doctor Faust to cure his paranormal ailment. When entering a battle, he is unconscious, with S-Ko ( S子 ) —his most powerful vengeful spirit —and the other ghosts having control of his actions. These ghosts consist of three giant centipedes, several will-o-wisp-like apparitions that manipulate a broken sword, three gray ghosts, a dark chihuahua-like dog, and a manifestation of lightning called Raou. As of Xrd , he
22960-556: The end of 1984, is a one-on-one fighting game for home computers that successfully added plot to its fighting action, like the beat 'em up Kung-Fu Master . By early 1985, martial arts games had become popular in arcades. On home computers, the Japanese MSX version of Yie Ar Kung-Fu was released in January 1985, and Beam Software 's The Way of the Exploding Fist was released for PAL regions in May 1985; The Way of
23165-483: The end, Sol and his allies were able to stop Justice from reviving, but Elphelt betrayed them and tried to kill them. She was eventually taken to the Backyard, and Sol, Sin and Ramlethal set out to find her. In Xrd -REVELATOR- (2016), Sol was confronted by Raven, who told him that That Man needed his help in preventing Elphelt from merging with Justice. Before the final battle against Ariels, Sol attempted to claim he
23370-512: The endangered citizens of Japan who are cursed by Universal Will with a seed that would transform them into living bombs bending to destroy the world. In Xrd, she begins to suffer an illness before being brought to Kum Haeyun for treatment. Thanks to the treatment, May has Information Flares in her which saves her from becoming an antimatter Gear. Millia is named after American thrash-metal band Meliah Rage . Daisuke Ishiwatari created Millia's character to, through her relationship with Zato, convey
23575-495: The ending of -Strive- , Jam is opens a fourth restaurant, where she is seen serving dishes for Kum Haeyun. Johnny ( ジョニー , Jonī ) is the captain of the airship May Ship and leader of the Jellyfish Pirates. His first appearance was in Guilty Gear as a non-playable character in May's ending, and he became a playable character in Guilty Gear X . Johnny is a compulsive womanizer; his entire crew, including May ,
23780-485: The epilogue storyline added in Xrd REV 2 (2017), Sol visited Ky's manor, where he challenged Ky to a duel. As Ky noticed Sol's fighting intent, they took their discussion outside the manor to speak privately. While recalling their days as members of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights, Sol mocked Ky, claiming that he held back every time they fought, despite him not doing so when he battled Gears. He further remarked that Dizzy
23985-610: The fast motions of a joystick, and so players had difficulty executing special moves with any accuracy. The release of Street Fighter II in 1991 is considered a revolutionary moment in the fighting game genre. Yoshiki Okamoto 's team developed the most accurate joystick and button scanning routine in the genre thus far. This allowed players to reliably execute multi-button special moves, which had previously required an element of luck. The graphics took advantage of Capcom's CPS arcade chipset , with highly detailed characters and stages . Whereas previous games allowed players to combat
24190-417: The feelings of a person who loves someone who is rejected from society. When designing her, Ishiwatari wanted her to be a "really cool woman". As an assassin her initial design drafts had knives strapped all over her body, and her gameplay was intended to focus on projectiles. However, in practice he felt Millia's weapon usage made her too similar to another character in the game, Baiken , and additionally that
24395-785: The fight, the Holy Order, led by Ky, sealed Justice away, bringing the war to an end. However, a Gear named Testament began a plan to free Justice , and to stop it, the Union of Nations held a tournament. The canon stated that Sol was the winner of the Tournament, which also resulted in Justice discovering that Sol was, in fact, Frederick. Justice, in her dying words, commented that she wished that "...the three of us..." could talk one last time, and Sol swore to kill Asuka. In Guilty Gear X (2000), Sol has three endings, all of which involve
24600-472: The first fighting game to use digitized sprites and motion capture animation. Meanwhile, home game consoles largely ignored the genre. Budokan: The Martial Spirit was one of the few releases for the Sega Genesis , but was not as popular as games in other genres. Technical challenges limited the popularity of early fighting games. Programmers had difficulty producing a game that could recognize
24805-451: The first fighting game, is considered to have standardized the genre, and similar games released prior to Street Fighter II have since been more explicitly classified as fighting games. Fighting games typically involve hand-to-hand combat, though many games also feature characters with melee weapons. Fighting characters are usually based on humans, but there are also games that are entirely based around mecha robot characters, for example
25010-418: The first installment of the series (1998), Frederick was one of the lead scientists of the Gear project, as well as being the prototypical Gear, dating from over a hundred years before the events of the Guilty Gear games. As a prototype, he is immune to the orders of Commander Gears. He was personally acquainted with Asuka R. Kreutz (typically known as That Man) prior to the Crusades. As Frederick, Sol created
25215-509: The former goads Dizzy as a monster. As Ky won, he found out Sol planned this for a preparation to settle with “That Man”, Asuka R. Kreutz the Gear Maker, who recently turned himself in to the government after the last battle against Ariels. Ky return as a playable character in Guilty Gear Strive (2021), where he will eventually begin to use his implemented Gear Cell's power, which allows him to be able to use Dragon Install similar to Sol, but can only be usable at low health unlike his rival. Ky
25420-548: The free-to-play platform fighting game Brawlhalla reached 20 million players, with it climbing to 80 million by 2022. In 2018, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch was released. It became the best-selling fighting game of all time, topping its Wii predecessor Super Smash Bros. Brawl and introduced nearly 90 characters through its default mode and through downloadable content or DLC, having sold 34.22 million copies worldwide. Later in
25625-410: The game controls, which created a sense of mystique and invited players to practice the game. Following Street Fighter's lead, the use of command-based hidden moves began to pervade other games in the rising fighting game genre. Street Fighter also introduced other staples of the genre, including the blocking technique, as well as the ability for a challenger to jump in and initiate a match against
25830-421: The game needed more character variety. Additionally Millia's outfit went through multiple designs as Ishiwatari had difficulty figuring out where the thrown knives would be stored, while also aiming for a design that looked feminine and easy to move in. After some consideration, he conceived her being able to attack with her hair as a weapon instead. He felt it represented a very "strange" and "feminine" trait, while
26035-424: The game outside Japan because it felt that "unrestrained" 3D fighting games were unenjoyable. Sega also attempted to introduce holographic 3D technology to the genre with Holosseum in 1992, though it was unsuccessful. Several fighting games achieved commercial success, including SNK's Art of Fighting and Samurai Shodown as well as Sega's Eternal Champions . Nevertheless, Street Fighter II remained
26240-510: The game's main theme song, "Smell of the Game", was fully revealed as a promotional single . The title Guilty Gear Strive was revealed in a trailer in November 2019. According to director Akira Katano, the team aimed to appeal to more players by making the gameplay of Strive easier to comprehend compared to previous Guilty Gear games, instead of making it easier. He reasoned that with many fighting games, spectators and casual players would have
26445-528: The game. Yie Ar Kung-Fu went on to become the UK's best-selling computer game of 1986 , the second year in a row for fighting games. The same year, Martech 's Uchi Mata for home computers featured novel controller motions for grappling maneuvers, but they were deemed too difficult. In the late 1980s, side-scrolling beat 'em ups became considerably more popular than one-on-one fighting games, with many arcade game developers focused more on producing beat 'em ups and shoot 'em ups. Takashi Nishiyama used
26650-573: The genre into "true 3D" due to its introduction of the sidestep maneuver, which IGN described as "one little move" that "changed the fighter forever". The "sidestep" in the game, however, consisted of shoulder rolls instead of actual sidesteps. That year, Namco released Tekken 2 , which introduced actual sidestepping or "mist steps" as first released in arcade games and in the international fighting game community. These moves are only exclusive to its two protagonists, Heihachi Mishima and his son, Kazuya Mishima , and his counterpart transformation which
26855-400: The genre with the 1993 arcade game Burning Rival , but they gained renown with the release of Virtua Fighter for the same platform the same year. It is the first fighting game with 3D polygon graphics and a viewpoint that zoomed and rotated with the action. Despite the graphics, players were confined to back and forth motion as seen in other fighting games. With only three buttons, it
27060-543: The ground. She's a fairly docile character, and also relatively unimportant during the beginning arcs of the storyline. However, during XX , Jam's ability to wield Ki becomes a very notable aspect. She can be described as a bit of a flirt, as she has hit on both Bridget and Ky in her story. Jam returns in Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-/Rev 2 , where her restaurant was somehow destroyed for the third time, and became frustrated when she found out that Ky married to Dizzy, leading her to return to bounty hunting. After Rev 2 , as shown in
27265-467: The grounded realism of Karate Champ , Yie Ar Kung-Fu moved the genre towards more fantastical, fast-paced action with a variety of special moves and high jumps, establishing the template for subsequent fighting games. It expanded on Karate Champ by pitting the player against a variety of opponents, each with a unique appearance and fighting style. The player could also perform up to sixteen different moves, including projectile attacks, and it replaced
27470-488: The history of competitive video gaming, compared to sports moments such as Babe Ruth's called shot and the Ice Hockey Miracle on Ice . It inspired many to start playing 3rd Strike, which brought new life into the fighting game community (FGC) during a time when the community was in a state of stagnation. Dead or Alive 4 became the first fighting game to have a televised competitive esport scene as it
27675-435: The home port of Tekken 2 , cementing 3D as the future of the genre. In 1994, SNK released The King of Fighters '94 in arcades, where players choose from teams of three characters to eliminate each other one by one. Eventually, Capcom released further updates to Street Fighter II , including Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo . These games feature more characters and new moves, some of which are
27880-423: The last Season 1 fighter of Strive , it was revealed that Testament now lives peacefully with Dizzy's adoptive human parents. Zato-1 ( ザトー＝ONE , Zato Wan ) was a Spanish member of the powerful Assassins Guild that allowed himself to become the host of a symbiotic creature named Eddie ( エディ , Edi ) in exchange for his sight . Because of this, Zato-1 was able to take control of his shadow, and use it as
28085-417: The late 1990s, traditional 2D fighting games began to decline in popularity, with specific franchises falling into difficulty due to 3D fighters. Although the release of Street Fighter EX introduced 3D graphics to the series, both it and Street Fighter: The Movie flopped in arcades. A home video game also titled Street Fighter: The Movie was released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn , but it
28290-469: The late 1990s. Namco 's Tekken (released in arcades in 1994 and on the PlayStation in 1995) proved critical to the PlayStation's early success, with its sequels also becoming some of the console's most important games. The Soul series of weapon-based fighting games also achieved considerable critical success, beginning with 1995's Soul Edge (known as Soul Blade outside Japan) to Soulcalibur VI in 2018. Tecmo released Dead or Alive in
28495-425: The latest game Tekken 8 , which was released in January 2024 sold over 2 million copies in its first month alone. Thus, the 2020s have had a marked resurgence in fighting games that has been deemed a new golden age in fighting games. The following are the highest-grossing fighting game franchises, in terms of total gross revenue generated by arcade games , console games , and computer games . The following are
28700-436: The majority of their gross revenue from coin drop earnings. List of Guilty Gear characters#Nagoriyuki This is a list of characters from the Guilty Gear fighting game series. Daisuke Ishiwatari has cited Kazushi Hagiwara 's manga Bastard!! , and the fighting game Street Fighter II as influence to the Guilty Gear series. However, he noted that the majority of other fighting games were just recycling
28905-419: The market for fighting games became smaller and more specialized. Even as far back as 1997, many in the industry said that the fighting game market's growing inaccessibility to newcomers was bringing an end to the genre's dominance. Furthermore, arcades gradually became less profitable throughout the late 1990s to early 2000s due to the increased technical power and popularity of home consoles. The early 2000s
29110-455: The methods of the Sacred Order, and fled the order, taking with him the Fūenken ( 封炎剣 , Fireseal) . The theft earned him the enmity of Ky Kiske . In 2175, Sol faced Justice directly. During the fight, which Justice won, she discovered that Sol was a Gear. Justice attempted to assert her power as a Commander Gear to control Sol, but was unable to do so. Exploiting her confusion and weakness from
29315-434: The mid-2020s, the genre achieved another renaissance with the arrival of Street Fighter 6 and its immediate success, together with Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8 . Street Fighter 6 sold over 1 million copies within five days after its launch, and sold over 3 million copies by January 2024. Mortal Kombat 1 sold over 2 million copies in its first two months, and garnered over 3 million copies by January 2024, while
29520-400: The most popular, spawning a Champion Edition that improved game balance and allowed players to use boss characters that were unselectable in the previous version. Chicago's Midway Games achieved unprecedented notoriety when they released Mortal Kombat in 1992. The game featured digital characters drawn from real actors, numerous secrets, and " Fatality " finishing maneuvers in which
29725-434: The one-on-one boss battles of his earlier beat 'em up Kung-Fu Master as the template for Capcom 's fighting game Street Fighter , combined with elements of Karate Champ and Yie Ar Kung Fu . Street Fighter found its own niche in the gaming world, which was dominated by beat 'em ups and shoot 'em ups at the time. Part of the game's appeal was the use of special moves that could only be discovered by experimenting with
29930-470: The ongoing Crusades. They theorize Chaos intends to fly the White House into Mexico, where it will be shot down, so Chaos can dig the Tome out of the ashes. Sol confronts Nagoriyuki in an attempt to learn Chaos' weakness, but Nagoriyuki lets himself be defeated to free himself from Chaos' control. Asuka tricks Chaos into locking himself in an escape pod and ejecting onto the Earth below. Ky and Jack-O' arrive at
30135-421: The opening of a bold new world and an escape from imprisonment. Eventually, she finds "Flament Nagel", an ancient war relic shaped like a key, and decides to keep it as her partner; whom she renamed "Paracelsus" ( パラケルス , Parakerusu ) . Her new goal was to acquire an artificial body for her newfound partner, whom she refers to as her spouse. Robo-Ky Mk. II ( ロボカイⅡ , Robo Kai Tsū ) is an upgraded model of
30340-439: The opponent to recover if they timed them correctly. Its success led to fighting games becoming the dominant genre in the arcade game industry of the early 1990s, which led to a resurgence of the arcade game industry. The popularity of Street Fighter II led it to be released for home game consoles and becoming the defining template for fighting games. SNK released Fatal Fury shortly after Street Fighter II in 1991. It
30545-553: The opponent. Other fighting games, like Dead or Alive , have a unique button for throws and takedowns. Projectiles are primarily in 2D fighting games, like the Hadouken in Street Fighter . Projectiles can simply inflict damage, or can maneuver opponents into disadvantageous positions. Especially in 2D, zoning is defensive play that focuses on using relatively risk-free attacks to keep the opposing player away. The object
30750-562: The original Robo-Ky. Unlike his predecessor, he is able to imitate characters other than Ky Kiske. All of his parameters (like attack strength, defense, etc.) and moves are fully customizable in the RKII Factory Mode the game offers. Also unlike the original model, Mk. II is built by and has loyalty to a mysterious scientist, not the Post-War Administration Bureau. Leopaldon ( レオパルドン , Reoparudon )
30955-516: The outskirts of the country after receiving a report of an emergency. There she finds a girl who closely resembles the late Bedman, who once worked with the possessed Universal Will/Ariels against mankind. That girl is Delilah, Bedman's sister who woke up after the death of her brother, now seeking to avenge her late brother by killing Happy Chaos. As a one-eyed and one-armed samurai woman named Baiken learned from Anji and Chipp about who Happy Chaos was, including his involvement on murdering her family, she
31160-449: The people of Illyria during an official peaceful ceremony. Characters listed in bold are new to the series, while guest characters are marked in italics . The game features fifteen playable characters in its base roster, consisting of 13 returning characters from previous installments, and two new characters: Nagoriyuki , a Nightless vampire samurai who can drain opponents of their blood to increase his attack power; and Giovanna ,
31365-760: The player's character kills their opponent. The game earned a reputation for its gratuitous violence, and was adapted for home game consoles. The home version of Mortal Kombat was released on September 13, 1993, a day promoted as "Mortal Monday". The advertising resulted in line-ups to purchase the game and a subsequent backlash from politicians concerned about the game's violence. The Mortal Kombat franchise would achieve iconic status similar to that of Street Fighter with several sequels as well as movies, television series, and extensive merchandising. Numerous other game developers tried to imitate Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat 's financial success with similar games, including Rare Software with Killer Instinct ,
31570-528: The point-scoring system of Karate Champ with a health meter system, becoming the standard for the genre. Irem 's Kung-Fu Master , designed by Takashi Nishiyama and released in November 1984, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up that, at the end of each level , featured one-on-one boss battles that resemble fighting games. It is based on Hong Kong martial arts films, specifically Jackie Chan 's Wheels on Meals (1984) and Bruce Lee's Game of Death . Nishiyama later used its one-on-one boss battles as
31775-575: The police force to protect Dizzy and help her to control her power, the two of them eventually entering into a romantic relationship. In Guilty Gear 2: Overture (2007), Ky is the king of a land called Illyria. He has a new sword as he is keeping Dizzy, now his wife, sealed within the Thunderseal's power to preserve her existence. Having grown much more mature and composed over the years, his rivalry and animosity towards Sol has diminished, having entrusted his half-Gear son, Sin , to Sol. However, he
31980-540: The possession of the Conclave, who sought to revive her so they could use her power to reform humanity according to their vision. Justice's body was taken by Ariels for her plan to merge with Elphelt Valentine, a genetic copy of Aria, to create a "complete humanity". Jack'O Valentine, possessing the fragmented half of Aria's soul, took Elphelt's place and merged with Justice to completely restore Aria. Voiced by: Hatsuaki Takami ( Guilty Gear ), Shigeru Sakano ( Guilty Gear XX ) Kliff Undersn ( クリフ＝アンダーソン , Kurifu Andāson )
32185-455: The power of his will. Izuna states that "There are more physical spirit demons like me, but were brainwashed by Valentine". He is a very skilled swordsman who wields a katana named "Namakura". Not only that, he possesses certain unique magical abilities such as his potent teleportation. Izuna is also the one to teach Sol Badguy and Sin how to use the tactics of the Ghost and Master Ghost system in
32390-531: The public beta phase, the game's netcode was highly praised by players. The game was initially planned to be available at Japanese arcades on the same day as the home versions. In June 2021, Arc System Works has announced that the arcade release would be delayed, as testing the game on store locations proved difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guilty Gear Strive released for the PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , and Microsoft Windows on June 11, 2021. It
32595-444: The real Tome from Asuka's body and uses it to fuse with I-No, granting her godhood. I-No defeats the heroes and announces her intent to share her powers with the world, likely destroying it. Jack-O' attempts to sacrifice herself to stop I-No, butAria's spirit convinces her to live for herself. Ky and Axl Low distract I-No while Vernon and Sol use the pack of Spiritas 48 from White House's president room to strengthen his Outrage sword into
32800-591: The removal of the series’ signature mechanic, the Instant Kill. It introduces the "Wall Break" feature, which allows for stage transitions when a combo is initiated in the corner of the arena. The story continues after the events of Guilty Gear Xrd . It is the conclusion of Sol Badguy's story (A.K.A. The Gear Hunters Saga), set in Washington, D.C., featuring his final confrontation with That Man, Asuka R. Kreutz. Three weeks after former Sanctus Populi Ariels
33005-411: The rewarded player can minimize the number of viable moves available to the other player. Doing so, and then taking advantage of the opponent's limited options, is called pressure. Common forms of pressure include making a player guess whether they should block high or low, or keeping the opposing player trapped in the corner and punishing any attempts to escape. Fighting game matches generally consist of
33210-411: The rise of major international fighting game tournaments such as Tougeki – Super Battle Opera and Evolution Championship Series , and famous players such as Daigo Umehara . An important fighting game at the time was Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike , originally released in 1999. The game gained significant attention with " Evo Moment 37 ", also known as the "Daigo Parry", which refers to a portion of
33415-432: The second Illyrian King Leo Whitefang's investigation. During the summit, Chaos brainwashes the White House guards and holds the dignitaries hostage, though Sol and Vernon, the only ones who can open Asuka's cell, manage to escape and request reinforcements from Zepp and Illyria. After Chaos activates the White House's aircraft mode, "Tír na nÓg", Asuka realizes Chaos is "the original," the man responsible for bringing magic to
33620-506: The sentient first model unit, now as a con for hire and presumably homeless, until Venom hired the robot for some urgent emergencies. Sometimes later in After Story of Xrd Rev 2 , Robo-Ky, now reduced to a head after sacrificing his body from his last battle against Bedman, is currently accompanying Venom, who wants to repay the robot's life to get more money and build a new body for him. Starting out as street vendors, then eventually open
33825-479: The series as the platform fighter subgenre due to its deviation from traditional fighting game rules and design. Several games such as Marvel vs. Capcom and Dead or Alive have featured teams where players form "tag teams" to fight duels, but a character may be swapped by a teammate. Some fighting games offer the endurance challenge of a series of opponents. Online games can suffer lag from slow data transmission , which can disrupt split-second timing. This
34030-469: The series' first guest character, Lucy Kushinada from the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners . After a new installment in the Guilty Gear series was confirmed to be in development at EVO 2018 by Arc System Works, the game had its worldwide reveal and announcement trailer under the working title New Guilty Gear , showcasing the new Unreal Engine 4 graphics and Wall Break mechanic in EVO 2019 . Two days later,
34235-655: The sports game genre. Fighting games involve combat between pairs of fighters using highly exaggerated martial arts moves. They typically revolve primarily around brawling or combat sport , though some variations feature weaponry. Games usually display on-screen fighters from a side view, and even 3D fighting games play largely within a 2D plane of motion. Games usually confine characters to moving left and right and jumping, although some games such as Fatal Fury: King of Fighters allow players to move between parallel planes of movement. Recent games tend to be rendered in three dimensions, making it easier for developers to add
34440-467: The stage when a character reaches a high percentage of damage; however, the gameplay objective differs from that of traditional fighting games in that the aim is to increase damage counters and knock opponents off the stage instead of depleting life bars. Beginning with Midway's Mortal Kombat released in 1992, the Mortal Kombat series introduced "Fatalities", where the match victor inflicts
34645-452: The storyline, he and a now bodyless Robo Ky are trying to readjust their new normal lives to repair the latter's body. Venom started out as a street vendor in a street alleyway before eventually being offered to open a bakery at a main shopping district. He has also done this to hide his identity and clear his assassination record. Fanny ( ファニー , Fanī ) is a strange nurse with an unusual connection to Dr. Baldhead who saves her life from
34850-545: The strength of other attacks. Some characters have unusual taunts, like Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter Alpha . Combos that chain several attacks are fundamental to the genre since Street Fighter II (1991). Most fighting games display a "combo meter" of progress through a combo. The effectiveness of such moves often relates to the difficulty of execution and the degree of risk. These moves are often challenging, requiring excellent memory and timing. Predicting opponents' moves and counter-attacking, known as "countering",
35055-542: The time of her death at the hands of Sol Badguy . While hiding from humanity, they acted as a guardian to Justice's daughter, Dizzy , when her Gear powers went awry and caused her to end up having a bounty on her head. That is until The Jellyfish Pirates adopted her, before she met and married Ky Kiske. Testament was not seen after Dizzy began her relationship with Ky until their return in the ending of Strive many years later, being introduced to Dizzy and Ky's son, Sin, including Elphelt and Ramlethal Valentine. When announced as
35260-439: The truth of his powers and that he could erase their reality to return to his. After much deliberation, Axl finds the courage to use his powers to become someone Megumi could be proud of. In the end of the Strive storyline, Axl is reunited with Megumi after a dying I-No realized the connection between herself and Axl, making Axl realize that I-No was in fact Megumi's fallen alternate future-self, just as I-No discovered that Axl Low
35465-604: The two terms may still be conflated. Sports-based combat games are games that feature boxing , mixed martial arts (MMA), or wrestling . Serious boxing games belong more to the sports game genre than the action game genre, as they aim for a more realistic model of boxing techniques, whereas moves in fighting games tend to be either highly exaggerated or outright fantastical models of Asian martial arts techniques. As such, boxing games, mixed martial arts games, and wrestling games are often described as distinct genres, without comparison to fighting games, and belong more in
35670-404: The updated Super Street Fighter IV , sold more than 6 million copies over the next few years. The success of these two games, among others, sparked a renaissance for the genre, introducing new players to the genre and with the increased audience allowing other fighting game franchises to achieve successful revivals of their own, as well as increasing tournament participation. Tekken 6
35875-482: The world and Asuka's former teacher. After learning what Chaos will do with the Tome, Daryl manages to convince the fallen sorcerer to release him and the rest of the dignitaries barring Vernon, Sol, and Asuka, including surviving agent Giovanna. Chipp Zanuff and Anji Mito sneak into the Department of Defense to confirm their allies of Chaos' other identity as another That Man, and the true culprit who had orchestrated
36080-641: The world's renowned Gear hero who remains a bounty hunter. Sol and his lover, Jack-O', plan to refuse, but accept after noting Ariels' warning about I-No and Chaos' plot. After releasing and brainwashing the samurai Nagoriyuki, I-No surrenders herself to the Illyria police, convincing the world that it is safe to hold the summit. However, Sol and Jack-O notice something wrong and attempt to capture Chaos, but realize that Chaos created weapons using materials from Nagoriyuki's blade, which can kill Gears and other immortal beings. During an interrogation, I-No claims to remember
36285-422: The world. He is also a playable character in the spin-off games Guilty Gear Petit (2001), Isuka (2003), Dust Strikers (2006), and Judgment (2006). Along with Sol Badguy, he is the only character to appear in every Guilty Gear game. Axl Low ( アクセル＝ロウ , Akuseru Rou ) is a time traveller who comes from 20th-century England , over 150 years before the Guilty Gear storyline, before he
36490-469: The young, cute, and spunky first mate of the Jellyfish air pirates that is utterly dedicated to Johnny, the leader of the pirates and the man who raised her after she was orphaned. She entered the first tournament in order to bail Johnny out of prison, and fights in later tournaments for his benefit. She fights with a massive ship's anchor, which she is able to swing with ease. May is revealed to be one of
36695-725: Was Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii . Featuring 40 characters from Nintendo and third-party franchises, the game was a runaway commercial success in addition to being lavished with critical praise. In the new millennium, fighting games became less popular and plentiful than in the mid-1990s, with multiplayer competition shifting towards other genres. However, SNK reappeared in 2003 as SNK Playmore and continued to release games. Arc System Works received critical acclaim for releasing Guilty Gear X in 2001, as well as its sequel Guilty Gear XX , as both were 2D fighting games featuring striking anime -inspired graphics. Fighting games became
36900-503: Was a "monster", just like himself, angering Ky, who then entered a frenzied rage and managed to overpower Sol in combat. As Sol lied in a newly-formed crater, Sol explained that he had a score to settle with Asuka, with Ky asking him about it. Unbeknownst to them, at the same time they spoke, Asuka turned himself in to the United States government. Sol returns as a main protagonist in Guilty Gear -STRIVE- (2021). Despite becoming
37105-477: Was a commander of the Holy Order and wields a massive sword known as the Dragonslayer ( 斬竜刀 , Kiryūtō ) . A hero of the Crusades, having clashed with Justice multiple times, he became a great mentor to Ky Kiske and personally scouted Sol Badguy to join the Holy Order, who had saved a younger Kliff from a rampaging Gear long ago. He is the foster-father of Testament , whom he found as an orphan during
37310-462: Was a copy of Aria, Sol's former lover. Sol was returned to the real world, where he reunited with his allies. In Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (2014), Sol continued his journeys with Sin when Ramlethal Valentine declared war on humanity. Working alongside Ky, Sin, Leo Whitefang , and Elphelt Valentine , Sol fought to stop the Conclave from using the Cradle to resurrect Justice and destroy humanity. In
37515-483: Was also distributed via Sega to Japanese arcades on July 29, 2021. "Limited Edition" and "Ultimate Edition" editions were made available for pre-order; console players who get the latter received early access to the full game on June 8, 2021. Cross-platform play was only supported between the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions at launch. Cross-play with the Windows version is set to be added as an update alongside
37720-419: Was an orphan during the Crusades and was adopted by Kliff Undersn . When they were old enough, despite their foster father's wishes, they desired to inherit their father's name by joining the Holy Order. However, while carrying out one mission on behalf of the Order, Testament met an untimely end and their body was never found, assumed to be dead. They were in fact captured by government agents and converted into
37925-737: Was announced on June 14, 2024. The series is produced by Sanzigen and directed by Shigeru Morikawa, with Seiji Mizushima serving as associate producer and Norimitsu Kaihō overseeing and writing series scripts. It takes place after the game's two storylines. It is set to premiere in 2025. Fighting game The fighting game genre of video games involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking , grappling , counter-attacking, and chaining attacks together into " combos ". Characters generally engage hand-to-hand combat , often with martial arts , but some may include weaponry. Battles are usually set in
38130-419: Was building off the popularity of its previous iteration and was still positively received, selling more than 3 million copies worldwide by August 2010, one year after its release. Other successful games that followed include Mortal Kombat , Marvel vs. Capcom 3 , The King of Fighters XIII , Dead or Alive 5 , Tekken Tag Tournament 2 , Soulcalibur V , and Guilty Gear Xrd . Though
38335-519: Was caught in a time slip that sent him into the future. In reality, Axl became a being similar to I-No with the ability to manipulate reality. Axl made attempts to return to his time and be reunited with his girlfriend, first participating in the Sacred Knights Tournament as he thought he could have his wish granted as the winner. He later tried to contact I-No upon realizing she can send him back to his time, only for Jack'O to reveal
38540-442: Was delayed in May 2020 to an unspecified 2021 release date due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic . After its first public beta went live during February 2021, the game was delayed from April 9, 2021, to June 11, with the development team citing adjustments to certain aspects of the game based on fan feedback for the reason behind its second delay. A second public beta was held during May 2021 to gather additional feedback. During
38745-474: Was designed by Takashi Nishiyama, the creator of the original Street Fighter , which it was envisioned as a spiritual successor to. Fatal Fury placed more emphasis on storytelling and the timing of special moves, and added a two-plane system where characters could step into the foreground or background. Meanwhile, Sega experimented with Dark Edge , an early attempt at a 3D fighting game where characters could move in all directions. However, Sega never released
38950-479: Was easier to learn than Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat , which has six and five buttons respectively. By the time the game was released for the Sega Saturn in Japan, the game and system were selling at almost a one-to-one ratio. In 1994, Namco released Tekken , the rival arcade game using cutting-edge 3D polygon technology. The 1995 PlayStation game Battle Arena Toshinden is credited for taking
39155-547: Was entrusted to look over Delilah by Anji, much to her dismay. However, the young girl ran away from Baiken, when Chaos activated "Tír na nÓg" during his invasion there. While Baiken got an unexpected reinforcement from Sin Kiske, the son of Ky Kiske and Dizzy, is now a knight of Illyria who accompanies Ramlethal on her mission while still retaining his royal status because of his parents’ current reputations. Baiken, Sin and Ramlethal enlists Faust, May and April to assist them stopping Delilah from endangering herself, because her power
39360-487: Was explained before revealing himself to have half of a Uno Gear Cell, his hair keeps growing fast many times because of that cells' rapid progress, and was originally meant for Dizzy's return. The main reason why he and Sin switched half of their eye is because his son's Gear power would become even more dangerous at full power. In a standalone sequel -Revelator-/Rev 2 , Ky eventually found out Sol, Dizzy and Justice's connections, much to their dismay in horror. Despite his wife
39565-415: Was exposed to the public and planning to move somewhere with his family, he is glad to hear the article news from a recently cured Elphelt that Dizzy is instead being praised as a savior during a last battle against Sanctus Maximus Ariels. Ky, who is very displease of Sol's parenting on Sin, intercepts Sol to discuss something with him privately outside the manor. Sol provoke Ky into battling him seriously when
39770-564: Was needed because soon a greater battle than the Crusades will occur. In Sol's second ending, Slayer informed him of the Post-War Administration Bureau 's interest in Dizzy. In the third ending, he fought Dizzy, who had been possessed by Necro, after I-No knocked her off the Mayship, and sent Dizzy on her way to meet Johnny and May. In Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus (2008), Sol had two endings. In one, I-No threw him back in time to fight his past self, Order-Sol. After both are weakened from
39975-498: Was originally planned to volunteer a G4 summit with his family, but eventually halted due to I-No's invasion on Ariels’ prison and thereby saving his family from being held hostages during Happy Chaos’ invasion on U.S. White House, whereas the third Illirya king Daryl took care of Ky's place as the kingdom's main representative in the summit. Whether the summit needs Sol Badguy for urgent help, the letters are often goes to Ky, due to Sol's returning to his usual bounty hunting career. He and
40180-476: Was originally thought to be the only known surviving Nightless left, until another known as Nagoriyuki is found alive and unearthed by Happy Chaos during -STRIVE- . Zappa ( ザッパ , Zappa ) is an unlucky young man, looking for a wife and writing in his diary about his new "disease" he has, which, from his point of view, consists of fainting and then waking up somewhere else, possibly with alarming wounds and fractures and no memory of how he got there. He seeks
40385-415: Was overthrown in a revolt led by Gabriel, his mentor. Once Gabriel was made president of Zepp, Potemkin pledged his loyalty to the new government as a special agent. The mantle he wears was a slave collar used by his superiors to keep him in check. He decided to keep it as a memento of his past. From Xrd and onwards, he wears a Zepp Military Uniform and a masked helmet. Testament ( テスタメント , Tesutamento )
40590-455: Was referenced in both Sol and Ky's endings, only Sol's told the events directly after the battle, which implied that Sol was the victor. In Guilty Gear 2: Overture (2007), Sol Badguy took in a young man named Sin as his apprentice, and traveled the world with him as bounty hunters. During their journey, he met Izuna , who told him that a man called Vizel was seeking out and destroying Gears, by order of Valentine , and that his next target
40795-597: Was something easier to represent in 2D sprite art without looking unnatural. Several more drafts followed, before he settled on an outfit that resembled a woman just wearing a t-shirt, feeling it reflected a very feminine look for her. After the death of her parents, she is adopted into a nearby assassin syndicate, the Assassin's Guild. There, she learns the Sixth Hi-Deigokutsuipou (or the "Six Forbidden Magics"), "Angra", which allows Millia's hair to model as she wants. Due to Zato-1 's rise in power within
41000-414: Was the Gear Maker's former master, Happy Chaos, the true mastermind who had been possessing Ariels' body, and the one who both destroyed Baiken's village and used Asuka as a scapegoat for the cause. Jam Kuradoberi ( 蔵土縁 紗夢 , Kuradoberi Jamu ) is a master chef, and longs to create her own restaurant, but lacks the means to do so. She seems to have terrible luck in this endeavor even once she gets it off
41205-446: Was the dominant genre in competitive video gaming, with enthusiasts popularly attending arcades in order to find human opponents. The genre was also very popular on home consoles. At the beginning of 1996, GamePro (a magazine devoted chiefly to home console and handheld gaming) reported that for the last several years, their reader surveys had consistently yielded 4 out of 5 respondents name fighting games as their favorite genre. In
41410-425: Was the first game to include such a feature. Fighting games can support a two-player duel, sometimes by letting a second player challenge the first at any moment during a single-player match. Some games allow four-player simultaneous competition. Uniquely, the Super Smash Bros. series has allowed eight-player local and online multiplayer matches, beginning with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U , though many classify
41615-403: Was the kingdom of Illyria. Sol, Sin, and Izuna go to Illyria and find Ky Kiske trapped with a binding spell. With Dr. Paradigm 's help they were able to release him. Eventually, they captured Valentine, who transformed herself into a monster. Sol fought her, and after the fight, he found himself in a white space, unable to return. However, he was confronted by That Man, who confirmed that Valentine
41820-550: Was the only fighting game included in the esport league, the Championship Gaming Series (CGS), in 2007 and 2008. The league was operated and fully broadcast by DirecTV in association with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and STAR TV . Dead or Alive has been credited for launching the careers of pro-gamer turned Koei Tecmo employee, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and the highest-paid women pro-gamers, Kat Gunn and Vanessa Arteaga . The late 2000s featured
42025-436: Was the work of God. Raymond is devoured by Inus, a dark king of the underworld, who is subsequently killed. This allows Raymond to take control of Inus's power, transforming himself into Judgment. However, because Inus wished to remain dead, Judgment was subsequently consumed after being defeated. Dr. Paradigm ( Dr.パラダイム , Dokutā Paradaimu ) is yet another of Guilty Gear 2: Overture ' s seven playable characters. He
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