Back in early 2015, to celebrate the release of Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- a few months prior, I reviewed the original Guilty Gear from 1998 for the PlayStation. Six years later, we now have the release of Guilty Gear -Strive-, the fourth main entry in Arc System Works & Daisuke Ishiwatari's iconic fighting game franchise. So I feel that there's no better way to celebrate this new game's release on this blog than to do a review of the second game ever released in the Guilty Gear franchise... Though, contrary to common belief for a long time, it isn't actually the sequel to the first game, despite taking place afterwards, chronologically. Also, this game would mark the franchise's penchant for iterating upon itself over & over again, though in this case said later iterations are not as well known.
So let's take a look at Guilty Gear X, the game that truly started the franchise's rise into stardom, & its two updates.
Prior to the release of Guilty Gear in 1998, Arc System Works was known as nothing more than a for-hire development studio, either for porting one game to other hardware or for developing games based on licensed properties. That changed in 1995 when the studio started developing & releasing its own games, like Exector or Wizard's Harmony, but in the end Daisuke Ishiwatari's 2D fighting game was the one with the most potential. Therefore, Ishiwatari & his "Team Neo Blood" staff were told to make a follow-up, but this time around there were loftier ambitions. With gaming company Sammy Corporation handling the publishing duties, this second game would be developed for Sega's NAOMI arcade board, which allowed for much more 2D graphical power than what the PlayStation could ever possibly handle. So in July of 2000, Guilty Gear X (technically pronounced "Zecks", and sporting the subtitle [By Your Side "G.Gear"]) started appearing in Japanese arcades, while an arcade-perfect port to the Sega Dreamcast (due to similar hardware as the NAOMI) come out later that December. At the time, there were hopes that GGX would see release on the Dreamcast internationally, as Sammy had planned to support the console until the end. Unfortunately, all Sammy would ever release for Sega's final console outside of Japan was light-gun rail shooter Death Crimson OX in August of 2001; combined with Capcom USA not releasing Capcom vs. SNK 2, this really annoyed Dreamcast supporters.
However, a month after Death Crimson OX's release, Sammy did release Guilty Gear X in North America... on the PlayStation 2. While this did feel a little like a jab at Dreamcast owners, since it shows that Sammy could have theoretically released it on both consoles, PS2 owners actually kind of got screwed over too, because while this port was also essentially arcade-perfect, it was only meant for North America; it was nothing more than a port of the Dreamcast version. Japan, in comparison, had to wait another two months for November of 2001, but in return would receive Guilty Gear X Plus, an expanded port that contained content exclusive to this release; in short, American players got screwed over. Meanwhile, Cyber Front released a port of the "vanilla" game for Windows PCs the same time Plus came out, while Europe wouldn't receive any version until March of 2002... and it was the same "vanilla" port that North America got; in short, Europe got screwed over, as well. Finally, February of 2003 saw the release of Guilty Gear X Ver. 1.5 in arcades, a little less than a year after the original arcade release of Guilty Gear XX (technically pronounced "Igzecks", a.k.a. "X2"). This was an updated version of the game that utilized Sammy's Atomiswave arcade board & essentially was just ArcSys testing the waters with the hardware, as four-player spin-off title Guilty Gear Isuka would come out later that same year on the Atomiswave. Ver. 1.5 would remain arcade-exclusive until 2020, when a homebrew conversion was done for the Dreamcast, due to how literally similar the two systems are, though it only works via Optical Disc Emulators/ODEs; GG Isuka would also receive a similar conversion.
But enough history... Let's Rock!
It's the year 2181, barely a year since the events of the Second Sacred Order Tournament, which were nothing more than a ruse to revive Justice, the Gear that led the war against humanity during the century-long Crusades, only to be stopped by Sol Badguy, the original "Guilty Gear" himself. However, word has now spread of "A Gear That Does Not Harm People", so a bounty of 500,000 World $ has been put on this Gear's head. In the end, 14 people aim to answer the call:
Sol Badguy, who has his own suspicions regarding this Gear
Ky Kiske, whose belief that all Gears are inherently evil is rocked by this news & wants to investigate
May, fist-mate of the Jellyfish Pirates who wants the money to buy her captain Johnny a present
Potemkin, who secretly wishes to rescue the Gear & bring it to his home country of Zepp
Axl Low, who's searching for "That Man", a fellow time-traveler who has a past with Gears
Zato-1, who's now fully possessed by Eddie, his living shadow, & only wants the money
Chipp Zanuff, who is still looking for something to replace his abandoned need for revenge
Millia Rage, who wants to kill Zato-1 for good & feels that he'll be going after the bounty
Faust, a bizarre doctor who wears a paper bag over his head & wishes to save the Gear's life
Baiken, who hopes this new Gear will lead her to "That Man", who she wants to kill
Johnny, captain of the Jellyfish Pirates who tells his crew that he wants the money, but in reality wants to help the lonely Gear
Anji Mito, one of the scant few remaining Japanese who hopes the Gear can lead him to "That Man", who he's interested in
Venom, a member of Zato-1's Assassin's Guild who is looking for his dear leader
Jam Kuradoberi, a martial-arts trained chef who wishes to open her own restaurant & hears of mystical ingredients found in "The Devil's Living Place", which is where the Gear is residing
However, anyone who aims to claim the bounty must first get past Testament, the Gear who had (against his will) revived Justice the year prior & now wants to protect this Gear as a way to atone for his sins. Getting past Testament, however, will lead one to Dizzy, a half-Gear young woman who wishes no harm on anyone, though the extreme power she wields is more than willing to protect her from anyone who wishes her harm. Another Savage Day... On Planet Earth.
While this wouldn't really be indisputably known until the release of Guilty Gear 2: Overture in 2007, Guilty Gear X is NOT considered the sequel to Guilty Gear. Instead, it's considered a side-story to the larger storyline as a whole, hence the whole "By Your Side" subtitle, and in retrospect that does make sense. Today, the four main games in the franchise (GG1, GG2, Xrd, & Strive) all focus around large-scale conflicts in which the future of the world (or multiple worlds, in GG2's case) is at stake, and GGX definitely does not follow that mold. Instead, this is simply a small-scale event in the grand scheme of things, detailing the hunt for a being that, to everyone's knowledge, means absolutely no harm, though it's her very existence as a Gear that makes others fearful. That being said, GGX does still introduce a lot of stuff that would become extremely important in the grand scheme over time, such as various character relationships (like that of Millia, Zato, & Venom) & the relevance of "That Man", an enigmatic cloaked character who over the course of future games would become treated as the de facto overarching antagonist all the way up until Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-'s Story Mode in 2016, when his past, face, & even true name all finally got revealed. Guilty Gear X would also be the first game in the franchise to receive a lot of story expansion via other media, namely early 2001 light novel Guilty Gear X: Lightning the Argent (which focuses on Ky), 2002-2003 manga Guilty Gear Xtra (which stars two original characters but fills in some gaps between GG1 & GGX), & even a pair of GGX drama CDs in late 2001. Finally, at some point in the early 00s an excellently animated 5-minute promotional trailer by J.C. Staff was produced for GGX, featuring some outstandingly cheesy English voice work (except for May, who's the only one to speak Japanese), and would be included with the Xbox & PC port of 2003's Guilty Gear XX #Reload.
All that being said, however, much of this is NOT what the large majority of people who have played Guilty Gear X have experienced, and that's because "vanilla" GGX is still a standard 2D fighting game of its time, i.e. any & all story you experience comes solely from seeing each character's ending after beating Dizzy in Arcade Mode. But we'll get to in-game storytelling later on, so let's finally move on to the gameplay. Much like the original game, GGX is a four-button fighter (Punch, Kick, Slash, & Heavy Slash) focused around fast-paced combat, complete with double-jumping (triple-jumping for Chipp & Dizzy) and air-dashing, & the Gatling Combo System returns to allow for easy comboing, but this follow-up does implement a variety of changes. The most notable one is the Tension Gauge, which replaces the Chaos Bar in GG1. In order to keep the action fast & frantic, the TG increases by way of any sort of offensive action, including literally just moving towards your opponent; a good run can increase it by about a third or so! In fact, the Tension Gauge is so focused around offense that being on the defensive for too long, like "turtling", will result in a Negative Penalty, which makes the TG slowly drain away. The TG is also how various gameplay mechanics are allowed, namely Overdrives, Faultless Defense, Roman Cancels, Dead Angle Attacks, & Instant Kills.
Overdrives are the replacements for GG1's Chaos Moves, i.e. super moves. Unlike Chaos Moves, though, Overdrives only require 50% of the Tension Gauge, which make them much more readily available for usage & are generally very easy to combo into. Faultless Defense is the replacement for GG1's Perfect Guard, which allows the player to use the TG to allow for guarding without receiving chip damage, and in GGX this is done by holding any two attack buttons while blocking. Roman Cancels are a brand new mechanic, and allow the player to instantly cancel their current attack into a different one, regardless of how impossible it'd normally be, but at the expense of 50% of the TG. Roman Cancels would go on to become arguably the most important mechanic in the entire Guilty Gear franchise, with later games even creating numerous colored variants, with their own specific uses, & the Force Roman Cancel, which costs only 25% but can only be done in specific instances. The Dead Angle Attack returns from GG1 and still allows the player to counter a blocked attack, but is now done by pressing forward & any two attack buttons while guarding and requires 50% of the TG; this mechanic would be dropped after this game, being replaced with the Burst.
Finally, the infamous Instant Kills return from GG1, but are heavily reduced in their effectiveness, pretty much to the point of being useless. First, hitting an opponent with an IK only wins that round, not the entire match. Second, you first have to press all four attack buttons to change the Tension Gauge into the Instant Kill Gauge, literally telling your opponent of your intention to go for the IK ahead of time. Third, the IK Gauge will drain whatever the TG had upon switching, and when empty will steal your health while active, though it'll never kill you; luckily, you can revert back at any time by pressing all four buttons again. Fourth, while IKs (which have the universal input of QCFx2+HS, except for May's DHCx2+HS) are now unblockable, they are also easy to telegraph & can be avoided or even interrupted if timed correctly. Finally, IKs are now a one-time-only affair, so if you miss an IK you lose the Tension Gauge completely, making you incapable of performing Overdrives, Faultless Defenses, Roman Cancels, or Dead Angle Attacks for the remainder of the round. Effectively, Instant Kills are now nothing more than a vestigial mechanic that's been kept for nothing more than the cool factor, as their last-ditch-effort usage comes with too many caveats to actually make them viable in the first place, namely the inability to catch your opponent by surprise due to the mode change, and the fact that you can't use any TG-related mechanics while in IK mode; you don't even receive any benefits by switching over. While IKs would continue to be kept moving forward, it wouldn't be until Xrd that ArcSys really tried making them semi-viable again, but even then it didn't make much of a difference. That being said, the Instant Kill remains a unique mechanic in fighting game history, and they are worth seeing for each character, as while some are kind of generic or even not all that good to actually hit (like Sol's), others remain really damn cool to this day (like Baiken's).
Meanwhile, GG1's launcher & Chase Jump have now been renamed to the Dust Attack & Homing Jump in GGX. Mechanically, however, they're pretty much the same, right down to being done the same way (S+HS, followed by holding Up to follow & create an air combo), with the only difference being that Dust combos allow for cancelling one aerial normal attack into another indiscriminately, at least until the background changes to a blue gradient. Meanwhile, performing a Dust Attack while in the air creates a character-specific attack, while doing so while ducking results in a Sweep. Finally, there's the "ukemi" (the term being taken from judo), in which while falling down after being attacked you have the chance to flip & land on your feet by pressing two attack buttons. However, GGX also removes GG1's more unusual mechanics, as there's no charging up certain special moves (though Ky's charged Stun Edge is now simply done using HS), you can't tackle foes by running at them with a full Tension Gauge, and while the Respect button has been kept (though it has no underlying usage anymore), the Taunt button is now gone. That being said, GGX still remains an insanely fast-paced fighting game in the end, mainly because of the Tension Gauge forcing players to constantly go on the offensive, lest you lose whatever meter you've gained. That being said, fights in this game swap back & forth between offense & defense on the regular, and good TG usage can allow for all sorts of comebacks.
Another major aspect with the gameplay, though, is the larger focus on many characters having their own unique mechanics, particularly for the newcomers. For example, Venom has the ability to summon various billiard balls into position, which he can then hit with his weapon (a pool cue, obviously), which can then hit each other & bounce around with (mostly accurate) physics! Meanwhile, Baiken has her counters, which come in different forms (straightforward, anti-air, moving around the opponent, etc.) to allow for nuance, and her counter Overdrive can affix various curses onto her opponent for a limited time. Jam can power herself up with one of her specials, which leaves her open if her opponent wasn't knocked down or dizzied first. Anji can chain his specials together in different ways, while his projectile is unique in that if it's blocked it then bounces up into the air to attack from above. Johnny can throw a limited amount of coins at his opponent, and if they manage to hit then his specials become more powerful on the next usage. Finally, for newcomers, Faust is... utterly bizarre & unpredictable, right down to have a projectile that can harm himself as well if you're not careful. Follow this up with the unique mechanics of the returning cast, like Zato-1's usage of Eddie for traps, Sol's Dragon Install power-up, Ky's charged Stun Edge, or Testament & Dizzy's ability to fill the screen with various hazards, & Guilty Gear X might just be one of the most complex 2D fighting games of its time upon release, and future Guilty Gear games would just build upon this. In the 21 years since, however, it's now more quaint than complicated, as fighting games in general have added more mechanics in an effort to stay competitive for hardcore players, if at the detriment to more casual players, while ArcSys would later take the whole "each player has their own unique mechanic" concept to an absurd level with the BlazBlue series. As for the AI, it is generally fairer on the whole compared to GG1, which could get absurdly broken & cheap, though there are moments where it feels like they literally hit you while they should be in hitstun, and sometimes they just decide that you shouldn't ever have a chance to win. But, hey, at least you never have to worry about the AI catching you by surprise & hitting you with a sudden Instant Kill, as it never even bothers to switch into that mode, so there's that.
This brings us to the visuals, which to this day remain simply outstanding & at the time were pretty much a revelation. Prior to this, the best looking 2D fighting game was likely Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike the year prior, which featured so much animation that everything looked fluid in motion. In comparison, Guilty Gear X was a little bit stiffer in terms of pure animation, but what GGX had over 3rd Strike were slightly larger & more detailed character sprites, as well as allowing for more camera zooming when fighters were further away from each other. Combined with a strong anime-influenced style, it really wouldn't be incorrect to say that Guilty Gear X was the closest a video game ever looked at that point to a literal anime production. ArcSys would rely on these sprites & visual style for pretty much all future Guilty Gear games up until GG2's polygonal visuals in 2007/2008, and even by that point the high-res sprite work still looked more or less amazing. The backgrounds are also extremely well done, continuing the original game's ability to give you a good idea on a character and/or the world they world in just by visuals alone, & the power of the NAOMI allows for so much detail & color that the PS1 would have palpitations trying to render. However, stages are shared for various pairs (Sol/Ky, Zato/Venom, Potemkin/Faust, Baiken/Anji, etc.), so there aren't that many of them. As for the music, it follows GG1's mood in being very heavy on hard rock & heavy metal, but there are two ways to experience it. When GGX first came out on the NAOMI, there were complaints about the quality of the music, mainly due to its heavily-synthesized sound. While I can understand the complaints to some extent, I honestly really love how the original arcade soundtrack sounds, as Daisuke Ishiwatari's amazing compositions still sound amazing, and to this day that synthesized take from the NAOMI makes it sound utterly unique. Without a doubt, though, the standout song from Guilty Gear X is "Still in the Dark", the theme for Millia Rage vs. Zato-1, a song so utterly outstanding (even in its original synth form) that it essentially became the de facto theme of the entire Guilty Gear franchise, despite it being made for two (for lack of a better term) "secondary" characters; this song alone showcases Ishiwatari's insane skills as a music composer.
Still, there must have been enough complaints, as when the game was ported to the Dreamcast & PS2, the NAOMI soundtrack was nowhere to be found. In its place are arranged versions that sound much more like real instruments (if they aren't real ones, to start with), though this only really applies to the songs used for the intro, battles, & ending themes, as the songs for the character select screen, versus screen, options, etc. remain unchanged. These arrangements would be known as the Heavy Rock Tracks, and would be re-arranged once again for Guilty Gear XX, to match with the new songs made for that game, creating the versions of the songs that the wide majority of Guilty Gear fans became familiar with over time. I have absolutely no problem with the Heavy Rock Tracks arrangements, & they work excellently for GGX, but in hindsight I feel that the original arcade versions become more memorably identifiable for this specific game, mainly because of the fact that GGXX would arrange them once again, making the Heavy Rock Tracks feel a bit redundant now. As for the voice work, it's all solid stuff like before, with much of the cast of GG1 reprising their roles, with some new voices for Baiken & Dr. Baldhe... I mean Faust, including Kaneto Shiozawa as Zato-1 in one of his final roles before his unfortunate passing at the age of 46 in May of 2000, just two months prior to GGX's arcade release; the end credits add (late) to his name. In honor of Shiozawa's death, Zato is actually killed by Millia in GGX's plot, though the character would remain playable in all future games, as Eddie would control Zato's undead corpse, before being killed of himself during the two-part GGXX plot, only for Zato to be revived as himself in Guilty Gear Xrd; yes, it's just as weird as it sounds. Finally, I just have to give a special shout-out to Norio Wakamoto as Johnny, because of course he's the perfect voice for the character.
In terms of extra modes, the Dreamcast & PS2 ports both feature the usual Survival, Training, & Vs. modes, as well as an option to turn on "Medals", in which small medallions will fly out as you deliver big combos & damage to your opponent, for extra points; this would be turned into its own mode, "M.O.M.", in later games. Finally, everything covered so far is just about the original, "vanilla" release of Guilty Gear X, so let's move on to what the two updates offer in comparison. First up is the Japan-exclusive Guilty Gear X Plus on the PlayStation 2, in which the main attraction is Story Mode, the first time this appears for the franchise, and which would become a strong selling point from then on out. However, unlike later game's Story Modes, which feature full voice work (& in the most recent games is essentially just a giant CG anime series using the in-game engine), GGX's Story Mode is rather barebones, as there's no voice work to be found for any of the pre-battle conversations. Also, in place of the vast amounts of conversation found in the GGXX games' Story Modes, all you really get here are just a handful of lines spoken between each character, and it's only seen prior to battle, as you don't get any post-battle conversations.
Essentially, Story Mode in GGX comes off more like what we would get in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, except that fights are only one round, you don't get quite as many fights as in Arcade Mode's 10-character ladder, & there are some alternate (non-canon) endings you can find. That being said, you do get full-screen images for certain encounters, though the artwork really does vary in quality, and it's still way more story than what you'd still normally see form most fighting games of the time; Tekken 4 & it's welcomed Story Mode wouldn't come out on PS2 until the following year. Also of note is that GGX Plus adds in three characters to the roster: Justice & Kliff Undersn from GG1 (both of which are dead in-universe & are completely overpowered), as well as Robo-Ky, though here's he's simply an alternate version of Ky; Robo-Ky's unique play style wouldn't come about until later. Finally, you can unlock "Gold" versions of each character, which are all overpowered, & there's a Gallery to see all of the images you unlock via Arcade & Story Mode. In the end, it's a massive shame that Sammy Corporation didn't simply take the time to translate Guilty Gear X Plus for international release, instead just copping out & releasing a PS2 port of the Dreamcast version, as I'm sure the extra time needed would have been more than welcomed; thankfully, the same wouldn't happen with Guilty Gear XX & beyond.
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| Looks a bit... boring now, doesn't it? |
After that comes Guilty Gear X Ver. 1.5, which looks to have received a worldwide release according to advertisements & the fact that the homebrew Dreamcast port is in full English, though I imagine it was highly limited outside of Japan, due to arcades becoming less & less viable elsewhere in the world come 2003. Compared to Plus, Ver. 1.5 feels a little bit like a regression, as while the lack of any Story Mode is understandable (this is an arcade-only release, after all), the cast reverts back to "vanilla's" original 16, so there's no Justice, Kliff, or Robo-Ky to be found, though Testament & Dizzy are there from the start; also, as you can see, the unique & wild character select screen is now more... traditional. In terms of gameplay, Ver. 1.5 is an interesting middle-ground, as it does implement a few changes (like new moves) to allow some characters to play more like their GGXX counterparts, namely for Sol, Ky, Potemkin, Chipp, Johnny, Anji, Testament, & Dizzy (who's the only character to get a removal, namely her triple jump); everything else is mainly cosmetic, like stage music starting right away, instead of after the intros. To be fair, it is interesting to see things like Sol pulling off Fafnir or a Gun Flame Feint, or Ky throwing out Ride the Lightning while in midair, but without mechanics from the game they originally came from, namely the Burst.
Visually, Ver. 1.5 looks pretty much exactly the same (no surprise, since the Atomiswave is essentially a cartridge-based Dreamcast), minus those little aesthetic changes, though those are pretty much all outside of fights. In terms of audio, the music is back to the arcade original synth tracks, likely because of cartridge space restrictions, and the fact that some songs look to be missing adds weight to that theory; during my plays, I never got the special pairing songs, like Sol vs. Ky or even the mirror match. Upon starting, though, you do get to choose between Duel (i.e. Arcade Mode) or Survival, which is a nice touch. On a homebrew level, though, the default control scheme maps HS to either trigger, which is a little awkward, but it's not like this is an official release, so I shouldn't complain much; maybe you can modify the controls via a text file or something. Finally, the English version is surprisingly censored, as all of the blood has been colored to white "sweat". As it is, Guilty Gear X Ver. 1.5 makes no attempt to mask the fact that it's really nothing more than a glorified tech demo, much like The King of Fighters Neowave was (or KOF XII for the Taito Type X2), but the little changes that are there do make it an interesting little curio to check out if you have a Dreamcast modded with an ODE or use emulation.
While the original Guilty Gear on PlayStation was (& remains to be) a really fun & wild fighting game that seemingly did things that shouldn't have been possible on the PS1, Guilty Gear X is truly where things got started for this franchise. The visuals were pretty mind-blowing at the time (& have held up to this day), the soundtrack is one of the greatest in fighting game history, & the gameplay is easy to pick up & play, but features plenty of depth to allow one to really dig in deep & see what else you're capable of. GGX Plus introduced Story Mode to the mix, and while this initial offering is rather barebones, it would set a standard that the franchise has only expanded on more & more over time. Finally, GGX Ver. 1.5 might feel a bit like an unnecessary creation, but it does make for a neat bridge between the simpler overall mechanics of Guilty Gear X & the more intensive mechanics that would only grow more & more over time with the various Guilty Gear XX games. Since my old review for the original Guilty Gear, both it & Guilty Gear XX Λ Core Plus R were re-released on Steam, PlayStation 4, & Nintendo Switch as part of the franchise's 20th Anniversary. However, I was sad to see that Guilty Gear X wasn't given any love, as this would have been a perfect chance to translate Plus' Story Mode & finally make that available worldwide; also, Λ Core Plus' Story Mode takes place after XX/#Reload/Slash, so that's even more plot missing.
And, no, don't expect me to ever do a review for Guilty Gear XX & its variants, as that's essentially a matryoshka doll of a fighting game sub-series that one should never try to review in this fashion. I love those games, but talk about complexity... Which leads things full circle.
A lot of talk has been made of Guilty Gear -Strive- aiming to bring things back to an easier level so as to welcome people who either are new to the franchise or felt that the various XX & Xrd games made things a bit too complicated to get into. In that regard, Guilty Gear X feels like it's at that similar degree as what Strive has moved towards, as while there are deeper mechanics & some character-specific intricacies to dig into, neither go into quite the level of complexity that would be seen in the following years. Is Guilty Gear X the most balanced fighting game out there? Of course not, almost no Guilty Gear game is honestly all that well balanced, but it's still one of the best damn ones you can play.
Guilty Gear X © Sammy 2000/© Arc System Works 2000
Guilty Gear X Plus © Sammy 2000, 2001/© 1998-2001 Arc System Works Co., Ltd.
Guilty Gear X Ver. 1.5 © Sammy 2003/© 1998-2003 Arc System Works Co., Ltd.
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