Guilty Gear

Guilty Gear (ギルティギア, Giruti Gia) is a series of competitive fighting games by Arc System Works and designed by artist Daisuke Ishiwatari. The first game in the series was published in 1998, and spawned several sequels. It was also adapted to other media such as manga and drama CD. Guilty Gear has generally received praise from video game reviewers for its graphics, soundtrack, and mainly for its characters. Another fighting game by Arc System Works, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, is considered a spiritual successor of the series.

Games

Guilty Gear (video game)

Guilty Gear (Japanese: ギルティギア, Hepburn: Giruti Gia), subtitled The Missing Link in Japan, is a 2D fighting video game developed by Team Neo Blood, an Arc System Works production group led by Daisuke Ishiwatari, and published by Arc System Works. First released on May 14, 1998, for the PlayStation, it is the first installment in the series of the same name. Set in a world destroyed by a war between humans and bio-organic weapons called Gears, it follows ten fighters as they enter a tournament held to prevent resurrection of the Gears' leader. Its gameplay consists in one-on-one fights, with a main four button configuration, featuring special moves and instant kill techniques, as well as three different playable modes.

Devised by Ishiwatari, it took a year and a half in production, with Street Fighter and manga influences. After its original release, it was brought to North America, Europe and PAL region, and reached cult status among gamers. It has received favorable critical reception, with praise towards its characters' roster, 2D graphics and fast gameplay that differentiates it from other games of the same genre. It has been labeled as one of few games of its era to cause any sort of impact on the genre, except from Capcom and SNK hegemonic games. However, it received criticism due to its difficult and unbalanced set of characters.

Guilty Gear 2: Overture

Guilty Gear 2: Overture (ギルティギア2オーヴァチュア, Giruti Gia Tsū Ōvachua) is a video game in the Guilty Gear series made by Arc System Works for the Xbox 360. Unlike previous Guilty Gear titles, this installment makes use of 3D graphics. The Xbox Live demo of Guilty Gear 2 describes the game as, "a mix between the action and real time strategy genre." A playable demo featuring three modes of gameplay was released in Japan via Xbox Live on 30 October 2007. A North American version was released on October 7, 2008 released by Aksys Games.

Story

The story takes place five years after the first Guilty Gear game. Sol Badguy is still free, but now travels with the young warrior Sin. Meanwhile, Ky Kiske, who is now the king of a country named Illyria, has learned of two shocking developments: first, the Gears that have been sealed away for many years are now beginning to vanish; and second, his kingdom is under attack by a mysterious force. Desperate, he sends out a "Wanted" poster with Sol's face on it, demanding he'd be brought to Illyria. Sol and Sin have realized that this is Ky's way of calling for help, and rush to the rescue as they find themselves surrounded by strange, doll-like women armed with giant wrenches.