Gear Up!

Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari talks to Oscar Taylor- Kent about taking fighting games back to the dojo with Strive

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For fighting game fans, Arc System Works needs no introduction. Its core series, Guilty Gear and Blazblue (which started on PS1 and PS3 respectively), have dominated fighting game tournaments like EVO for years now. On top of that the studio’s produced some impressive franchise-led efforts in the shapes of Persona 4 Arena, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Granblue Fantasy Versus. Now with Guilty Gear Strive (the “iv” in the title is meant to denote the fourth true iteration of the series) the fighting game studio is taking the genre right back to the drawing board.

“THE FIGHTING GAME GENRE […] DEMANDS A HIGH LEVEL OF TECHNIQUE

“Over Guilty Gear’s 20-year history, the focus was to make each update more exciting and impactful than the last,” says Daisuke Ishiwatari, the series’ creator and chief creative officer on Guilty Gear Strive. “We tried to tone it down somewhat with Guilty Gear Xrd, but it didn’t address the main issue with the series – the gap in ability between veteran players and those new to the franchise.”

Arc’s games are known for being fast-paced and technical, with a high skill ceiling, all bright lights and clashing colours that require twitchy reflexes to master. But over the years it’s been working to make fighters friendlier by including more in-depth tutorials and new modes that assist with combos without taking away too much control.