Guilty Gear X
subtitled By Your Side in Japan, is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works and published by Sammy Studios. The second installment of the Guilty Gear series, Guilty Gear X was developed over a period of about two years after the first game's success. It was released in July 2000 for Japanese arcades, re-released on Dreamcast in December 2000, and later ported to PlayStation 2 in November 2001 and Game Boy Advance in January 2002.
Guilty Gear X continues its predecessor's timeline with new characters and gameplay features. A four-button game, its instant-kill techniques were weakened and a survival mode was added to the previous game's three modes. The Dreamcast and PS2 versions have sold over 100,000 copies in Japan; they have been praised for their graphics, controls and characters but criticized for their lack of replay value. The GBA version was the poorest-received, with the main complaints concerning ease and graphics.
Gameplay
The fight system has a four-main-attack-button configuration: punch, kick, slash and heavy slash. Players may also launch taunt attacks, with their main objective to reduce the opponent's health to zero in a predetermined time. To win a fight a player must accumulate two points, with each round won earning a point. Guilty Gear X has features common in fighting games: combos, aerial attacks and counterattacks. A new feature is the Roman Cancel, which allows a player to cancel their move and its aftereffects to make other attacks.The game has a tension gauge, increasing when a character causes damage or moves toward an adversary and decreasing when a character moves backwards or is stopped for a long time. When the gauge is half-charged a player can use specials called Overdrive Attacks, which cause more damage than regular moves. A full gauge allows a player to make an Instant Kill, defeating an opponent regardless of health; if an Instant Kill is unsuccessful, the tension gauge will not charge for the remainder of that round.
Guilty Gear X Dreamcast version includes four modes of play: Arcade, the game's primary narrative mode; Survival, in which the player fights through infinite levels until they are defeated; Training, which allows a player to practice moves with the help of an in-game move list and Versus, in which a player can fight another player. Guilty Gear X Plus also has art-gallery and story modes; according to the Sega website, the latter explains "misteries" which the Dreamcast version does not. The Advance Edition includes tag-team and three-on-three modes; each player chooses two or three characters, respectively, and can switch characters during a fight.
Synopsis
Plot
In the year of 2181, less than a year after the events of Guilty Gear, reports of a newly discovered commander Gear surfaced. Amid concern about a second war, another Holy Knights Tournament begins; whoever captures and kills Dizzy will receive 500,000 World Dollars. She is defeated, but her life is spared by Sol Badguy, as she proves to be inoffensive. Shortly after, she is found by Ky Kiske, the police chief of the United Nations and ex-chief of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights. He entrusts her care to Johnny and May, members of the Jellyfish Air Pirates, who welcome her as one of their own. Jam Kuradoberi, a bounty hunter and struggling chef, claims the credit for Dizzy's disappearance so she can collect the reward and finance her restaurant.Characters
Guilty Gear X has sixteen playable characters: Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, May, Baiken, Faust, Potemkin, Chipp Zanuff, Millia Rage, Zato-1, Jam Kuradoberi, Johnny, Anji Mito, Venom, Axl Low, Testament and Dizzy. Fourteen are available from the outset, with Testament and Dizzy unlockable characters. Guilty Gear X Plus adds three unlockable characters: Justice and Kliff Undersn, who returns from the first game, and Robo-Ky, an alternate version of Ky Kiske. The Plus edition allows a player to unlock gold versions of each character, who possesses a special advantage over the regular version.Development and release
After the success of the first Guilty Gear released on May 14, 1998 for PlayStation, Sammy Studios commissioned an arcade sequel in February 1999. Developed by Team Neo Blood, an Arc System Works production group led by Daisuke Ishiwatari, the sequel was about two years in development. Unveiled at the Amusement Expo in February 2000, Guilty Gear X was released to Japanese arcades on the Sega NAOMI system in July 2000. After the game's release, it was speculated that it would be ported to home consoles. Although the developers initially indicated that Guilty Gear X would debut for the PlayStation 2, it was first released for Dreamcast on December 14, 2000 and re-released as part of a Dreamcast collection on May 23, 2003.A PS2 version was announced by Sammy in June 2001 for release that fall, and Guilty Gear X was released in North America on October 2, 2001. Since it was released before the Japanese version, the North American edition did not have the additional features of the Japanese counterpart. Sammy released the PS2 version in Japan on November 29, 2001 and in Europe on March 1, 2002. In Japan, it was known as and was released in two versions: regular and deluxe, with the latter containing Guilty Gear-related special products. On February 13, 2003, the game was re-released in Japan as part of PlayStation2 the Best.
CyberFront released a PC version for Windows 9x on November 30, 2001 in Japan. Announced during an August 2001 convention at Space World, Game Boy Advance version was released on January 5, 2002. It was released in North America on August 13, 2002 and in Europe on September 27. Guilty Gear X ver. 1.5, an Atomiswave arcade-system version, was released only outside of Japan in 2003 after its February 2003 introduction at the Amusement Expo. In 2020, a homebrew conversion of Guilty Gear X ver. 1.5 was released for the Dreamcast.
Reception
In June 2001, Sammy reported a profit of ¥284 million for Guilty Gear Xs Japanese arcade version. In Japan, Game Machine listed the game on their September 1, 2000 issue as being the most-successful arcade game of the month. Its Dreamcast version was the 128th-bestselling title in Japan in 2000, with 97,934 copies sold from December 14 to December 31. In 2001 the game sold 33,822 more copies, for a total of 131,756. Guilty Gear X Plus sold over 128,000 copies in Japan.Critical reception for Guilty Gear X on PS2 was positive, and has an average score of 80% on GameRankings, and Metacritic gave the PS2 version 79 out of 100. Greg Orlando reviewed the Dreamcast version of the game for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "X marks the spot for brutality done beautifully." Anoop Gantayat of IGN called the Dreamcast edition "possibly the finest-looking 2D game ever, thanks to the high-res graphics, mega-ultra special effects and smooth animation." According to T.J. Deci of AllGame, the PS2 release is "notable for smooth, refined graphics, with richly detailed characters and backgrounds uncommon in 2D fighters." Although Guilty Gear Xs overall graphics were praised, its sometimes-confusing backgrounds were heavily criticized.
The Dreamcast version's control responsiveness was praised by Gantayat. Guilty Gear Xs PS2 version was also generally praised, with Greg Kasavin of GameSpot writing that it "controls smoothly and precisely". Major Mike of GamePro included the caveat that "some moves are difficult to execute and require patience to master fully." According to James Fudge for GameSpy, "The gameplay manages to be easy to pick up but isn't dumbed down enough to annoy expert fight fans." Guilty Gear Xs limited replay value was heavily criticised; Jay Fitzloff of Game Informer said, "Since it's especially weak in the singles game, consider purchasing Guilty Gear X only if you and a friend want to go at it." The game was a runner-up for "Outstanding Fighting Game Sequel" by the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers, losing to Dead or Alive 3. The PlayStation 2 version was a runner-up for GameSpots annual "Best Fighting Game" award among console games, losing to Garou: Mark of the Wolves.
The Game Boy Advance version was less well received, with aggregate scores of 64.97 percent and 67 out of 100 from GameRankings and Metacritic respectively. A common criticism was that the game's artificial intelligence was inefficient in combat, making it too easy. Although Chet of Game Informer said, "The new modes such as Tag Match and 3-on-3 add variety, but still cannot compensate for this fundamental problem", according to Michael Knutson of GameZone its balance "gives the game a better replay value." Its visual were very criticized; GamesRadar panned Guilty Gear Xs "overblown aesthetics", giving it the game's worst score : "While it's not completely hellish, it definitely deserves purgatory." According to Star Dingo of GamePro, "Most backgrounds seem like pale, watercolor imitations of the originals ". Justin of Game Informer and Kaiser Hwang of IGN criticized the game's sprites, which they considered small compared with those of Street Fighter.
Its characters were praised as "original" by Justin and "cool" by Kasavin. Gantayat wrote, "It's the characters that stand out the most", calling them "marvelously designed," "unmatched in terms of fine details" and "very distinct." According to Fudge, "There's a character of choice for just about everyone." The characters' balance was praised by Tom Bramwell and Knutson. Guilty Gear Xs audio had a lukewarm response; according to Chet and Hwang it was "weak", and Dingo called it "atrocious". Mike and Kasavin found the fight announcer's voice "unintelligible", with Mike also criticizing the game's "oppressive" music. Knutson praised Guilty Gear Xs sound effects and music, and Kasavin considered its music appropriate for "the game's fast-paced action, as well as its anime theme."