Melty Blood


Melty Blood, sometimes shortened as Merubura, is a series of 2D visual novel fighting video games, co-developed by dōjin circles Type-Moon and French-Bread as the meta-sequel of Type-Moon's first visual novel Tsukihime.
The first game was originally released at Comiket in December 2002, and later spawned multiple sequels, such as an arcade version titled Act Cadenza, developed by Ecole Software, which was ported to the PlayStation 2, the first Type-Moon game to receive a console release. The latest title, called Melty Blood: Type Lumina, was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows on September 30, 2021. It serves as a reboot of the series, and takes place in a new continuity first depicted in Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-, a remake of the original Tsukihime.
A manga series, written and illustrated by Takeru Kirishima, was first serialized in Kadokawa Shoten manga magazine Comp Ace in 2006. The series ended in 2011 with nine bound volumes released in Japan.

Gameplay

Melty Blood makes use of widely used concepts in fighting games such as cancels chain combos and the use of super bars.
Unique to the game are mechanics like Shielding, an advanced defensive technique which can completely nullify damage from incoming attacks, as well as French-Bread Games' staple gameplay mechanic Reverse Beat, a type of chain combo that can cancel from a higher normal move to a weaker normal move. The series is also characterized by its freedom of movement, especially in the air, where players have access to a variety of options, including jumps, double jumps, super jumps, and air dashes, which can be combined to create complex, unpredictable movement not typically possible in other series.
The original series of games, culminating in Melty Blood: Actress Again: Current Code, features the Moon system. Similar to the groove system pioneered in Capcom vs. SNK 2, each character in the game has three different variants corresponding to the phases of the moon, which can be selected during character select. Each moon type includes baseline mechanics that apply to all characters of that moon, while each character will typically have a drastically different moveset depending on the selected moon, impacting normal as well as special moves.
Melty Blood: Type Lumina introduced many gameplay changes from the original series, with many players describing the gameplay as a combination of the Melty Blood games and French Bread's game series Under Night In-Birth. A new moon system exists in Type Lumina which functions more as a meter and provides access to additional techniques like Moon Skill attacks and Moon Drive.

Plot

The original Melty Blood game takes place one year after Satsuki Yumizuka's non-existent route of Tsukihime and a month after Kagetsu Tohya. In August 2001, Shiki Tohno hears of a new series of murders in Misaki Town, similar to the ones that took place in Tsukihime, in the last weeks of October 1999. Whilst searching for the murderer, he meets Sion Eltnam Atlasia, who initiates a fight with him, attempting to capture him. After the fight, she reveals that her reason for trying to capture him is to get in contact with the "True Ancestor" so that she may acquire information on the "cure for vampirism". Shiki then decides to help her with this task. The game's story moves through a series of fights. Depending on the outcome of the fight, the story will branch in one of two ways. This corresponds to the ending of the game.

Characters

As of Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code Ver. 1.07, there are 31 playable characters.
They have three Moons, with each providing new variation to normal moves, special moves, and system mechanics as well as gameplay feel. They consist of Full Moon, Half Moon, or Crescent Moon.
Tsukihime characters:
Kagetsu Tohya characters:
The Garden of Sinners characters:
New characters:
Alternative/bosses and hidden characters:
  • Akiha Vermillion or 赤主秋葉 Sekishu Akiha: Hitomi
  • Hisui & Kohaku: Miyu Matsuki & Naoko Takano
  • Sion TATARI: Rio Natsuki
  • G-Akiha: Hitomi - does not appear in Current Code 1.07
  • Red Arcueid: Ryōka Yuzuki
  • Damien Armies - does not appear in Current Code 1.07
  • Neco Chaos Black G666: Jouji Nakata
  • Kohaku & Mech-Hisui: Naoko Takano & Miyu Matsuki
  • Neco-Arc & Mech-Hisui: Ryōka Yuzuki & Miyu Matsuki
  • Seifuku Akiha: Hitomi
  • Archetype:Earth : Ryōka Yuzuki - playable character and the boss in her route
  • Powerd Ciel : Kumi Sakuma
In the original Melty Blood, only six of the characters above were available for play, with eight more being unlockable through story mode. However, in a later update released for the game, all the characters are available from the start. The reasons for this are slightly unclear; it appears to be the result of a legal misunderstanding whereby Type-Moon mistakenly thought they would no longer be allowed to produce updates/patches, and thus made a "last patch" which unlocked the characters as a sort of gift for the fans. Whatever the case, Type-Moon has left these characters available throughout all subsequent releases. In addition, Aoko and Kouma were both added to the game as of Act Cadenza, although Aoko was an unplayable boss character in previous versions. Act Cadenza also changed the given names of several characters, generally to make it easier to identify the doppelgangers by name. Sion later appeared in the French-Bread's spiritual successor of the series, Under Night In-Birth, under her middle name Eltnum.

Release

''Melty Blood (2002)''

The original Melty Blood was announced on October 8, 2001, at Tsukihime Matsuri Himehajime, the dōjin convention hosting only Tsukihime content. The plan was suggested by Nobuya Narita of Watanabe Seisakujo. Kinoko Nasu wrote scenarios and Takashi Takeuchi designed characters. Watanabe Seisakujo developed the game system and pixel art. They were known as the creators of parody games, but Nasu requested not to break the style of Tsukihime. They had difficulty thinking of attacks because original characters didn't have an attractive skill suited for the fighting game. They also worked hard to create frames of animation exceeding Street Fighter III.
The full version of Melty Blood was released in December 2002 for Windows. An expansion patch, Re-ACT released two years later in May 2004, and an update, Re-ACT Final Tuned, released in July 2005. An arcade version of the series, Melty Blood Act Cadenza, was later developed by Ecole Software and released in March 2005. Later, a PlayStation 2 version of Act Cadenza was released on August 10, 2006. A Windows version, Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver.B, was also released on July 27, 2007. The following entry in the series, Melty Blood Actress Again, was released on September 19, 2008. The series' newest game, Melty Blood: Type Lumina, was released on September 30, 2021.

''Melty Blood Re-ACT''

An expansion to the original game, featuring an 'Arcade Mode' whose storyline takes place after the original Melty Blood. The expansion made numerous changes in regards to character balance and removed many infinite-combo sequences. New movesets were created for the doppelgänger characters, whereas in the original, most of these characters had nearly identical movesets to their counterparts. It also made changes to the game's mechanics and added several new characters, though only two are playable while the other four remained as NPCs: Len, Satsuki Yumizuka, Neco-Arc Executioner Ciel, White Len and Aoko Aozaki.
The final update to Re-ACT, Final Tuned, adds several features designed to allow the game to be configured to resemble the gameplay of Melty Blood Act Cadenza. It also adds a large number of gameplay tweaks and slightly updated animations, such as the inclusion of a new, analog-friendly controller setup; new configuration options that lets players assign multi-button commands to individual buttons; the ability to alter and adjust many of the game's internal variables ; and four new colors for each player.

''Melty Blood Act Cadenza''

Melty Blood Act Cadenza was the first arcade port of the series and was published by Ecole Software. The visual novel was removed, while the Arcade Mode dialogue featured in Re-ACT returns. It completely revamped Aoko Aozaki's movelist for use as a playable character, and introduced Kouma Kishima into the series, a man who was deeply involved in Shiki Tohno's past. It also introduced the Shielding mechanic, as well as including various changes to the properties of characters. This version can be identified by the Atlasia crest, and the phrase "Through the Looking-Glass, Black Light transparently", both present in the logo.
Melty Blood Act Cadenza, released for the PlayStation 2, was unique as a port in that it included an option to revert to Version A mechanics, yet introduced significant changes that were later included in Ver. B, including an early version of Neco-Arc Chaos as a hidden character. It is sometimes known as "Ver. A2".
Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver. B is an arcade port of the PS2 game with various changes and upgrades, the most notable of which is the inclusion of White Len as a playable character, with a significantly weakened moveset. It also introduced a fifth button that served as a contextual action depending on the situation and the direction held on the joystick when pressed, such as dodging or throwing. This version can be identified by a dual silhouette of Len and White Len in the logo and the phrase "Through the Looking-Glass, Northern Light transparently".
Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver. B2 is a Windows port of the arcade Ver. B. It has added features including tag-team mode, a 4-player team battle mode, a programmable dummy for training purposes, and a new hidden boss character, Neco-Arc Chaos Black G666. It also included subtle gameplay changes, most notably altered defense ratings for characters and adjustments to the game's input system. It was released on July 27, 2007.