Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival
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Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival is the third full installment in the Guilty Gear series of fighting games. Released in 2002, it furthered the plot of the series and introduced new characters and gameplay mechanics. The graphics also appeared to be notably improved. It was much more commercially successful even than its predecessor, Guilty Gear X, and is widely cited as one of the more carefully balanced fighting games out there.
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[edit] Mechanics
A notable cu to the mechanics of the previous games is the False Roman Cancel or FRC, which is similar to the Roman Cancel available in previous games, but generally requires much more precise timing, and is only possible with certain moves. False Roman Cancels require only 25% tension, can be performed even if the move does not hit (including projectiles), and generally are used for offensive pressure or mixup.
[edit] Characters
Testament and Dizzy make their first appearances as non-boss characters (and are therefore legal in competitive play). In addition there are five entirely new characters, four of which are available to start with.
- I-No is a strange, guitar-playing woman who apparently works for That Man, the creator of the gears. She is the boss of the arcade version of the game, but is also a playable character from the start, albeit less powerful. She is the first boss character thusly playable in a Guilty Gear game so far.
- Bridget is a young, androgynous bounty hunter, who has set out to prove his masculinity.
- Zappa is an Australian man, who has been possessed by ghosts, and seeks a cure for his mysterious ailment, despite being oblivious of its true nature.
- Slayer is the previously unmentioned founder of the assassin's guild, and is also the first and only vampire featured in the series.
- Robo-Ky is a robotic version of Ky Kiske, and apparently was built by and works for the Post-War Administration Bureau, generally appearing to enforce their will.
[edit] Plot
GGXX picks up the story approximately two weeks after the events of GGX. The plot threads are character-driven, but most of the conflict is sparked by either I-No and her quest to destroy all perceived threats to her master, or Robo-Ky, and the Post-War Admnistration Bureau's agenda. Most characters encounter That Man at some point in their story paths. Some sort of conflict appears to be mounting between various organizations.
[edit] Revisions
Thus far, two revisions to the game have been made with a third game, 'Accent Core' in the making.
[edit] Guilty Gear XX#Reload
Released in 2003, this version was intended to further balance high-level play. Many moves were altered, from slight tweaks in speed and damage to almost complete reworkings in some cases, FRC points were added, and notably, Robo-Ky was changed entirely, made playable from the beginning, and considered tournament-legal from then on. In actuality, two versions were released, the first being referred to as "Red Reload." Red Reload contained many errors and was quickly revised and redistributed, this time widely called "Blue Reload."
[edit] Guilty Gear XX Slash
Another revision was released in 2005 in Japan, this time with much more significant changes. Once again, the game's balance was reworked by changing properties of certain moves. This time, however, the changes were more pronounced, including entirely new moves for some characters and a complete reworking of the tiers of the game. Two new tournament-legal characters were introduced, these being A.B.A, who debuted in Guilty Gear: Isuka, and Order-Sol, who was a version of Sol Badguy with an entirely different costume, moveset, stage, and theme music. Two new stages were added for these characters, and all of the existing stages were changed similarly to the difference between them in GGX and GGXX. A stage/music selection system was added to the console version's Versus mode.
