EXceed (series)

The eXceed series is a Japanese dōjin game series. It was first created by the dōjin circle, FLAT, then continued by Tennen-Sozai. Similar to the Touhou Project, the series is focused on bullet hell shooters, but varies vastly in gameplay. The first game, eXceed- Gun Bullet Children was made by FLAT. The second and more popular game, eXceed 2nd- VAMPIRE, was made and released in 2006. The third game, eXceed 3rd- JADE PENETRATE, and a remake of the second game called VAMPIRE REX were released in 2007. FLAT eventually shut down and transferred its copyrights to Tennen-Sozai. An expanded version of the third game, eXceed 3rd- JADE PENETRATE- BLACK PACKAGE was released in 2009. In November 2011, doujin localization company Nyu Media limited announced they would be release English language versions of eXceed 2nd- Vampire REX and eXceed 3rd- JADE PENETRATE- BLACK PACKAGE.^[1]

Games

eXceed- Gun Bullet Children

The first game of the eXceed series, made and released in 2005 by FLAT. Humanity is at war with vampires and "deviants", humans whose blood is mixed with the blood of vampires. In order to fight the invaders, the Catholic Church trained and released the Gun Bullet Children, young children who sacrifice most of their life span for magic competitive to that of the vampire commanders. The player chooses one of the three characters with different abilities. Each has a basic attack, a special attack which is accessed by "grazing" bullets, and a bomb attack.

eXceed 2nd- VAMPIRE

The second game of the eXceed series, made and released in 2006 by FLAT. After the war in the first game, vampires began to coexist with humans. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church was rumored to be suffering from internal power struggles. Eventually, a xenophobic faction opposed to the peaceful coexistence promoted by the Church seized power and ordered the Gun Bullet Children to initiate a worldwide extermination of vampires and their hybrid deviants. The game tells the story of Ria File, a half-vampire, half-human fighting on the side of the vampires as they struggle to survive the genocide. The gameplay includes the polarity mechanic, which was famously used in Treasure's Ikaruga. The player can change polarities, becoming immune to his/her own polarity while doing double the damage to enemies with the opposite polarity. An improved remake called eXceed 2nd- VAMPIRE REX was released in 2007 and its original sound track was released in 2008.

eXceed 3rd- JADE PENETRATE

The third game of the eXceed series, made and released in 2007. JADE PENETRATE has a story much different from the first games, which is about a young dragon/demon hybrid named Raine Lindwurm, who wants to become the ruler of the Underworld. She eventually has to fight several opponents, including her older sister and the heiress, Celestia Lindwurm, and the current thousand-year old ruler, Remendy. The gameplay is some similar to the first eXceed game, where the player has a basic attack, a special attack acquired when "grazing" bullets, and a bomb attack. An expanded "BLACK PACKAGE" version of the game was released in 2009 by Tennen-Sozai and the Original Soundtrack was released in 2010.

Characters

The series has a large set of characters. Boss characters in VAMPIRE and JADE PENETRATE have their own music themes.

Gun Bullet Children and VAMPIRE

Chinatsu Kagaya (Tinatu Kagaya in early versions)

Boss Theme: Shock!!, Shock!! (arranged version) (in remake)

Species: Vampire, but raised as a human

A playable character in Gun Bullet Children and the Stage 2 boss in VAMPIRE. Tinatu was a vampire raised as a human, but still has her volatile and aggressive personality of usual vampires. Despite her vampiric traits, she still considers herself to be completely human. Chinatsu uses dark powers and sword-like blades called Ingzeks. In VAMPIRE, she was sent to wipe out all the vampires and their hybrids despite being a hybrid herself.

Sowell Divosiana

Boss Theme: Playful

Species: Human

A playable character in Gun Bullet Children and the Stage 3 boss in VAMPIRE. Sowel is the de facto commander of the Gun Bullet Children who has a very calm personality and is heavily devoted to protecting the Church and eradicating vampires. Her best power is summoning a powerful polarity-combining creature named Silvestre of the Wind. In VAMPIRE, she guarded the entrance to the Vatican during Ria's attack.

Miyabe Housen

Boss Theme: Dd, Ignite (in remake)

Species: Human

A playable character in Gun Bullet Children and the Stage 4 boss in VAMPIRE. Miyabi has an unknown history since she was raised as a orphan before becoming one of the Gun Bullet Children. She has an easy going personality, and appears to not have any grudge against vampires or their deviants. Because so, she commonly watches over Chinatsu. She uses fire powers, which are hot enough to incinerate people. In VAMPIRE, she went easy on Ria and only fought her to see her abilities. After, she showed Ria the way to the Invisible Collapse, a gateway connecting to a magical dimension and left promising to meet her again.

Gilles de Rais

Boss Theme: Shakes to Obscene

Species: Neither Vampire nor Human

The Stage 1 boss in Gun Bullet Children and the Stage 5 boss in VAMPIRE. Gilles is a knight-like commander who uses ancient and medieval magic. In VAMPIRE, she is Ria's subordinate, but reveals to have an agenda of her own.

Lunatica Malice

Species: Vampire

The Stage 2 boss in Gun Bullet Children. Lunatica is still very young despite being thousands of years old. She has the power to steal the life of other people.

Seele Chan

Species: Vampire

The Stage 3 boss in Gun Bullet Children. Seele is the strongest of all the vampires.

Sense Abel

Species: Vampire

The Stage 4 boss in Gun Bullet Children. Sense is nicknamed the "Blue Moon Songbird" since she could kill her enemies with her singing. She is the Undying Lord's top enforcer.

Ria File

Species: Half-Vampire, Half-Human

The main character in eXceed 2nd- VAMPIRE and its remake. As a child, she was raised in a human society and was often bullied and oppressed because of her inherited vampire genes. After her powers manifested, she used to them to escape and was rescued by the Undying Lord. She is now Gilles' superior in the vampire army as they struggle to survive the genocide ordered by the Church and carried out by the Gun Bullet Children. She has the unique ability to switch polarities.

Brunhild (Brynhidr in early versions) & Siegrune

Themes: KINZYOU (Level 1), System Slaughter (Final Level), Bestrafung (Level 1 in remake), Puppe (Level 7 in remake), CONQUEST (Final boss)

Species: Human, but fused with Angels

The Stage 1 and final Stage bosses in VAMPIRE. They are artificially-spliced hybrids of humans and angels and named after valkyries and have opposite polarities (Brynhidr being dark and Siegrune being light). They are also opposite on other things such as personalities (Siegrune is more childish while Brynhidr is more mature). Normally, Siegrune has the ability to transform into Fenris Wolf, a monstrous creature that had both polarities, but such power was considered highly dangerous. As a safety, the dark attribute for Siegrune was transferred to her more mature and responsible Brunhild. After Brunhild dies in Stage 7, Siegrune absorbs her body to become the final boss.

Anhel (Angel in early versions)

Theme: Light like Thorn, Flugel (in remake)

The Stage 6 boss in VAMPIRE. She is named after the same Holy Lady Ahnel mentioned in VAMPIRE, who gave mankind the powers to fight the vampires. As a child, she was sealed by the Catholic Church into another dimension through an invisible gateway known as the Invisible Collapse.

See also

• Touhou Project, another PC-exclusive shmup series.
• Ikaruga, famous for the polarity mechanic used in eXceed 2nd- VAMPIRE and its remake.

References

External links

• eXceed series Official Website
• Tennen-sozai Official Website (Japanese)