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Guilty Gear
Guilty Gear (ギルティギア, Giruti Gia?), subtitled
The Missing Link in Japan, is the first
game of the
Guilty Gear series developed by
Arc System Works. It was first released on the
PlayStation in
1998 and later on the
PlayStation Network in 2007.
Despite being the first release of the
Guilty Gear franchise, the game itself reveals little of its past storyline; it is not until later releases of the video games,
drama CDs, and novels of the franchise that its history is thoroughly explained.
Gameplay
Guilty Gear is set in
2D, similar to
Street Fighter and
The King of Fighters, but is fast-paced and focuses more on the use of combo techniques. The game features 10 characters and three hidden characters. It uses a six-button layout: Punch, Kick, Slash, H-Slash, Dust and Respect. Combat is one-on-one set in best-two-out-of-three rounds.
It uses a "tension" gauge, akin to
Street Fighter Alpha's Super Combo techniques, in which characters can input certain commands and activate special-moves called Chaos Attacks. It also features an air-combo system, comparable to
Marvel vs. Capcom's "Aerial Rave", allowing combos to be performed on airborne opponents.
Guilty Gear features instant kill techniques called Destroy Attacks, that can be activated after a Murder Outbreak attack successfully lands on an opponent, effectively ending the match.
The game also has a feature called Chaos Mode that is activated when a character's health is at the half-way point (yellow bar). A red aura will surround the character and he/she is able to perform unlimited Chaos Attacks.
Story
Guilty Gear follows the story of ten combatants entering "The Second Sacred Order Tournament" for reasons of their own. Set in a bleak future in which its present time has just recovered from a 100-year-war against man-made bio-organic weapons called "Gears". A Gear named
Testament began a plan to resurrect
Justice and wipe out the human race.
Fearing this, the Union of Nations began a fighting tournament in order to find fighters who would be able to defeat Testament and the coming revival of Justice, giving the winner the prize of being able to acquire anything they desire.
As the combatants fight through the stages of the tournament they begin to find out the true meaning of the tournament. After defeating Testament in the second to last stage of the tournament, the character aids Justice's revival by being the sacrifice. After defeating the threat of Justice, order is restored with an uneasy peace.