The original “Guilty Gear Xrd” came out precisely a year ago on Japanese consoles (and a few months later on Western shores), and while I think we can all agree that it was a really great addition to our favorite series, it also wasn’t perfect, and never quite managed to amass the following that a fighting game needs in order to remain relevant, especially here across the Ocean. Well, the good news is that at the very least Arc System Works are willing to give it one more chance before giving up on the game by releasing an updated version/sequel titled “Guilty Gear Xrd 2”, which has already been out in Japanese arcade for a bit, but will finally be released in the West on May 26th – in precisely a month and a day since this article (hopefully) goes up!
In case you’re not familiar with them, most Japanese fighting games do sequels a little bit differently – rather than a fully-blown new installment of the game with entirely new story, mechanics, visuals and characters like it’s done in the West (see “Mortal Kombat” compared to “Mortal Kombat X”), Japanese fighting game sequels are just the same game as their predecessor, but with rebalancing based on fan feedback and extra content. That’s not true for all of them (the “Super Smash Bros.” series is always radically different), but each “Street Fighter” title has had numerous editions, “Marvel vs Capcom 3” got “Ultimate MvC3”, “Persona 4 Arena” got “Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax”, and similarly, franchises like “BlazBlue” and “King of Fighters” have also received these types of updates, alongside series which never left Japan, such as “Bleach: Heat the Soul”. “Guilty Gear Xrd 2” follows the same principle – it’s less of a full-blown sequel and more of an add-on which will contain all of the original content from “Guilty Gear Xrd”, plus a couple of extras.
Those extras come in the form of an overall roster rebalance, new moves for all characters, as well as new story episodes for fighters that didn’t have them. The main focus, however, are two new characters – Baiken, a badass female samurai (who, in true “Guilty Gear” fashion, is showing way more chest than is practical for combat) and Answer, who can be best described as an office worker/ninja. To be perfectly honest, this update doesn’t seem all that essential, and doesn’t really warrant the steep price tag ($20 if you own the original “Guilty Gear Xrd”, $40 if you’re new to the series). I mean, sure, if you’ve never played “Guilty Gear Xrd” and would like to get into it at an affordable pricetag, “Xrd 2” is the definitive version which may be worth getting. If you already own the original and the new characters aren’t a draw, then I’d personally wait until you can pick it up at a lower pricepoint, or perhaps skip it entirely.