When BlazBlue was first announced, Guilty Gear fans rejoiced. They rightfully guessed that the new series was the new iteration of Guilty Gear, but with all new characters and a tweaked engine. Still, some of Guilty Gear’s hardcore fans have been holding out for another entry in the series. It doesn’t look like that’s ever going to happen, and the reason why might surprise you.
According to Toshimichi Hori of Arc Systems Works, “The generation of Guilty Gear players has become a certain age – maybe a little bit too old for playing games. So making that reset brings in a new generation of fighting game players. Then they will be with us for the next few years“.
Good thing that Nintendo doesn’t think that way. If they did, we probably wouldn’t have gotten Super Mario Galaxy 2. That said, I admire Arc Systems Works for officially retiring a group of characters, and starting fresh with a new variation on an old theme. Capcom tried that once with Street Fighter III, and was punished for it by fans who weren’t willing to move forward. It’s probably not a coincidence that Hori-san sites Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike as his favorite fighting game ever.
This is a developer who understands the power of moving on.
The Arc of Fighting [Eurogamer]
