PC port confirmed for cult anime fighter
Great news for the fans of cult 2D fighting franchise Melty Blood. Developer French-Bread has announced that the newest entry into the super-cool series, Melty Blood: Type Lumina, will leap back into the ring as soon as September 30, arriving on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and has also been newly confirmed for PC (via Steam).
Melty Blood: Type Lumina will be the franchise’s first entry since 2011’s Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, and will feature the series’ trademark dark anime action. Retaining the 2D format of its predecessors, Type Lumina is being built on a brand new engine, allowing the game’s 10-strong roster to look their very best whilst behaving at their very worst. New mechanics will include the simplified combo system “Rapid Beat”, alongside devastating special moves powered by Type Lumina‘s “Heat” and “Moon” gauges. You can check out a sneak peek of the action in the new trailer below.
Among the characters squaring off in this entry will a who’s who of characters pulled from the upcoming manga Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon. This includes vampire princess Arcueid Brunestud, holy assassin Ciel, Tohno house head Akiha Tohno, and the twin maids, Kohaku and Hisui — spectacularly taking to battle armed with a broom and a skillet, respectively. The Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon manga launches in August, so fans will have a couple of months to get up to speed with the storyline before Type Lumina hits. While the roster is certainly smaller than many fighters, French Bread hopes to provide a tighter narrative focus on the events and cast of the Tsukihime source material.
In regards to game modes, Melty Blood: Type Lumina will feature unique single-player story modes for each character, along with Versus, Online play, and a Training mode. Unfortunately, Type Lumina will not support cross-play between platforms, which is a tough break for a fighting game with a relatively smaller audience than most. Melty Blood: Type Lumina will retail digitally at $50 for the standard edition. A $70 Deluxe Edition will include a digital guidebook to the series, along with a music player loaded with tracks selected from the entire Melty Blood franchise.
From this first real look at the gameplay, Melty Blood: Type Lumina is looking neat, and very faithful to the franchise. The fact that the new sequel will be available on PC and a wide range of console platforms bodes well. Hopefully, it will encourage the dedicated fanbase to dust off their arcade sticks, while also bringing new fans into the fold.
