#(Robo-Ky isn't even PLAYABLE!)

[grrlofswirls]

If I had a nickel for every time Guilty Gear had a queer character walk through a desert with someone else, resulting in a deep and meaningful conversation about their lives and identity, I'd have two nickels. Which, isn't a lot, but it's interesting that it happened twice.

[gear-project]

Different anon here. I just want to say I always thought it was weird for people to just... not buy a certain entry in a series just because a favorite character isn't in it. I mean, you can't always have them in every single game, but if the game is really good that shouldn't stop you from enjoying it or so. Like, I'm a big Baiken fan myself but I would gladly buy Strive even if she doesn't appear in it. That's just how I feel though.

Put it this way.... the very first character I became attached to was Justice when I saw her in a Tips and Tricks Magazine.  She was the first GG character who caught my eye, and I *wanted* to play as her.

I didn’t know at the time that she was a Hidden Final Boss.

Yeah, I was a tad disappointed when I did find out that you can’t play as Justice in Arcade mode of the *VERY FIRST* Guilty Gear....

But you can still play as her in Training and in Versus, which was still fun to me.... and that was before I knew Baiken existed as ALSO a hidden character in the same game.

And then, years passed....

At some point I was playing Guilty Gear X with my friend/rival at the time... and he’s like:

“Dude, did you know there’s a DX edition?  They have Justice and Kliff playable in it.”

And I was like NO WAY!  Justice.... in GGX?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

And it was just like he said, Justice *was* playable in GGXPlus.  Of course, she had no voice samples, and Kliff’s voice was very badly interpolated at the time (Naomi arcade limitations, etc.), but I didn’t know or NEED to know that.

Months later (circa 2002) and GGXX The Midnight Carnival Drops....

The VERY FIRST THING I DID was download every single song I could get my hands on... I didn’t even own the game yet.  I was just jamming away to the music.

I saw a couple gameplay videos of Zappa in action for the first time, and I was TOTALLY FREAKED OUT.  (Like, how can they make a fighting game character slouch backwards like that????)

I didn’t even own a PlayStation 2.... but I KNEW I needed to save up for one... heck, I had to spend another 80 bucks to buy a CRT TV to even play the game on.

That was 19 years ago...

So, I play GGXX for a while, not sure what I’m expecting, just vibing and enjoying the story, Mission Mode is giving me grief, and I’m just taking life like I usually take it.

But some folks over at GameFAQs tell me that you can UNLOCK Justice in GGXX.... she was once again a HIDDEN CHARACTER.

Not only that, but she had a voice this time... AND SHE WAS AMAZING.

I remember, whenever I’d chat with the higher level players at the time they were always like “don’t play Justice, she’s broken” and I was like SO WHAT, I’m having FUN!

Then sometime later Isuka happened, and LEOPALDON became the final boss of that game (along with a gigantic Robo-Ky and awakened Sol and Ky).

Justice wasn’t present, but I didn’t let it get me down... I was more than happy with the new songs Isuka had... some of the best in the saga, in fact.  I could even program Robo-Ky Mk. II to fire a Gamma Ray at anyone.... I was more than satisfied by that point.

Later on, Accent Core happened... lots of people were bashing the fact Kliff and Justice weren’t in the roster, I kept my mouth shut.

Then the “Append Disc” happened, and I was like... okay?  So we’re getting an update?

Then, Accent Core Plus happened, and I was like.... “YES. THIS GAME WILL BE PLAYED.”  And ACPlus was the game I played for a good 10 years before Overture was even a thing.

GG2 Overture happened, and lots of people bashed it, and I could understand why, but I never cared.  I was in it for the story, even if I didn’t have an XBox360 at the time.

When they introduced Valentine in her final form... I was literally shocked.  There were a ton of questions on my mind.... and by that point in time I had finally become so enamored in the story that I kept asking Japanese players I knew to translate stuff for me.

That is, until I started looking up the info for myself and learning the language.

Eventually, I became one of the biggest “nerds” on GG Lore to ever exist.... only because I wanted to find out more about the story and who JUSTICE was as a character.

Of course, I know a ton more now than I did back then... but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying characters like Jack-O’, Elphelt, Ramlethal, and even Bedman.

And you can bet I’m hyped for Happy Chaos...

As Nagoriyuki’s theme says, “NOW IT’S TIME.... TO FEAST.”

[gear-project]

If Happy Chaos is likely a Jack-O Look Alike, is their a chance that she might become a seperate playable character with a slightly similar fighting style compared to Jack-O? For example, Hazama and Terumi are similar but Terumi is more vicious than Hazama. The fact that she sounds insane implies that she isn't really the playful type like Jack-O.

We'll see how things go.

Jack-O' is actually based on the original Valentine from GG2.

Jack-O' herself might be replaced by Aria and have additional abilities, much like how Lambda and Nu were interchangeable for a short time.

Though, there IS a third possibility: Jack-O', Aria, Happy Chaos, and even the first Valentine might each become completely separate characters (Justice as well).

Guilty Gear tends to draw extreme distinctions between so-called "similar" characters.  A good example of this is how Robo-Ky and Order Sol each turned out.

Robo-Ky became less a copy of Ky Kiske and grew more in to a tricky character with moves that could surprise even the most cautious players.

Order Sol's style was more Prototypical compared to Sol's usual pressure scare tactics, but he had plenty of his own tricks, some of which Leo Whitefang inherited.

It's best to consider the possibility that every character WILL be different in an absolute sense, but if Elphelt's outfits are anything to go by, Jack-O' won't actually disappear, since players are still using her.  Same goes for Bedman.

In other words, be patient and keep believing.

The roster will definitely sort itself out.