« Cognitive Dissonance: The Return of Guilty Gear? »

A little more than a week ago, on February 15, my social media feeds were glutted with reactions to the news I was not sure I would ever hear again: Guilty Gear was getting another arcade release. A day later, when the release was also announced for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, the online chorus grew louder. While details are currently scarce about the upcoming release of Guilty Gear: Accent Core+, the only sure thing is that all across the fighting game community, people are salivating to play GGAC and compete. But, can the game — will the game really come back? The answers to those questions are a bit harder than a simple yes or no.

Guilty Gear is one of the pioneering titles of the 'anime' scene in fighting games and may have been the first game to wear that label. Derided for its choice of game for several years, the Guilty scene was always a small group of guys, even for the mid-2000's. There were probably less than 1000 people in the US who played the game seriously and could be considered competitive players, and the number of those who could win a given major tournament was a very small fraction of that. That's a lot of ground to make up given today's standards, but a new version on current systems will go a long way to start addressing why the game is currently dead.

The new version will help GG by solving the problem of hardware. Five years ago, every tournament player had a PS2, a PS2-compatible stick and a CRT television. Now, PS2s are still plentiful, but finding either a CRT or PS2 stick can be tricky. Often, players have to buy used sticks or purchase expensive custom-made sticks, neither of which is a preferable choice when they have a new MadCatz or Hori stick for Xbox/PS3 sitting right next to their systems. And, many players didn't even get into fighters competitively until the HD era of gaming, so they're not likely to have an extra CRT just sitting around in case they want to play games. By releasing the title in a format that every current competitor finds convenient, Arc System Works is ensuring that people will at least give the game a chance.

However, while porting the game to XBL/PSN will solve the current hardware problem Guilty Gear is facing, the age and demands of the game will likely prove a burden for many players. I have already seen countless voices online claiming they will play GG if the netcode is good, but even with the best netcode, the game will not translate well to online play. Newer games such as Blazblue and Street Fighter 4 succeed online because they are designed around the possibility of online play; while still requiring split-second thinking they provide larger margins of error in terms of reactions and timing. For example, in Street Fighter 4 players have 7 frames to break a normal throw, and in Blazblue a throw under normal conditions can be 'teched' in 13; Guilty Gear gives you 2 frames. And this level of execution is expected all across the game, from False Roman Cancels (FRCs) and combos, to blocking, to using Slashback (the game's version of a parry). Simply put, GG is a game that was designed before online play and thus offers nothing to make up for the existence of lag. Online players will not only have to adjust each match for the differing level of delay, but also play the game a lot offline so they can still execute at tournaments. That is a level of effort only the most dedicated players will give, and people trying to get good in a vacuum will probably gravitate back toward better online experiences. All that said, online play is not completely wasted on GG.

The way that online can help Guilty Gear grow is by providing an environment for already-skilled players to see more facets of the game than what is offered by local competition. Online play is a veritable cornucopia of gimmicks and tricks, many relying more on strange hitboxes or mental aspects of the game than pure timing. This fact can help small scenes become stronger by providing them new ideas and insights into the game they will then be able to test offline. In this way, a dedicated group of as few as 5 to 10 players in a small scene will have a better chance competing with players from places with large scenes, such as California or New York. This, combined with the game's fantastic training mode, could go a long way in getting players hooked into the scene.

So, will Guilty Gear come back? I think so, but only in the way it was: a small game with a dedicated player base. Much like HD Remix reinvigorated Super Turbo by getting 'old men' out of their houses and back into the tournament scene, AC+ will do the same for Guilty Gear. The tournaments will continue to be tiny by today's standards — many will not reach 100 participants — but the game will return to tournament rotation as a side offering, and there will be a small influx of new players. Many of us who played the game already affectionately refer to it as our generation's Super Turbo. Now, I guess it has the chance to become that.

But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe GGAC+ will have a huge following, and the game will be able to draw good numbers at a lot of events, ensuring the emergence of an all-new GG title in the next couple of years; that would be pretty cool too. Either way, I'll be playing.