Blade Strangers: The Weirdest Crossover Fighter

[@someguy1ification]

"is that Isaac?!" And I was like, "yeah, Gunvolt DOES look like the lead from Golden Sun in that picture..." I did not see Isaac in the highlighted section lol

[@FioreFire]

If Shovel Knight is this big and bulky compared to the characters in this game, just imagine how massive the bigger characters in his world must be

[@Nedoiko]

He didn't get into smash because he was too big

[@webbowser8834]

They definitely took some... artistic liberties when designing shovel knight for this game. I dig it, don't get me wrong, but it is very funny seeing this larger than life version of the character when he was very much portrayed as a lil guy in Shovel Knight.

[@alyasVictorio]

@webbowser8834 That's Shovel Knight's SNES artstyle for us

[@webbowser8834]

@@alyasVictorio To be fair, I think making Shovel Knight a lil guy was a very intentional choice by the devs. It makes for a pretty substantial contrast between him and Shield Knight.

[@PewPew_McPewster]

I noticed this game because of Solange from Code of Princess, which I played because of Solange and her "outfit".

[@crashy918]

Most official indie crossover fighting games usually seem to go for a platfighter gameplay; and then there's Blade Strangers which is the one official indie crossover fighter I know of that goes for a Street Fighter type gameplay instead.

[@chopper8209]

FINALLY!!! SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS GAME!!! Loved this game back then. I main Summer Kawase.

[@amr-OH]

worth noting that Studio Saizensen has former members of Fil-in-Cafe and Treasure, some of which worked on titles like Asuka 120% which was pretty big in the lineage of anime fighters Blade Strangers is also a direct follow up to Blade Arcus, a Shining series fighting game, and uses a simplified control scheme in response to some players of that game finding it too complex. Worth looking at if you wanna see what a version of this game with traditional inputs looks like tho

[@ilikestamps2978]

You know what's funny. Developers keep insisting that simplistic controls lower the skill gap, but does it really? Even if you can do the combos, that arguably isn't even the hardest part of most games. I guess initially, it could bring in new players, but unless those players are really committed, they're probably going to get washed and just give up. I'm not really opposed to simplistic controls per se, but I think they need to come up with a better argument for having them, because in my opinion it's not really changing who's winning and losing

[@Yoshinator]

Yeah, I think something like Marvel Vs Capcom 3 does it perfectly, Light, medium, heavy as the core with Special and assists to round it all out. Doing the Smash Bros style special button always seems to limit the more traditional fighters, so I think that's another issue as well.

[@coreydopson2030]

Less buttons def doesnt lower the skill gap. Blazblue is a 4 button fighter and widely considered to be one of the most difficult fighting games to learn. While i personally prefer 4 button fighters i do think its the removal of motion inputs and cross up protection that has actually made fighting games more approachable. That being said i fucking hate cross up protection because im a fgc boomer who had to learn to block and im mad these new players dont

[@strippinheat]

@@coreydopson2030 And Virtua Fighter is TWO attack buttons, but nobody is going to claim that game isn't complex.

[@HotCrossB1S]

Not the skill gap, the skill *floor*. Of course it doesn't make it any easier to beat someone that is better than you, but simplified controls do make a game easier to get into. The goal isn't to make a game where the little guys can beat the gods, but rather have an experience in which you can have fun and do cool stuff in at any skill level. 😌 Instead of figuring out how to even unleash special moves consistently and practicing to avoid mis-inputs when they just want to shoot plasma from their hands, newbies can focus on learning the actual game, its mechanics and a gameplan to follow -- footsies and blocking and frame data and whatnot. 😅 With the ability to deliberately perform the attack you want to use without remembering how to do so, players can focus on *why* they'd want to use that move instead of how. 🤔 I mean, I prefer motion inputs too, and I'm sure simple specials have to be balanced intelligently, but getting to the real meat of the game quicker isn't necessarily a bad thing, yes? If you just want people to see what complex mechanics your game has to offer, might as well let them skip the more elaborate muscle memory part, no? 😅

[@Boyzby]

@@HotCrossB1S We even see this happen in SF6, which has both the simpler Modern controls and the traditional Classic controls. If you go into the combo trials for Modern, anyone will see it obviously goes beyond just pressing the button that does the attack, or the L, M, H auto-combos. It just gets people playing, doing the cool stuff is the time investment-hell, even learning basic things like anti-airing is a time investment for a new player.

[@aegisreflector1239]

Million Arthur Arcana Heart is also an amazing underrated crossover fighting game with well animated 2D sprites. Same with the game Denki Bunko

[@djhero0071]

Denki Bunko also has VF characters

[@aegisreflector1239]

@@djhero0071 Yes it's a cross over fighting game

[@djhero0071]

@@aegisreflector1239 I knew that. I had to point it out specifically since I think Fighting Climax is the only time any VF characters have been shown in 2D outside of the Project X Zone games, and having VF characters in an anime fighter is sick as fuck to me.

[@aegisreflector1239]

@@djhero0071 Yes I agree

[@coreydopson2030]

Million arthur is the only game i can actually do Iori Yagami combos in

[@Stammer6]

It's nice to hear a game development story where everyone agreed on game direction and worked cohesively towards their goal.

[@RodScorpion100]

Sometimes I remember this game. Such a strange game with weird choices, like how half of the music is using original compositions for its music but then halway through they decided to just remix music for the rest of the stages

[@F1ghtGam3r]

Back then, I remembered seeing 2 crossover fighting games on the PS3. One was called Aquapazza, the other had a few characters from the Sword Art Online anime

[@Medleypon]

Honestly, this game is pretty solid! I just wish it was a little faster. Also, yeah Kawase made me get the game too. Tomboys for life.

[@rookbranwen8047]

As a Gunvolt fan at the time I was really looking forwards to the games release. It was one of if not the first modern fighting game with simplified special move inputs as far as I know. I remember there being a handful of pre release tournaments for the game, as well as a few just after release. Then it quietly disappeared. I bought it on steam a couple years later and messed around with it, even ended up getting into the Kawase games because of it, but never put much time into it otherwise.

[@MegafanX123]

Azure Striker Gunvolt mentioned 🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@raygunpyle]

This is one of my favorite newer fighting games....got it on a Steam sale and didn't even realize it was a crossover game at first

[@JB_CY]

I remember playing this game in highschool. I picked buff shovel knight, mashed some buttons, and had a great time. Thank you for reminding me of this game's existence with this video.

[@zik187]

I love blade strangers, always nice seeing someone talk about it

[@MrDarksol]

Forgot Gunvolt was in a fighting game and same with Shovel Knight. And I think that's the main takeaway I can get from this game. At least I know they were in a fighting game.

[@raionbomber75]

Blade Strangers is legit one of my favorite fighters, I remember they was promoting this super hard on switch and i have no idea why the switch version is the tournament standard when the PlayStation and steam versions gives a better online experience at least. At this point I'd take a re release with rollback lol

[@majortom331]

A rollback re-release would revitalize the game for sure. And adding 2 more characters wouldn't hurt.

[@strippinheat]

Couple notes. Only four of the characters in this game are from Code of Princess, not five. And Helena and Lina are OCs so this game has eight different games represented plus two originals. Specials have three versions. The default is medium, but you can get a light version by using light+special. Hard versions are EXs that require meter. Everyone has two supers. The second is done with down+LMS. Also has level two variation. The combo extender mechanic that requires meter has two versions, one which sends you upward from the ground, or down from the air. There's a guard cancel that costs a bar. IE alpha counter. You don't get up manually from knockdowns so there are OTGs and even specific pursuit attacks, but there are easy wake up attacks. Heat Up costs only one bar and gives you enough time to do two EXs and a level 2 super in that time, which is insane value if you can combo it. Curly is a broken zoner. Blade Arcus before this had an updated version with an optional setting to turn on easy specials that were the basis for this game. There was even a whole character that only used easy commands and chain combos that functions exactly like this game. It's interesting to see the progression of their development.

[@lamptrent]

idk why their idea of simplifying inputs is to make you press several buttons simultaneously, that's a harder input than most motions for me! if you don't have a fight stick, you're probably playing on pad or on keyboard, and both have issues with those inputs: - on pad, you're likely to have to hold the controller in an awkward position to press face buttons simultaneously. this is one reason I bounced off Tekken! - on keyboard, you'll be limited by your keyboard's key rollover - the keyboard will drop your inputs depending on how many keys you're pressing simultaneously. key ghosting/jamming further complicate this, making certain specific combination of keys pressed together not work. the specifics of this will vary depending on your particular keyboard plenty of games have binds for multiple-buttons-at-once actions, especially arcsys titles: you can make a one-button bind for A+B, B+C, A+B+C, A+B+C+D... when I had a worse keyboard, that was the ONLY way I could do some of those inputs (especially while holding a direction)! maybe Blade Strangers also has those binds... but then it would have just as many buttons as a more complex fighting game, wouldn't it? odd decision! I don't think most fighting game devs have keyboard players in mind, but Blade Strangers is available on PC... I also don't know the particular mappings that Blade Strangers uses on pad; it's a lot easier to press triggers or bumpers simultaneously with face buttons than it is to press face buttons together. personally, I'd rather avoid all of this via some alternative input method, like "special moves are input via a unique movement on the joystick plus an attack button" - wouldn't that be novel! you could do most motions on just about any input device! :P also fuck NiCALiS (abusive publisher)

[@bananabike279]

Forgot about Blade Strangers! Very curious to see what Cave Story characters would play like in a fighting game

[@KanaIzumiya]

I remember finding out this game exists because of the Cave Story wiki

[@jngo172]

Have you ever considered playing this game called Fight Fever? It’s an obscure Korean fighting game made in the Golden Age of Fighting Games when everyone and their grandma tried to make the next Street Fighter.

[@RaedTheWolf]

Oh yeah, I remember this game! I mained Solange cause I was a big Code of Princess fan. Only problem I ever had was the online mode had absolutely no MMR ranking so you could be a brand new player and be facing the number 1 player who plays Curly Brace and locks you in the corner with a wall of projectiles.

[@Mwright4444]

GUNVOLT MY GOAT

[@mikeyfrance9469]

He was busted lol

[@thedillpickleman015]

fun fact: there was some beta gameplay footage from blade strangers that surfaced on twitter I cant find where the original tweet went but luckily I found someone on youtube who does show the beta footage. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqfEnompqbl3prssi=3glbNCsATyRoW-JJ&t=100 the gameplay looked to be a little more fast paced but what's more interesting are the two characters shown in this beta footage, both from Cave Story. The Doctor and a completely different version of Quote that looked to be more in line with his actual design from promotional artwork at the time. shame we didn't get to have The Doctor become a playable character

[@bugwells]

UMIHARA KAWASE MENTIONED 🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣

[@LegendaryOverfiend]

There’s all indie crossover games or indie character guest appearances and yet Ultrakill has yet to have any representation in any of these

[@I.HEAR.A.SOUND.]

The game came out like 6 months ago

[@jannelmaiquez2438]

Imma just add this here. This looks like a mugen project and i love it

[@kerokerocola99]

i hope someday you can continue making the umvc3 tutorials, they're really helpful

[@LuigiTheMetal64]

2D anime character models on top of 3D backgrounds are fun in video games. Umihara Kawase, Noko, Piaa, Helen, and Solange happen to be my favorite by design.

[@nintenjermi5325]

Bro if you Love Blade Strangers you might like Nitro+Blasterz because they are kinda similar honestly I remember this game alot when I was young and it was really awesome too I wish more games were like Nitro Royale/Nitro+Blasterz because this game feels like a spiritual successor to that game I mean fr actually plays like that I actually think this was an awesome game and it's really dope too idk if they'll ever make a sequel to Blade Strangers but I feel like that's the same boat a sequel to Nitro+Blasterz but still this game is awesome

[@Taur-gk5dv]

Nitro plus heroin blasters are really fun game. I really like playing it.

[@MapleMilk]

Man, I can't believe I am watching a Blade Strangers video in Big 2024 I feel like 1 of 20 people who bought this thing I genuinely feel bad for it Like it really tries and has all of these characters that have really cool designs and come from great games but man This is the least satisfying game I have ever played If playing 3S feels like throwing a brick through a window, then this game feels like throwing a piece of paper on the ground and it kinda blowing under a desk and you have to bend over and pick it up It baffles me how little "game feel" there is here It's like this game has no style, no sauce! And Note: I bought this for 6 dollars on Switch! and I STILL feel ripped off! That 6 dollars could buy 2 copies of Phantasy Star 1 on sale. I hope they make another one, this game deserved better

[@SuperFroakie82]

I considered getting this game cuz i was on an umihara kawase kick, great series

[@Nerdieo]

GOD I LOVE BLADE STRANGERS SO MUCH

[@popp4546]

Using a 3d model for 2d animations is actually the standard. Kof 13 and blazblue both did it though with very simplistic untextured models

[@alecwalker449]

any game with curly brace in it is already good.

[@jkreincarnation]

I've been wondering why my random Isaac combo vids have been getting views again. This may be a part of it lmfao. LEGITIMATELY this is a very fun and even good game. Very before its time with the "modern" controls

[@flowerboy8093]

My boyfriend loves binding of issac and am a fighting game lover so im gonna try to get him into this game i think it would be fun for the both of use to play a fighting game that the both of us have no idea to play

[@darkdoctor1915]

I have heard about this game, but I have yet to play it

[@vibeking2903]

nice vid :)

[@LalitoTV]

I heard about this game day 1 but it being so slow-paced was a hard deal breaker for me

[@romajimamulo]

Wait that KO graphic looks very... Cross Tag Battle.

[@BeeLy1011]

I haven't played this but I played a bit of Blade Arcus since I was hyperfixated on Shining Resonance back in High School. I wouldn't call it good but it's an "endearingly jank" game I'd say.

[@justingoers]

I was following this game pretty closely up until release and I let the negative steam reviews dissuade me. Always meant to go back to it.

[@rouviews1864]

I think the game's look condemns it. It looks really bland and unappealing, like a bargain bin fighting game. The simplified controls would probably turn off veteran players who hunger for complexity but the stale bread presentation wouldn't entice any newbies. If you're going to make something simple, you've really got to go all out on the style.

[@raionbomber75]

the funny part is the game went through a sprite resizing update during the pandemic, the game looked way worse before

[@rouviews1864]

@@raionbomber75 I'm glad that the developers cared enough about their game to improve it though.

[@Christian-gr3gu]

It kinda looks not done? Something seems off off about it.

[@Maruhodo]

00:00 is that zombie model from hotd4?

[@no1mayohater]

IS THAT QUOTE FROM CAVE STORY

[@TristanComputer]

When do you make another guide of mvc3?

[@missingno_fgc]

It's a shame this game had to involve Nicalis. I really can't justify ever giving that publisher money.

[@HolyHadou]

Reasons for Blade Stranger's Fall off: 1) Lack of single player content 2) Lack of overall player interest 3) Despite having a lot of famous IPs IPs weren't famous enough to draw more players in. 4) Lack of standard fighting game motions and mechanics don't keep traditional fighting game players around 5) Delay Based Netcode w/o Crossplay in 2024? Not making it easy to make new FGC friends. Disclaimer: Liked the game a lot and bought it on every platform but lack of single player doesn't do the game any favors and the delay based not crossplay doesn't help either.

[@codes5_real]

Yeah this game is strange alright, it also got an arcade port in very limited locations so take that for what you will…

[@AirventOS]

RAHH!!! PLAY UMIHARA KAWASE!!!!

[@KenLaKen]

play gunvolt. yes, you.

[@deltacosmic5358]

I wish blade strangers leaned more into the indie/aa game crossover aspect like if they do a sequel maybe we can see general akomoto or super meat boy or even freddy fazbear show up to fight chai or the 4 horsemen from darksiders

[@thegreenflareon1542]

All Isaac does in this game is cry, he doesn't speak, literally in the story mode all he does is cry, I mean, I guess it kinda makes sense, he's literally like 5, but most 5 year olds know at least some amount of a language in their lives. Gutted character

[@hadoke]

Code of princess is a spiritual successor to Guardian Heroes, only real difference is where GH had a mid to late 90s anime aesthetic, COP's aesthetic is mid 2010's anime and is thus inferior to GH.

[@knarrow0222]

Yeah I don't give a damn about "proper" motion inputs I hate charage moves with a burning passion and everytime I try to do the input, it either doesn't give me the move or it gives me a different move. I prefer the modern controls in Street Fighter 6 and the gameplay in Blade Stangers are right up my alley.

[@acminostgien3038]

so, the netcode is decent, one of the best for delay netcode, this is one of my favorite games and i wish more people played it

[@phorchybug3286]

Huh. You found obscure physical indies? All i can find is AAA staples and dumb shovelware.