Fighting Game Simplicity Done Right - Akatsuki Blitzkampf

[@ike804]

I still believe that Blitzkampf is one of the pinnacles of 2D fighters and Subtle Style didnt get NEARLY enough credit for making something this good back in the day.

[@Demi-kid]

Damn son DDS and a good comment. It's a bummer I never got to play this game.

[@lucasmerrill3206]

@@Demi-kid it’s on Fightcade, the community for it is small on the client but I’m sure you could find people to play with!

[@iamasnail8654]

YOOO MY NIGGA CIELO

[@Hondunu]

They have a kickstarter for a sequel.

[@joezar33]

Do they sell a Standalone ROM ? like to run it on my Super Console X Pro... thought I heard him say *Sega Nomi* in the video the WW2 theme fighter dose sound interesting...

[@GinkgoPete]

"Guile, but patriotic for something else" made me chuckle and also its super apt since Guile has Stroheims hair who is also... a friend of angry Austrians.

[@bananabike279]

Didn't know Akatsuki from Under Night had his own game, let alone a game that looks and plays THIS good!

[@Flour_dood]

Akatsuki is a quest char on under night bro

[@Mecha_Hitler]

Under night player lol

[@SMSELWA]

of course you didnt. you probably only play undernight.

[@bananabike279]

@@SMSELWA I don't actually, hence my surprise

[@fallingskymedia4421]

In a roundabout way, this game is why I play fighting games in general. I bought BBtag on Steam a while back and I found myself becoming an Akatsuki main. During my time playing it, I ended up using Akatsuki parry to parry one hell of a combo. That moment made me feel so cool I ended up playing a lot more fighting games.

[@GuileWinQuote]

I love that. Glad this dude got you into this genre!

[@joezar33]

@@GuileWinQuote this game on Sega Nomi ? Do they sell the Rom ?

[@Chesto]

This dude single handedly got me into playing blitzkampf and buying UNIB games and bbtag, wish i could get my hands in a copy of en-eins perfektewelt though

[@GuileWinQuote]

LET'S GOOO

[@luminousepoque8666]

Man, what a great video! Gameplay wise, I think it's a combination of Darkstalkers and The Last Blade; chain combos with nice options for defense, plus a greater emphasis on meter economy. The game's aesthetic is also very unique. While often compared to cubism, I persoanlly get *huge* Osamu Tezuka vibes from characters like Akatsuki himself. This game is a love letter to classic fighting games and now is the perfect time for a new installment, given the current trend of fighting games going back to a greater focus on neutral, as seen in Samurai Shodown and Guilty Gear Strive.

[@GuileWinQuote]

I like your Tezuka comparison, now that you mention it I can really see it!

[@no_user1234]

Found a Nesica cabinet at a Round1 just now, and it had En-Eins Anastasis on it. I saw your name in the crowdfund backers section of the credits, so I wanted to say thanks! Inazuma is sick as hell.

[@GuileWinQuote]

Let's go!!!! I still need to see the credits IRL myself 😭

[@JB2X-Z]

This is one of those games that I just had to pin down a physical copy of the game when I found out about it in college. Glad I did, I can't imagine what it would go for now

[@notepsi3115]

About 2 Shmeckles

[@SlashZAKU]

I remember finding this game while browsing doujinstyle as a kid and while i was a dumb kid who only knew how to hit buttons, i knew this game was something special and it always stuck in my head

[@davebob4973]

whipping doujinstyle

[@FrMZTsarmiral]

It's great to see more content from this channel. I never played this one but I'm happy to hear that it's one of those doujin fighters that managed to get an audience despite the odds.

[@lilwyvern4]

You're one of my favorite recent finds. I don't particularly enjoy playing most fighting games because I'm trash at them and they make me rage, but I love to follow them. I love seeing the tech people come up with and the way game metas evolve. I love doing armchair labbing, picking apart players's replays. Fighting games are like the perfect spectator sport, even talentless hacks like me can follow along with the great players and have a good time watching. Your videos open my scrubby little eyes to things I wouldn't know about otherwise and I want to thank you for the gift of knowledge they bring me.

[@stevenwhuntva]

Rewatching these older vids of yours, it dawned on me why I think your vids are more enjoyable than other channels of this nature, and it's because those feel more exploitative, more "what can I show and say for clicks" versus your content which definitely showcases what you love and feel. TL;DR version you're genuine.

[@carsonthething4519]

dude I am so glad I found this channel! ive been wanting for there to be someone who talks about these cult classic fighting games. keep it up its awesome content man

[@vance2865]

Holy shit, this game deserves so much recognition! Good job on covering it.

[@ShadowBaofu]

I love almost everything about Blitzkampf and wish I could watch more matches. I'm getting older and I'm not as good at fighting games as I used to be, nor do I have the time to put in the effort and give fighting games the love they all deserve but I love watching games like these play out and your channel is one of the many I enjoy.

[@moseslalmuanpuia8988]

Also I am almost absolutely certain that mycale is the true main antagonist. Lorewise she has been behind the scenes and orchestrating events since ancient times. Her true form is allegedly also a dragon. I bet this would be very apealling for the likes of arc system works

[@grizzlybear6377]

I had no clue Akatsuki was a guest character in Under Night In-birth. His kit and gameplay feel so good that he's one of my mains!

[@moroniflores4463]

i have this game in PC, its SO FUN, the characters, combos, parry system,music, so refreshiing, we need a remake or new port

[@deadliestvice5356]

In PC? Get it out of there ASAP!

[@Ghostface711]

i honestly hope one day this and EN eins get put on to steam one day they are such fun games

[@Jotamide]

Great video! I feel like ABK and Koihime did accessibility best before all the big publishers did their own takes these past 7 years (and sucked at it).

[@sigurdtheblue]

I have not heard of Koihime in a long time. I never looked into that one because I was more interested in Nitroplus at the time.

[@ShadG]

Nice! I love this game dearly. It wasn't my introduction to fighting games, but it certainly helped me love them even more than before. Fritz 4ever.

[@Ctrekoz]

Fritz forever!

[@bmosk94]

Just tried it with a buddy for the first time. We had a blast. Thanks for spotlighting this game. Will continue to play. Love the way (guile) feels in this game.

[@StockeTepes]

Great video! I’m definitely motivated to try out this game now, glad the guest appearances made me aware of this game

[@jfmg64]

Thanks for the video! Honestly Akatsuki in UNIST alone sold the game to me from the beginning but I wanted to see an analysis with footage first xD Will definetly give it a try

[@TheGameDomeGuy]

can we all agree that WW2 was a horrible moment in human history... BUT MAAAAN EVERYONE HAD DRIP! from the allies to the axis OOOOOOF their clothes and uniforms are *Chef's kiss* perfect

[@illford]

Theyre just standard army unifoems, its nothing that crazy

[@Liliphant_]

​@@illfordyeah it's really not

[@Elementl_]

Great video, glad youtube is putting this out to more people

[@happiman9484]

The aesthetic goes so hard

[@arachnofiend2859]

Hold on, is Perfecti's crouch animation sitting down in a chair? I need to play this character immediately

[@anothenblue2630]

Yes, but brace yourself for one of the worst voices in fighting games, just a tier below BBTag english Ruby.

[@ajvladmir2481]

@@anothenblue2630 sorry mate, but that goes to +R jam

[@anothenblue2630]

@@ajvladmir2481 have you heard Perfecti? It's not just an obnoxious high pitched voice, but it also has an obnoxious filter.

[@joezar33]

Did he say this was on Sega Nomi ? I wonder if there Standalone roms for this game. I like to try and put it on my Super Console X Pro

[@StellaEFZ]

@@anothenblue2630 Her voice is awesome

[@GELTONZ]

DEFINITELY gonna try this. I've felt that Asuka 120% (NOT FINAL) is great because it also hits a balance between simplicity and complexity many modern games fail to grasp and I'd love to try this and see how it compares...so I will! See, I have a friend who got super hardcore into GGXX back in the day. Literally abandoned all other games and put THOUSANDS of hours into mastering his character...only for Accent Core to nerf them into unplayability and he quit fighting games forever after that. It made me realize that a fighting game CAN be "too complex" and that there's a big danger to that! That perhaps we DO need to make more easy to pick up and play fighters...but BOY HOWDY is everyone doing it WRONG! Auto combos are iffy, auto combos that end in specials are bad, auto combos that end in SUPERS should be a fireable offense, auto combos that end in NERFED supers should get you blacklisted from the industry! A bad auto combo can actually make a game HARDER to play (KOF14 being the worst offender), ending them in Supers makes it too easy to waste meter, and NERFING the super is just screwing over the casual players you claim to be helping! Gah! I could go on for DAYS. Time to update Fightcade 2.

[@GuileWinQuote]

Asuka is dear to my heart and definitely a game I'll talk about at some point...it's a very special kind of game. I don't think there's much to really compare it to! And I agree, some directions of accessibility can just be obtuse

[@Ctrekoz]

Best fighting I've ever played, don't forget it has godlike soundtrack. Marilyn best girl, vanilla>AA.

[@bonelesssnek5130]

I agree I feel in AA the colors are over saturated and prefer the grayness of vanilla which adds to WW2 aesthetic

[@sigurdtheblue]

@@bonelesssnek5130 Eins is a lot more saturated. It is like all of the characters were forced to overdose on drugs to enter Valhalla.

[@bonelesssnek5130]

@@sigurdtheblue the ui doesn't help either

[@EastyyBlogspot]

Ahh love doujin fighting games, still have a little collection of physical games i bought when Himeyashop were still around (RIP)

[@Nastara]

I remember randomly downloading this game’s demo somehow on PC. I loved playing it. Then god mad hype when I played UNIST for the first time and Akatski was in

[@zix65_]

This is simply perfect I alwalys show this video to my friends when I want them to try Akatsuki Blitzkampf

[@the1andonlydrmixxel]

1:52 *AAAYYOOOOOOOOOO IT'S THE TAAAAAAAAAANK LESS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-*

[@HatredSonneillon]

I have a long list of great obscure fighting games to try. Yet every video of yours has added a new one to that list. Great channel. So this is where Akatuski comes from? I had seen him as cameo's in other fighters but never knew the original game. I believe he appears on more games that listed. This game looks sooo good.

[@harryvpn1462]

Tell me that list

[@ectothermic]

Man.. I remember finding this game so long ago when I was fascinated with doujin fighters. Eternal Fighter Zero, this, Touhou Hisoutensoku and so so many others I would look for online. Huuuuuuuuge nostalgia trip watching this, you wouldn't believe how happy I was to see Akatsuki again in Under Night.

[@mibeador]

Great video! There's a few mistakes and things I'd like explained more but they're more nitpicks than anything else. I love ABK, although EN-Eins is my favorite

[@willmakesfilms]

Apparently en eins just got an arcade version! Cool!

[@mibeador]

@@willmakesfilms it's always been an arcade game, it's just getting an update that's still on arcades

[@JB-pf3wv]

Fantastic video this game looks incredible I'm definitely going to try it out thank you.

[@ryuzxa]

Akatsuki Blitzkampf are the first fighting game that I actually enjoy playing all of the character, and even having trouble who will I main (still main Akatsuki, but Kanae, Sai, Murakumo, and E-Soldat are fun as hell) while other fighting game I would just pick 1-2 character and that's it.

[@BlueCrasher01]

The sprite style reminded me of those odd old 90s PC games and gaming magazines, that shiny style with no visible outlines... I know I've seen games look like this, but the only thing I can think of atm is the covers/art in stuff like EGM back in the day...

[@jpVari]

this pushed me to actually play the game for the first time. really fun! I could see putting a little time into it, I really love the simplicity and the visual design. edit - I'm playing on fightcade so whatever version is on there is what I'm going with.

[@sigurdtheblue]

I think one factor you missed out on making people think it was Nazi themed is the German naming convention. If it is World War 2 themed, that would make most people initially consider it to represent the Nazis most prominently. I love your comment on E. Soldat though, I did not think of the funny parallel between Guile before.

[@mrMickio]

To this day Anonym is my favorite fighting game character of all time and I wished every fighting game had an Anonym function with different guns.

[@Rodrigo-x8g5w]

2D anime fighters are noooot my jam, but this looks SO fun. Your breakdowns of each character and the controls were really good. I'm looking forward to play this.

[@mechonis_buster]

I first learned of Akatsuki through Under Night but I fell in love with his design and playstyle instantly. He's legit the only character I play in both Under Night and Blitzkampf lol

[@Ragna6765]

one of my favorite fighting games, i did find it weird though that when they got a spot as guest characters, they showed up as ABK and not en eins reps, being the newer game and also somewhat similar to bbtag both gameplaywise and aesthetically. Hopefully FC devs find a way to integrate proper netplay into nesica emulation

[@kyuketsukirook]

The Akatsuki series recently saw a brand new entry in Japanese arcades, EN-Eins Perfektewelt Anastasis. It's the updated version of EN-Eins Perfektewelt, the sequel to Blitzkampf that was released in 2010. Anastasis is so much fun. Unfortunately it's exclusive to Japanese arcades at the moment because it's supposed to help revitalize the arcade scene after the pandemic, but my local Round One has it on the NESiCAxLive cabinets. If you live near a Round One I implore you to check and see if they have Anastasis, it's so fun.

[@GuileWinQuote]

My channel's name is in the credits :) Look out for it if you ever clear arcade mode!

[@kyuketsukirook]

@@GuileWinQuote I did see your name, and my name's in there too (as GunMetalXIV back when that was my handle). A good chunk of us from the ABK discord chipped in to fund the game. If you ever get the chance to play the game make sure to find Mibeador, he's probably the biggest Akatsuki/EN-Eins fan we have and he's done quite a lot for the community (like getting Woolie to play it).

[@Formedras]

Round 1 USA added it to their NESiCAxLive 1 arcade units, at least the ones I've seen in Puente Hills and Orange, CA. I definitely enjoy it a lot more than the recent NESiCAxLive 2 addition, Omen of Sorrow. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any kind of NESiCA save feature, not even VS stats.

[@kyuketsukirook]

​​​@@FormedrasThe Round1 in Middletown, New York has it, it's the one I go to. When the Round1 in Danbury, Connecticut opens sometime in the next few months I'll check to see if it's there too. EN-Eins Anastasis isn't really the type of game that warrants the additional features a NESiCA card provides in my opinion.There's no colors to unlock, no player profiles or titles to customize. It's more of a classic high score / win streak ranking system kind of game like 90's fighters.

[@isaaccooper862]

I was just saying this on another channel, it sucks that this game basically will never get any spotlight or attention because it wasn't made by a triple A developer, and in current year, people would have problems with some of the WWII themes or the character designs (it still happens, believe it or not). I happened to see this on a walkthrough, and while I won't deny Marilyn Sue had a good level of fanservice, what really clicked in my mind was the parries that happened, and how cool some of the combos looked. Edit: You want to know something else? I like that the developers made this with the mentality of it being easy enough for anyone to pick up. There's only 3 buttons, but it's got a high skill ceiling so that you can master parries and execution, but it's not super complicated to learn (maybe unless you're trying to do the combos showcased in the video). I wish more games followed this style of development.

[@sirkinsella9831]

Despite Marilyn being fanservice character, she was overshadowed by Kanae and Valkyria & one of her clones, Tempelritters (who are also fanservice characters).

[@Cyndadogo]

Never knew that Akatsuki it was so deep! Man gonna power on my flycast right noow! Thank yoou!

[@MsLoquendo20]

You forgot to mention that Perfecti also appeared in the original akatsuki blitzkampf , although in such game she was only a weird unplayable palette swap of Mycale ☝️🤓

[@budgetcommander4849]

I knew I had to play this the second I saw Fritz. What a badass moveset.

[@HalibutToast]

5:12 my brother in christ the main protagonist is a 40s japanese imperialist soldier played straight

[@charlie9723]

kino

[@CptJistuce]

But he's not a nazi!

[@NaikaVideo]

This is such a well done video so thanks for that. I just can't get over that WW2 aesthetic, especially for Imperial Japan. The game does seem to play well however.

[@liengandriod55]

I saw him(Akatsuji) on BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. I have been curious about his origin ever since. Thanks for the video😊

[@MetaSynForYourSoul]

I always wondered where that skull-face tank came from in BBXT.

[@bleth821]

The way these characters are well dressed and their fighting style makes me think about how cool an Usogui fighting game would be based on ranking battles.

[@jontedeakin1986]

This is the game with the tank in it!! finally I found it!

[@LolaliciousSmiley]

I have never heard of this game, but it does look very fun. When you got to the tank character, it just slapped me in the face. I was so confused.

[@ReddRambler]

Akatsuki Blitzkampf has one of my favorite fighting game rosters because even though there are only 13 characters, those 13 characters are actually made to appeal to different kinds of players. I will gladly take that over games with larger rosters where almost everyone is a homogenized rushdown character, with a few token grapplers or zoners here and there.

[@trafalgar47official66]

Now I'm from Germany and I remember seeing the second iteration of this game in a magazine issue from 2009 over here, along when BlazBlue CT was shown

[@MechaTengu21]

The fact that this game is not on modern platforms while still receiving updates to this day is criminal.

[@3slicessenpai]

The main theme of Blitzkampf is a complete bop.

[@willmakesfilms]

Love this. I was turned off by the not so Nazi aesthetic, but knowing that it's just the villains and not historical makes it more palatable. Also I love accessible fighters... Gonna try it

[@magicalgirl1296]

I like the girl with the big rifle lance that shoots lasers

[@budgetcommander4849]

Perfecti? She actually has a fullscreen instakill, all it takes is playing with two of your three buttons held down for half a round.

[@pewpewfgc]

oh so thats where funny tank comes from

[@Kyur.]

I remember trying this game at my local Round 1 and isn't too bad.

[@DragonaxFilms]

Dang the sprites in this game look so good.

[@yahlibar6832]

"fritz is a samsho character" yep, that's my boi. anyway, amazing game (like any other game that let's me play a samsho character against normal characters or is simple enough for me dumb to understand), and amazing video too!!

[@StallionX3]

2022 and we still don't get a Steam port with a cheap english translation, if there is a game that deserves it, is this one.

[@xyzen9673]

I like how every character has practicaly the same special move movement

[@N1k0SP]

I love your channel!!!

[@raw-b6658]

I love guile win quote

[@BEEPIcons98]

Man wish these characters made into Cross Tag Battle, *sigh* it’s not gonna happen. I would like to see a few of them in Perfecti Murakumo

[@GuileWinQuote]

Murakumo was my dream character as well... One day!!!

[@sigurdtheblue]

I think both characters are the ones I would love to see reimagined for a more offensively oriented game. I especially never felt satisfied with Perfecti's combat design.

[@BEEPIcons98]

@@sigurdtheblue How is it her cloths?

[@sirkinsella9831]

For me, for my top 5; It's Sai, Marilyn (even though she isn't in the game's datamine/placeholder), Kati, EN-Eins and Fritz that I want to see in BBTAG.

[@chrishansen2517]

Absolutely my fave fighting game

[@MJRLHobbyStuff]

Wow, never been a PC player so I’ve never heard of this. Thank you

[@SiniBANG]

Downloaded it the day before my pc died. I'll be playing this again once I got it running again.

[@surrealsireel505]

Dude I came from that tweet you tweeted, it was funny

[@GuileWinQuote]

I'm glad my self shill paid off, thanks for checking it out!

[@nerdwarp112]

I played this game once at a con and I remember having fun with it. I should see if I can get it on my PC so I can try it out more.

[@beastorizeofsion]

Myuria from Star Ocean 4 is basically like Mycale! that's awesome, because Myruia is one of my favorite mages! even similar phonetic syllables within the name. The Dreamcast/NAOMI/Atomiswave era of games presented a lot of unique fighting games. The Rumble Fish being my personal 2D favorite fighting game with Melty Blood from that era. ;)

[@johndewberryiii9925]

Wow I never heard of this I want to give it a go. I wonder if you can find this on PSN or steam since it’s got an arcade release man I love just going thru fighting games I try to get my hands on as many as I can. This reminds me of a Neo geo or SS game

[@sgwaris8853]

I remember that game, and I completely ended the whole game in a Day, and played that Like 100 times, it's supers were more likely better than any other games I had played on my whole life 😀

[@Turbovec]

"Look Gary there I am!"

[@LuisHGarcia]

Beautiful game

[@NeostormXLMAX]

holy shit I wonder why no other fighting game uses a debuff or status condition effects. or even have some kind of ammo system for the gun characters to make zoners harder to play and perhaps more rewarding since they can balance around this.

[@austinreed7343]

As a counter example of a game that did simplicity mediocre-to-bad, I’d bring up Fantasy Strike. It tried to be simpler, but ended up excising high-low mixups.

[@FarticusSnottington]

awesome video, interested in this due to rollback on FC2

[@GuileWinQuote]

This is what I make videos for, have fun!!

[@KariFeRawri]

this is like SF x MK, it looks awesome!

[@kbkksh91]

The height of FGC kinography

[@TWKIC]

Long live the Doujin Fighters!

[@nanayakaizo]

why didn't you mention the: En-Eins Perfektwelt, I don't get it ...

[@GuileWinQuote]

I couldn't find a good way to mention it, but hey, maybe in another video? 😉

[@itryen7632]

This game looks like it was found inside Pol Pot's pancreas

[@gekisage7448]

It have a slight lag on my pc since my videocard exploded but I'll not forget to try it out when I get another edit: the game is cool, just played the arcade and tried characters, like Sai and Adler a lot

[@alleygh0st]

I still like to play this and BBB once in a while.

[@Micha-Hil]

it's got a tank, so play it

[@wannabecinnabon]

mycale mains rise up

[@aegisreflector1239]

Subbed

[@mrpinguimninja]

From his animations, i feel like adler kinda resembles urien. I wonder which character would be more closely related to gg's venom

[@kyuketsukirook]

There isn't really anyone like that in either ABK or it's sequel EN-Eins unfortunately. The closest I can think of is Anonym, her projectiles ricochet like Venom's pool balls.

[@ChaossX77]

This should be released on modern systems. They could easily sell this.

[@rockhyde7775]

I have been begging for Akatsuki Blitzkampf to get a home port. I’ve been asking the developer to death to bring it to the PS5 and Steam ever since it launched back in February. Along with Arcana Heart Six Stars XTEND, Daemon Bride and Rage of the Dragons (which has been announced but hasn’t been released yet), this is one of my most wanted home ports ever. Plus, it has a better chance of reaching a wider audience on home consoles given that there are more console gamers in the world than arcade machines. Come on Subtle Style (or whoever you are), make it happen!

[@warrenbradford2597]

I am interested in playing this game someday.