BlazBlue and Guilty Gear could cross over in the future because producer Toshimichi Mori would be interested in the possibility once the games have “settled down” (via Gear Nuke).
BlazBlue is considered to be the spiritual successor to Guilty Gear, and both are developed by Arc System Works. Its latest iteration, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, has over 50 fighters from various franchises, like Arcana Heart, Persona 4 Arena, RWBY, and Under Night In-Birth. Arc System Works is hard at work on Guilty Gear Strive which is set for a late-2020 launch, but the developer is already thinking about what’s next for BlazBlue. Gear Nuke’s interview with producer Toshimichi Mori shed a little light on how BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle was developed and its trajectory into the future.
With BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, the developer has a meticulous approach to selecting its fighters. “In terms of choosing what games we want to put in, the decision we made first was Persona and Under Night since we have involvement in those games,” explained Mori. “It was very easy to implement those so it was our first choice. Other games we look at how our BlazBlue world is and then look at if it matches with their IP.” That lets the team choose from a wide array of sources, not just other video games, to “reference a lot of the action sequences from the original IP.” Speaking about Ruby Rose from the anime series RWBY, he said, “when you see anime, the way you feel very very cool, we wanted to put that into the game… we want you to feel very happy and have that same coolness.”
Mori revealed that he would love to add a Marvel or DC Comics character to BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle’s roster, but one pool of fighting characters seems to have been overlooked by Arc System Works. When asked about the possibility of a Guilty Gear and BlazBlue crossover, he qualified that it only would be possible once development on both games has stabilised. “I don’t know what source it is, but I saw an article saying that I said Guilty Gear vs. BlazBlue would never happen. I never said that,” said Mori. “We will maybe plan that once everything surrounding Guilty Gear and BlazBlue settles down and we have time to think about it. We don’t have any plans for it now, but we don’t have a rule internally that says no Guilty Gear vs. BlazBlue.”
It’s stunning that the developer hasn’t considered the possibility before, owing to the fact that it possesses the rights to both franchises. BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is a 2D game whereas Guilty Gear games are 3D, but Mori did say he would be interested in creating a 2.5D fighting game, because the technology has made leaps and bounds since BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger was released. We don’t know when we’ll see Sol Badguy or Ky Kiske drop by BlazBlue, but it is on the developer’s mind for sure.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is out now for PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
