Month: May 2018

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Witness the Astral Skill Instant-Kills from the BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle demo

With the BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Online Beta in full swing, we’ve already seen some great tech from Twitter, as well as a variety of gameplay primers. Now it’s time to share a full, dual-audio compilation of the recently-revealed Astral Skills. These flashy match-enders can only be executed by pressing 222B+C when you have 9 full Bars of Skill Gauge, which is only achievable with Level 4 Resonance Blaze. On top of that, your opponent has to be down to a single character.

Avid Arc System Works content creator Koefficient has recorded all 20 of the legendary finishers for the entire 20-character base roster, and has timestamped them according to franchise. There are a lot of great little touches here depending on the series your characters of choice hails from. While the BlazBlue cast’s Astrals are set to BBTAG’s main theme, “Crossing Fate,” the Persona 4 Arena characters enter Awakening state (a requirement to access IKs in their home games), before performing their Instant Kills, set to the song “Mist” in a throwback to the original Arena title.

Additionally, the Under Night In-Birth characters, who utilize their Infinite Worth EXS, perform them to the tune of “Unknown Actors,” the console opening theme of Under Night In-Birth EXE: Late[st]. Team RWBY’s are set to Volume 1’s opening theme, “This Will Be The Day,” with the infamous moon of Remnant in the background. You can see the full compilation below.

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle’s online beta is currently ongoing for players who digitally pre-ordered the game on both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. With the open portion beginning today, May 12th, and lasting until Monday, May 14th. The full game will be available on PS4, Switch and Steam PC, in Japan and Asia on Thursday, May 31st, with a North American release following on Tuesday, June 5th. A European release is salted for this summer.

Which Astral Skills are your favorites? Share your picks with us in the comments section below.

Sources: Koefficient

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Nicalis, Inc. announces crossover puzzler/fighter Crystal Crisis for the Nintendo Switch, feat. characters from Blade Strangers

It seems like Nicalis, Inc. isn’t slowing down its insane game announcements — In addition to their crossover fighter Blade Strangers getting announced last month for multiple platforms, the indie publisher and developer has followed up with another crazy crossover project for the Nintendo Switch.

Crystal Crisis is a new crossover puzzler/fighter clearly influenced by Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, featuring characters from the upcoming Blade Strangers. As you can see in the trailer, you can spot Quote and Curly Brace from Cave Story+, Isaac from The Binding of Isaac, and Aban, Tina, and Jim Hawkins from 1001 Spikes. There are also some new additions (not in Blade Strangers) that manga and anime enthusiasts will recognize — such as Astro from Astro Boy and Black Jack from Black Jack. And if you want to get really obscure — Johnny Turbo, the infamous mascot for the TurboGrafx–16 add-on “TurboDuo”, has made cut for his first game appearance ever! These are strange, but wonderful, times we’re living in.

There’s other characters from different gaming series that made the cut, as well as original characters that you won’t find in Blade Strangers. You can read about these fighters, the gameplay, and different modes at Nicalis’s blog, linked in the tweet below.

Crystal Crisis is scheduled for a fall 2018 window release with both physical and digital versions priced at $39.99 MSRP. The physical edition will come with a full-color instruction booklet and bonus goodies. There’s no word yet if the title will be on other platforms — stay tuned for more details on this exciting new puzzle/fighting game as it gets closer to release!

Sources: Nicalis, Inc.; Nicalis, Inc. (Twitter)