Melty Blood

Melty Blood (メルティブラッド, Meruti Buraddo^?) is a 2D fighting game, developed by TYPE-MOON and French-Bread (known as Watanabe Seisakujo prior to 2003), and is a spin-off to Tsukihime. It was featured at the international fighting game tournament Tougeki in 2006 and 2007.

It has also been adapted into a manga series, featuring art by Kirishima Takeru and serialized in the CompAce magazine, published 2005. The manga is divided into two parts, the first part, spanning volumes 1-6, follows the original Melty Blood storyline. "2nd ACT" began serialization in the beginning of 2009, and spans volumes 7-9, featuring Miyako (Shiki's non-blood related cousin) as one of the main protagonists.

After volume 9, a sequel titled Melty Blood X began serialization and ran for 12 chapters before ending in 2011.

Melty Blood was originally released in December 2002 on the PC, with an expansion patch, Re-ACT, being released two years later in May 2004, and ReACT Final Tuned, released in July 2005. An arcade and PlayStation 2 port, Melty Blood: Act Cadenza, has also been released. This arcade and PlayStation 2 version then had its PC version released in July 27, 2007 with the title Melty Blood: Act Cadenza ver.B

Story

Cover of original Melty Blood game

The story of Melty Blood follows one year after Satsuki Yumizuka's non-existent route. Shiki Tohno hears of a new series of murders in Misaki similar to the one's that took place during Tsukihime. Whilst searching for the murderer he meets Sion Eltnam Atlasia who initiates a fight with him, attempting to capture him. After the fight she reveals that her reason for trying to capture him is to get in contact with the "True Ancestor" (referring to Arcueid) so that she may acquire information on the "cure for vampirism". Shiki then decides to help her with this task.

The story moves through a series of fights. Depending on the outcome of the fight the story will branch in one of two ways. Take the upper paths and you'll be treated to a serious story, while the lower paths quickly spiral into absurdity. Ultimately this corresponds to the ending of the game.

• 1 - NIGHT ON THE BLOOD LIAR ('True' ending)
• 2 - AGITATOR
• 3 - GOODBYE
• 4 - Hologram Summer
• 5 - Freaks Channel
• 6 - Other Tale
• 7 - G.
• 8 - oh my sister! ('Secret' ending)

The game's subtitle is “Hologram Summer, Night on the Blood Liar.” The original plan was for it to be about an executor who was a sort of rival to Ciel appearing to fight Arcueid, but once production started the sample game ended up being so amazing they felt the need to whip up a worthy story within “Tsukihime Canon” to match.

The second game, Re-act, was a bonus chapter with Melty Blood as its base. After the Tatari matter was taken care of, White Len used its power to create a single night of dreams. It was a fighting game with an all-star cast.
The third game, Act-Cadenza, is a further expanded version of Re-act, where nearly everybody that appeared in Tsukihime gets to take on a leading role.

Expansions

Melty Blood Re-ACT: Through the Looking-Glass, Fairy Tale Transparently

Main article: Melty Blood Re-ACT

Melty Blood's expansion, sold for 1,500 yen. Came with new stories (an Arcade Mode whose storyline takes place after the original game), two new characters (Len and Satsuki Yumizuka), new move sets, and more polished in general. A patch (2.51) called Final Tuned was released for free in July 2005 and added several features that allow gameplay configuration, as well as a large number of gameplay tweaks and updated animations.

Melty Blood Act Cadenza: Through the Looking Glass, Black Light transparently

Main article: Melty Blood Act Cadenza

An arcade port of Melty Blood Re-ACT by Sega-Sammy with the backing of TYPE-MOON and French Bread and marketed by Ecole. Came with with a more polished system, new scenarios and new characters (Kouma, Aozaki Aoko and NecoArc). A PS2 version was later released, and was later ported back to the arcade as Act Cadenza Ver.B.

This was the first Melty Blood game to be released as an arcade game (for Sega NAOMI), and later the first Melty Blood game on a console. This was also the first Melty Blood game not developed by French Bread.

A PS2 port of Act Candenza was released in 2006, marking the first time a Melty Blood game appeared on a console.

Melty Blood Actress Again: Hologram Summer Again, Tri-Hermes Black Land

Main article: Melty Blood Actress Again

The third game in the Melty Blood series. Gameplay changes were implemented, including three different fighting styles for each character: Full Moon Style (Power), Crescent Moon Style (Speed) and Half Moon Style (Simple), a defense bar that indicates how much damage a character can take while defending, and a wider area. Two new characters, Riesbyfe Stridberg (Vampire Hunter of the Church and a colleague of Sion) and Michael Roa Valdamjong, were added to the game.

A PS2 port of the game was released in 2009. One of the highlight of the game was the inclusion of Kara no Kyoukai's Ryougi Shiki as one of the playable characters.

In winter 2011, a PC version of the game was released along with Carnival Phantasm Season 3 Limited Edition.

Characters

As of Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code Ver. 1.07, there are 31 playable characters.

Tsukihime Characters

• Shiki Tohno
• Arcueid Brunestud
• Ciel
• Akiha Tohno
• Hisui & Kohaku
• Hisui
• Kohaku
• Nrvnqsr Chaos
• Miyako Arima
• Satsuki Yumizuka
• Aoko Aozaki
• Michael Roa Valdamjong

Kagetsu Tohya Characters

• Shiki Nanaya
• Len
• Kouma Kishima

Kara no Kyoukai Characters

• Shiki Ryougi

Characters New To Melty Blood

• Sion Eltnam Atlasia
• The Night of Wallachia
• Mech-Hisui
• White Len
• Riesbyfe Stridberg
• Dust of Osiris

Alternative/Bosses And Hidden Characters

• Vermillion Akiha (called Kurenaisekisyu Akiha before Act Cadenza)
• Sion TATARI (called Vampire Sion before Act Cadenza)
• G-Akiha
• Red Arcueid (Called Warcueid or Bousou Arcueid before Act Cadenza)
• Neco-Arc
• Neco-Arc Chaos
• Damien Armies
• Neco Chaos Black G666
• Koha & Mech
• Neco & Mech
• Powerd Ciel (called 7th Heaven Ciel before Act Cadenza)
• Archetype: Earth

In the original Melty Blood, only six of these characters were available to be played, with eight more being unlockable through story-mode. However, in a later update released for the game (the 'Nero' patch), all the characters are available from the start. The reasons for this are slightly unclear; they appear to be the result of a legal misunderstanding whereby TYPE-MOON mistakenly thought they would no longer be allowed to produce updates/patches, and thus made a 'last patch' which unlocked the characters as a sort of gift for the fans. Whatever the reason, TYPE-MOON has left these characters available throughout all subsequent releases. In addition, Aoko and Kouma were both added to the game as of Act Cadenza, although Aoko was an unplayable 'boss character' in previous versions. Act Cadenza also changed the given names of several characters.

Gameplay

Melty Blood makes use of widely used concepts in fighting games such as cancels (canceling a normal attack with a special attack before its animation ends, allowing for more complex and damaging combos) chain combos (normal moves that cancel into other normal moves) and the use of power bars (Magic Circuits). It also introduces Shielding, an advanced defensive technique comparable to Parries in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Slash Backs in Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core.

EX-Shielding: A high-risk/reward technique which eliminates the damage and 'block-stun' from an attack. Activated by a button press, it requires exact timing to 'deflect' the opponent's attack, thus exposing them to a reversal. However, if mis-timed, an EX-Shield attempt leaves the player extremely vulnerable. EX-Shielding also carries a damage penalty for subsequent attacks, but grants a small amount of Magic Circuit and disallows the opponent to cancel his/her attack into another one. Finally, in later versions of Melty Blood, EX-Shielding during the Blood Heat state activates a unique attack known as a Last Arc. In Melty Blood: Act Cadenza, a new type of Shielding was introduced which allows the player to hold the Shield button for an extended length of time to defend against multiple attacks. However, this rapidly drains Magic Circuit, and grants fewer retaliatory options upon recovery.

Magic Circuit: A system that allows players to store up to 300% meter, for various uses such as EX Attacks (high-powered versions of special techniques) and the Heat and Blood Heat modes. These modes allow players to regenerate a portion of their lifebar, as well as allow access to their character's ultimate attacks, known as Arc-Drives and Last Arcs. All of these techniques consume Magic Circuit, which is accumulated by attacking your opponent, and to a lesser degree, successfully defending against your opponent. Magic Circuit carries over between rounds.

Clashing: An offensive state where certain attacks or maneuvers impact directly with an opponent's attack, thus resulting in a 'clash.' No damage is taken as a result, and both players are allowed to cancel their attacks as if they had connected successfully. This mechanic is also featured in the Guilty Gear series.

Aerial Recovery: A defensive measure used after being attacked in mid-air by pressing any button and, optionally, while holding a direction. It grants temporarily invulnerability to the player and allows them to resume action, but may be detrimental in certain circumstances if the attacking player predicts which direction the Aerial Recovery is performed.

Tactical Recovery: After being attacked, performed by pressing any upward direction upon impacting the floor. Doing so allows a player to quickly regain momentum and avoid 'OTG'(On The Ground) combos while utterly defenseless. However, players are not allowed to block during the recovery animation, and thus will expose themselves to punishment if the attacking player predicts the recovery attempt. This is an aspect of the Okizeme meta-game found in many fighting games.

Shield Bunker Canceling: More akin to a glitch than an actual feature, Shield Bunker Canceling (known as Baka Cancel in Japan and Bara Cancel in the US) is a powerful technique where a player, while blocking an attack, can counter-attack with a Shield Bunker, but cancels the beginning animation into an attack of their choice. This is typically an EX attack with invincibility properties. This can drastically affect how one attacks an opponent. There are several methods to counter this technique, but it remains a feature of high-level play in Melty Blood. This is akin to Red Parrying in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. It was later nerfed (made less advantageous) by putting a circuit cost on it, indicating to the fanbase that the developers approved of this tactic.

Media

The original soundtrack of the game, Promised Dawn, was originally released on 29 April 2003. The music was composed by Raito Kate, with tracks 2-7 being arranged by James Harris (2-7), and 2-9 by Number 201.

Track listing

• Disc One
• VS Part

1. Melty Blood 3:27
2. I will begin 0:47
3. On the edge 0:13
4. Encount 3:30
5. Elegant Summer 2:56
6. Troublesome Visitor 3:35
7. Fearless 2:08
8. Noble Mind 2:04
9. Stillness Dark 3:29
10. for Crimson Air 3:12
11. Midnight Raider 3:56
12. PE-RI-CA 3:40
13. The theme of Arcueid 2:38
14. Emergency Occurrence 3:14
15. Help Me! 3:32
16. The end of 1000 years 3:06
17. A G Man 1:38
18. Chinese Girl 2:21
19. Count Down 0:44
20. Remember! 0:30
21. Memories of once 5:45
22. Bonus Track 8:08

• Disc Two
• Novel Part

1. Intro 0:36
2. Ready 1:57
3. Together 2:20
4. daydream 2:45
5. Alchemist 3:14
6. Another wonder 2:27
7. Bad Memory 1:32
8. Phantom Night 1:45
9. Under the moon 1:57
10. Outro 0:43
11. Character Voice Collection

Translation

Revolve Translations has officially released a full English patch, that includes English story mode. The patch is available for free to owners of Melty Blood. The translation patch is based on the Nero0623 final patch for Melty Blood. On July 19, 2007, they later released an English patch for Melty Blood ReACT, based on the Final Tuned patch. On November 27, mirror moon released an English patch for Melty Blood Act Cadenza (based on ver.B PC version), as well as the updated patches of previous releases. On January 9, 2012, mirror moon announced that will begin the work of translation of Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code (based on PC version). On April 20, 2016, a full English version of the game is released on Steam.

External links

• Official website
• Melty Bread (Melty Blood Videos and Frame Data for Characters)
• Melty Blood Act Cadenza for Windows Official Site (Some menus in English)