Iiiiiiit’s Jack-O, Guilty Gear‘s newest character in the awesome circus of rejects that is the Guilty Gear roster. She’ll be playable in this weekend’s Japanese location test at select arcades. Story-wise, Jack-O is one of the three direct subordinates of That Man, Sol’s friend-turned-nemesis. If she’s aligned with That Man, she’s not obviously evil or heroic, but will still be antagonistic.
Jack-O seems to be another character with an unorthodox moveset or interesting gimmick. She’ll be able to control jack-o-lantern drones on the ground to attack, aside from other normal attacks. Players will throw out little “lantern huts” corresponding to attack buttons that summon drones with weapons on them (notice the K lantern and the trident, for example.) So, she could be at least partially setup-based; perhaps the drones are intended to be used at a distance, against slower characters or when you score a knockdown. In the screenshot above she has her mask on, so odds are the mask affects her gameplay (perhaps like Street Fighter‘s Vega.) To Xrd’s credit, each of the new characters feature something about their moveset that makes them unique, however small it may be.
There are a couple of design or conceptual influences that are apparent in Jack-O. First is quite obviously the jack-o-lantern, itself derived from the story of Stingy Jack. As an extension of that prominent Halloween symbol, her character concept could also be related to the metal band Helloween, notable because it once featured musicians Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske in its lineup (“Kai” + “Kiske” = “Ky Kiske,” folks!) and because Daisuke Ishiwatari, as a character designer, likes to make allusions to various music groups. I also think Michael Jackson is a bit of inspiration here, from the sleekness of the outfit and the belts and when considering the derisive nickname “Wacko Jacko.” Besides all of these, notice how the underside of her hair is red. I have no idea how anything like that can be remotely pulled off in reality (assuming someone might want to emulate it for fun, ya know), but it looks cool in my opinion. Sometimes that’s all that matters.
In news regarding the gameplay mechanics for -REVELATOR-, it appears that the balance adjustments to the existing characters will be nonexistent (retaining changes in the recent Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- Version 1.1 balance patch,) and, instead, the gameplay systems will receive minor additions. For example, while Bursts are typically used to interrupt combos, players will now have the option of using a full Burst meter to enhance the strength of Overdrives/super moves. There will also be a special follow-up attack if players successfully Blitz Shield an opponent’s attack. The release of the 1.1 patch was not that long ago, so minimal-to-no widespread balance changes amongst the existing roster were expected on my part.
