New Gunvolt 4-Komas and Character Profiles from Dengeki Nintendo

It's been a while since I last made a post here (my apologies for that, by the way--I've been bogged down by a lot of work lately), but I just wanted to take a quick moment to share something cool that was sent my way yesterday. VH_Remilia on Twitter recently got his/her hands on two issues of Dengeki Nintendo that feature some awesome Gunvolt stuff we haven't seen before. These entail four new Gunvolt 2-themed 4-komas and new two profiles for Nike and Asroc respectively. As per usual, this stuff was all printed in Japanese, but fortunately, VH_Remilia was kind enough to scan the 4-komas and profiles and send them to Tavi and Sidier for translation. You can check out everything below after the jump!
Also, shout-outs to that awesome concept art in the profile pages! Super cool stuff. Man, Hatakeyama. I'm telling you folks: that guy amazes me with how generous he is with his artwork!

Check Out the Official Gunvolt Timeline!

The Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 original soundtrack has been out for quite a while now in Japan. Those of you who have picked it up likely already know that it features a booklet full of awesome character artwork, illustrations of the world of Gunvolt 2, and more. It includes one especially fascinating thing that many of us were not expecting, though: an official Gunvolt timeline that covers all the most important events in the series leading up to Gunvolt 2. This is not your average, run-of-the-mill timeline, however. It doesn't just limit things to the games, but extents to the drama tracks, the Dengeki Nintendo short stories, the Fleeting Memories events, and even the GV1 epilogue and prologue detailed in the OST booklet! Suffice to say that Inti's taken all the starts and stops to ensure that this timeline's as thorough as possible!
If you're interested in checking out this timeline, you can give it a gander below or view it here. Thanks to J-Love on Twitter for sharing this with us, and Tavi for translating the Japanese!

Nintendo Everything Talks With Inti Creates About Scrapped Ideas, Amiibo Interest, Gunvolt 3 and More!

Nintendo Everything recently had a chance to sit down with Inti Creates' President Takuya Aizu and Gunvolt series Director Yoshihisa Tsuda for an exclusive Gunvolt-oriented interview. Some really fascinating things were discussed, including the team's interest in making a Gunvolt amiibo, their eagerness to produce a Mighty Gunvolt 2, the new Gunvolt anime, and more! They also talked at length about some ideas from Gunvolt 2 that had to be scrapped. One of these ideas is particularly fascinating: Apparently, early on in GV2's development, Copen was planned to be the only playable character. And GV? He was actually going to be the game's main antagonist!

From Nintendo Everything's Interview:

Tsuda: In the earlier days of Gunvolt 2’s development, we originally going to make Copen the only playable character, with a mask-wearing Gunvolt appearing as the new top dog of the Sumeragi Group (the evil organization from Gunvolt 1). He would be in the game as a boss character, appearing before Copen in mid-air surrounded by 1000 Glaives that he would use to transform. If you beat Gunvolt, he would be unlocked as a playable character, but due to varying circumstances we changed things to what you see in the game now.

Man, how about that? All said and done, though, I'm happy that they decided to keep GV as a playable character. That said, I gotta say that I still am a little bummed that that masked GV design didn't end up used in the full game. Woulda been cool!

Anyway, you can check out Nintendo Everything's full interview with Inti Creates here! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Inti Creates Interested in Making a Third Gunvolt Title

Inti Creates recently revealed that they were interested in producing a third game in the Azure Striker Gunvolt series: In an interview with Nintendo Everything, series Director Yoshihisa Tsuda stated he really wants to produce another title “that continues the series with Gunvolt at the helm as the main protagonist.” He definitely thinks that it can happen with enough fan support, and furthermore, he has “a rough idea for what I would want the potential sequel to be”.

Inti Creates President Takuya Aizu also weighed in on the conversation to say that Azure Striker Gunvolt “is incredibly near and dear to us,” but in light of the fact that enjoyable games take time to produce, “any discussions about when the next game will be coming out are probably a pretty long way away.”

Nintendo Everything's full interview with Inti Creates will reportedly be published "soon " Apparently, NE also went to Yacht Club Games with some questions about the Striker Pack, so it looks like we have quite a lot of information to look forward to in the coming days!

In the meantime, though, it's pretty awesome to hear that Inti Creates is interested in developing a third title, especially considering that the second game left a few unanswered questions here and there! Here's wishing Inti Creates the best of luck with the conceptualization process!

JP Voice Mode Patch For Digital Ver. of GV1 to Release on October 20!

Rejoice, folks! Inti Creates has just announced by way of their last Twitch stream and blog that the long-awaited Japanese Voice Mode patch for the EN 3DS version of GV1 will be releasing on October 20! For those not in the know, the Japanese Voice Mode is a game mode that re-includes a bunch of content that was cut from the initial 3DS EN release of the first Gunvolt title. This entails stuff like the real-time dialogue, additional Joule conversations and original Japanese voices in the cutscenes. What's more, this mode features an English script that has been re-translated from the ground up in a very faithful manner to the original Japanese version. In short, it pretty much sets the English version on equal grounds with the Japanese version. It's taken quite a long time for Inti Creates to put this patch out, but believe it or not, we'll finally be able to download it for our digital copies of GV1 as soon as next week!

In the meantime, I would advise you to make sure that you have a sufficient amount of space on your 3DS SD card: I estimate that this update's going to take up around 500 blocks (at any rate, that's how much data was taken out of the initial 3DS EN release).

New Gunvolt 2 Lumen Album Announced

I'm a bit late with this, but a couple days ago, Inti Creates announced a new Gunvolt music album: Entitled -Into the Blue-, this album is set to contain the full versions of all the Lumen songs in Gunvolt 2. In that respect, it can be seen as the GV2 equivalent of the Azure Phosphorescence album. It will be priced at 2,000 Yen and include a full-color 12-page booklet.

The artists are as follows:

• Morpho/Lumen (Megu Sakuragawa), Sumegami Electronic Symphony Orchestra (Ippo Yamada, Ryo Kawakami, Yamajet), Jaco Factory

-Into The Blue- will be officially released on November 3rd, but members of the Inti Creates fan club who purchase this CD will be able to get it on October 27, a full week early.

Here's hoping that this album comes statesside eventually! (If I had a nickel for every time I've said that, I'd be able to buy Inti Creates. Seriously, though, the vocal tracks in GV2 are insanely good!)

By the way, according to a tweet I received from Sidier, Inti also stated on Twitter that a RoRo album is on the way. No release date for that has been confirmed yet, but I want to say that we won't be waiting too long for it to show up.

Source: Perfectly Nintendo

"Oversurge, Azure Striker!" Gunvolt 2 Now Available Digitally!

Welp, the long wait is over, folks, and the digital version of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 has finally arrived on our shores! You can now pick it up on the Nintendo 3DS eShop for the cool price of $13.49. The file size is 3,728 blocks. It will be followed closely by the physical Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack on October 4, which will be priced at $29.99.

I'd imagine that there are a number of people who are waiting for their copies of the Striker Pack to experience Gunvolt 2, but for those of you picking up the digital version today, I hope you have a blast playing it! I know that I certainly will, at any rate!

If you'd like to share your thoughts on the game, feel free to sound off in the comments below! Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have an urgent appointement with my 3DS that will probably last a few hours.

Inti Creates Releases New Trailer for Gunvolt OVA

Inti Creates has just released a new trailer for the Azure Striker Gunvolt OVA that was announced back in July. This trailer mostly features footage that we've seen already elsewhere, but it is now accompanied by voice samples for GV, Joule/Lumen, Asimov and Nova as they'll be heard in the anime. You can give the vid a watch above! I must say, after this taste, I can't wait to hear the voice cast in action when this OVA rolls around!

The Azure Striker Gunvolt OVA will officially be releasing for Japanese audiences this Winter. The staff is as follows:

[STAFF]
Director/Continuity/Producer: Yoshinori Odaka
Senario: Shigeru Murakoshi
Character Design/Animation Supervisor: Masakazu Sunagawa
Action Director/Key Animator: Koudai Kawase
Props/Mecha Design: Ryuta Nakahara
Film Director: Polunt Sai
Backgroud Art Director: Keinichi Kurata
Color Design: Kanna Terawake
Animation Inspector: Mikie Matuyama
Backgroud Art: Baku Production
Music: Ippo Yamada, Ryo Kawakami
Film: LandQ Studio's
Production: INTI CREATES, TOHOKUSHINSHA, LandQ Studio's


(Thanks to Yoshinator for the tip!)

More GV2 Song Previews from Inti's Latest Livestream

Inti Creates hosted yet another live stream today where they showed off two more GV2 song previews. These songs are "Shinjitsu ≒ Genjitsu -Reality-" (or "Truth -Reality-") by Lumen and "Multi-Universe" by RoRo. An interesting thing to note about the former song is that, according to Perfectly Nintendo, it will be the main theme for the Gunvolt OVA that is scheduled to release in Winter. Neat, huh?

Anyway, you can check out both songs below! Thanks to Perfectly Nintendo for uploading these to Youtube for our listening pleasure!

Gunvolt Limited Edition Drama CD Translated

Zoram recently finished translating the drama CD included with the Japanese limited edition Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack. This CD contains ten tracks, and covers events from before GV joined Feather. They're very fun tracks because they show some unexpected character interactions. I think this is the only place where you could expect to see Jota having it out with Gibril, Nova conversing with Tenjian, and Teseo and Merak trying to one-up each other to determine the better hacker! They're also very interesting because they show that Eden was a very active organization even before the events of GV2.

Oh, and last but not least... [Spoilers from track 10 ahead]

New Gunvolt Shirt Now Available from Fangamer

Some of you may recall that last month, Fangamer teased a new Gunvolt shirt that they were working to release. Well, just in time for PAX West, that shirt has now hit their official website! You can pick it up here for $24 dollars. The shirt also comes with a free 1.25" metallic bonus button, which you can see below:

Overall, pretty awesome to see another nice addition to the ever-growing Gunvolt t-shirt family! By the way, if you happen to be attending PAX West this year, Yacht Club Games reported that this shirt will also be available to buy from Inti's booth. For reference, that's Booth 6908!

Gauri Stage Footage Translated

So, as I'm sure a lot of people know by now, Gunvolt 2 is officially out in Japan. I've decided that I'm not gonna be covering any of the post-release footage of the full game on this channel (primarily because I want to avoid spoilers myself, lol), but one thing that I did want to showcase was this translated gameplay footage of Gauri's stage. This comes from one of Inti Creates' most recent live streams and features Ikkan, Sawashiro Chiharu (voice of Gauri), and Megu Sakuragawa (voice of Lumen/Cyan). Suffice to say that it doesn't include the most top-notch gameplay, but it's nonetheless a fun watch. It's particurly hilarious to listen to Gauri's dialogue, as all his lines sound like rap lyrics. I was watching this video a couple days ago, before it was translated, and even though I couldn't understand the contexts of Gauri's lines at the time, I found myself just erupting into laughter! On a semi-related note, you have to wonder just how some of that stuff is gonna be localized in the North American version.

Anyway, thanks to Zoram as always for the translation!

Details and Cover Art from the Gunvolt 2 Original Soundtrack, Plus Info on the Inti Creates 20th Anniversary Fan Festa

Inti Creates hosted another live stream yesterday where they officially unvealed the Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 Original Soundtrack. Earlier today, the official cover art and track list for the soundtrack were released. The album contains a total of 74 tracks on two discs, including two bonus tracks. These bonus tracks are "Parallel World," a Lumen song exclusive to the 3DS theme that comes with the Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack, and "Enshi no Kishi," the song featured in the Shovel Knight collaboration.

The soundtrack will also include a full color 16-page booklet, cover art by Gunvolt series artist Yoshitaka Hatakeyama, comments from the development staff, character artwork, illustrations of the world of Gunvolt 2, and more. It'll be releasing on September 27th.

Also announced during the aforementioned livestream was that another Inti Creates Fan Festa will be taking place in a couple months to honor the 20th anniversary of the company. This event will be happening on November 5 from 11am to 9pm JST. It will be hosted at the Grand Hall of the Ichikawa City Cultural Center. The tickets will be 2,500 Yen, or 2,000 Yen if you happen to be a member of Inti Direct. Admission for minors will be free.

Three main shows will be taking place at this event: Here's the lineup, courtesy of Perfectly Nintendo:

• Azure Striker Gunvolt: Super Morpho Live, with Lumen (Megu Sakuragawa), and the Sumeragi Electronic Symphony Orchestra. Music from the Azure Striker Gunvolt 1 and 2 will be played live;
• a talk show about Gal * Gun
• a talk show about the history of Inti Creates, celebrating its 20th Anniversary. Several guests will be there, including Takuya Aizu (CEO), Yoshihida Tsuda, Ippo Yamada, Ryota Ito, Atsunori Kawachi, Ikegami Kinshi, and more.

And that's about it for now! Credit to Perfectly Nintendo for the translations.

Full Rundown on Gunvolt 2's New Game Systems

Heya, folks. So, a couple weeks ago, Inti Creates released yet another Gunvolt 2 press report to several Japanese video game news sites. This update covers pretty much everything you need to know about game's gameplay features and whatnot--and when I say pretty much "everything," I mean it. This post is absolutely gargantuan. It covers a ton of stuff, from the new skills in the game, to the "Online Ranking" mode. It's extremely extensive and highly informative. You can give it a read for yourself after the jump! As always, thanks to Zoram for the translation!

Introducing "Asrock" and "Jibril" of the G7

Welp, looks like we've finally come full circle with the G7 adepts! Yesterday, an official press release revealed information on the final two bosses from the official cover art of Gunvolt 2. These bosses are Asrock, the puppeteer adept whom we recently saw in action in the latest Inti Creates GV2 gameplay video, and Jibril, a new female boss. For the full breakdown on these characters, hit up the jump below! As always, thanks to Zoram for the translations!

Gunvolt 2 Gameplay Footage Featuring Asrock Subbed

Yesterday I shared some new Gunvolt 2 gameplay footage that featured a boss fight with Asrock, the puppeteer adept. The dialogue in this footage has since been translated by Zoram, who was kind enough to transcribe English subtitles onto the video. You can check out the translated version below! Word of note, though: If you hope to read all the character dialogue, you're likely gonna have to pause the video frequently. Tsuda-san goes through the dialogue really quickly.

By the way, the last two Gunvolt 2 G7 bosses were covered in an official press release yesterday. I'll be posting a translated version of this release later on, so stay tuned for that!

Meet "Asrock," The Puppeteer Boss

Earlier today, a special live stream was hosted on Nico Live that exhibited several upcoming game titles in Japan. During this show, new Gunvolt 2 footage was shown off by Keiji Inafune of Comcept and Yoshihisa Tsuda of Inti Creates. This footage featured the stage of Asrock, the puppeteer boss, a character that we'd formerly known very little about. You can watch it for yourselves below courtesy of Kira A, who uploaded the gameplay to Youtube.

The entire stream was, of course, in Japanese, but Zoram was kind enough to provide me with details on what went down during the broadcast. He plans to also subtitle the video later on, but in the meantime, you can read his general analysis of the stream below:

Thanks for 50,000+ Page Views!

Hey now, would ya look at that: Gunvault has officially surpassed 50,000 total page views! Dang, how electrifying is that?! Thanks to everyone who continues to take time out of their busy schedules to visit this little blog! Your support is super appreciated!

Official Concept Art Featuring Xiao, GV's New Operator

A few hours ago, Inti Creates posted some new concept art on their social media accounts featuring Xiao, GV's new operator in Gunvolt 2. This art gives us a better look at the character's design and some of the gadgets that we see him wearing. Interestingly, it seems that Xiao's in the habit of wearing three different wristwatches, as we can see in the second picture. Curious practice, huh?
Inti Creates also revealed in the posts where they shared this art that Xiao is 12 years old. This makes him two years younger than GV.

Check Out This Concept Art Featuring GV's Street Clothes

Earlier today, Inti Creates shared some new Gunvolt concept art on their social media accounts. This art features GV in his street clothes and Ouka. Interestingly, it depicts GV in different normal attire from what we see in the "Admiration to Peace" drama track album. In official art drawn for the "Karaoke" track, we see him wearing what appears to be a hoodie. I guess GV's just like the rest of us and doesn't like to wear the same clothes every day. :P

The image also includes a note from the official artist. While it's entirely in Japanese, Tavi on Twitter was kind enough to provide a translation. I've reproduced this translation below for the sake of convenience. Thanks, Tavi!

I was thinking of something that's not too fashionable but also easier to wear. I came to the conclusion that he would like wearing something that hides his body (yknow the muscles) so that they wouldn't stand out. Keeps the pendant on because it allows Prevasion. Also please change the hair color back. o(^▽^)o'

Additionally, in the post where they shared this image, Inti Creates revealed that Ouka is two years older than GV, which essentially makes her 16. Pretty intriguing!