Hello there, you awesome people. It's been a while since I made a weekly update, but I'm back with another blog post. You might be familiar with the topic regarding Skullgirls on previous posts. Now, I have an exciting cherry on top announcement to make. Here goes. *ahem*
Alright, so you know how Skullgirls is great, but listening to BlazBlue music is just not nearly enough to spice up the never ending launch party? Well, that's where BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle music comes in.
That's right. This is not a prank, my friend. I am officially shifting to BBTAG music. It has a jukebox feature that has over 60 battle themes taken from BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth, RWBY and the EX universes and most of them are even fitting well. I know you are interested in hearing these awesome themes, like A Pure-Hearted Beast, Justice Sword and Forceful Step. And now, you are free to hear them. And forgive me if I pulled a Nevercake when I confirmed it. Before I provide you with a full chart and an explanation, I want to tell you this.
First off, when Skullgirls Encore was released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 back in 2013, I bought it and played it for a little bit. And then, I thought of something fun. I started listening to BlazBlue music while playing Skullgirls and it turned out well. It started out with playing random themes. Since Annie is making her way to 2nd Encore along with three TBD characters in the Season Pass to also come to Mobile, I told fans that I am looking forward to assign her to Justice Sword as a cherry on top. Basically, if Umbrella finally gets her playable debut, Active Angel will be a cherry on top to garnish her upbeat personality.
But now, I have confirmed that I am shifting to BBTAG music back in the fourth week of March and it's much better, much more unprecedented than with the mainline BlazBlue games and it has multiple flavors. Annie and Umbrella will stay assigned to Justice Sword and Active Angel while some characters are gonna be shifted to the other universes' themes during the BBTAG music period going forward. You'll find out what they are later. I even mentioned that I assigned Ajna from Indivisible to conciliation too, but that will no longer be the case since Indivisible's production has been cancelled and 505 Games had no interest in hiring Future Club despite consisting the same people minus Mike Z. Assigning an Indivisible character to a BBTAG character theme is weird, to be honest.
In BBTAG, the BlazBlue themes, including Justice Sword and Active Angel use a timeless version that play differently than with the mainline BlazBlue games to loop similarly to the Persona 4 Arena and Under Night In-Birth themes. I'll tell you what this means for BBTAG music later on. That said, a SMITE Lore-style fun fact on how Justice Sword fits well with Annie is in the works. Followed by the one about how Active Angel fits well with Umbrella.
With Annie and the three mystery characters in the very first Season Pass coming to Skullgirls after almost a decade and assigning them to BBTAG themes making things hype, the spiced up launch party never ends. Interesting thing to this is it's good enough with playing the mainline games' music during the period when they gave us five crowdfunded 2nd Encore DLC characters. Now it's BBTAG music during the Season 1 Pass period and beyond as a cherry on top. Now that's a unique thing that gets the Team Sonic Racing seal of approval.
Another interesting thing to this is when I assigned the BBTAG themes to characters, stages and special solo matches, I felt some Super Smash Flash 2 and some Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing vibes. Both on the original and Transformed. On the characters section, it given me some Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing vibes because you know how you have to unlock the characters in both games and they have their own jingles that play during their All-Star Move like in WWE: Day of Reckoning for the Gamecube and in Whacked! for the original Xbox?
When there is a Season Pass character in game, I play their theme upon their entrance after a death of a teammate or as a point character. They are unlocked by either purchasing the Season Pass or the character individually. That's how the characters section has given me some Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing vibes. Basically, it is also giving me some Team Sonic Racing vibes.
And now, without further ado, here is the chart divided into sections consisting of characters, stages and special solo matches and the explanation on how I play the music of Arc System Works' acclaimed all-star team-based fighting game, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle to Autumn Games' acclaimed indie game, Skullgirls.
Now let's get to the nitty-gritty on explaining how do I provide the music output. I'll explain on the characters section first. Because Skullgirls doesn't use character themes that MvC1 and MvC3 use, as well as several other fighting games that use character themes, I assign the characters to their BBTAG character themes as a garnishment varying by personality among their sigils, action shots and posters. Here's how it goes.
-character theme- plays when...
--character name- is in point position on the Player 2 side at the beginning of the match
--character name- in mid position comes in when any other character in point position dies
-character theme- stops playing when...
--character name- or any other character in point position dies and any other character in mid position comes in
-character theme- still plays when...
--character name- dies while performing their assist.
--character name- in mid position comes in when any other character in point position dies while their theme for the mid character plays.
This is exactly what Marvel vs. Capcom 1, 3 and Infinite do while DBFZ and BBTAG don't. What I mentioned above. But on solo matches, -character theme- will stay on when -character- is on the Player 2 side like Street Fighter IV and V, Bloody Roar 1 and 2, Samurai Shodown and Nitroplus Blasterz, except on lore-based situations, which I'll explain later. So here.
Cerebella = Forceful Step
Peacock = Kuma Kuma Circus!
Parasoul = Missions for the Brilliant Executor
Ms. Fortune = Alexandrite
Painwheel = Rebellion
Annie = Justice Sword
Also, when there is a special solo battle, I play the specified themes in the lore-based solo matches section, which will play for the remainder of that match. I did that with one while watching Skullgirls Slapfest last Tuesday. Guilty Gear, BlazBlue and other ArcSys fighting games have that.
I heard most people like solo matches better because of the blue health bar that represents that down period, like in Darkstalkers and use canon ones.
In case you didn't notice while looking at the special solo matches section, I also threw in a little spoiler.
That's right, I created a new section that has characters in my wish list I assigned BBTAG songs to with the brown dot representing Akatsuki Blitztank songs. My wish list above has 15 characters I want for 2nd Encore that I assigned BBTAG songs to. If the three (four if the Season Pass sells well) mystery characters in the Season Pass are revealed to be the above characters in my wish list, I will move them to the characters section.
Thanks to assigning the Skullgirls characters to BBTAG songs, it'll spice things up, similar to Marvel vs. Capcom 1, 3 and Infinite, as well as Dead or Alive and Street Fighter IV and V, which also have an option for the in-game music to play for characters or stages. Plus, it fits well even more.
And finally, for the stage output. It's simple; as an example, if I choose my favorite stage, NMO Arena, I turn on The Tyrant. That theme will stay playing for the remainder of that match. And that's just it. It's just a simple explanantion. It'll work on both team and solo matches. But I'm gonna stick with MvC1 mode, the character department.
Plus, it also works while watching Skullgirls streams. I'll be playing BBTAG music on MvC1 mode while watching the streams, expecting more Annie gameplay to come so I can play Justice Sword upon her entrance. Especially on big tournaments that Mike Z won't be a part of in commentary because of his indefinite ban from future Skullgirls tournaments after his inappropriate behavior he made against his employees to make Lab Zero Games unsafe. All future Skullgirls tournaments have no place in commentary for Mike because of his indefinite ban. This is why if people want to join tournaments and such, they must conduct their actions discreetly.
Mike's indiscreet actions that made Lab Zero Games unsafe couldn't stop me from playing BBTAG music. In fact, it is bigger than any other individual. It'll take more than one unacceptable individual to stop me from it. You know what's bullcrap? 2020 became the worst year not just because of the pandemic, but also because of allegations of sexual abuse against individuals I experienced.
Remember the situation involving Mr. Wiz? He was accused of sexual misconduct by Crackpr0n after he revealed that he paid young boys tokens to take their clothes off and do dirty stuff at an arcade joint and he paid the accuser $20 to show his penis at the arcade's restroom. Absolute pedophile/child groomer. Most organizers had to enforce core values on their tournaments they hosted just to state that sexual abuse or some sort doesn't have any place in their environment and it counters their mission and their discretion to build a safe and welcoming environment.
And then, the BBTAG version of in JUSTICE fitting well with Beowulf vs. Annie is basically Sonic X. They should put clashed. They should clash each other, because how in JUSTICE fits really well with this 1v1 match is that Beowulf and Annie have Bionic Arm-esque fatal counter-inducing Distortion Drives in their moveset that don't even clash, but deal the same amount of damage.
Honestly, I don't think that someone who wants to buy Annie and the Ferocious Wolfman on Blu-Ray and DVD would drive to Best Buy or Walmart to buy it. It's like raising a golden staff with a pink gem on top that Aphrodite wields in SMITE or going through heck beating that level in Super Monkey Ball. You know what's funny? I say "fatal!" every time a heavy counter hit has been recorded, just like in BlazBlue.
And that about does it for this explanation. An update will be posted when the next Season 1 Pass character is revealed. This is a rough first pass, so this chart will change.
Now, before I wrap this up, it's time for the first SMITE Lore-style fun fact on assigning the Skullgirls characters to BBTAG themes. But before I get to it, I'll tell you this. My way of writing fun facts on how a BBTAG character theme fits well with Skullgirls will have their lore that benefits assigning a character to a BBTAG character theme and that's what the series is gonna be called; Skullgirls Lore. Anyway, on to the first Skullgirls Lore on how Justice Sword fits well with the one and only Annie of the Stars with the intro before it.
Long ago, there was once a fighting game that my local movie theater made me think of at night because of its art deco aesthetic, which the buildings in New York have and filmstrips on screen called Skullgirls. Unfortunately, it has ended development after the Japanese voice patch. Then all of a sudden, it's back in development and it's getting more characters this year and onwards through its first ever Season Pass that has four new characters. Now, listen carefully. *ahem*
Alright, so... you know how Skullgirls 2nd Encore suspended development over four and a half years ago? Well, that's where Annie comes in. Assigned to Justice Sword. You see, fiercer than she looks, bravest in all of the cosmos, Annie is a lot of things. A star, a child, a celebrity, a relative of Sol Badguy, probably. She wields her sword. Her Azure Grimoire. No, a magical sword with cosmic powers. No, she's not a Grim Reaper. And no, her sword doesn't suck souls. Though the blade of her sword has the same shape as the blade of Ragna the Bloodedge's sword, but different in size.
Annie is a Star Child and her sword possesses Star Power, which temporarily enhances all of her moves similar to the Overdrive mechanic first featured in Chrono Phantasma. Except it isn't because all of her normals and unique attacks shoot stars out of her sword. Assigned to a BlazBlue theme, she is the embodiment of a spatial being. She is honor. She is courage. She is science fiction. For you see, she wants to embrace the power of the stars because you know, the whole cosmic justice thing. That's what makes Justice Sword a perfect fit for a TV star, hence "sword" in the name of the theme.
Anyway, Annie and her TV senpai Beowulf both starred in her popular kids show, Annie of the Stars. Together, they share bonds working with each other. Beowulf plays the bad Wulfman, the villain of Annie's beloved TV show. A howl has surged when he came out of retirement, so Annie decided to do a rumble with him. Now, since Annie is making her playable debut 2nd Encore, I get to play the BBTAG version of in JUSTICE during the 1v1 fight between Beowulf and Annie as a cherry on top. What a bargain!
For centuries, Annie is cursed by the Skull Heart to never grow up. That's how she gets alive for centuries, so she sets out to find the Skull Heart's power source and destroy it to lift her curse, which is impossible. When night comes, you see all that glowing glitter in the night sky, which is stars, but Annabella herself is all that glitters is gold and the only star that shines brighter, with her green hair, her sword with cosmic powers and Sagan, her remote Parasite of an anthropomorphic bunny. Since her sword of justice is a prized posession, evil can't escape cosmic justice and she holds such power. You know, like the Sealed-Weapon Izayoi? Just to fight for justice and defy gravity.
Well, Annie is not the Sealed-Weapon Izayoi, and I don't know if you know this, but it's freaking stellar, so she has a feel of thinking of her associated with some movie theaters at nighttime, which is a ceiling printed with stars. Even her stage is a set where she shoots her beloved TV show. If Annie of the Stars was a real TV show on Netflix or on Paramount+, count me in.
And if Skullgirls is getting the cinematic Them's Fightin' Herds-style lv. 5 supers, oh, you better watch out because she'll bring her opponents down to oblivion with her outrageous Galactic Judgment, which requires Star Power. Especially Double, probably. And I'm not talking about an RPG of the Elder Scrolls franchise. I'm talking about that Annie will literally pulverize you into pure dust! Pure space dust, I tell you! And if she does, you're gonna regret it because Annie would make a great character for BBTAG. Since Annie wields her sword, I made her on Soul Calibur VI.
Even though, Annie was a guest character in Indivisible, now scrapped, along with Shantae, Shovel Knight and the others because of the dissolution of Lab Zero Games at the hands of Mike Z. I know there is a few minority of people who were looking forward to the Shovel Knight gameplay in Indivisible after he trended on Twitter. One of the lines reads "Scrapped playable character for Indivisible." Seeing that made people very upset with Mike Z. It's not cool. Not when people were hyped to play Shovel Knight in Indivisible and when I wanted Ajna to be in the Skullgirls universe.
But still, her launch on Skullgirls Mobile became a huge success and her playable debut to 2nd Encore is inevitable with Justice Sword as a cherry on top. Forget Izayoi. Now introducing the Sealed-Weapon Annie, a star child reborn!
