Review – Guilty Gear Strive: Nintendo Switch Edition

I consider myself to be a pretty big fighting game fan. I’ve been actively following the genre since I first played Tekken on PlayStation as a child. Since 2017, however, my console of choice has been the Nintendo Switch and, as a fighting gamer, things haven’t been too hot. While the main next-generation consoles have seen the likes of Street Fighter VI, Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8 fully roll out and venture into Unreal Engine 5 territory even, Switch has been lucky to even see past gen fighters that ran on Unreal Engine 3. 

Enter Arc System Works. Dragon Ball Fighterz and DNF Duel both received solid Switch ports. Their online servers were self-contained with no crossplay, however the actual gameplay and resolution successfully made the jump to Nintendo’s portable system. Over the last two years, we’ve seen the launch of Valve’s Steam Deck and with it several fighting games receiving Deck support. When you can play Tekken 8 on Steam Deck and there are no such options on Nintendo Switch, there may arise a bit of frustration. After all, Mortal Kombat 1’s infamously terrible launch state on the Nintendo Switch has been well-documented. How could Switch hope to compete with either consoles or Steam Decks?

 

 

When Guilty Gear Strive was announced for the admittedly aging Nintendo Switch at GamesCom 2024, it gave me and many others pause. “Why?” we asked. GG Strive is considered to have some of the best 2D animation in fighting games both modern and classic and even made its way to PS4 albeit with long load times and noticeable visual differences from its PS5 counterpart. The Nintendo Switch port received its own gameplay trailer and it looked… good. All of the flashiness, the giant COUNTER icon that takes up the entire screen, the numerous elemental spark and laser effects, 3D background elements; it was all there. I was concerned the game would be squished down to meet Switch proportions. With an already successful and populated Steam Deck-ready build of the game online, why Nintendo Switch?

In the weeks leading up to Strive’s curious Switch release, I received my answers. This port was to coincide with the reveal of Guilty Gear Dual Rulers, a new animè series based after Strive’s events. However, all of my skepticism faded when I found out one major detail: GG Strive on Switch would include ALL 28 characters up to Season 4 from which Queen Dizzy would be a free addition when she releases next month. Now the comparisons between Strive on Steam Deck and Strive on Switch were heavily favored towards the Switch. If you want Strive plus every character including DLC seasons 1 through 3 on Steam, you’re looking at spending well over $100. On Switch? $60, which is the price of just the base game on Steam. This was incredibly generous on Arc Systems Works’ part and was clearly pulling for either existing Strive players who wanted to play the game on the go or an entirely new playerbase achievable on Switch, possibly through the upcoming anime’s following. 

 

 

Getting into Strive on Switch, it is imperative to say this is one hell of a miracle port. I would go so far as to say this is Switch’s best fighting game port of a currently viable game in the genre. Strive has been formatted specifically to the Switch, a unique build of the game and not a different console’s build crammed into a Switch port. The game runs at a smooth 60 frames per second whether you’re playing in handheld mode or docked mode. The visuals don’t take a huge hit from the PS4 version of the game and actually look better in hindsight in some ways. There are some wonky lighting effects on certain stages that affect the characters’ appearance, but nothing game-breaking. Loading times are on par with the PS4’s and matches load fast. Faster than I remember on PS4 even. Touches such as in-game video playing when viewing the command list and stage transition effects are retained in this version as well. The only thing I could note that the Switch version doesn’t have is the online 3v3 mode, but that’s not actually that big of an absence. The story mode and glossary timeline are both here as well, with the story mode being a four hour-long movie. This is the one area where Strive on Switch suffers as there is some noticeable stuttering and frame dipping when viewing this mode. With there not being any gameplay to worry about in Story Mode, it didn’t necessarily bother me that it was the only mode with performance hiccups. 

If you’re buying Strive for the single player components, I would advise that there’s not a whole lot here. Arcade is a ten match-long ladder that ends with character-specific dialogue but not an “ending” in the traditional sense. Survival mode sees you taking one character into a continuous ladder to see how far you can get with your health bar being slightly replenished after each victory. Notably, every ten stages in survival mode is against a shadow variant of one of the characters, such as Ky Kiske or Sol Badguy. There is also a training mode available or a mission mode which ties into the idea of training, having you complete basic commands and simulate specific character matchups. If you’re looking for a fighter with mileage in the single player portion, Strive may not be it but it thankfully plays these modes well on Switch. 

 

 

Couch and Online multiplayer round out Strive’s offerings. Couch in particular surprised me with its controller options. Single Joy-Con can be used on their side in addition to dual Joy-Con with or without a grip, Pro Controller and GameCube controller. I didn’t test out the SNES Nintendo Switch Online controller but I think it too would be a natural fit. Strive is a six button fighter with a button for punches, kicks, light slash, heavy slash, Dust, and throws respectively. Burst and Roman Cancel can also be mapped to buttons but are otherwise performed by pressing the face buttons simultaneously.  You primarily are using the face buttons in addition to simple motion inputs on the left analog stick. This should feel familiar to anyone who has dabbled in 2D or anime fighters before. 

Online play continues the Arc System Works tradition of weird navigational lobby systems that see you creating an avatar and wandering around a series of floors to find fights. Thankfully, there’s also a Quick Match option that you can turn on for background matchmaking while playing training mode. While Strive on Switch doesn’t have crossplay with other consoles or PC, it does have rollback netcode. This is certainly welcome but the peer-to-peer connection will not excite everyone, especially if you’re an Ethernet cable user. I didn’t experience any lag or interruption when playing online thankfully but, as expected, finding a match with another Switch player took several minutes.

 

The 28+ character roster is the highlight of Guilty Gear Strive. From the character select menu, each character is marked into a category as well as given a difficulty rating for playing them. I appreciated this because it helped with my lack of familiarity with characters like screaming metal vocalist Elphelt or, one of several newcomers, Giovanna. I could see that Giovanna and Elphelt were categorized as Rushdown fighters that are useful in close combat. I had to laugh at a character like Bedman’s categorization of Unique. A sentient robot with a bed for a body or as the game puts it “Error-prone guardian machine” is definitely unique. Elsewhere, newcomer vampiric samurai Nagoriyuki is labeled One Shot due to his heavy sword slash attacks and blood transformation that can feed off his opponent or himself. Zoning, Power, Balance, and Shooting are the other four character categories you can find, being relatively self-explanatory. I found myself driven to play Rushdown characters like Chipp Zanuff  and electric guitar-wielding I-No who was always my favorite in Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus. The game’s movement and attack speed averages slower than previous Guilty Gear games opting for more focus on big hits and the impact their timing can have on a match. Still, each character is full of personality and with their own unique weapon. 

The heavy metal meets anime approach of Guilty Gear has always appealed to me where its gameplay maybe did not. Strive could have been an alienating game for the series with its less speedy, headier approach to landing hits and more accessible super attacks. However, almost four years on from its initial release, I think Strive has for many been the most successful distillation of the series. Nevermind how the ‘blazing’ soundtrack captures lightning in a bottle for the series or the gameplay is more neutral than ever before. 

Switch now has three Guilty Gear games: The original Guilty Gear, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, and now Guilty Gear Strive. As far as presentation, ease of mechanics and hype level go, I think Strive is a shoe-in for Switch’s Guilty Gear representative. Not only that, it’s just a damn good port of an already fun game. I’ve easily put in an additional 30+ hours on Switch when I already had at least that many hours on Steam and PS4. My first impression of Guilty Gear Strive was at a local meetup spot for fighting gamers and the game’s flashy visuals and compelling back-and-forth shined in that environment. Now that I can pull my Nintendo Switch out and set up a game in seconds, I’ll definitely reflect on Strive’s inclusion in the Nintendo Switch library as a net positive. 

 

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