Azure Striker Gunvolt

For the main series, see Azure Striker Gunvolt (series)
For the overall franchise, see Azure Striker Gunvolt (franchise)

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Azure Striker Gunvolt
Release date	Nintendo 3DS: JP - 08/20/2014 NA - 08/29/2014 EU - 04/02/2015 Windows/PC:WW - 08/28/2015 Xbox Series:WW - 06/29/2022
Genre	Action-Platformer game
Series	Azure Striker Gunvolt
Developer(s)	Inti Creates
Publisher(s)	Inti Creates Yacht Club Games (Physical Release)
Director(s)	Yoshihisa Tsuda
Producer(s)	Takuya Aizu
Writer(s)	Toshiaki Tai
Artist(s)	Yoshitaka Hatakeyama, Araki Munihiro
Composer(s)	Ippo Yamada, Ryo Kawakami, Katsunori Yoshino, Mina Hatazoe
Modes	Single Player
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Azure Striker Gunvolt, known as Armed Blue Gunvolt (蒼き雷霆 ガンヴォルト) in Japan, is a platform game released by Inti Creates for the Nintendo 3DS eShop released in August 2014, and the progenitor of the Azure Striker Gunvolt franchise. In addition to utilizing gameplay similar to Mega Man Zero, Azure Striker Gunvolt also introduced new gameplay elements such as Gunvolt's ability to "tag" enemies and target many at once, adding an additional layer of complexity to the genre. The game also got a PC version on Steam, featuring full Japanese voice acting and some lines cut from the 3DS version.

Gameplay

Azure Striker Gunvolt is a side-scrolling action platformer game. The player controls the eponymous Gunvolt, who is able to jump, dash, and utilize a gun with special bullets that "tag" their targets, which grants a homing effect to Gunvolt's electric fields. The player's actions are limited by an energy bar, which depletes when using the electrical field, using additional movement abilities such as double-jumping or air dashing, or being hit by enemies.

Gameplay focuses heavily on the player's technique and skill in moving through levels. While finishing a level is relatively easy, the game provides a ranking system as well as several optional challenges. The game introduces a "chain" system in which the player's score is constantly increased so long as the player avoids being hit by enemies, with special actions such as defeating an enemy in the air or defeating multiple enemies at one time providing an additional bonus.^{[citation needed]} The game uses an item-forging and equipping system, the former of which is instrumental in achieving the game's true ending.

The chain system (referred to as "Kudos" in-game) is designed to challenge players to combine speed and tactical planning. It naturally increases as GV shocks tagged enemies, with some bonus applying. For example, defeating an enemy with 3 tags give a 10 Kudos "Full Strike" bonus. Should GV be hit, he will lose all his Kudos even if he doesn't take damage. Kudos can be banked in by using a special skill or by touching a checkpoint. If Gunvolt reaches 1000 Kudos in a level, the standard music will be replaced by a J-pop song sung by Lumen.

In the Steam re-release, multiple Speedrun Modes were added. They challenge the player to complete stages as fast as possible under certain conditions, with an online ranking and leaderboard system. These modes include Kudos Keeper, which increases damage the more kudos is earned while also retaining kudos between stages, Perma-Anthem, which places many spikes in stages, but also grants Gunvolt permanent Anthem, and Point Blank, which increases or decreases Flashfield damage based on the distance between Gunvolt and tagged enemies. The Steam version also adds Christmas mode (where points are determined by presents collected as they fall from the sky). Christmas mode is also available on the Nintendo Switch through the Striker Pack.

Stages

Azure Striker Gunvolt is split into stages, which they themselves are divided further based on plot progression. These stages are the setting for the various missions that are assigned by QUILL for Gunvolt. The method of stage selection is inspired by that of the Mega Man series, with several main boss stages able to be played in any order.

Introductory Stage

• Anthem (1st Sumeragi)

Boss Stages

• Abyss (Subaquatic Base)
• Minaret (Media Tower)
• Conflagration (Biochem Plant)
• Spintronics (Datastore)
• Underworld (Stratacombs)
• Garden (Pharma Lab)

Intermission Stage

• Kaleidoscope (Sinner's Row)

Final Stages

• Hostage (Urban Run)
• Streak (Eridu)
• Stratosphere (Babel)
• Idolatry (Firmament 1)
• Azure (Firmament 2)

Special Missions

Once the true ending has been acquired, "Special Missions" are unlocked. Four of the missions are two halves of two regular stages combined, but with added enemies and one of two possible bosses at the end. The last mission is a Boss Rush where you take on all of the game's bosses one after another. Anthem is disabled and there are no checkpoints.

Plot

Azure Striker Gunvolt is set during an unspecified date in the near future, in which several people called "Adepts" have developed "Septimal powers". These powers enable superhuman feats including flight, the use of powerful energy weapons, and manipulation of the elements like fire, water, and electricity. While the world as a whole is in turmoil, a certain eastern island nation is at relative peace thanks to the efforts of the immensely powerful and influential conglomerate known as the Sumeragi Group. However, the Sumeragi Group is, in reality, controlling and experimenting on adepts. Gunvolt, one of the most powerful adepts, has the ability to create electrical fields and works for an organization known as QUILL, which is seeking to reveal and put a stop to Sumeragi's ulterior motives.

One day, on a critical mission to destroy Sumeragi's Adept radar, the virtual pop idol Lumen, Gunvolt is shocked to discover that Lumen is in fact a young Adept girl named Joule, whose Septima, The Muse, is being used to hunt down Adepts. Rather than going through with the order and killing her, Gunvolt instead breaks her out, and vows to protect her as her guardian, resulting in his leaving from QUILL.

Determined to preserve Joule's new freedom, Gunvolt, and his remaining allies at QUILL, continue their war for Adepts, all the while, a shadowy, powerful figure in Sumeragi continues his hunt for his lost Muse...

Main Characters

See also: Minor Characters#Games

Character	Image
Gunvolt - Voiced by Kaito Ishikawa (石川界人) The main protagonist. Also known as "The Azure Striker" or "GV", Gunvolt was a member of the resistance group QUILL until he came across Joule. Instead of killing her as his orders say, Gunvolt takes her in and leaves QUILL, though he still accepts missions from them.
Joule - Megu Sakuragawa (櫻川めぐ) Joule is an adept who was being controlled by Sumeragi because of her Septimal power.
Lumen - Megu Sakuragawa (櫻川めぐ) Lumen, also known as the Muse, is a projection of Joule's power. She is used by the Sumeragi to control adepts. Some of her songs are played during the game and she can "reincarnate" Gunvolt.
Asimov - Voiced by Masashi Yukita (雪田将司) One of the co-founders and leaders of QUILL, Asimov is the one who took Gunvolt into QUILL and effectively raised him, becoming a father figure to him. Aloof and serious, yet somewhat eccentric in his use of English nouns and fascination with Japanese culture, he, along with his teammates, continues to guide Gunvolt after his departure.
Moniqa - Voiced by Moemi Otaka (尾高もえみ) A calm, rational young woman who serves as tech support for her teammates. Unlike many of QUILL's members, she is a normal human with no Septima.
Zeno - Voiced by Haruki Ishiya (石谷春貴) An eccentric young otaku of an Adept, Zeno is another agent of QUILL that often provides behind-the-scenes backup for GV.
Nova Tsukuyomi - Voiced by Ayumu Murase (村瀬歩) The main antagonist. A young, mysterious Sumeragi lieutenant, Nova is Sumeragi's most powerful adept and the commander of The Sumeragi Seven. He is in charge of the equally mysterious Project Muse, for which he desperately needs the power of The Muse.
Merak - Voiced by Yuta Kasuya (粕谷雄太) A young genius who is intelligent as he is lazy. Apathetic towards even his own life at times, he serves as a commander in Sumeragi's private army. Septima: Wormhole. Boss of the mission Abyss (Subaquatic Base).
Carrera - Voiced by Mao Onishi (大西真央) Hailed as a powerful Adept Hunter who's speech is riddled with Old English, Carrera fights only in name of his selfish desire for power. Septima: Magnetic Arts. Boss of the mission Spintronics (Datastore)
Jota - Voiced by Taku Nakamura (中村たく) (Stage name: Shishimaru (獅子丸) A former soldier, the arrogant Jota serves Sumeragi with the aim of protecting his nation at all costs from terrorists like QUILL. Septima: Lightspeed. Boss of the mission Minaret (Media Tower).
Elise - Voiced by Ayano (Ayano Ishimuroya (石室屋綾乃) A young girl held prisoner by Sumeragi for her power over life and death, and subject to numerous cruel experiments which fractured her personality into different selves. Septima: Rebirth. Boss of the mission Underworld (Stratacombs).
Viper - Voiced by Koji Kawakami (川上晃二) Once a violent gang leader, Viper joined Sumeragi after falling for Lumen's beautiful voice. Septima: Explosion. Boss of the mission Conflagration (Biochem Plant)
Stratos - Voiced by Takahiro Miwa (三輪隆博) A once normal young man who has been driven completely mad by Sumeragi's cruel experiments. Only a drug known as S.E.E.D. keeps his voracious desires in check now. Septima: The Fly. Boss of the mission Garden (Pharma Lab).
Zonda - Voiced by Sho Nogami (野上翔) This enigmatic, love-crazed Adept Hunter is said to wield a strange, yet powerful Septima. The mystique surrounding this Swordsman is so thick that even claims about Zonda's gender are inconsistent. Septima: Phantasm Mirror.
Copen - Kosuke Masuo (増尾興佑) Gunvolt's de facto rival. Son of a Sumeragi scientist and an accomplished genius in his own right, Copen works against both QUILL and Sumeragi, with the vengeful goal of wiping out all Adepts.

Development

General and Gameplay Development

Japanese logo concepts.

Development of Azure Striker Gunvolt took about 2 to 3 years, and it was developed using the Inti Creates Engine (ICE).

The conception of Azure Striker Gunvolt began when Inti Creates' CEO Takuya Aizu told vice president Yoshihisa Tsuda he wanted to make a game to celebrate the company's 15th anniversary (2011), and Tsuda began working on it in Winter 2011. It was around this time that the company was suffering "commission sickness" (受託病). Large amounts of licensed game development with tight schedules and terms dictated by clients was causing a decline in employee morale, especially among staff who had never gotten to work on an original title, and negative moods like "as long as it meets the deadlines" and "this work isn't my own" were felt within the company. Aizu believed that Inti Creates was in a crisis and concluded that the solution was to make an in-house title where they can create whatever they want, a self-funded and self-published title which all the staff could contribute ideas to and call their own as the company's flagship series. The first step was to ask Tsuda "If there's a title you want to make, why don't you use someone who's free now to make a little game?" and Tsuda replied "Well, let's give it a try." and work slowly started with a small group. At the very beginning Tsuda imagined Gunvolt only being a short three stage game, but this idea was shelved as the project shifted to making a full length game. Gal*Gun, another original IP which was developed to deal with internal problems related to commission sickness, ended up being released that anniversary year instead. One reason for the move towards self-publishing original titles was a decline in the availability of game development commissions, which left employees with no work to do and a risk of layoffs.

If by some chance Azure Striker Gunvolt failed, Tsuda would have at the very least retired from game development.

Tsuda was thinking about if there was a way to pull out the taste of retro games and what makes them fun and tell it in a modern fashion. Long before planning began, Tsuda felt that 2D action games were declining and so tried to find how to draw in children as users. He wanted to tear down the conception of action games being hard. Amongst other ideas, he thought "if we make the playable character's setting so that he's very strong, wouldn't it make the game look easy?" That idea led him to talk to the graphics lead about how the protagonist will be strong, and will never die. During the early stages of planning Gunvolt was intended to become an actual invincible and immortal superman like Locke from the manga/anime Locke the Superman, and that was the implication behind the tagline "The legend begins" (新たなる神話) in the first trailer, but the concept was dropped because it wouldn't work in a video game. While Gunvolt was created for 2D action beginners, a clear guideline for game balancing was established based on the idea that if someone can clear Super Mario Bros World 3-4, they can clear Gunvolt.

The "tag n' zap" gameplay was created because they wanted to take the "jump and shoot" Mega Man gameplay and both make it deeper and more accessible to action game beginners. One inspiration they had was from Bubble Bobble and its two-step attacking method of encapsulating enemies in bubbles to damage them. But then the question of if two-step attacks would be easy for beginners crept up, and they began trying to figure out what exactly made Mega Man difficult; their conclusion was that it's having to focus on both evading attacks and aiming at enemies at the same time. If the jumping and shooting gameplay was eliminated altogether, they wouldn't be able to make a game in the style they want, so the consensus was to reduce the amount of times where doing both at once was necessary. The solution was to allow continuous damage after a single attack connected so the player could focus on evasion, with the MSX game Thexder being another reference. Next came deciding what power could do this. Poison was deemed too shady for a hero, fire was a little too standard and didn't have enough practical uses, and then when they considered electricity and its potential beyond damage dealing, the concept clicked. The dart-shooting, bad-guy zapping Gunvolt and his battle style was born. In the early planning stages GV would throw feathers and use them to conduct electricity, a combination of the abilities of the characters Kouu and Raiden in Fuma no Kojiro. (this idea was later used for ZedΩ in GV3)

The Flashfield and its lightning bolts were based on Tsuda playing with a plasma globe. As one might expect, Prevasion was conceived based on Tsuda's idea for the player to be nearly invincible. Since total invincibility would be no good, Prevasion was set to be inactive when attacking and evasion became the player's focus, and the game the team wanted to make started to really come together. Originally, Prevasion was in the form of a large barrier that was constantly surrounding GV even when he wasn't being attacked, and would disappear when emitting lightning bolts (this concept would later be used in GV3). The barrier became a lot more flashy than originally planned and was toned down, and they ended up not liking the idea of it being constantly active even when players weren't doing anything, so the sytem was reworked into Prevasion as it exists now while the barrier became a normal barrier and GV's main method of attack.

Because the team didn't want to include any unnecessary action elements, wall kicking/climbing wasn't part of their initial designs. It was only as development progressed and they considered how stressful speedy action on a narrow screen with differences in level can be that they lifted the ban on wall climbing, found the game played pretty well with it enabled, and decided to include the feature. But because this was never intended to be a core gameplay element, GV can't cling to walls or (in the 3DS version) dash jump off of walls. Players may notice that there isn't any stage in GV1 that needs wall climbing to be completed.

GV having a chance to be revived and powered up by Lumen's singing when defeated was based on scenes in anime where the hero is in a pinch, the heroine sweeps in, and the tables are turned back in their favor with her awesome power. The Kudos system might have also been inspired by Project Gotham Racing, another game Tsuda is a big fan of.

The game was developed with "indie planning" by staff who weren't busy with other projects. Somebody would join the team, make one stage or one boss, and then leave. Because of this, communicating with the entire team was difficult. When it was decided to set all stages at night time after Tsuda talked about how "the protagonist would look cool in a nighttime city", not all of the graphics team got the message and they accidentally made one stage (Pharma Lab) daylit, which required covering it up by having the story script say the mission takes place after 1 AM. One reason the night time setting was chosen was because it would make lightning powers stand out more. The Pharma Lab mishap was the fault of game planner Hiroki Miyazawa specifically, who forgot about the world building that was done when he designed the stage.

The reason Gunvolt was initially developed for the Nintendo 3DS is because Aizu saw the success of Shovel Knight as a digital game on the eShop. When pressed by the programmer in the middle of development on whether to have the game run at 60 frames per second without the 3DS' 3D function or 30fps with it, Tsuda chose the latter.

When Gunvolt was about 20% complete, Aizu started getting concerned about if it would actually sell. He consulted Keiji Inafune--who's been familiar with Tsuda and Aizu since all three were at Capcom back in the 1990s, and at the time was selling the 3DS download-only title Bugs vs. Tanks! (released Mar 2013 JP/Jun 2013 WW)--for advice on selling the game. Inafune requested to play it, and was not impressed, considering it dull and not worth releasing as a product, although he saw potential in it. Aizu responded that they would change it, agreed to Inafune's suggestions, and asked Inafune to participate in the game's development, so Inafune thought he might as well get involved and officially became action supervisor and executive producer of GV1. This was also when he invited Inti Creates to use Kickstarter to launch another action game, which led to their involvement with Mighty No. 9 and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Before Inafune's involvement, in Tsuda's initial GV1 builds Gunvolt couldn't move when using the Flashfield, each ground dash consumed energy, four times would be enough to exhaust Gunvolt, and he was left immobilized when exhausted. Inafune observed that while this sort of stop-and-go gameplay was similar to parts of Mega Man in the past, it wasn't smooth and fast enough for action game players in the present.

After a certain amount of time passed, they intended to finally release it and made plans to have something playable by Summer 2013, with a full release by the end of the year. At this time they began working with Nintendo and submitted project proposal documents by May 28th 2013, but they knew no manager would believe a creator stating it would be ready by the end of the year, so they told Nintendo "Maybe around the beginning of the new year." Plans for the release were later pushed to March 2014 and aligned with the indie game event Bitsummit that month, but come the announcement at Bitsummit, releasing it that soon wasn't possible and it was pushed back to a final release date of August 2014.

Battle dialogue presentation concepts.

Everybody on the team except Tsuda complained about the size of the in-stage dialogue character portraits, but Tsuda used his authority as director to impose them; it was an aspect he would not yield on. To him, seeing a character's face on the screen like that is a source of happiness, and enemies being obscured by them when attacking the player is part of the experience. Although the option to turn them off was added to the game, and standardized with more options in later installments, Tsuda personally doesn't recommend turning it off.

Story and Character Development

The events in the game, from the start until the end, are mostly like what Tsuda wrote in his draft for the plot. In terms of story Tsuda did all that he wanted in GV1. Tai also poured all his strength into the story of GV1 so he wouldn't have any regrets, which made writing a follow-up hard once GV2 development began since he didn't lay any safeguards for a sequel in GV1.

Tsuda's biggest inspiration for Gunvolt was the manga/anime Locke the Superman, which was the basis for the game being about "teenage psychic battles." He has described Azure Striker Gunvolt as a game that combines Mega Man and Locke the Superman (which in Japanese have similar names). According to Aizu, it's no exaggeration to say Gunvolt would not have been born if not for Tsuda encountering Locke the Superman. Stacks of volumes of Locke were present in the office during development, and after joining the team scenario writer and game planner Toshiaki Tai avoided reading any of it out of concern that the story would become a copy of Locke. Other inspirations included the manga/anime Cobra, and video games Psychic Force 2012, Night Striker, and Osman. Other manga/anime influences include Fuma no Kojiro, Raimei no Zaji, Commander 0, Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac, Giant Robo, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, and 1990s manga and anime in general. Tsuda wanted to combine those manga and anime works in the game-making method he envisioned to create a fun experience that hadn't been made yet.

GV was the first character they came up with. When lightning was settled on as GV's power, all staff were asked to give ideas on how to have him be impactful. GV's braid came from a draft by design supervisor and background graphics artist Munehiro Araki and was based on electrical outlets, which Tsuda considered a genius move that really "zapped" him. GV having an exposed belly button is because he's a lightning-inspired character, and Tsuda was serious when ordering it. (Presumably this is because of myths about raiju sleeping in human navels, which when exposed may be struck by lightning arrows by Raijin to wake the thunder beast up).

Alternate design lineup.

Early on in development design concepts had a cartoonish artstyle, and there were originally going to be eight Sumeragi bosses based on sins, with envy absent. Instead vainglory was represented by a depressed-looking girl(?) whose transformed state had holy and hypnosis themes, while melancholy (which happens to be associated with acedia) was represented by a man with a face-covering scarf, hat, and a transformed state based on a ninja with earth and silent themes. This plan was dropped as the team thought eight bosses would be too similar to Mega Man, and traits from the two characters ended up converging into the envy-based boss Elise. The seven deadly sins theme was chosen in 2011 for its chuuni (teenage edgy) factor and because there weren't that many themes with it at the time. There was an odd competition between staff to see how much they could twist the tasks they each had--gluttony was a skinny skeleton, lust was bi-gender, envy had you balance your behavior towards them else it meant trouble, etc. Viper was the first boss to be designed, served as a base for others, and went through relatively few changes during development unlike the others.

The team wanted names that would give a rich feeling, and anything with a luxury image would do, so the bosses being named after expensive musical instruments was considered, but discarded. They settled on supercars as the naming theme to evoke feelings of coolness and stylishness. Only some characters are definitely not named after cars: Gunvolt, Joule/Lumen, and Asimov (the name "DeLorean" was proposed for him by Tai, but this was rejected).

The original design draft for Joule and Lumen (seen in the 2013 document in the section below) was made by Gal*Gun director/artist Masanori Ito on November 15th, 2012. This design had a notable resemblance to both the angel girl Ekoro from the first Gal*Gun, as well as the singing fairy idol character Rhyth from Kingdom's Return: Again!, which was launched by Inti Creates in April 2012.

The female design had similarities to some Elise concepts, and would go on to likely influence Stella's design in Luminous Avenger iX.

Generic concept designs for transformed male and female Adepts were completed on December 20th, 2012 (the date format on the image is year/month/day).

A January 17th 2014 English project document shows that at that point Sumeragi was named Konzern, Adepts were named Seventh Wave Conformers or just Conformers, and "The Shrine of God" and "worshiper's facilities" were plot points. These last two points are not known to have ever been discussed in any interviews or dev comments, so their meaning is unknown. When questioned about it, Tsuda stated he was not aware of any early North American version of the GV1 scenario, as the translation team modified the content to suit the country, and at the time the decision was made to change the scenario.

Toshiaki Tai only joined the team in the last year of development. Tsuda's first suggestion to him was "Please kill the heroine." Tai's involvement brought many changes to the scenario. Originally the final boss--then named Acura (Copen's Japanese name)--was going to be Gunvolt's long lost brother, but Tai told Tsuda all those ideas were lame, that they couldn't do that in the current day and age, and took the character name and added many new settings. Before being named, Nova was only listed as "President" in concept art and was going to be the actual leader of the Sumeragi Group, but Tai argued "He can't be the president, he's only 14!" and got him 'demoted' to a lower but still important position. Tai also forcibly added Nova's Japanese elements, which was motivated by him wanting to add more to the cyberpunk setting and being inspired when he saw Sumeragi and Lumen's kimono-like designs. Because Nova is the final boss, he is the only one with a Japanese name--Shiden in the JP script; full name Shiden Tsukuyomi, but his last name is never revealed in the game. In the initial proposal, the brother character might have been closer to Nova. (In the final version, both Nova and GV were Project Gunvolt test subjects, and Joule has also been described as being like GV's real sister because she was a test subject of the same project).

While Tsuda wanted a "Justice and evil flip, and GV was actually evil" story, Tai wasn't content with just a good vs evil discussion and wanted to take it a step further. When thinking about how to define "justice" in the game, he chose "freedom", because he believed there are too many rules in the world today and that kids would like the concept of a hero who fights for freedom. Because Tai didn't think GV just obeying orders as a subordinate in QUILL was very cool, and he because was also instructed to make all his lines cool without regard for consistency, he came up with GV suddenly saying "I'm quitting the organization!" at the start, which fundamentally changed the story and blew the rest of the staff away. Asimov and Moniqa were also originally far more serious characters, but with Tai's influence became oddballs (Zeno was always like that).

In Tsuda's original story draft for the ending, when Anthem GV defeats Nova the barrier protecting Japan would go down, a missile attack on the country would occur, and Asimov would betray GV when GV tried to stop it. The game would end with Asimov grinning as the missiles struck. This caused Tai to throw a tantrum and get the True End route added where GV defeats Asimov, and there is no barrier going down or missile attack. Because Asimov was only added as a boss at the very end of development, his movement patterns are simple.

The decision to add full voice acting to the game was made late in development and only done after the script was already finished. Hearing about this made a shudder go down Tai's spine, since the Live Novel (action dialog) was something to liven the screen and he filled it with all sorts of crazy jokes with the expectation that people couldn't/wouldn't actually read it. Since the text had to wait for the voices, the timing didn't match as Tai initially intended. However, the end result was a good match and the great performances during recordings, beyond Tai's expectations, led to a great product being the result of "another fortunate error." In the case of Elise, the artist Hatakeyama originally intended her to be a gross character, but her VA's acting was cuter than expected, and he ended up portraying her as such.

The only part of Tsuda's scenario that was used without many changes was the opening scene with the Creepy Electro-whip Guy himself, Romeo. Tsuda didn't want to do detailed explanations in an action game, so he wanted the protagonist to start in a troubled situation. Araki drew a torture room for the scene, but that was discarded. He also drew a wooden horse, but this was deemed "too dangerous", and in the end it became a regular storage room (torture instruments did appear in the anime adaptation though). In the original story draft, the scene was so hardcore that it was CERO Z rating (18 years or older audiences only) class content and unsuitable to be shared on Twitter. Only one keyword hint was given: Bathrobe.

May 2013 GV and Joule Character Documents

"Project GUNVOLT" May 28th 2013 character drafts by Tsuda submitted to Nintendo. Settings are not final, and several points were changed in the final game.

GV:

• Big text: A hero which elementary and middle school students can project themselves onto.
• Red text, upper right: Document for internal use only.
• White text above Feather logo: Protagonist.
• Slogan (right side, inside of orange frame): “I decide why I rebel (fight)!”
• Gun description: The gun’s name is “Angel-summoning bell” (Angel Bell). It’s an EM accelerator gun, and shoots metallic bullets named “Feather Bullets (Feathers)”. It uses a battery, which can be recharged by GV’s long braid-shaped hair. By attaching parts to it, it can shoot different types of bullets too. When it needs more power for those modes, (he) connects his hair to it and sends electricity to it (directly). GV’s exclusive gun. *Design subject to changes.
• Description: Codename “GV” (Gunvolt) Real name: Unknown / 14 years old / Male / One quarter non-Japanese descent.
  He was implanted with the 7th Wave (Lightning Ability Factors) during his infancy during an experiment of the Sumeragi-Ou Concern and awakened the ability. He was then rescued by Feather and trained for several years until he became a (fully-fledged) member. He employs lightning-based attacks to fight. He normally is kind, reserved and adult-like, but also optimist and he shows a young-like attitude sometimes by pulling small pranks.

Joule:

• Big text: A heroine with the charm of both adult and youth
• White text above Feather (QUILL) logo: Heroine
• Slogan (right side, inside of orange frame): “I ONLY BELIEVE YOU AND SING FOR YOU”
• Design subject to changes
• Description: Cybernetic Singing Fairy (Cyber Diva). Morpho, Cyber Version: 18 / Female. Cyan, Human: 13 / Female.
  A man-made Virtual Idol who has enormous popularity in the real world, called an entertainer idol. She guides people as a propaganda (tool) of the Sumeragi Concern. Her songs have the special ability to resonate with the 7th Wave, and it contributed a lot for Sumeragi, who used her as part of its strategy to find matches (core donations) who resonate with her songs from within civilians. Gunvolt is able to open up her heart to activate a resonating effect that overcomes the limitations of his own abilities. At first, Gunvolt thought she was only computer data and took part in a mission to destroy her. When he reached the system that he had to destroy, he learned that the human girl linked to it was the core of it, he was unable to kill her and took her away from that place.

Differences in the final version:

• GV's origins are never revealed (on this subject, the quarter non-Japanese descent point aligned with Copen's settings in the final game).
• His gun's name is Dart Leader instead of Angel Bell, and his bullets are only named darts.
• GV doesn't pull pranks.
• Sumeragi is named Sumeragi Group instead of Sumeragi Concern (皇神コンツェルン). GV's profile uses 皇王 (Sumeragi-Ou, replacing the kanji for god with king) but this was a typo and it was supposed to be 皇神 like Sumeragi in the final version.
• Sumeragi uses Lumen to find actual Adepts among the population, not matches/donors (that is the term for normal humans with Septima implant potential who are used as guinea pigs).

Ports to Other Platforms

Takuya Aizu first became aware of the viability of Steam as a platform at PAX Prime 2013, but the team's commitment to the 3DS version at the time meant developing a PC version demo couldn't be done easily, and the path to selling the game on Steam too would be difficult. The Steam port was in development by late 2014/early 2015, and released later that year. Azure Striker Gunvolt was the first PC port known to have been done Inti Creates.

The Steam port was the first version of GV1 to come with the retranslated English script, and featured several new gameplay modes: Easy Mode, Hard Mode, Endless Attack Mode, Speedrun Mode, "Kudos Keeper" Speedrun Mode, "Anthem" Speedrun Mode, and "Point Blank" Speedrun Mode, plus the special Christmas Mode. All Speedrun Modes and Endless Attack Mode are currently exclusive to the Steam port.

Some changes from the Switch Striker Pack such as the user interface and 60fps were later patched into the Steam version, although the higher-resolution character portraits are notably absent (the portraits do exist in the Steam version files, but attempting to mod them into the game causes it to crash). The Steam port is the only non-3DS version of GV1 that can achieve the pixel perfect graphics of the original.

GV1 was ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2017 as part of the second Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack release. This new version came with a framerate increase from 30fps to 60fps, cutscenes and character portraits being in higher resolution, Kudos mode settings from GV2, and the addition of Easy Mode, Hard Mode, and Christmas Mode from the Steam version. Touch screen features were phased out and adapted to the single screen. Certain changes were made to stages:

• Sinner's Row: The jewel's location was changed, and the bottomless pit after the second mirror was given a floor.
• Eridu: The pits in the Merak rematch were replaced with spikes.

In 2020, GV1 was ported via the Striker Pack to the Playstation 4.

GV1 received a standalone release port to Xbox in 2022 alongside Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, shortly before the release of Azure Striker Gunvolt 3. Presumably this was done because of Inti Creates' policy that previous entries must be ported to a new platform before the sequel can be released on it.

Localization

Unused English logo concepts.

Azure Striker Gunvolt is distinct among all titles in the franchise in that it has two different localizations:

• An initial one for the Nintendo 3DS version that was outsourced to the video game localization company 8-4 Ltd. that cut large amounts of the story script, all Japanese voice acting sans battle voices, and made significant changes to the remaining parts of the script.
• A later one done in-house by Inti Creates' own international affairs coordinator at the time, Matt Papa (who joined Inti Creates shortly after the release of GV1), which includes the entire script and is more faithful to the original Japanese content.

They are referred to as "English" and "English -Japanese Voice-" respectively in the language settings of versions of the game with both included. The redone script was first included in the Steam port, and was later patched in to the download Nintendo 3DS version in November 2016 in North America, but for unknown reasons Europe never received the patch. All Striker Pack releases and subsequent ports come with the redone script.

Comparison of Japanese and early English key artwork on the official sites.

North American market research indicated players found GV's exposed belly and his braid too feminine and Inti Creates was advised that they should be removed. Initial artwork released had both of these changes, and in the game all cutscenes and sprites were changed to cover up his belly, which exhausted the guy in charge of it. Since GV's braid is considered an important part of his character, it was never cut from the English version of the game itself. (Actually, when Aizu told the dev team to change that they rebuked him because they were only interested in making the game they wanted to make without caring about sales). In the end the braid was added back to the artwork on the official GV1 English website, and later English versions of the game do not cover GV's belly.

Comparison of Dengeki Nintendo and OCW profiles for GV1 Gunvolt.

Certain name changes, such as Daytona to Viper and Acura to Copen, were done because of similarity to existing brand names. The SS rank for mission results and in dialogue referring to Adept strength levels was changed to S+. This change eventually influenced even the Japanese terminology for the series, as character profiles released in Dengeki Nintendo magazine switched from using SS to S+ by Gunvolt 2, and GV1 character profiles compiled in the Armed Blue: Gunvolt Official Complete Works changed mentions of SS to "highest" (最高) instead.

The initial localization by 8-4 is most notable for the removal of all in-stage dialogue (a feature named Live Novel in Japanese, and later Story Mode+ in English) as well as Japanese voice acting aside from battle voices. This omission was made because Inti Creates did not believe that players outside of Japan would be interested in the feature. The game's 47 normally rotating GV and Joule home conversations were also cut down to just four English script original ones. In addition to localization changes that had to be done like certain character names, 8-4's localization took many liberties with the remaining script such as: Including fake curse words like "gack" and "horsejitt", GV having the nickname "Geeves", the pronouns "xe/xem" being used for Zonda, changing Feather's name to QUILL and making it an acronym (Quorum for Unrestricted Information, Law, and Liberty), and various other changes ranging from the names of stages to equipment crafting materials. Nonetheless, this localization is often remembered somewhat fondly for memorable lines like GV's "I *am* electricity", Viper's "You jockblocked the wrong Adept", and even the made up curse words. One name change 8-4 planned that did not get into the game was Copen's SP skill. The original name of it is Lust Doppler, and they changed this to Multiplicity on the official GV1 site, but the name actually used in the English version of the game ended up being Doppler Desire instead.

The decision to restore the cut scripts and relocalize the game came after Inti Creates received countless emails and tweets from fans about the subject. As somebody managing Inti Creates' social media and basically being the company's window to the Western English-speaking fanbase, it was very clear to Matt that fans were not happy about the English translation once word got out about the Japanese version. Around late 2014/early 2015, when the PC version was in development, Matt got all his information together and pitched to the team "The Western fans are really not happy, and I think they have a good point. What can we do about this?" Simply going back and relocalizing the game was not feasible due to how much it would cost and 8-4 not necessarily being available for the job, so, after considering how big of a project it would be, Matt proposed that he would do it. While they were open to the idea, they pointed out that Matt already had work to do and didn't have the time to just sit there localizing Gunvolt all over again, which caused Matt to think about it long and hard. Because doing it on the clock wasn't possible, the only way was to do it in his own time, which he did. He spent a lot of time after work on it, and it was a pain because of how small the text boxes are, how few character spaces he had to work with, and how the different lines for text in the boxes have different maximum character lengths, the third line being the most troublesome because of how small it is, which isn't a problem for Japanese but is for English. This was the first game he ever localized.

It was decided to make a whole new version of the localization from scratch because 8-4's script was made without the constraints of matching the flow of Japanese voice acting, and wouldn't mesh well with it if they were simply combined. Attempting to force them to match would require dissecting the old script, and Matt didn't want to be disrespectful to their work. While the new script was made much closer to the original Japanese script in general, all name changes, mission loading screen descriptions, item descriptions, etc from the initial localization were deemed adequate and generally left untouched, with possibly only two exceptions:

• Copen's attack derived from Carrera, Greed Snatcher. Like most of Copen's boss-derived weapons, it received a different name on the English GV1 website: Power Grab. The new localization keeps the name Greed Snatcher instead when Copen talks about the weapon in the stage Babel, and later on Mighty Gunvolt Burst stuck with Greed Snatcher as the official English name for it.
• The stage Eridu is referred to by its Japanese name Onogoro in the stage's new English script, which may be an oversight given that it's still named Eridu in the stage select menu.

Aside from the lost content, a big point in particular about the original script that motivated Matt to redo it was the depiction of Zonda as too aggressive and kind of gross--a predator--which wasn't accurate to Zonda's actual character of being flirty, extra, and ridiculous. One character Matt had a tough time with was Carrera, whose archaic Japanese language use required consulting with Tai--who thankfully sat next to Matt at work--about what Carrera would say if he was speaking normal Japanese, which Matt then reverse engineered into "ye olde" English. He did leave his own signature as a localizer in the script, namely the Pharma Lab stage, where instead of having GV just say he infiltrated it, Matt came up with the alternative "swooce on in" as a reference to the meme with Shaggy from Scooby-Doo fitting into a tight opening.

English work on the game was beginning by June 18th 2014 as work on the Japanese version was almost over, and several concepts for the English text font by Araki were shown. On June 23rd 2014, the plan was for the English version to have English voices only, but by July 13th specifications had changed and English voice acting was dropped, and it was revealed that for the North American version only battle voices would have Japanese voice acting implemented. It was announced on August 14th that French, Italian, German, and Spanish text versions were in the works.

Version History

3DS

Version	Date	Details
1.0		Initial release.
1.1	2015.01.14	Added save data transfer from demo version. Specification change so that the voice [live novel] when using the X button (message ON / OFF) automatically returns. Fixed bug that made progression impossible. Typo corrections. Minor bug fixes.
1.2	2015.03.05	A new Boss Rush Mission is now playable: Earn 1000 Kudos to hear "Eternal Blue", the English version of Lumen's Beyond the Blue song! A new song by Lumen, "Sakura Efflorescence", has been added to the list of songs available in normal mission playthroughs. Support for the New Nintendo 3DS(TM): Use ZL / ZR Buttons to change weapons and enjoy faster load times, improved overall performance, etc. Data from the demo version can be transferred to the full version, retaining all items and credits. This can only be done after the first playthrough of the demo version. The ending theme song has been changed to Joule's new song "Cyanotype". A bug that prevents players from progressing mid-game has been fixed. Some script errors have been corrected. Other small bug fixes.
1.3	2016.10.20	Japanese Voice Mode from the Steam version has been added. This restores mid-stage dialogue and voices that were cut from the original localization of the game. The entire game has been re-localized to better match the addition of the voices.
1.4	2016.12.22	Fixed a bug where the game would crash upon starting Special Mission 5.

Steam

Version	Date	Details
Build 754686	2015.08.29	The graphics display issue that has been reported with Radeon graphics cards has been fixed. "F5: Change in-game screen layout" also added to Start Menu.
Build 756226	2015.08.31	A bug that we believe was causing framerate issues for some users has been fixed. If you are still experiencing framerate issues after this update, go to Screen Settings on the Start Menu, try switching the Vsync setting to "OFF", then start the game. A bug that disabled the subscreen from being displayed when the game was in fullscreen mode has been fixed. A bug that was causing Save States to get erased when a Special Skill was used during Speedrun Mode has been fixed. Some type errors have been fixed. Fullscreen mode will now be the default display setting. The keyboard controls have been updated (with full key binding customization option coming in a future update) You are now able to use a gamepad's right stick to activate Special Skills.
Build 757991	2015.09.02	On the Start Menu under the Controller Settings menu, you will now be able to configure the ability to use the right analog stick.
Build 758730	2015.09.02	A bug that was causing the L and R trigger buttons to be rendered unuseable when the right analog stick settings were set has been fixed. (This had been occurring with Xbox 360 controllers, and others as well.)
Build 760608)	2015.09.03	The issue with Xbox 360 controllers not having responsive trigger buttons after the implementation of the right stick functionality for special skills has been fixed. A bug that had been preventing some users from obtaining the A Bolt Out of the Blue (complete all other achievements) achievement when all other achievements have been met has been fixed. A bug that was preventing some users from being able to exit the game by pressing the Esc key has been fixed. All users should now be able to properly exit the game by pressing the Esc button. The process by which the game recognizes a connected controller has been fixed. Some users had reported that the game would run slower when a controller was not plugged in vs when it was plugged in under the same circumstances, so we are hoping this will fix that issue for those effected by this.
Build 762473	2015.09.04	Additional fix about the issue that Xbox 360 controllers doesn't have responsive trigger buttons after the implementation of the right stick functionality for special skills. Adjusting the volume of sound effect during the loading process.
Build 766242	2015.09.08	A bug that was creating very small amounts of noise in some points throughout the game has been fixed. A bug that was preventing players from receiving the final achievement (A Bolt Out of the Blue) who had already met the conditions has been re-fixed. Players who have met the conditions but have not yet unlocked this achievement should have the achievement unlocked immediately upon updating the game. A bug that was that was causing assignment issues with certain controllers that made it so the right stick was both using special skills and changing weapons simultaneously has been fixed.
Build 767707	2015.09.09	You can now press the F6 key to switch between the main screen and the clickable screen. A notification message will now appear in Speedrun Mode if the game is running with insufficient amounts of memory. A bug that made it possible to skip Zonda's stage in Speedrun Mode has been fixed. A bug that was causing the game to sometimes crash during loading sequences has been fixed.
Build 767982	2015.09.09	Additional fix about a bug that was causing the game to sometimes crash during loading sequences.
Build 770618	2015.09.11	The bug that was causing the game to freeze (the screen would stay black and not load) after you die in the game by either falling in a pit or running out of HP has been fixed.
Build 778572	2015.09.17	A bug that was causing the game to crash during Speedrun Mode has been fixing. A bug that made it possible to skip ahead to the ending stages after clearing Zonda's stage in Speedrun Mode has been fixed.
Build 795287	2015.09.30	A new Speed Run mode "Kudos Keeper" has been added. Scores for each individual mission (played during the normal, non-Speedrun Mode playthroughs of the game) will now be featured on online Leaderboards! Speedrun Mode will have its own Leaderboards too, which will feature clear times for both the Standard Speedrun Mode, and the new Kudos Keeper Speedrun Mode. Keyboard controls are now fully customizable! Simply assign the key you would like to assign to the corresponding button, and you're ready to go! Various minor bugs have been fixed.
Build 797101	2015.10.01	In Speedrun Mode, you will now be able to return to the Title Screen from the LB Menu on the Mission Select Screen. A bug that was causing errors when a button setting was skipped in the Controller Configuration menu has been fixed. A bug that was causing the scroll bar in the Leaderboards to sometimes improperly display has been fixed.
Build 798875	2015.10.02	The game has been updated to fix graphical errors for AMD Radeon Evergreen (HD 5xxx, HD 6xxx) graphics cards.
Build 802984	2015.10.06	A bug that was causing the game to crash while fighting Stratos during the Babel stage in Speedrun Mode has been fixed.
Build 837884	2015.10.30	A new gameplay mode called "Endless Attack Mode" has been added. Endless Attack Mode also gets its own corresponding Leaderboards. Korean language support has also been added, making a total of 9 different languages. Various bugs have been fixed.
Build 875622	2015.11.27	A new gameplay mode called "Christmas Mode" has been added.
Build 879751	2015.12.01	A bug that allowed players to clear Christmas Mode without defeating all the bosses has been fixed. As for the matter of the program file (gv_win.exe) being flagged as a virus by antivirus software, there is currently a phenomenon that is spreading around that is causing various antivirus software to designate the game's executable file as a virus.
Build 912947	2015.12.26	A new Speed Run mode "Perma-Anthem" has been added. Ended game mode "Christmas mode".
Build 950687	2016.01.29	A new Speed Run mode "Point Blank" has been added.
Build 952479	2016.01.29	A bug was fixed that was causing players playing the new Point Blank speedrun mode in fullscreen mode to experience Gunvolt's colors changing from red (the correct color for this mode) back to his normal colors when returning to the game after pressing the Alt+Tab keys to minimize the window.
Build 957003	2016.02.02	A bug has been fixed that made players who played a different game mode after playing Point Blank mode without shutting down the game experience lowered attack power.
Build 960407	2016.02.05	A bug that was preventing leaderboards from updating has been fixed.
Build 999989	2016.02.29	Two new gameplay modes "Easy Mode" and "Hard Mode" have been added.
Build 1015423	2016.03.09	Various bugs in the new Hard Mode setting have been fixed. A bug that was causing the wrong number of bonus Kudos (Double, Triple, etc.) to be rewarded has been fixed. A bug that was sometimes causing multiple music tracks to play at the same time during Gauntlet #5 has been fixed. The difficulty in regards to the final boss battle for Gauntlet #5 has been re-balanced.
Build 1473245	2016.11.24	A new game mode "Christmas Mode 2016" has been added. A new leaderboard entry for "Christmas Mode 2016" has been added.
Build 1484424	2016.11.28	A bug that was enabling players to stay in mid-air and not fall towards the ground during a mid-air jump if they held down the jump button has been fixed. Adjustments were made to Christmas Mode 2016 that allows the players to better acquire presents.
Build 1535920	2016.12.26	Ended game mode "Christmas mode."
Build 2765014	2018.05.12	Just like the Nintendo Switch version of "Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack", I made the action scene 60 FPS. As well as "Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack", the configuration of the top and bottom screens has been abolished and made into one screen. Also, Equipped with a system of "Kudos Style" mode. And various minor bugs etc have been fixed.
Build 2767771	2018.05.12	Fixed an issue where incorrect save data was being created incorrectly.
Build 2770885	2018.05.14	Fixed a bug that the game can not be terminated normally mainly when running on Windows 10.
Build 2814291	2018.05.29	Fixed the issues of game progress and display which occurred in Speedrun, Endless, each game mode. Various minor bugs have been fixed.
Ver.20200622 (Build 5197284)	2020.06.22	Korean language support has been added to the Story Mode+ feature, and the story has been tweaked to match with the original Japanese story. A new Traditional Chinese translation that better connects this game to the original has been added.
Ver.20200917 (Build 5539118)	2020.09.17	Simplified Chinese language support has been added.
Ver.20201222 (Build 10175694)	2022.12.22	The "Story Mode+" dialog box displayed during gameplay will now default to being semi-transparent after initializing new save data. The "Story Mode+" dialog box displayed during gameplay will now automatically become transparent when covering important information, such as the player character. Press the Back button during gameplay to toggle the transparency options of the "Story Mode+" dialog box. The Back button can now be assigned in the settings menu, both on controllers and keyboard.

Soundtrack

Main article: Armed Blue Gunvolt Official Soundtrack

The game's soundtrack was composed by Ippo Yamada, Ryo Kawakami, Katsunori Yoshino, and Mina Hatazoe, with Hakofactory writing the song lyrics, and Yamajet as the arranger. Nearly all vocal tracks are sung by Megu Sakuragawa in-character as Lumen, or as Joule in the case of Cyanotype, with MASHUNGA writing the lyrics for and Sachiko Hara singing the Beyond the Blue counterpart English song Eternal Blue. All tracks in the game, including the vocal songs, are at 150BPM for seamlessness between them. The game received an official soundtrack release, and higher quality versions of the original eight vocal songs were also released as the album Azure Phosphorescence.

The sound team was jokingly described as being a "heap of corpses" by the end of development. Originally the only song was Reincarnation and a heartbeat-like sound effect was going to play as Kudos increased, but near the very end of development, near the deadline, since they had Lumen as a songstress Tsuda got the idea to have songs play at 1000 Kudos too. Tsuda talked with Yamada about it and the game became much more interesting when the concept was tested out. "The death march began to play and the trek to Hell began" as Yamada put it, with seven more original songs suddenly entering production at the 11th hour. He gave up his own weekends each week to go to the studio, but in the end he considers the crazy adventure to have been worth it. When work was finished, Tsuda told Yamada it was nothing short of a miracle that they managed to complete the game.

Ver 1.2 added the new songs Sakura Efflorescence, Eternal Blue, and Cyanotype, the last of which became the new credits theme. Full and karaoke versions of the first two were included in the fan disc Justice Rage, while Cyanotype was released in the fan disc Admiration to Peace. Karaoke versions of the other songs were released in both Admiration to Peace and the fan disc Lazy Kingdom.

Vocal track list:

Song	Composer
Reincarnation	Ippo Yamada
Beyond the Blue	Ryo Kawakami
Nebulous Clock	Ryo Kawakami
Azure Door	Ryo Kawakami
Pain from the Past	Ryo Kawakami
Scorching Journey	Ryo Kawakami
Rouge Shimmer	Ippo Yamada
A Zip to the Moon	Ippo Yamada
Sakura Efflorescence	Ryo Kawakami, Ippo Yamada
Eternal Blue	Ryo Kawakami
Cyanotype	Ryo Kawakami

The Reincarnation English counterpart song The One was also composed around the same time as Eternal Blue for promotional purposes. It and its karaoke versions were included with Eternal Blue and Sakura Efflorescence in Justice Rage, but it is the only one of the four "extra" songs to not be patched into the game itself.

Special Promotion

If Azure Striker Gunvolt was purchased before November 28th, the owner received a code on their receipt to download Mighty Gunvolt. After the promotion ended, Mighty Gunvolt became available on the 3DS eShop for $3.99. A similar promotion occurred during the Steam release of Azure Striker Gunvolt.

Trailers and Other Footage

1st trailer

Introduction video

English 2nd trailer

Japanese 2nd trailer

Prototype footage

English Steam ver. trailer

English Steam ver. trailer (long ver.)

Japanese Steam ver. trailer

Japanese Steam ver. trailer (long ver.)

Cut Content

• According to Toshiaki Tai in the Official Complete Works interview, Zonda was intended to be a boss in GV1, but was ultimately shelved. While Zonda did end up as a boss in Mighty Gunvolt, Tai wanted to use the character in a main game, hence the inclusion in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2.
• Plasma Legion may have been intended to be a boss for GV1, since the design first appeared in the Armed Blue Gunvolt Official Soundtrack booklet with a "Does not appear in this game" disclaimer, and concept art of it in the Official Complete Works is placed in the first game's section and depicts it in what appears to be a rainy area like Eridu. Its soundtrack booklet profile speaks of how due to confusion in the field and the developers increasing the demands on specs with each passing day, it is still far from completion. The proposal for a function that sounds like its Aero Runner SP skill in GV2 is also referred to as something "developers in the field keep on fluttering about". Additionally, the medium boss Mantis Legion's profile refers to it as something ordered by the Sumeragi top brass to "make it in time" and it "not being the machine the developers really wanted to make".
  • When asked about it, Tsuda stated there weren't any plans to introduce the Plasma Legion in GV1. He remembers that he may have mentioned it somewhere early in the planning process, but by the time the later stages were developed, the schedule was pushed so hard that things were changing all over the place.
• Also within the Armed Blue Gunvolt Official Soundtrack booklet, there is an epilogue that was made near the end of GV1's development, which was not finished in time for the final game. It reveals Copen's survival and shows him reclaiming his stolen gun, which is stained with Asimov's blood and with it a sample of the Azure Striker.
• There exists an unused portrait of Gunvolt within the game's files, possibly intended for the true ending mission. Despite being cut it was included in the Official Complete Works alongside Gunvolt's normal portrait.
• There are three unused music themes within the game files. Two are slightly modified versions of Copen and Nova's second battle themes, while the third is a remix of the Sumeragi boss theme which appears to have been intended for Asimov. The normal Sumeragi and Asimov battle themes are listed as GV_BGM_015 and GV_BGM_019 respectively, while the unused theme is listed twice as GV_BMG_015a and GV_BMG_019a.
• Merak was originally intended to be the intro boss in 1st Sumeragi, and was demonstrated in the stage for the game's prototype footage, but this idea was dropped. It was later used in Azure Striker Gunvolt: The Anime.
• Designer Munehiro Araki wanted the opening scene with Romeo to take place in a torture room, but the idea was discarded. He also drew a wooden horse, but this was deemed "too dangerous", and in the end it became a normal storage room. Torture instruments did appear in the anime, however.
  • As reported by the official Inti Creates Twitter account, according to Tsuda the original Romeo scene was so hardcore that it was CERO Z rating (18 years or older audiences only) class content and unsuitable to be shared on Twitter. Only one keyword hint was given: Bathrobe.
• In the game's reveal trailer, as well as prototype footage, Voltaic Chains cost 2 SP. This was changed to 3 SP in the final release.

Gallery:

Epilogue scene

Unused GV portrait

Unused themes:

Character	Music
Copen
Nova
Sumeragi/Asimov

Character Ranking Polls

Inti Creates EN Christmas poll image

Inti Creates conducted three different character polls to determine the Halloween 2014, Christmas 2014, and Hanami (cherry blossom viewing party) 2015 wallpaper character placements.

Halloween poll

The Halloween poll was exclusively conducted by the Japanese Inti Creates Twitter account and the wallpaper featured nearly all characters in the game. Elise came in first place and got the most prominent spot.

Total votes: 241 (including 21 invalid votes). Final results:

Rank	Character	Votes	Costume
1	Elise	62	Witch
2	Zonda	49	Scantily clad mummy
3	Stratos	22	Beelzebub?
4	Asimov	14	Grim reaper
4	Joule	14	Catgirl
6	Lumen	12	Devil
7	Moniqa	11	Maid
8	Zeno	8	Jester
9	Gunvolt	7	Vampire hunter?
10	Copen	6	Knight
11	Viper	5	Copen's steed
12	Nova	3	Vampire
12	Jota	3	Seraph
12	Merak	3	Bear pyjamas
15	Carrera	1	Frankenstein's monster

Christmas poll

The Christmas poll was conducted by both the Japanese and English accounts and featured six high ranking characters. Full English results were not disclosed. Elise, Lumen, Moniqa, and Joule got on the wallpaper, along with Gunvolt and Asimov in doll form. A picture with just Joule, and a picture with Joule, Lumen, and doll GV were also released.

Total votes: 260 (including 7 invalid votes)

English results:

Rank	Character
1	Gunvolt

Japanese results: (GV and Asimov were erroneously listed as 19 votes, which was corrected in a later tweet.)

Rank	Character	Votes
2	Joule	41
2	Gunvolt	29
2	Asimov	29
4	Lumen	24
5	Zonda	17
5	Elise	17
5	Moniqa	17
8	Copen	14
8	Merak	14
10	Viper	13
10	Jota	13
12	Stratos	9
13	Zeno	8
14	Nova	5
15	Carrera	3

Hanami poll

The Hanami poll was conducted by the Japanese Twitter account, while the English side used a poll on the official Inti Creates English website instead, The wallpaper featured six high ranking characters, and uniquely the winners of the Japanese (Nova) and English (Joule) polls were both given front placement instead of votes being combined.

English poll results: (Total votes: 323)

Rank	Character	Votes
1	Joule	43
2	Lumen	37
3	Gunvolt	34
3	Copen	34
5	Creepy Electro-whip Guy (Romeo)	29

Japanese poll results (Total votes: 195):

Rank	Character	Votes
1	Nova	26
2	Zonda	25
3	Zeno	18
4	Joule	17
5	Asimov	13
5	Lumen	13
7	Stratos	12
8	Creepy Electro-whip Guy (Romeo)	10
8	Merak	10
14	Elise	9
14	Moniqa	9
12	Jota	8
13	Mushroom (the bird from a home convo)	6
13	Viper	6
15	Gunvolt	6
16	Copen	4
17	Dr. Kamizono	1
17	Kanedoboo (Comcept Inc. pig mascot)	1
17	Spyder	1
17	Carrera	1

Reception

Azure Striker Gunvolt received positive reviews, with many praising the art style and gameplay, though it did receive some minor criticism for its similar plot to the Mega Man Zero series.

The Steam release initially received harsh reviews due to the numerous technical issues. As these issues were patched and exclusive modes were added in, the port began receiving more positive reception.

The game sold over 100,000 units six months after its release, described as well for "a download-only Nintendo 3DS game." From 90,000 to 170,000, each milestone was celebrated with artwork by character designer Munehiro Araki. The 100k milestone received two different illustrations.

By May 28th 2016 three-fourths of sales were overseas. As of June 30th 2016 sales in North America were 2.5 times greater than in Japan.

Although one of the intended demographics was children and the goal was to get them into action games, when Inti Creates created a graph to classify player age ranges it was found that less than 1% of players were elementary school children, something which disappointed director Tsuda a bit.

Timeline of 3DS e-shop sales milestones:

Sales	Date	Illustration
90,000	Jan 8, 2015.
100,000	Mar 13, 2015.
110,000	Apr 27, 2015.
120,000	Jun 28, 2015.
130,000	Sep 11, 2015.
140,000	Jan 26, 2016.
150,000	Mar 24, 2016.
160,000	May 26, 2016.
170,000	Jul 14, 2016.
180,000	May 1, 2017.
250,000	Sep 7, 2017.

Trivia

Lumen 3D model

• Two months before the game's release, the GunvoltOfficial Twitter account made a mysterious post with a cut off photo of a 3D model of Lumen, which was never seen nor mentioned again. Several years later during promotion of Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 and as part of the development of GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle, Lumen would make her proper 3D debut. According to Tsuda, the model was something that was being produced on an experimental basis for 3D research (cost and quality). There are various other things that were confiscated.
  • It's unconfirmed if there's a connection, but during development of the 3D game Gal*Gun: Double Peace (2013~2015) staff were experimenting with 3D models.

External Links

• English Site
• Japanese Site