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Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack (蒼き雷霆 ガンヴォルト ストライカーパック) is a compilation of the first two games from the main series: Azure Striker Gunvolt and Azure Striker Gunvolt 2. Additionally, the compilation includes a new title screen song by Lumen (Parallel World), and all of the Steam content for the first game, such as missing dialogue. It was released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan on August 25, 2016 and in North America on October 4, 2016. However, it remains unreleased in PAL regions.
At 2017 Bitsummit, Inti Creates announced a Nintendo Switch version of the Striker Pack, alongside Mighty Gunvolt Burst. This enhanced version has all the features of the original pack, as well as multiple new ones, including: a new title screen song (Tabula Rasa), all of the Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 DLC, HD Rumble support, high resolution event graphics and text, a 60FPS upgrade, adjustments to several gameplay features (e.g porting the ASG2 Kudos system, and the ability to dash jump on walls to ASG1) and more. It released worldwide digitally on August 31, 2017. A physical edition was released in the Autumn and published by Nighthawk Interactive.
The Japanese Limited Edition comes with the game, a DVD of Azure Striker Gunvolt: The Anime and a Drama CD adapting previously-published side stories featuring Copen, Joule and Quinn.
On January 31st, 2020, a PlayStation 4 version of the Striker Pack was announced to release later in the year as well, featuring all the enhancements of the Nintendo Switch version alongside new boxart and title screen music (Last Station). The game was released worldwide on April 23, 2020.
Notes
- The amiibo fight against Shovel Knight featured in the Nintendo Switch version of Striker Pack was removed in the PlayStation 4 re-release, due to amiibo being a Nintendo-exclusive add-on. As a result, the subsequent bonus equipment is unobtainable.
- Lore files during Azure Striker Gunvolt 2's loading screen were left untranslated before; in Striker Pack, all description slots are made blurred if the game language is set to Traditional Chinese or Korean.
- For the Nintendo Switch/PlayStation 4 re-releases, Merak's second fight in Eridu features spiked floors instead of bottomless pits as a method to reduce the difficulty of casual playthroughs. Similarly, the upside-down section at the second part of Sinner's Row received difficulty adjust; the upside-down bottomless pits are blocked by wires while the Jewel location moved to the regular path of this room.
Development
Development of the Nintendo 3DS Striker Pack came at the expense of the original plans to make a Mighty Gunvolt sequel due to the team at Inti Creates being too small to realistically handle both projects at once.[1]
Because the Japanese name of Gunvolt 2 has the kanji for claw, which can also mean nail, series director Yoshihisa Tsuda proposed including a nail clipper as a bonus item with the 3DS limited edition version, but this was rejected.[2]
During development of the Nintendo Switch version, Tsuda wasn't satisfied with simply bundling the games together again, and wished to include a new melee focused playable character, a sword wielding girl in the pack's version of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 as a bonus for those who'd already played the games. Due to scheduling and many other reasons, this did not happen. This concept was later used for Kirin in Azure Striker Gunvolt 3. Tsuda can't recall if the name Kirin had been chosen yet, and Inti Creates CEO Takuya Aizu believes it was still undecided at the time.[3]
Merak's wormholes using a special effect caused issues when porting from 3DS to Switch.[4]
Version History
3DS
| Version | Date | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Initial release. | |
| 1.1 | October 7, 2016 |
Gunvolt 2:
|
| 1.2 | March 9, 2017 |
Gunvolt 2:
|
Switch
| Version | Date | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | August 31, 2017 |
|
| 1.1 | August 31, 2017 |
|
| 1.1.1 | September 7, 2017 |
|
| 1.2 | October 5, 2017 |
|
| 1.3 | November 21, 2017 |
|
| 1.4 | ||
| 1.5 | December 6, 2018 |
|
| 1.6 | ||
| 1.7 | September 17, 2020 |
|
Trailers
English Trailers
Japanese Trailers
Other Language Trailers
Character Ranking Poll
In October 2017, like with Gunvolt 1 and 2 a character ranking poll was held by Inti Creates' accounts on Twitter to decide placements in a promotional Halloween wallpaper by series illustrator and character designer Yoshitaka Hatakeyama. Unlike past Halloween polls, it was decided only the top six would get in. Practically all characters from the two games were eligible. The final result counted votes for 36 legitimate characters and three invalid ones, the largest cast of characters in any poll in the series.
On the wallpaper Gunvolt and Copen were given Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger costumes, presumably as part of their rivalry.
Lola, Joule, Zonda, and Lumen costume design drafts
When the Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 Halloween wallpaper was released, Hatakeyama was given permission to publish design drafts for the Striker Pack and Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX Halloween wallpapers. The SP drafts image did not include Gunvolt and Copen's designs.
Total votes: 650
Final results:[5]
| Rank | Character | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lola | 72 |
| 2 | Zonda | 46 |
| 2 | Joule | 46 |
| 4 | Gunvolt | 44 |
| 5 | Lumen | 42 |
| 6 | Copen | 39 |
| 7 | Gibril | 35 |
| 8 | Teseo | 34 |
| 9 | Elise | 33 |
| 10 | Asroc | 24 |
| 11 | Nori | 18 |
| 12 | Nova | 17 |
| 13 | Ghauri | 15 |
| 14 | Zeno | 14 |
| 14 | Merak | 14 |
| 16 | Male Zonda | 13 |
| 16 | Stratos | 13 |
| 18 | Asimov | 12 |
| 18 | Quinn | 12 |
| 20 | Romeo | 11 |
| 21 | Mytyl | 10 |
| 21 | Desna | 10 |
| 21 | Viper | 10 |
| 24 | Milas | 9 |
| 24 | Moniqa | 9 |
| 26 | Tenjian | 8 |
| 26 | Jota | 8 |
| 28 | Xiao Wu | 7 |
| 29 | Plasma Legion | 6 |
| 30 | Female Zonda | 5 |
| 31 | Lola (ball) | 4 |
| 32 | Joule (Lumen) | 2 |
| 32 | Carrera | 2 |
| 34 | Spyder | 1 |
| 34 | Phazent | 1 |
| 34 | Mantis | 1 |
| Invalid | Ninja soldier | 1 |
| Invalid | Zombie | 1 |
| Invalid | Giraffe | 1 |
Trivia
- This is the only game without PC/Xbox releases; instead, the two Gunvolt games were listed and sold separately on PC(Steam) and Xbox platforms.
- The invalid "Giraffe" vote in the popularity poll is of note because Giraffe in Japanese is キリン (Kirin). However, since the voter was referencing a GV2 conversation, and Tsuda did not remember if the name for the conceptual sword-wielding girl had been settled yet, it is likely coincidence.
References
- ↑ October 30th 2016 Nintendo Everything interview with Inti Creates (page 2)
- ↑ https://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/270/1270911/
- ↑ May 13th 2022 4Gamer.net interview with Aizu, Tsuda, and Inafune. (English translation)
- ↑ Gunvolt Official Complete Works interview
- ↑ https://twitter.com/IntiCreatesEN/status/919228430285127681