Azure Striker Gunvolt 2

Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, known as Armed Blue: Gunvolt 2 // Sou (蒼き雷霆ガンヴォルト, with the kanji 爪 meaning "Claw") in Japan, is a game for the Nintendo 3DS produced by Inti Creates.
The game is the sequel to 2014's Azure Striker Gunvolt. The game released on August 25th in Japan, followed by a worldwide release on September 29th. A PC port of the game, based on the enhanced version included in console ports of the Striker Pack, was announced to release on Steam in June 22th, 2020.
Gunvolt is back as a playable character with new skills and gear. Copen returns as a new playable character in the game, redesigned and packing new mechanics never seen before in the franchise.
== Gameplay ==
Unlike its predecessor, Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 has two separate playable characters: Gunvolt, and his rival Copen, each with their own different gameplay styles.
Gunvolt's gameplay is largely identical to the previous game: using his gun, he is able to tag his enemies and use his Flashfield to do extra damage. His Flashfield also slows his descent, allowing him to cross large gaps when combined with his dashes.
In addition to his skills from the previous game, Gunvolt also has several new skills, both defensive and offensive. Certain skills require no skill points at all, and don't drain kudos, though they aren't as powerful as the ones that do. Gunvolt can also make use of "clips" to alter the amount of tags he can use, which increases or decreases the power of his Flashfield.
Copen's gameplay on the other hand, is completely different to Gunvolt's. Copen's gun only fires off lasers on full-auto. These beams deal a higher degree of damage compared to GV's rounds, but cannot be modified in trajectory or effects via equipment.
Copen's gear allows for a great degree of mobility. While he cannot continuously sprint like GV, he can air-dash diagonally, allowing for maneuvers such as continually bounding off walls Mario-style. He can also slow his descent or bound off the floor to keep an aerial combo going.
Copen uses a different equipment system than Gunvolt. Rather than being a series of items stratified by type, Copen loads subroutines (subs) into his gear to gain various effects such as increased attack power. Subs vary in size and effect, and his gear only has so much capacity, so don't overload it. Doing so can result in unfortunate effects, such as reduced defense.
Copen's tagging system can be described as "reverse Mighty No. 9". By dashing into a foe, Copen can tag it to fire a stream of homing shots at that foe until the tag wears off or until the foe is defeated. Copen can only tag one enemy at a time, but the nature of his dashes allows him to bounce off enemies and chain kills for Kudos.
Copen has retained his ability to use special weapons based on the abilities of Adepts he defeats. These weapons can be used to fight more effectively or even traverse terrain and obstacles.
* Copen's EX weapons run on a "Weapon energy" bar, which is shown beneath his health. It recharges after a few seconds, but can be enhanced through the use of subs.
Copen has also acquired access to a few of Gunvolt's abilities, namely Prevasion and a version of the Flashfield.
* Prevasion works the same as it does for GV, it negates damage and knockback as long as there's still energy for it.
* Flashfield works a bit differently, as it can still negate explosives and certain projectiles from impacting Copen, but doesn't help with his jumps at all. In addition, Copen can only deploy Flashfield when he has full weapon energy (a blue shield icon appears near Copen's health when Flashfield is available).
All of Copen's gear runs on the "Bullit" system, which is depicted as bullets on the lower-left corner of the top screen. These bullets go out one by one every time;
# Copen activates an air-dash that does not connect with a foe or is not part of a wall-jump maneuver.
# Copen triggers Prevasion.
Copen regains Bullits over time, but he can also quick-charge in a similar fashion to GV.
* Copen can quick-charge in mid-air, but he will accelerate straight down while doing so. This causes a small shockwave that can damage enemies.
** Killing enemies with this grants a +15 "Impact Crush" bonus, but if it doesn't kill there's a high risk of triggering contact damage/Prevasion.
* Note: Unlike GV, Copen has no Overheat or similar problem if he hits zero bullets. He can just quick-charge and be back to full in a second.
The Kudos system makes a return, allowing you to boost your score as long as you keep dealing damage and don't get hit. There are 3 modes by which Kudos can be handled;
* Gutless: Kudos are ALWAYS retained until banked, but they don't boost your score as much. For those who just want some cool tunes courtesy of Muse powers, or those who want to quickly unlock the special music equipment while cheating the Kudos Challenges.
* Cautious: Kudos are kept until banked or you are hit 3 times (default mode).
* Fearless: Kudos are lost upon 1 hit, but are worth more. For those who want an experience like ASG1.
The Speedrun mode of ASG1 makes a return as "Runner Mode". Like Speedrun mode, it features an online leaderboard and rankings, but is modified in light of new elements in the game. Runner mode comes with the following restrictions:
* Prevasion and Anthem disabled.
* Level set to 1.
* Kudos automatically set to Fearless.
* No retries from checkpoints, though touching checkpoints still banks Kudos.
* Only default equipment is available. GV's only available bolt is Cerberus. However, Copen has access to all EX Weapons.
* GV's Skills are preset to Astrasphere, Galvanic Patch, Crashbolt, and Dragonsphere.
===Missions===
In the story campaign there are three back to back missions in the introduction, followed by a group of four freely selectable missions, and then a series of final missions. Three of the four selectable missions and their bosses differ went playing as Gunvolt or Copen, and the three bosses who would be fought in the opposite character's story become the bosses of the final stages.
Once the true ending has been acquired, "Secret Missions" are unlocked. Four of the missions consist of the levels the opposite of the player character's ones (e.g, Gunvolt will have Babel as one of his Secret Missions, while Copen will have Mysterious Manor). The stages also have tweaked enemy placement. The last mission is a Boss Rush where you take on all of the game's bosses one after another. Anthem is disabled like in the previous game's Special Missions, but checkpoints are present (with the exception of Boss Rush).
Mission 	Boss (as Gunvolt) 	Boss (as Copen)
Infiltrator (Seraph Interior) 	Proto Legion JB 	-
Chimera (Downtown) 	- 	Fazent
Aggressor (Downtown) 	Tenjian (Glaive) 	-
Luminescence (Mysterious Manor)	Gibril "The Full Metal Jacket" 	-
Effusion (The Sewers) 	Milas "The Aquadynamic Merman" 	-
Virtuality (Data Facility) 	Teseo "The Serial Experiment" 	-
Raveled (Babel) 	- 	Desna "The Starstruck Beauty"
Puppeteer (Isle of Dreams) 	- 	Asroc "The Pygmalion Furnace"Asroc (Gran Torta)
Prism (Prism Highway) 	- 	Ghauri "The Prism Master"
Icebound (Frozen City) 	Tenjian "The Frozen Blade" 	Tenjian "The Frozen Blade"
Crossroads (Prism Highway) 	Ghauri "The Prism Master" 	-
Forfeit (The Sewers) 	- 	Gibril "The Full Metal Jacket"
Eden (The Garden 1) 	Desna "The Starstruck Beauty" 	Milas "The Aquadynamic Merman"
Inferno (The Garden 2) 	Asroc "The Pygmalion Furnace"Plasma Legion 	Teseo "The Serial Experiment"Plasma Legion
Savior (The Garden 3) 	TenjianGibril, Milas, and TeseoZonda (Fake)Zonda (Reverie)	TenjianDesna, Asroc, and GhauriZonda (Fake)Zonda (Reverie)
Prayer (The Garden 4) 	Copen "The Adept Slayer" 	Gunvolt "The Azure Striker"
Secret Mission 1 	Fazent 	Proto Legion JB
Secret Mission 2 	Desna 	Gibril
Secret Mission 3 	Asroc 	Milas
Secret Mission 4 	Ghauri 	Teseo
Secret Mission 5 	Boss rush (Last boss is opposite player character) 	Boss rush (Last boss is opposite player character)
== Plot ==
A great deal of time has passed since the events of the first game.
Gunvolt, now spiritually fused with Joule, has reached a new pinnacle of power, thanks to the already great potential of his Azure Striker septima being enhanced by the Muse's Anthem. But while his septimal strength has grown, his heart has yet to heal from the scars of Firmament. With the help of kindhearted Quinn, and former QUILL agent Xiao Wu, GV begins to find a new compass in life. Until trouble stirs again, forcing the Azure Striker to take flight...
Copen, having survived Asimov's attack and recovered remnants of his gun, has spent some time developing new gear, and creating the combat support droid Lola. Despite his work and fervor, he makes sure to leave some time to tend to his bedridden sister, Mytyl. But one day, mysterious attackers break into their home and steal Mytyl away. With fangs at the ready, the Adept Slayer dashes into the night...
Meanwhile, a new plan begins to stir. With Sumeragi effectively gutted by Gunvolt's actions, a new organization makes its move. Eden, the Adept supremacist group, machinates to create their own paradise...
Dragon and tiger will clash once more, as mirages and fairy tales carve utopia from glistening shards. With the powers of the Muse on their side, will their efforts result in peace...or war?
"In the face of turmoil, a path toward hope beckons..."
===Characters===
See also: Minor Characters#Games
====Gunvolt Side====
Character	Image
Gunvolt - Voiced by Kaito Ishikawa (石川界人)
The main protagonist and playable character alongside Copen. After the traumatizing finale to the previous game, Gunvolt chances upon a girl named Quinn who helps him get back on his feet.	
Joule - Voiced by Megu Sakuragawa (櫻川めぐ)
A deceased Adept whose soul now resides inside Gunvolt, pushing his power to new limits.	
Quinn - Voiced by Reina Kondo (近藤玲奈)
A girl with no Septimal powers who is saved from a murderous Adept by Gunvolt. She now hosts him at her house and serves as his moral support.	
Xiao Wu - Voiced by Chiaki Omigawa (小見川千明)
Gunvolt's operator and a former QUILL operative whose division was taken over by Eden.	
====Copen Side====
Character	Image
Copen - Voiced by Kosuke Masuo (増尾興佑)
The main protagonist and playable character alongside Gunvolt. GV's rival, Copen continues his goal of wiping out all Adepts on earth, in honour of his late father.	
Lola - Voiced by Yurika Endo (遠藤ゆりか)
A robot that serves as Copen's combat support, as well as his self proclaimed "guardian".	
Mytyl 
Copen's mute younger twin sister who, due to her weak constitution, spends her days in a medical facility.	
Nori - Voiced by Ayumi Tsunematsu (恒松あゆみ)
Copen and Mytyl's maid and Copen's operator when he goes out on missions.	
====Eden====
Character	Image
Tenjian - Voiced by Hiroshi Watanabe (渡辺紘)
A stoic and cold Chinese swordsman who serves as the leader and strategist of Eden's "The Seven".
Septima: Permafrost. Boss of the mission Icebound (Frozen City).	
Teseo - Voiced by Tomonori Ishihara (石原朋典)
A joking, meme-making internet troll from Korea, who has a habit of infuriating everyone around him, even when he doesn't intend to.
Septima: Hack the Planet. Boss of the mission Virtuality (Data Facility).	
Ghauri - Voiced by Chiharu Sawashiro (沢城千春)
A former street dancer from America who graces the battlefield with his dazzling moves and near nonsensical rhymes.
Septima: Prism Cataclysm. Boss of the mission Prism (Prism Highway).	
Desna - Voiced by Jenya
The Russian mystic seer who is revered as a Goddess by Eden's soldiers, whose predictions are unnervingly accurate and worryingly grim.
Septima: Splitting Ends. Boss of the mission Raveled (Babel).	
Milas - Voiced by Takaki Ohtomari (大泊貴揮)
This laidback, sea loving Australian wages war on humanity to protect the ocean he loves so dearly.
Septima: Ichor. Boss of the mission Effusion (The Sewers).	
Asroc - Voiced by Kazuki Ohta (太田一騎)
Born in France, this talented pastry chef is well known for his affinity with machinery and legendary hatred of humans.
Septima: Marionette. Boss of the mission Puppeteer (Isle of Dreams).	
Gibril - Voiced by Maya Enoyoshi (榎吉麻弥)
A sadomaso young English girl whose intense bloodlust is rivaled only by her sensitive Napoleon complex.
Septima: Metallion. Boss of the mission Luminescence (Mysterious Manor).	
Mysterious Girl - Voiced by Kaori Nazuka (名塚佳織)
A mysterious young Adept who appears before Gunvolt and Copen.	
== Soundtrack ==
Main article: Armed Blue Gunvolt: Sou Soundtrack
As with the first game, the soundtrack for Gunvolt 2 was composed by Ippo Yamada, Ryo Kawakami, Kotaro Yamada, Aoi Takeda, and Takumi Sato. All vocal tracks were performed Megu Sakuragawa and Yurika Endo in-character as Joule and Lola respectively, and were written by Hakofactory. Yamajet arranged the Joule/Lumen versions while Keishi Yonao arranged the Lola versions.
Like Gunvolt 1, the game received an official soundtrack release which included the in-game versions of the vocal songs, as well as the Nintendo 3DS Striker Pack title theme Parallel World, and also the Shovel Knight collaboration battle track. The full chorus versions of most of the vocal songs were released in two different albums each containing covers by one character, those albums being Into the Blue and Electro Rotation. Karaoke versions of the regular songs plus Reincarnation Alternative's were released in the drama CD Eden's Party, while karaoke versions of the regular songs plus Igniter's were released with the drama CD Clockwork Daydream, which included the full chorus Joule/Lumen version of Stratosphere.
List of vocal songs:
Song 	Composer
Indigo Destiny 	Ryo Kawakami
Vast Circle 	Ryo Kawakami
Multi-Universe 	Ippo Yamada
Iolite 	Ryo Kawakami
A Flash of Azure 	Ippo Yamada
Reincarnation Alternative	Ippo Yamada
Igniter 	Ippo Yamada
Stratosphere 	Ippo Yamada
==Shovel Knight collaboration==
"For Shovelry! Shovel Knight has appeared!"
Shovel Knight, the title hero of his hit platformer game, appears as an in-game boss. By scanning your Amiibo, you will be taken to an arena where you fight Shovel Knight. Beating him gives a powerful item, one for Gunvolt and one for Copen.
The fight against Shovel Knight is inaccessible in the Steam and Playstation versions, due to amiibo being a Nintendo-exclusive add-on. As a result, the subsequent bonus equipment is unobtainable. The slots intended for Code of Shovelry Subroutine and Shovel Ring Gear are still present in the game data, but they have no effect when equipped through external tools with cheat function like Cheat Engine.
==DLC==
On December 28th, 2016, Inti released a trailer showcasing several DLC packs available to buy in Japan, as part of an update. The update was eventually made live internationally on March 9th, 2017.
All DLC was available to purchase for the standalone and Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack versions of the game on 3DS. In the Switch and Playstation 4 console Striker Pack ports and standalone Steam and Xbox ports, all of the DLC is included by default. With the discontinuation of the Nintendo 3DS eShop, DLC content is no longer available for purchase.
These DLC packs included:
===Song locket and subroutine packs===
These DLC packs add recipes for lockets and subroutines, which can play songs from the original Azure Striker Gunvolt. Equipping these lockets also increases credits and experience gain to 1.5x. Song packs are available in pairs as follows:
* Beyond the Blue and Rouge Shimmer
* Azure Door and Pain from the Past
* Sakura Efflorescence and A Zip to the Moon
* Nebulous Clock and Scorching Journey
Additionally, there is a single-song pack for a new song by Joule and Lola: ♪ Stratosphere. This pack contains a recipe for the audiolocket/subroutine, and the 1.5x boost to credits and experience is also applied to it.
===Boss/Stage packs===
There are also four DLC packs that add new stages to Score Attack Mode. The first three packs each feature two of the six Sumeragi Swordsmen from the first game, with slightly-altered attacks. The packs come in these pairs:
* Merak and Carrera in The Sewers and Data Facility
* Jota and Elise in Babel and Mysterious Manor
* Viper and Stratos in Isle of Dreams and Prism Highway
====Ultimate Challenge====
This DLC pack, like the previous three, boasts heavily-altered versions of the stages Downtown and Frozen City, featuring the second game's final bosses with completely overhauled, powerful attacks, making them incredibly difficult. Beating them unlocks powerful abilities for Gunvolt and Copen.
===Speedrun Mode===
This DLC pack adds a new mode to Runner mode, called "Speedrun Mode". In this mode, players attempt to beat the entire game as fast as possible, but without access to Prevasion, synthing, and mid-level saving. The player's attack power increases depending on the amount of kudos they have.
== Version History ==
=== 3DS ===
Version	date 	Details
1.0 	 	Initial release.
1.1 	October 7, 2016	
* Fixed a freeze that happened when defeating Teseo at a particular time.
* Fixed a freeze that happened in the instant Tenjian was defeated.
* Fixed a numerical error in Gunvolt’s items in the Clips category.
* Fixed a behavioral problem with Copen’s item “Shield Construct”.
* Fixed a defect in Score Attack’s score calculation.
* Fixed a problem with the player character’s controls.
* Fixed a problem with a specific enemy’s behavior.
1.2 	March 9, 2017 	
* Compatibility for DLC has been added.
* Icons that display a skill's effects have been added to the display on the bottom screen.
* The character status screen is now displayed on the customization screen.
== Development ==
Development of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 took about 2 years.(Aug 5 2018) Nintendo Everything - Inti Creates on Luminous Avenger IX’s development and why no Gunvolt 3, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon talk Talks of making a sequel began shortly after the first Azure Striker Gunvolt came out.Armed Blue Gunvolt: Sou Soundtrack booklet, Creator's Comments 1 According to series director Yoshihisa Tsuda, when development of Gunvolt 1 concluded there was no idea of what to do next since all ideas for the game had been used at that time.Nintendo Everything with Tsuda and Aizu, page 1 In terms of story Tsuda had done all that he wanted in GV1.Inside-Games interview with Tsuda, Yamada, and Araki, page 3 Scenario writer Toshiaki 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.Armed Blue Gunvolt: Sou Soundtrack booklet, Creator's Comments 2 Character designer Munehiro Araki was appointed as the game's art/world director and ordered to work with fellow designer and main illustrator Yoshitaka Hatakeyama (who had gone freelance between GV1 and GV2http://gunvolt.com/en/GV1/introduction/http://gunvolt.com/en/GV2/introduction/) in a "three-legged race." Araki had regrets and wanted to make amends since he didn't get to do much during GV1 development. (By the time he was asked to supervise GV1 designs, they were already in the final stage).Inside-Games interview with Tsuda, Yamada, and Araki, page 1
Because the first game's story ended on such a bitter note, the staff sought to make a happier ending for GV2, something that would make players feel more salvation than the previous game. For the first two months of development, Tsuda was thinking about what to do with the story. It was at that time he thought of a "punchline" (the ending with Gunvolt meeting Mytyl/Joule) that he believed would work and make it not feel superfluous as a sequel. Tsuda believed it all fit together and made a "Happy End", which Tai and Araki agreed with, but most of the staff were vehemently opposed to that idea and sent tons of criticism. Although the main team agreed on it being a Happy End, the rest of the staff agreed "We don't want to be involved with that team." Emails from other staff members who'd seen the ending were full of anger and, inversely, Tai became sure it would work and make the game a sharp one that would stab at everyone's hearts. Other staff scolded the main team during meetings, saying "If you’re going to keep on with this scenario, I’m not buying." There was one point that Tai and Tsuda differed in opinion on. In the initial draft it was a crossing of paths and GV and Mytyl didn't talk to each other, but Tsuda wanted them to. Tai thought that if they did meet there would be a danger of the aftertaste worsening and it becoming a Bad End, so he was hesitant. A certain very good game planner (possibly Hiroki MiyazawaBitSummit Gaiden Discord #inti-日本語 channel comments by the developersThese were recorded and compiled by Twitter user @tottori214) who was next to Tai suggested having Mytyl say "I'm happy" at the end, and Tai finally felt it would work, but this actually made more employees angry at him.Gunvolt Official Complete Works staff interview
Just as the game released, in an interview Tsuda stated he was looking forward to seeing how everyone would react to the ending, but was worried. He tried to make a tearful scenario even though it's an action game, and because he didn't think there were many games like that, he would appreciate those who cleared the game and wrote "I cried!" on Twitter if they really cried. That said, he hoped people would enjoy it.Inside-Games interview, page 5
At the very beginning of development when it was only at the planning stage, Gunvolt 2 was envisioned as a triple protagonist title. Gunvolt was a mask wearing enemy, and Copen and others were planned to be protagonists. Xiao was planned to be a protagonist at that time. However, a triple protagonist game was deemed impossible and the idea was dropped. Tai was the one who proposed that Copen be a playable character.
The decision to add Copen as a playable character was for the sake of gameplay innovation. Since gamers got the full experience playing as Gunvolt himself in the first game, they needed something new in Gunvolt 2 that would be able to catch people’s attention, and they were well aware of Copen's similarity to a "certain action game character" with his ability to copy the powers of defeated bosses. Another reason for Copen's inclusion was that Tai was a huge fan of him. Tai imagined Copen flying across the sky as a counter to GV, who in 1 Copen was helpless against due to GV flying around. He was also inspired by the manga GUN BLAZE WEST in which the character Armor Baron transforms into a bullet, and Copen's Bullit Dash incorporates that image. Initially the idea was that Copen would hit enemies with his shield, but this shifted to tagging them using the stock of his gun, and the shield vanished as having guard mechanics too was deemed too complicated. To explain its absence they came up with the setting "Asimov destroyed the shield." (This event was depicted in Copen's Story before the release of GV2)
Regarding the Japanese title, initially Tsuda would have been fine just naming it "Gunvolt 2", but when Takuya Aizu asked "So it's 2?" Tsuda reconsidered it. One early title idea he came up with was "Gunvolt Acura" (『ガンヴォルト アキュラ』), but this was too straightforward. Tsuda then came up with the kanji "爪" (Claw) for the title based on scenes of Copen fighting.https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/755543.html He decided on "Sou" as the reading for the kanji (normally pronounced "tsume" in Japanese), which could be understood as a pun on "Saw", but other staff went "what's that supposed to mean?" and argued it was nonsensical, which caused Tsuda to become depressed for three days.May 2022 GameWatch Interview with Aizu, Tsuda, and Inafune (English translation) Because the kanji for claw can also mean nail, Tsuda proposed including a nail clipper as a bonus item with the Striker Pack release, but this was rejected.https://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/270/1270911/ 
It was announced at the Inti Creates Fan Festa 2015 on February 28th that a sequel to Azure Striker Gunvolt had just entered development but its title wasn't decided yet. Tsuda shared concept artwork teasing a new boss character only known as the "Masked Man." Aizu described this character as "the enemy of this work," and that the protagonist would be "A-kun." The image was distributed directly to news sites for their articles covering the event.Dengeki Online report on Inti Creates Fan Festa 20154Gamer.net report on Inti Creates Fan Festa 2015Gamer report on Inti Creates Fan Festa 2015Inside-Games report on Inti Creates Fan Festa 2015Gematsu article about sequel announcement Araki imagined this Gunvolt slowly losing his eyesight, going deaf, or losing his sense of taste because he felt there should be a "price" for absorbing Joule.Armed Blue: Gunvolt Complete Works, Gunvolt and Joule's GV2 concept art notes However, not long after this event Tsuda decided Gunvolt would be a protagonist again.
In a post-release interview, Tsuda said:
"In the earlier days of Gunvolt 2’s development, we were originally going to make Copen the only playable character, with a mask-wearing Gunvolt appearing as the new top dog of the Sumeragi Group (the evil organization from Gunvolt 1). He would be in the game as a boss character, appearing before Copen in mid-air surrounded by 1000 Glaives that he would use to transform. If you beat Gunvolt, he would be unlocked as a playable character, but due to varying circumstances we changed things to what you see in the game now."Nintendo Everything with Tsuda and Aizu, page 2
Tai believed Gunvolt would be a wreck and could not continue as a hero after the first game's conclusion, and assumed he'd have to be an enemy. After being told by Tsuda that Gunvolt would be a protagonist again, Tai was hesitant on how to proceed with the story. Ultimately they came up with Quinn as a justification. When Gunvolt was upgraded from antagonist to protagonist, this surprised staff members, and from the perspective of Araki and sound producer Ippo Yamada it meant the workload was doubled. The two even remarked "I resent you!" (「恨みます！」) to Tsuda at a pre-release event talking about the game's development. Two protagonists also meant double the story content, and to Tai it felt like it was four times as much. In the end he asked for more staff in order to finish the scenario.
Eden's conception mainly lies in a very nearly used Gunvolt 1 ending where after Nova's death the barrier protecting Japan would go down and an alliance of foreign nations would commence an attack with missiles. This alliance was named General Headquarters (GHQ) after the Allied occupation force of post-WWII Japan. The name was changed to G7, and from this came the boss group name "Grimwald Seven (G7)" (changed to just "The Seven" in the English version). Eden soldiers are also named "GHC Assault Trooper" in concept art and a near final Ghauri design refers to a "world union."
Eden was made a multinational Adept group as a followup to the ending of GV1 where Asimov speaks of Adepts unifying. Like the seven Sumeragi Bosses in GV1 having a seven sins theme, the Eden bosses were given a fairytale motif. The G7 were all named after missiles as a callback to the earlier story draft and their name origin.
Zonda was originally intended to be a boss character in Gunvolt 1 but got shelved, so Tai wanted to use Zonda again in a main game. When considering making Zonda the final boss, he remembered it had been established in GV1 setting materials that Zonda was a very strong Adept, and it was settled. Being a "debut gag" in GV1, Tai wanted to overcome that debut and impact players, and made Zonda's true form a young girl. This also tied into Zonda's "love" motif--the original overcame the boundary between man and woman, while the new Zonda overcame the boundary between adult and child. This decision was made when the designers settled on fairytales as the game's boss motif, and based on Zonda's mirror power her motif was made Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. The original Zonda already had the image of a dealer throwing cards, which perfectly fit with the idea of Zonda using the trump cards in reference to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a story that fit with Eden's setting, and all the pieces came together in a way Araki called miraculous.
When flyers for an April 26th 2016 public event showing the release date of August 25th were distributed internally, staff were surprised by it. At the event, Inafune asked if the release date being so close was okay, while Aizu said that they were working diligently to meet that release date. After the game was released, Tsuda claimed that they worked too hard on it and the staff were almost dead in the end. So much work had been done on making the game for two playable characters that they even considered splitting the game into different versions to sell separately.
By the conclusion of development, Tsuda felt that he wouldn't be able to top Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 and that he had already essentially made a Gunvolt 3 as the original ideas for GV2 disappeared somewhere.Dengeki Online interview with Aizu, Tsuda, and Inafune (English translation)
When the Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack was announced, the Japanese release date for both versions was set as August 25th. Later, when it was announced that Inti Creates have partnered with Yacht Club Games in order to bring the physical release to North America, which would release on October 4th. In an official Twitch stream by Inti Creates on August 20th, it was also revealed that Europe would be getting the digital version on September 30th as well.
==Promotion==
Development of the game was first revealed at Inti Creates Fan Festa in February 2015 alongside an image of a masked villain Gunvolt and hint that Copen would be the protagonist.
At MAGFest 2016, teaser footage for the game was shown, in which Gunvolt was going through the Seraph Interior, and a part of a conversation between Gunvolt and Quinn (whose name was left unchanged as Ouka at the time). The footage briefly cuts to the Prism Highway stage, and bits of Desna's boss fight were demonstrated. During the fight, Dragonsphere was used, and it granted Kudos from damage.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGe_hUi9ZAk No further info was revealed until a Nintendo Direct on March 3, 2016, which gave an introduction to the game's plot, as well as revealing gameplay footage of Gunvolt and the newly playable Copen. An official trailer was published the same day, revealing a vague release date of "Summer 2016".
===English Trailers===
===Japanese Trailers===
== Cut Content ==
*Within the game, Gunvolt has two unused skills: Electroshock (雷霆解放, Thunderclap Discharge) and Shadowstriker (電影招雷, Thunder Shadow Summon). The skills have icons, translated names and descriptions, and voice lines, indicating that some progress was made, but ultimately were scrapped for unknown reasons. It is possible to unlock the skills through save file modification, but actually trying to use them in battle will freeze the game. Since there were only two Azure Spirits as opposed to Copen's five Memory upgrades, it is possible these two skills were intended to be tied to Azure Spirits. Electroshock returned in Azure Striker Gunvolt 3, and while the Japanese name remained unchanged the English name was changed to Arc Unleash. Despite being cut, Shadow Striker was later referenced in Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon as Soul Vision, one of Alfred's four skills that are based on and named after Gunvolt's. Shadowstriker may have also been partly reused in GV3 with Image Pulse.
**In the Armed Blue Gunvolt Gibs Sound Track CD, the Japanese name of the track for Image Pulse acquisition is "Thunder Shadow Remembrance (Recollection)" (). Coinciding with the speculation about the skills being tied to the Azure Spirits (which are Asimov's soul and Septima), Card-en-Ciel profiles reveal that Demerzel's holograms of others and his old self are Image Pulses.
*Also within the game are equipment/programs present in the files that did not make it in the final game. Copen had four programs related to Air Hops: Aerial Stunt, Aerial Stunt X, OD Aerial Stunt, and OD Freebird. There was also Hover Boost, which allowed some degree of upward movement during a hover at the cost of reduced duration. Additionally, although inaccessible by normal means, when Gunvolt equips Dullahan, it performs similarly to its Gunvolt 1 counterpart, but has its damage boosted by the Lucifer Clip and contacts related to dart damage.
*There are unused mission briefings for Prayer (The Garden 4) with Mytyl telling Gunvolt and Copen to stop.
*There is unused dialogue for Inferno (The Garden 2) where Xiao tells Gunvolt (the player) to stop panicking and think of a logical solution to the door puzzle, while Nori and Lola chide Copen (the player) for getting cold feet and not proceeding across the pits.
*The medium boss Mantis Delta (マンティス・デルタ), was intended for the game at one point, but was scrapped. It was revealed with the soundtrack's obi (paper slip wrapped around the CD case spine) with a note stating it was an improved version of the Mantis Legion. It is referenced in a Gunvolt 3 base conversation where it's said to be a tank model that never entered production, and its golden armor is mentioned to have a beam resistance coating.
*There are unused voice clips for Asroc phase transitioning like other bosses.
Gallery:
Gunvolt unused skills.png|Name, icon, and descriptions for two scrapped skills
Mantis Delta illustration.png|The Mantis Delta
File:OD Freebird.png|Name, description, and memory cost of OD Freebird R
==Character Ranking Poll==
In October 2016, Inti Creates held a character popularity poll on its Twitter accounts to determine which characters would get front placement on a Halloween promotional wallpaper. Originally only the top 8 characters were planned to be included, but due to a mistake in announcing the worldwide tally and resulting confusion the plan was changed for it to feature all main characters, including the G7. GunvoltOfficial tweet about results error and plan change Total number of votes and votes per character on the English side were not disclosed, only percentages.
The top three, Gibril, Lola, and Asroc, got front placement, while the rest of the game's main cast got in as well. Despite its victory over Milas and Xiao, the Plasma Legion was sadly excluded.
Total Japanese votes: 513GunvoltOfficial tweet about Halloween poll results
Final results:IntiCreatesEN tweet about character poll results
Rank	Character 	Percentage	Costume
1 	Gibril 	17.7% 	Little Red Riding Hood / Devil
2 	Lola 	13.0% 	Demon
3 	Asroc 	7.8% 	Patisserie
4 	Gunvolt 	7.8% 	Wizard
5 	True Zonda 	7.7% 	Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland)
6 	Copen 	6.7% 	Mad scientist
7 	Nori 	5.9% 	Witch
8 	Desna 	5.2% 	Baba yaga
9 	Joule 	4.6% 	Caped superhero
10 	Teseo 	4.1% 	Prisoner (black and white stripes outfit)
11 	Ghauri 	3.2% 	Michael Jackson (Thriller ver.)
12 	Quinn 	2.6% 	Bunny girl
13 	Tenjian 	2.5% 	Jiangshi
14 	Mytyl 	1.9% 	Ghost
15 	Plasma Legion 	1.6% 	N/A
16 	Milas 	1.6% 	Pirate
17 	Xiao 	1.3% 	White Rabbit (Alice in Wonderland)
18 	Galette Krone 	1.2% 	N/A
19 	Shovel Knight 	0.4% 	N/A
20 	Spyder 	0.3% 	N/A
21 	Male Zonda 	0.3% 	N/A
22 	Mantis Delta 	0.1% 	N/A
23 	Invalid Ballot	2.5% 	N/A
== Reception ==
Like its predecessor, Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 received positive reviews from critics, with praise directed at the gameplay, art direction and the inclusion of Copen as a playable character. However, it did receive criticism for being rather similar to its predecessor, as well as its fairly low difficulty.
During the week of its release, Gunvolt 2 was the #1 selling game on the Japanese 3DS eShop.https://twitter.com/IntiCreatesEN/status/770889718674227200
Unlike its predecessor, there was no art celebrating sales milestones, so exact sales numbers were unclear for a while. However, in a presentation from Takuya Aizu during Tokyo Sandbox 2017, GV2's global Nintendo e-Shop sales were shown to be 38,000 downloads as of May 1st, 2017, significantly lower than GV1's 180,000 downloads by that time. (When directly comparing sales figures over time, GV1 had also reached 110,000 global downloads within about the same time it took GV2 to reach 38k.Inti Creates EN tweet about GV1 downloads milestone) Initially, the conclusion was that the download sales market had shrunk, but using the sales of Gal*Gun: Double Peace as a point of comparison (42,000 downloads on Playstation Network worldwide as of December 31st, 2016) seemed to prove otherwise. Thus, the lower performance of Gunvolt 2 was attributed to the choice of platform and the trends associated with it. The subsequent sales of Blaster Master Zero (80,000 downloads on Switch and 3DS e-Shop as of May 10th, 2017) seemed to prove this conclusion.4Gamer.net report on the "Reality of Game Development and Digital Sales: Based on Experience" lecture by Takuya Aizu
In a December 2017 interview with Dengeki Online, Aizu clarified that the underperformance of Gunvolt 2 was more from an overseas standpoint, and that domestically it had sold over 70% of the previous game, which was still considered successful.Dengeki Online interview with Aizu about the downloadable title market
During Indie Live Expo 2022, Aizu mentioned that the combined sales of Azure Striker Gunvolt and Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 had reached a total of 600,000, although it was unspecified whether the Striker Pack was included in this figure.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RUcwb3x4PU
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.Dengeki Online interview with Aizu, Tsuda, and Inafune, part 2 (English translation)
The ending of the game, which was advertised as being a "happy end" pre-release and intended to be hopeful, was controversial enough that in the Armed Blue: Gunvolt Official Complete Works staff interview Aizu apologized to fans who felt they had been deceived. As noted in the Development section, even within Inti Creates itself the ending was very controversial. Among some Japanese fans, the ending was considered tragic enough that they began using the tentative title ガンヴォルト惨 ("Gunvolt Tragic/Miserable")One definition of 惨, "Appalling", has the pronunciation "San", which is the same as 3 in Japanese. Using a kanji in place of 3 is also a pun on how Gunvolt 2's Japanese title is ガンヴォルト爪. for any potential third entry based on the expectation that its story would also be tragic.5ch Gunvolt 2 wiki, Glossary of terms page
==Trivia==
*The scrapped villain Gunvolt design was later referenced by the designs of the Gunvolt copy from Mighty Gunvolt Burst and Gunvolt's outfit in Azure Striker Gunvolt 3's secret ending.
*Unlike the first game, any skills that have had their names changed are re-dubbed by the voice actors, as opposed to the first game, which just played the Japanese voice clip over the changed name. This would become the series standard moving forward.
*The 1st official trailer was released on April 3, 2016.
*Unlike the first game, this game lacks an Easy or Hard Mode, though certain equipment such as the Omega Pendant and the Heaven or Hell X subroutine can be used to replicate Hard Mode.
*In stages with water (Effusion (The Sewers) and EX The Sewers), standing in water that is just over Gunvolt or Copen's head will cause them to emit "escaping air" visual effects but never actually begin losing health via drowning. Drowning only occurs when the player character is submerged deeper.
==References==
==External Links==
*English Site
*Japanese Site
== Navigation ==
===Series Navigation===
===Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 Navigation===
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