XJ-9: Corruption

"Androids and Machines Stand in Her Way"
XJ-9: Corruption, aka The Rise of XJ-9, XJ-9: Rise of the Disnomians is a robot hack-n-slash action-adventure video game by Morandal Games released in 2011, and was re-released for a remastered version in 2015 by Ubisoft. The Remastered version is a remake with 1080p graphics which can be supported up to 4K ultra 60fps,  (the 2011 release was 30fps and supported up to 720p), side missions called Interludes (you can get new weapons or upgrades upon completing them), challenges (similar to Witch Trials from Bayonetta) The game revolves around Sylunis-YMN650 developing a parasite which corrupts the robots. Discovering this, Jenny XJ-9 has been called to take down its sources. One of the gameplay mechanics in this game would later on be used for Legend of Korra (a spectacle fighter beat-em-up similar to this)
This game has been known to be part of the Nickelodeon Generations lineup; where it revives the former series and shows to create something new. 
==Plot==
In an unknown moonbase, Sylunis-YMN650 has been developing a parasite. The parasite will aim to corrupt the robots and force them to fight for her and plan world domination.
Jenny XJ-9 Wakeman is called into action to defend Earth from Sylunis's Disnomian Squad, which consists of the following units;
*Sylunis YMN-650: Leader of the Disnomians and mastermind of the robots.
*Rhoa TAM-490: Mechanic of the Disnomians and seeker.
*Anira MAG-320: Sorceress of the Disnomians and ranger.
*Graham CRU-400: Crusader of the Disnomians and fighter.
*Azurai CHA-550: Champion of the Disnomians and the main weapon.
After receiving her mission, Jenny is called upon to follow the trails of the Disnomian Squad, however, the soldiers divert her way across, and eventually, she gets threatened to get scrapped for a replacement; Josephine XJ-10...
==Gameplay==
This game plays more like Devil May Cry, as they both have hack-n-slash combos and various combos. XJ-9 has the following gameplay mechanics including:
*Energy Reactor: Jenny must have a certain level of energy to activate certain weapons and combos. She can charge it up by holding B/Circle/A which would be later used as chi in PlatinumGames's Legend of Korra and weapon energy in Wonderful 101.
*Overdrive: Whenever Jenny does perform stylish combos, she can perform an Overdrive which gives her increased energy capacity and extra combo input. Press L1 to indicate it. This would later become inspired via the Umbran Climax in Bayonetta 2.
Unlike Devil May Cry, which explores more on fighting demons, this game mostly fights robots and androids.
There is a gameplay tutorial called "The Way of the Robot". Unlike the normal missions, you will have access to all 4 fighting styles on your weapon, there is no health bar and you can't die while demonstrating the combat (parries, energy, etc.)
The health bar can be upgraded through RAM extensions which increase her health by 1/4. The maximum is 2 bars twice the size. Her energy gauge can be upgraded to twice. 
There are also weapons to use, (with their own fighting style) and a D-Pad shortcut menu where you assign weapons, which was inspired by Dark Souls, where the players could assign four items/weapons into the D-Pad. L and R change your fighting style if you use an "all-around" weapon. LT/L2 guards, and if timed right Jenny can do a parry attack similar to that of Metal Gear Rising's. RT/R2 lets Jenny do a steerable dodge similar to that of Nier's.
The graphics in this game are mostly anime cartoon 3D similar in style to the Tales games, Xenoblade and Senran Kagura.
===Fighting Styles===
Name 	Color 	Combos	Speed 	Combat 	Energy Usage	How to Unlock
Crusader 	Classic teal	Medium	Medium	Swords, melee strikes 	Low 	Starting style
Lunatic 	Purple 	High 	Medium	Plasma strikes, energy bombs 	Medium 	Complete Mission 3
Mastermind	Green 	High 	Slow 	Grenades, lasers, electric lasso, machines 	High 	Complete Mission 6
Seraph 	Magenta 	High 	Fast 	Stars, amplifiers, chargers, electric strikes	High 	Complete Mission 9
Diabolic 	Red 	Low 	Fast 	Space strikes, rift portals 	Medium 	Complete Interlude "Born to be Wild"
====Weapons====
Weapon Name 	Fighting Style (All-around if it's all four styles)	Combos	How to Get
StarBlade 	All-around 	High 	Starting weapon
Shiva Blades 	Crusader 	High 	Complete Mission 1
Plasma Chains	Lunatic 	Medium	Complete Mission 3
Laser Beam 	Mastermind 	Low 	Complete Mission 7
Android Call 	Mastermind 	Medium	Complete Mission 9
Electric Rod 	Seraph 	Medium	Complete Mission 10
Vacuum Drill 	Lunatic 	Low 	Complete Mission 11
====Optional Weapons====
These are weapons that are obtained from Interludes.
Weapon Name 	Fighting Style	Combos	How to Unlock
Time Dynamo 	Diabolic 	Low 	Complete "Time Chase"
Saberstaff 	Crusader 	High 	Complete "Beyond Berserk"
Cyber Ssanggeom	All-around 	High 	Complete "An Optimus's Discovery"
===Accessories===
Accessories are equipment that Jenny can use. They can improve Jenny's combo input, and give bonuses depending on what it does. Only two accessories can be equipped.
Accessory Name 	Description
Tesla Director 	Makes Jenny automatically use quality combos.
Chronos Chip 	Allows you to time-distort after dodging.
Luminous Power Chip 	Makes you have an infinite energy gauge.
"Goddess of Carnage" Chip	Increases attack speed and adds shockwaves.
Chroma Skates 	Makes running let go of a trail of rainbow footsteps. Also increases speed
===Costumes===
Costumes are for appearance look. They do not have special effects but are pleasant to look at.
Costume Name 	Description 	Changes Color via Fighting Style?	How to Unlock
Vexus Suit 	A dress and slippers tinted after Queen Vexus, the leader of the Clusters. 	No 	
Sylunis's Uniform	Sylunis's personal uniform. 	Yes 	
Bounty Hunter 	A long teal leather jacket and gothic clothes underneath. 	No 	
Beach Princess 	A blue flower on the head, a bikini with a skirt (with star patterns on it, and heels)	Yes 	
Original XJ-9 	The original XJ-9 suit, as depicted in the Concept Art behind the TV series. 	Yes 	Clear the game in XJ-9 Hard mode.
===Difficulty Settings===
As a Morandal hack-n-slash game, this is expected.
*Casual: For players that are just interested in experiencing the story. (75% strength, 60% aggressiveness)
*Normal: For casual gamers who are familiar with combat aspects.
*Hard: For hardcore robotic experts. (160% strength, 150% aggressiveness)
*XJ-X Hard: Enemies do 3x more damage (Jenny with maxed-out HP can die from an averagely 6 to 8 hits), but her counter-attack is powered up to do the damage they do (beat Hard to unlock)
==Missions==
Missions are the main chapters of the games. There are 19 missions in this game (which take around 10 to 25 minutes to finish) In the chapter select screen, the missions are indicated as icons, and the target's palette indicates who the main antagonist of the chapter is.
Mission Name 	Length 	Target
Prologue 	8 minutes 	Sylunis (1st)
The Journey Begins 	12 minutes	Xenon 
The Lunatic of Rage 	15 minutes	Azurai (1st)
The Crusader of Courage 	10 minutes	Graham (1st)
The Looking Glass 	7 minutes 	Titania
The Mastermind of Ideal 	17 minutes	Rhoa (1st)
Into the Woods 	8 minutes 	Apex-505
One Light, One Go 	10 minutes	Tracer-X
The Seraph of Glamour 	12 minutes	Anira (1st)
Graham's Sighting 	7 minutes 	Graham (2nd)
Sylunis's Strike 	9 minutes 	Sylunis (2nd)
Counter Attack 	10 minutes	Azurai (2nd)
Anira's Seduction 	8 minutes 	Anira (2nd)
Rhoa's Revenge 	10 minutes	Rhoa (2nd)
Disnomia Awakening 	12 minutes	Zero MIT-780
The Truth behind XJ-9 	11 minutes	XJ-9 Phantom
Darksiding Jenny 	12 minutes	Josephine XJ-10
The Disnomian's Reckoning	20 minutes	Four Disnomia (3rd)
Sylunis's Reign 	10 minutes	Sylunis (3rd)
===Interludes===
Interludes are side missions unlockable by fulfilling certain objectives in missions. (TBA)
===Vanguard Trials===
Vanguard Trials are special challenges similar in fashion to the Witch Trials from Bayonetta.
Trial Name	Target 	Reward
Trial 001 	Elite Robots 	
Trial 002 	Dreadlord Androids 	
Trial 003 	Xenon Kaisers 	
Trial 004 	Oberon and Skull 450 	
Trial 005 	The Disnomian Squad (Sylunis, Rhoa, Anira, Graham and Azurai)	
===Bosses===
Bosses are special enemies that have more health and are important to the plot to take out. They each have their own fighting style similar to the player's.
Boss Name 	Description 	Strength (1 to 5)	Toughness	Fighting style
Xenon 	 	*** 	*** 	Crusader
Anira 	A master of beautiful destruction. She uses her allureness to fall for her bloody reckoning.	*** 	**** 	Seraph
Graham 	A mercenary of dark business. He uses awareness and sight to awaken his powers. 	*** 	**** 	Crusader
Rhoa 	A mechanic of the evil within. He uses the ideal faith to destroy his prey. 	***** 	** 	Mastermind
Azurai 	A champion of the plasma. He uses the metamorphosis in his heart to fuel his rage. 	*** 	***** 	Lunatic
Josephine 	A post-production model of Jenny. Seeks to replace her. 	**** 	**** 	All-around
Sylunis 	 	***** 	***** 	All-around
==Achievements==
Name 	Description 	Trophy Rank
Platinum Robot 	Platinum'd it! Great job! 	Platinum
XJ-Recruit 	Complete the first mission. 	Bronze
Robot Heroine 	Clear all 19 missions. 	Silver
Geared Up 	Gain all fighting styles and weapons 	Silver
Diabolic Esper 	Learn the Diabolic fighting style 	Bronze
Angelic Robot 	Learn the Seraph fighting style 	Bronze
Let's Do Something Else	Clear your first Interlude. 	Bronze
Caring Robot 	Clear all of the Interludes. 	Silver
Shiva's Dancer 	Using the Shiva Blades, perform the Beautiful Dance move (requires a combination of buttons and timing) 	Bronze
Connect the Dots 	Using the Plasma Chains, with all of the beads, strike it so all beads connect to a different enemy (depends on enemy placement and targeting)	Bronze
Champion Robot 	Complete XJ-X Hard. 	Gold
Optimus 	Summon your first android into battle. 	Bronze
Treasure Hunter 	Find all relics. 	Silver
S-S-S for the Win 	Get SSS on one mission. 	Silver
Goddess of Carnage 	Get the "Goddess of Carnage" accessory. 	Silver
The Collector 	Get all accessories. 	Silver
Finish Him 	Using a Vacuum Drill, finish off one boss with a fully charged drill. 	Bronze
Don't Touch Me 	Defeat Sylunis-YMN650 without taking damage. 	Gold
Beautfiul Grace 	Using the Seraph fighting style, with robotic wings defeat 10 enemies while airborne. 	Bronze
Rainbow Robot (Secret) 	Equip the Chroma Skates. 	Bronze
==Reception==
XJ-9: Corruption has gotten "generally favorable reviews" so far. It has 75's on Metacritic, 7.6 on IGN, and 8/10 on GameSpot. Fans praised for a successful action-adventure licensed title based on Nickelodeon's properties, as the only well-known games were the Spongebob trilogy (a successful 3D platformer)  by Heavy Iron Studios back then and the sequel to Nightmare Before Christmas by Capcom (comparisons between this and that were made as their both character action games based off kid's products)
As the action game TMNT: Out of the Shadows was released in 2013 and got mixed to negative reception, the top review on Steam said with this conclusion;
*"Get XJ-9 instead, it's done by a proper action game developer who knows what their doing. Do yourself a favor and buy licensed titles that are made by developers that don't suck at making kids games."
===Jenny XJ-9 vs. Korra===
As PlatinumGames was getting ready to release their licensed title based on The Legend of Korra with Activision, fans made comparisons to this game with Platinum's Legend of Korra game since they are both character action games. They noticed the early game hell (the early game can be quite rough trying to figure out the mechanics without any good weapons). They also didn't like how the running stages worked (combining limited hits with 90-degree turns that you can't even slow down and fast reaction times or instant death involving sadistic enemy placement). This, however, also led to one of Platinum's hardest bosses, which was the mecha-tank trio in Chapter 5. (which Hans Wolken, Morandal's main director would later rip apart in his 2020 livestream when he plays Platinum's licensed titles including the Star Fox game)
Fans concluded that this game is better since it's more friendly to their audience, a lot easier to pick up and play, and longer and less frustrating. Both games had different fighting styles, a parry system, and a charge-up gauge, but Jenny had more customization as she had more weapons while Korra only had 4 types of bending.
Jenny XJ-9 (Morandal)	Korra (Platinum)
*Got an E10+ rating and a PEGI 7
*Focused more on the story and audience
*Easy to pick up and play and has a tutorial.
*The game starts off with a sword with some cool combos
*Has absolutely no running stages at all but focuses more on techniques from each style and the bosses
*The game has 19 stages and interludes in the remasters
*Based on it's own side story instead of just the show (alongside a new band of villains)
*Published by Bandai Namco (Morandal had the budget) and later by Ubisoft.	
*Got a T rating and a PEGI 12
*Focused more on the action
*Hard to pick up and play, no separate tutorial to demonstrate strategies. (Early Game Hell)
*No fancy combos in the beginning (no bending in the beginning and has to regain it)
*Has running stages with 90-degree turns with hits and ratchet speed involving sadistic enemy placement
*The game has only 8 stages (which range from 4 minutes to 20 minutes)
*Based off seasons 2 and seasons 3
*Published by Activision (Activision had the budget)
==Trivia==
*XJ-9 Corruption wasn't the first licensed title to play like a character action game. The first one was Nightmare Before Christmas by Capcom.
**It also wasn't Morandal's first licensed title, their first one was Neopets: Astral Guardian which was an action-adventure game released in March 2009 that made use of a crystal augment system (where you build combinations of battle crystals to make the best attack)
*Sylunis-YMN650 is named after Sylunis, a fallen sister of the sea goddess Aubrey.
*The Bounty Hunter costume is loosely based on Dante's uniform from DmC.
Category:Nickelodeon Games
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