BlazBlue (Franchise)

BlazBlue (ブレイブルー) is a 2D fighting game series that first released in Japan on arcades on November 20, 2008, as BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. Since then, the BlazBlue series has released a variety of games and evolved into a multi-media franchise, producing novels, comics, animation, and theater.
==Overview==
:The earliest release date regardless of region is used for consistency.
===C-Series===
The main part of the BlazBlue series is named the "C-Series" because the subtitles of the main games in this series all start with the letter C. The series focuses around the life of its protagonist, Ragna the Bloodedge.
*BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (2008)The first mainline game in the C-Series.
**BlazBlue: Chimelical Complex (2011)A manga adaptation of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger focusing on Ragna the Bloodedge.
**BlazBlue (Manga) A manga adaptation of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger.
**BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (Novel) (2013) The novelization of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, consisting of two novels.
**BlazBlue Material Collection BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger's material collection, which included one short story for each playable character.
*** Memory of BLUE (Ragna's short story)
*** purgatory hell (Jin's short story)
*** THE BLUE (Noel's short story)
*** Trust You (Tager's short story)
*** Capricious Us (Taokaka's short story)
*** Endless Waltz (Rachel's short story)
*** The Diary (Arakune's short story)
*** Borderline (Litchi's short story)
*** Puppeteers (Carl's short story)
*** Fortune favors the bold (Bang's short story)
*** Innocent Black (Hakumen's short story)
*** an evil sign (Nu-13's short story)
** BlazBlue MangaLighthearted four-panel comics published online. A second season was published in issues of the now-defunct arcade gaming magazine Monthly Arcadia and also provided online.
** BlazBlue Official Comics (2009)A series of two volumes of lighthearted four-panel comics.
*BlazBlue: Continuum Shift (2009)The second mainline game in the C-Series.
**BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II (2011)An arcade remake of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, that was later provided as a free update to the console version of the game.
**BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend (2012)An extension of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger introducing new playable characters.
**BlazBlue: Continuum Shift (Novel) (2013) The novelization of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, consisting of two novels.
**BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Material Collection
***Trigger Shift
**Live Act BlazBlue ~Continuum Shift~ (2016) A live play adapting the story of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift.
**BlazBlue Drama CD The Wheel of Fortune (2010)A drama CD detailing an alternative universe where Noel doesn't exist and Tsubaki serves as Jin's secretary instead.
**BlayzBloo: Super Melee Brawlers Battle Royale (2010)A lightweight action spinoff for Nintendo DSiWare.
*BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma (2012)The third mainline game in the C-Series.
** BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend (2015)An extension of BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma introducing new playable characters.
** Arc System Works 25th Anniversary Official Character Collection
*** Scarlett rose A short story focusing around Rachel shortly after she wakes up from her long slumber after the Dark War.
*** Evergreen Eyes
**BlazBlue: Alter Memory (2013)An anime series that adapted various parts of the CT and CS novels with some of the CP story.
**BlazBlue: Clone Phantasma (2012)A lightweight action spinoff following in the vein of BlayzBloo: Super Melee Brawlers Battle Royale for Nintendo 3DS.
**BlazBlue Revolution Reburning (2015)A third-party RPG spinoff for mobile platforms acknowledged by Arc System Works.
*BlazBlue: Central Fiction (2016)The fourth and final mainline game in the C-Series.
**BlazBlue: Central Fiction Special Edition (2019) A port of BlazBlue: Central Fiction to Nintendo Switch, containing all DLC from the original.
===BlazBlue: Phase Shift===
Consisting of the four BlazBlue: Phase Shift novels, numbered simply from one to four, and sometimes including a fifth book, BlazBlue: Phase 0, all of which are set during the Dark War.
* BlazBlue: Phase Shift (2011) A series of four novels that follow the Six Heroes and Celica A. Mercury through the Dark War.
* BlazBlue: Phase 0 (2010)A standalone novel that details the Dark War during the very first loop of the Looping World. Due to the similarity of its title to those of the Phase Shift series, it is often lumped together with them.
===BlazBlue: Remix Heart and BlazBlue: Variable Heart===
Two series of manga that focus around protagonist Mai Natsume during and shortly after her time in the Military Academy.
* BlazBlue: Remix Heart (2013)A lighthearted manga that showcases the Military Academy as Mai becomes fast friends with Tsubaki, Noel, and Makoto.
* BlazBlue: Variable Heart (2016)The sequel to BlazBlue: Remix Heart but no longer set within school bounds, which picks up shortly before graduation, just as the Ikaruga Civil War ends.
===BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience===
* BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience (2014)A series of novels set in an alternate universe to the mainline C-Series, following the protoganist Naoto Kurogane and the troubles of his Drive, Bloodedge, through a close-to-modern time period.
===XBlaze===
A couple of visual novels set in an earlier alternate universe to the mainline C-Series. It introduced the Mitsurugi Agency and was the first to focus heavily on Drives.
*XBlaze Code: Embryo (2013)The first game in the XBlaze series, following Touya Kagari and his misadventures with Es and other lively characters surrounding the mysteries of the Wadatsumi Incident.
*XBlaze Lost: Memories (2015)Following the unnamed protagonist as she searches for her younger sister and is pulled into a mysterious space known as the "Phantom Field".
===BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War===
* BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War (2021)An RPG for mobile platforms featuring a new protagonist, Ciel Sulfur.
** one emerging possibility (2018)The prologue to BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War
** BlazBlue Walker (2018)A companion web comic to BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War, published online.
===BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle===
* BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (2018)A spin-off tag-team fighting game that crosses over the BlazBlue universe with those of fellow fighting game series Persona 4 Arena and Under Night In-Birth and the 3DCG animated series RWBY.
===Miscellaneous===
* BlazBlue: Spiral Shift – Hero of the Frozen Blade (2016)A novel from Jin Kisaragi's perspective during the Ikaruga Civil War.
* Eat Beat: Dead Spike-san (2015)A simple rhythm game for Android and iOS, which was ported to Nintendo Switch in 2018.
* BlazBlue Radio A companion, animated, Japanese-language web radio show that brings on various voice actors to have a generally good time and share news. From the eighth season onwards episodes are subbed officially in English, Simplified Chinese, and Korean.
* BlazBlue Cats A series of short animated videos featuring characters from the BlazBlue cast as cats.
==Creation & Development==
===Name Origin===
The series experimented with different titles before it was finalized as BlazBlue. The story was set to be about the "Azure," so staff wanted to include the word "Blue" in it no matter what. was the first idea, but became to shorten the length. Other logo variants included and . From there the word "riot" was incorporated, first as , then . almost became the decided title, but had to be changed due to a potential copyright issue; the final title was changed to just two days before the official release. Mori Toshimichi mentions that upon the sudden name shift, a designer suggested that the "Blaz" in BlazBlue be pronounced "blay." The title of the Genesis of the Azure Flame artbook suggests that "BlazBlue" may in fact a play on the word "sapphire" (saph-fire), written in Japanese as 蒼炎 (safaia) using kanji meaning "azure flame."BlazBlue: Original Setting Material Collection - Genesis of the Azure Flame, Chapter 1 - Phenomena: Dawn (事象：黎明), BLAZBLUE Title & Logo Transition
===History===
Date of Release 	Title 	Visual
2008 	2008 	2008
November 20, 2008 JP 	ARCADEBlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 	
2009 	2009 	2009
April 9, 2009 	WEB RADIOBlazBlue Radio 	
June 25, 2009 JP June 30, 2009 US 	PS3, XBOX 360BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 	
November 20, 2009 JP 	ARCADEBlazBlue: Continuum Shift 	
2010 	2010 	2010
January 27, 2010 JP 	NINTENDO DSIWAREBlayzBloo: Super Melee Brawlers Battle Royale(BlazBlue: Battle X Battle)	
February 20, 2010 	EVENTBlueFes 2010 -Spring Raid-at Shinagawa Stellar Ball 	
February 25, 2010 JP 	PSPBlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 	
July 1, 2010 JPJuly 27, 2010 NA December 3, 2010 EU 	PS3, XBOX 360BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 	
August 7, 2010 	EVENTBlazBlue Streamingat Shibuya AMG Hall 	
August 19, 2010 JP 	MOBILEBlazBlue: Mobile Battle 	
August 20, 2010 JP 	NOVELBlazBlue: Phase 0 	
August 26, 2010 JP 	PCBlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 	
September 9, 2010 EU 	PS3, XBOX 360BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 	
December 9, 2010 JP 	ARCADEBlazBlue: Continuum Shift II 	
2011 	2011 	2011
January 22, 2011 	LIVEGuilty Gear X BlazBlue Music Live 2011at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA' 	
February 14, 2011 JP 	COMICBlazBlue: Chimelical Complex 	
March 31, 2011 JPMay 31, 2011 NANov 4, 2011 EU 	PSP, 3DSBlazBlue: Continuum Shift II 	
April 20, 2011 JP 	NOVELBlazBlue: Phase Shift 1 	
July 1, 2011 	NEWS BROADCAST PUPPET SHOWBlazBlue Play 	
December 17, 2011 JP 	PS3, XBOX 360, PS VITABlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend 	
2012 	2012 	2012
February 14, 2012 NA 	PS3, XBOX 360BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend 	
February 14, 2012 NAFebruary 22, 2012 EU 	PS VITABlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend 	
March 24, 2012 	TOURNAMENTBlazBlue Revolutionat Differ Ariake 	
May 31, 2012 JP 	PSPBlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend 	
August 5, 2012 	EVENTBlueFes 2012 -Riot Summer Again-at Shinkiba Studio Coast 	
November 11, 2012 JP 	ARCADEBlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma 	
December 21, 2012 JP 	WINDOWS 8BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 	
December 26, 2012 JP 	3DSBlazBlue: Clone Phantasma 	
2013 	2013 	2013
January 19, 2013 JP 	NOVELBlazBlue: Calamity Trigger - Part 1 	
February 7, 2013 JP 	COMICBlazBlue: Remix Heart 	
May 19, 2013 	EVENTArc System Works Festivalat Pacific Yokohama 	
September 20, 2013 JP 	NOVELBlazBlue: Continuum Shift - Part 1 	
October 8, 2013 	ANIMEBlazBlue: Alter Memory 	
October 9, 2013 JP 	COMICBlazBlue 	
October 24, 2013 JP 	PS3BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma 	
October 24 - November 10, 2013 	EVENTBlazBlue Museumat Akihabara Gamers 	
2014 	2014 	2014
March 3 - March 9, 2014 	STAGELive Act BlazBlue ~Continuum Shift~at The Galaxy Theatre (Tennōzu) 	
March 25, 2014 NA 	PS4, PS3, XBOX ONEBlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma 	
April 24, 2014 JP, NA 	PS VITABlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma 	
June 20, 2014 JP 	NOVELBlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience - Part 1 	
July 12, 2014 	LIVEGuilty Gear X BlazBlue Music Live 2014at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA' 	
October 9, 2014 JP</small> 	ARCADEBlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Ver 2.0 	
December 11, 2014 	STEAMBlazBlue: Continuum Shift 	
2015 	2015 	2015
January 7, 2015 JP February 23, 2015 NAMarch 23, 2015KR 	APPEat Beat: Dead Spike-san 	
March 29, 2015 	LIVEBlazBlue Music Live 2015at Zepp Tokyo 	
April 23, 2015 JPJune 30, 2015 NAJuly 28, 2015 NA (PS Vita)October 23, 2015 EU	PS4, PS3, XBOX One, PS VITABlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend 	
July 12, 2015 	EVENTBlue Fes 2015 -Lord☆Ultimate~- 	
November 19, 2015 JP 	ARCADEBlazBlue: Central Fiction 	
2016 	2016 	2016
March 2, 2016 	STEAMBlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend 	
August 10 - 14, 2016 	STAGELive Act BlazBlue ~Continuum Shift~at Shinjukumura Performing Theater 	
October 6, 2016 JP 	PS3, PS4BlazBlue: Central Fiction 	
October 20, 2016 JP 	NOVELBlazBlue: Spiral Shift – Hero of the Frozen Blade 	
December 12, 2016 JP 	COMICBlazBlue: Variable Heart 	
2017 	2017 	2017
April 27, 2017 	STEAMBlazBlue: Central Fiction 	
August 3, 2017 JP</small> 	ARCADEBlazBlue Central Fiction Ver 2.0 	
2018 	2018 	2018
March 22, 2018 JP, NA 	NINTENDO SWITCHEat Beat: Dead Spike-san 	
March 31, 2018 JPJune 5, 2018 NAJune 22, 2018 EU 	PS4, NINTENDO SWITCH, STEAMBlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle 	
November 20, 2018 	BlazBlue 10th Anniversary 	
2019 	2019 	2019
February 7, 2019 JP, USFebruary 8, 2019 EU 	NINTENDO SWITCHBlazBlue: Central Fiction Special Edition 	
April 25, 2019 JP</small> 	ARCADEBlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle 	
November 21, 2019 	PS4, NINTENDO SWITCH, STEAMBlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Ver 2.0 	
2021 	2021 	2021
February 16, 2021JP</small> 	MOBILE<Br/>BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War 	
==External Links==
*BlazBlue official website (Japanese)
*BlazBlue official Twitter (Japanese)
==References==