If you've known the entire main series of Blazblue that started out in the same arcade system, you can probably suspect the fact of recycled assets. The character sprites from Blazblue series and Persona 4 Arena are in 720p although there are newer ones exclusively for Blazblue Cross Tag Battle. The backgrounds from Blazblue series and Persona 4 Arena are more or less the same. Even the effects are recycled from Blazblue series of games as well although some of the effects are redone exclusively for Blazblue Cross Tag Battle such as the new slash effects, the knock out effect, etc. Even the Distortion Drive backgrounds and Super Finish backgrounds are new as well, so are the new stage backgrounds. What people didn't know is that the stage backgrounds from Under Night In-Birth are redone or something in addition to the character sprites from that game.
In regards to the game opening, it's fully animated but it uses the opening theme that is suitable for arcade opening. Blazblue Continuum Shift II has one opening as its own which is the console opening and it's the same exact opening sequence for the arcade version. Well, I don't know if there will be an arcade opening for Blazblue Cross Tag Battle with Ver 1.5 update or something since the update has the altered HUD and balance changes or whatnot. There are rumors of the additional character, Naoto Kurogane, being added to the game as part of the update but for now, nobody knows if he'll be playable or not.
If there's no Arcade Mode for the arcade version, perhaps, the Training Mode is one of the free timing Single Player modes as the workaround for that absence. Also, like other fighting games in the arcades that offer nationwide online matches and local network matches, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle has those modes that cost the respective session points kind of like Sega's Border Break series.
The choices are as follows:
- The Nationwide Battle mode has four choices:
- The one that costs 50pts but I don't know the description of that feature.
- 3 matches for 100pts
- 6 matches for 200pts
- 9 matches for 300pts
- The local network match/Shop Battle costs 50p.
For the location test, the Nesica X Live 2 version will be used but the interesting thing about the game is that it is released for both Nesica X Live 2 and All.NET P-Ras Multi Version 3. All.NET P-Ras Multi Version 3 is Sega's superseding answer to Nesica X Live 2 with headphone volume adjustment, touchscreen for UI interactivity and support for external game controllers. Even Street Fighter V arcade version will have support for external game controllers although presentation-wise, it may fit Nesica X Live 2 platform even better instead of being a standalone arcade game. Also, regardless of the arcade platform, you can even view your combat data if you have played the game with the player IC card. Obviously, an universal player IC card seems to be recommended to avoid confusion but it appears that Street Fighter V arcade version is the first one to support that card with the Nesica logo on it so the confusion is assumed to be there as of this writing.
Speaking of the arcade game released on multiple arcade systems, the ones of the past were already released on multiple platforms with minor difference of graphics, sound and music. And no, I'm not talking about the arcade game having two versions with the latter one having additional stuffs or with the player IC card support as that doesn't count here.
The arcade version will be released in Spring this year in Japan and who knows if things are linkable between two arcade platforms for this game? Will there be a cross-play feature in between those two?
