Sol Radguy

Thanks :D There's a button in the editor called "Page" that puts this line down that does the "next/previous page" thing. It's to the left of the three paragraph alignment buttons and looks like a book

The first Guilty Gear game, published in 1998, actually had several preview articles published about it, going as far back as November 1995. I only know (and have scans of) the Dengeki PlayStation magazine articles for these early builds, so I'm only going to talk about those here. It's possible there might be more articles, or articles published in other gaming magazines, but Guilty Gear was a baby franchise in the mid-1990s and, since I don't live in Japan and this was 30 years ago now, it's very difficult to find sources for them, should any even exist. I'm going to cover the oldest article I know about first: Dengeki PlayStation (DPS) November 10, 1995, Vol.10. These scans are by Bocchi The Rock and cleaned/uploaded by me. I also did an English translation of this article (Archive.org) if you'd rather just go read it yourself instead of the highlights I'm going to share here. The date for the English translation upload (Oct. 13, 1995) may have been the date the magazine first went on sale and is the date I originally posted this translation under before I got cleaner scans from Bocchi. The old scans I had were incredibly low resolution and my translation currently still has some parts marked as illegible or that may be incorrectly translated because I had to guess at what the compressed kanji were. Updating it is on my sprawling to-do list lol. The article cover (note: not the cover for this issue of DPS): Nothing too wild going on here. Sol and Ky have had their iconic designs pretty much entirely ironed out by 1995, leaving the only "strangeness" to them (in hindsight) Daisuke Ishiwatari's still-developing art style. The kanji in paratheses next to the title (仮) means "placeholder" or "tentative." I don't know what other titles may have been on the table at the time, but the next DPS article for Guilty Gear (in February '96) dropped the "tentative" marker. Page 02: The introduction to the game and its director, a Mr. Ishiwatari (look how young he is there!). The purple header at the top hypes up the unique "one-hit kill system," which uses different wording than what they would eventually settle on: 一撃必殺 instead of 殺界発生. The article mentions the finer details of this system haven't been revealed yet, but that the gameplay and rock/metal/punk elements are expected to "bring new life" to the PlayStation. The sketch of a battle to the right of Daisuke was provided especially for this article, and the big purple box to the right of that explains the lore for the series. I'm going to paste my translation of it here in full because it's too insane to just summarize (please forgive any errors; this box was particularly challenging to read in the old low res scans I had...): Note: "Majin" are what would later become Gears and "The Leader" would become Justice, with "The Great Demon Wars" being the Crusades. The final box on this page talks about the graphics, which were rendered in 3D (then converted to 2D sprites) using the same technology used to create the graphics for Donkey Kong Country on the NES. The article really hypes up these graphics and generally seems to be impressed by them. By November 1996 these 3D generated graphics would be scrapped and replaced with the hand drawn 2D art that the game shipped with. I believe Daisuke Ishiwatari himself mentioned in an interview (possibly in the Character Designer Magazine, Issue 1, Fall 2003 interview with him) that he redrew most of the sprites himself, by hand, but I'm too lazy to dig up the citation for this at the moment. Page 03: Sol Badguy! He gets his own page because he's Daisuke's special little boy. Here's his lore and bio: Formerly a lone wolf bounty hunter, Sol joined the First Sacred Order of Holy Knights (an organization formed during the Great Demon Wars, a battle between humans and the demonic Majin) in the latter stages of its existence. However, he could not conform to the strict rules and discipline of the Order and soon left. At that time, he absconded with the organization's treasured sword, the “Fireseal.” Origin - America Age - 24 Height - 177cm (5’8”) Weight - 67kg (148lb) Blood Type- B Weapon - “Fireseal” He’s a super cool guy that never pretends to be righteous. Although he’s the main character, he’s also a heel[ In professional wrestling, a “heel” is the antagonist or a bad/antihero-type character that breaks rules and fights dirty.], a dirty antihero what a habit of saying, “That’s heavy!!” -- Daisuke's comment here talks about how he wears a steel headband ("of course") and that Sol is hiding a secret. Page 04: Yes, May's page comes immediately after Sol's. It's possible she had a larger role in the story in this early prototype than what she ended up having in the final release. Here's her bio and story summary: When she was eight years old, her parents died and she had no other relatives. At first she was reluctant to go with Johnny, but as she traveled with him she noticed his inner kindness and gradually became attracted to him and grew to love him. One day, however, Johnny was suddenly arrested by the police. May decided to enter the tournament in order to win and get Johnny released. Origin - Unknown Age - 18 Height - 154cm (5’0”) Weight - 47kg (104lb) Blood Type - B Weapon - “Bohemian" Daisuke comments on how she's the strongest character in the series and that he designed her to have a more modest outfit than the other female characters because of her devotion to Johnny. Guess maybe he'd get jealous or something otherwise? Who knows. The axe (Bohemian) was meant to emphasize her masculine side. Her name being in kanji here is interesting because it's only ever spelled with katakana (メイ) now. The kanji used are the same as for the month of May. Page 05: Ky and Potemkin on this page. Nothing particularly exciting about Ky, but Potemkin's a treat. Here's Ky's story and bio first, since he's at the top: At the age of 16, Ky became the leader of the First Sacred Order of Holy Knights in the latter years of its existence. Ky became the top swordsman in the Holy Order after Sol left it, and was given the Order’s treasured sword, the Thunderseal, as well as its inner secrets. Ky’s initial motive for participating in the tournament is to find out the true meaning behind it, and why it allows criminals—even murderers—to participate. His strong sense of justice and his earnest personality made him naturally suspicious of the tournament. However, his true main purpose was to settle the score with Sol, which he had not been able to during his time as a knight. Origin - Russia Age - 21 Height - 174cm (5’7”) Weight - 64kg (141lb) Blood Type - A Weapon - “Thunderseal” Daisuke's comment mentions that Ky is a "babyface" since Sol is a "heel." Potemkin's story/bio: Born into the Hansen family in Russia, a family of great axemen, he trained himself to be able to use the famous "Dreadnought" axe with ease. However, by the time he had mastered the Dreadnought, there were no fighters around that were strong enough to compete with him. Frustrated by this, he decided to enter the tournament... Origin - Russia Age - 34 Height - 197cm (6’5”) Weight - 123kg (271lb) Blood Type - B Weapon - “Dreadnought” Two Russians! Daisuke comments that he hopes you find Potemkin cool and that he was very easy to design lol Page 06: Axl Low and Millia Rage. Axl first: Axl Low is a man from the past. Growing up in a slum, he became a street gangster in order to survive his environment. However, he hates killing people so he expanded his territory through non-lethal fighting techniques. Then one day he suddenly slips through time to the far future. When Axl learns of the martial arts tournament and its prize that grants its winner anything they want, he heads to the tournament venue with the hope of winning and having his life restored to the way it was in the past. Origin - England (in the past) Age - 26 Height - 178cm (5’8”) Weight - 76kg (168lb) Blood Type - B Weapon - His kusarigama (chained sickles), “Betty” Daisuke mentions that Axl is the character he has the most emotional attachment to (without elaborating on why) and that the key to a character fighting with kusarigama is in animating them. Millia: Millia’s parents died when she was very young, and she was taken in by an assassin organization that trained her in the art of knife assassination. However, she was used as a sacrificial pawn by the organization, and in the midst of an assassination plot, she escaped and vowed to become a criminal afterwards. She entered the tournament to earn enough money to live off of for the rest of her life. Origin - Brazil Age - 21 Height - 169cm (5’5”) Weight - Unknown Blood Type - AB Weapon - Knives Brazilian Millia! Daisuke's comment talks about how her design initially had a lot of black before he brightened it up to help represent Millia's "queenly" aspect. Apparently her dialog would have leant into the sorrow she carried due to her past. Page 07: Kliff Undersn and Chipp Zanuff. Kliff first: A warrior who served as the leader of the First Sacred Order of Holy Knights in its early days. He was so strong during his time in the Order that he was known as “The Mightiest Warrior*,” and was given the treasured sword, “Dragonslayer,” which is said to be able to slay a dragon in a single strike. Kliff’s motivation for participating in the tournament is to show that his power has not waned yet. Origin - Switzerland Age - 68 Height - 157cm (5’2”) Weight - 47kg (104lb) Blood Type - O Weapon - “Dragonslayer” * This is a word difficult to translate into English: 一騎当千. A fun note with this one is how Kliff's sword has "Doragon Killer" carved into it, but the kanji used (斬竜刀) are the same for what they would later localize as "Dragonslayer" (like I did). Daisuke's comment mentions that the sword originally had a much longer handle but it was broken to better fit Kliff's height. The comment from DPS about him is kind of antagonistic, mentioning how he can't dash or backstep and that he's made only for players that like old geezers. Chipp's story/bio: Addicted to drugs as a youth, he joined the Mafia as a drug dealer. Eventually, he himself became overly addicted to drugs and could no longer do his job. The Mafia tried to get rid of him, but he was rescued by a ninja and trained under him. One day, Chipp’s ninja master was assassinated by the Mafia. Furious, he swore to win the tournament and become president in order to destroy the Mafia. Origin - Japan (self-proclaimed) Age - 22 Height - 176cm (5’8”) Weight - 72kg (159lb) Blood Type - A Weapon - “Les Paul” Both Daisuke's and DPS's comments for Chipp poke fun at him for being an American/foreigner that's pretending to be Japanese. Daisuke mentions that Chipp's ninja master's name was Yuuji (ユウジ) though. Much different from Tsuyoshi, the name he would end up being given. Page 08 (last page): Zato-One and Dr. Baldhead. I've always felt like Daisuke was referencing something specific with the Baldhead portrait here in the bottom left, but I've never been able to confirm that. Zato's info first: Zato is the leader of the Assassins and uses a forbidden spell that allows him to manipulate shadows at the cost of losing his vision. Even though he’s blind, Zato has such keen senses that he can detect the movement of things by changes in the surrounding atmosphere. Nevertheless, one of his assassination attempts was foiled when he was betrayed by a fellow assassin. As a result, he was arrested and sent to prison. When he found out that he was allowed to compete in the tournament, he became determined to win and seek exoneration. Origin - Spain Age - 25 Height - 182cm (5’10”) Weight - 83kg (183lb) Blood Type - AB Weapon - “Shadows” Daisuke's comment here is pretty long but it just boils down to how cool the shadows for Zato's weapon are and that it's meant to add the "magic" element of the setting into the gameplay (and that he's mysterious). Baldhead: Dr. Baldhead was once a good-hearted and brilliant surgeon, even called the best in the world. One day, however, he accidentally caused the death of a young girl suffering appendicitis, and he has since been driven mad by his inability to forgive his mistake. His madness turns him into a killer and spreads fear amongst the population. Soon after the crime he gets caught and the United Nations somehow forces him to participate in the tournament. Origin - China Age - 32 Height - 199cm (6’5”) Weight - 52kg (115lb) Blood Type - O Weapon - “Magnificently Sharp Giant Scalpel” Daisuke's comment for Baldhead starts off so good I gotta quote it directly: "I like shaved heads, and I wanted a bald character so I made one." Other than that, he just mentions that Baldhead's lifestyle is very tense and that he has an unusual laugh. -- Well, that's it! Thanks for reading the entire thing (or skipping to the end and reading just this lmao). Lemme know if you found it interesting and I can do some of the other articles. There are quite a few leading up to the actual release of the game and I've only translated two of them, so more people wanting to read them will light a fire under my butt and motivate me to actually do them (instead of doing something else instead idk).

Dibby so CUTE. I love trans flag Sin too it's iconic

This is my first time posting here as well. Jack-O' I did back in 2023.