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 Manga
    Lighthearted 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 (TBA)
  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. The Blue Blood was the first idea, but became Blue Bloods to shorten the length. Other logo variants included Blue Blood and Vergatorion: The Blue Blood. From there the word "riot" was incorporated, first as Riot: The Blue Blood, then RiotBlue. RiotBlue: Calamity Trigger almost became the decided title, but had to be changed due to a potential copyright issue; the final title was changed to BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger just two days before the official release. Toshimichi Mori 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."

History

Date of Release	Title	Visual
2008
November 20, 2008 JP	ARCADE BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
2009
April 9, 2009	WEB RADIO BlazBlue Radio
June 25, 2009 JP June 30, 2009 US	PS3, XBOX 360 BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
November 20, 2009 JP	ARCADE BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
2010
January 27, 2010 JP	NINTENDO DSIWARE BlayzBloo: Super Melee Brawlers Battle Royale (BlazBlue: Battle X Battle)
February 20, 2010	EVENT BlueFes 2010 -Spring Raid- at Shinagawa Stellar Ball
February 25, 2010 JP	PSP BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
July 1, 2010 JP July 27, 2010 NA December 3, 2010 EU	PS3, XBOX 360 BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
August 7, 2010	EVENT BlazBlue Streaming at Shibuya AMG Hall
August 19, 2010 JP	MOBILE BlazBlue: Mobile Battle
August 20, 2010 JP	NOVEL BlazBlue: Phase 0
August 26, 2010 JP	PC BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
September 9, 2010 EU	PS3, XBOX 360 BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
December 9, 2010 JP	ARCADE BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II
2011
January 22, 2011	LIVE Guilty Gear X BlazBlue Music Live 2011 at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA'
February 14, 2011 JP	COMIC BlazBlue: Chimelical Complex
March 31, 2011 JP May 31, 2011 NA Nov 4, 2011 EU	PSP, 3DS BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II
April 20, 2011 JP	NOVEL BlazBlue: Phase Shift 1
July 1, 2011	NEWS BROADCAST PUPPET SHOW BlazBlue Play
December 17, 2011 JP	PS3, XBOX 360, PS VITA BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
2012
February 14, 2012 NA	PS3, XBOX 360 BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
February 14, 2012 NA February 22, 2012 EU	PS VITA BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
March 24, 2012	TOURNAMENT BlazBlue Revolution at Differ Ariake
May 31, 2012 JP	PSP BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
August 5, 2012	EVENT BlueFes 2012 -Riot Summer Again- at Shinkiba Studio Coast
November 11, 2012 JP	ARCADE BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma
December 21, 2012 JP	WINDOWS 8 BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
December 26, 2012 JP	3DS BlazBlue: Clone Phantasma
2013
January 19, 2013 JP	NOVEL BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger - Part 1
February 7, 2013 JP	COMIC BlazBlue: Remix Heart
May 19, 2013	EVENT Arc System Works Festival at Pacific Yokohama
September 20, 2013 JP	NOVEL BlazBlue: Continuum Shift - Part 1
October 8, 2013	ANIME BlazBlue: Alter Memory
October 9, 2013 JP	COMIC BlazBlue
October 24, 2013 JP	PS3 BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma
October 24 - November 10, 2013	EVENT BlazBlue Museum at Akihabara Gamers
2014
March 3 - March 9, 2014	STAGE Live Act BlazBlue ~Continuum Shift~ at The Galaxy Theatre (Tennōzu)
March 25, 2014 NA	PS4, PS3, XBOX ONE BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma
April 24, 2014 JP, NA	PS VITA BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma
June 20, 2014 JP	NOVEL BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience - Part 1
July 12, 2014	LIVE Guilty Gear X BlazBlue Music Live 2014 at Kawasaki CLUB CITTA'
October 9, 2014 JP	ARCADE BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Ver 2.0
December 11, 2014	STEAM BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
2015
January 7, 2015 JP February 23, 2015 NA March 23, 2015KR	APP Eat Beat: Dead Spike-san
March 29, 2015	LIVE BlazBlue Music Live 2015 at Zepp Tokyo
April 23, 2015 JP June 30, 2015 NA July 28, 2015 NA (PS Vita) October 23, 2015 EU	PS4, PS3, XBOX One, PS VITA BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend
July 12, 2015	EVENT Blue Fes 2015 -Lord☆Ultimate~-
November 19, 2015 JP	ARCADE BlazBlue: Central Fiction
2016
March 2, 2016	STEAM BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend
August 10 - 14, 2016	STAGE Live Act BlazBlue ~Continuum Shift~ at Shinjukumura Performing Theater
October 6, 2016 JP	PS3, PS4 BlazBlue: Central Fiction
October 20, 2016 JP	NOVEL BlazBlue: Spiral Shift – Hero of the Frozen Blade
December 12, 2016 JP	COMIC BlazBlue: Variable Heart
2017
April 27, 2017	STEAM BlazBlue: Central Fiction
August 3, 2017 JP	ARCADE BlazBlue Central Fiction Ver 2.0
2018
March 22, 2018 JP, NA	NINTENDO SWITCH Eat Beat: Dead Spike-san
March 31, 2018 JP June 5, 2018 NA June 22, 2018 EU	PS4, NINTENDO SWITCH, STEAM BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
November 20, 2018	BlazBlue 10th Anniversary
2019
February 7, 2019 JP, US February 8, 2019 EU	NINTENDO SWITCH BlazBlue: Central Fiction Special Edition
April 25, 2019 JP	ARCADE BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
November 21, 2019	PS4, NINTENDO SWITCH, STEAM BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Ver 2.0
TBA
TBA	MOBILE BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War

External Links

• BlazBlue official website (Japanese)
• BlazBlue official Twitter (Japanese)