is a 2D arcade fighting game developed by Ecole Software and French Bread and published by Sega. The game celebrates the 20th anniversary of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint, featuring various characters from light novels published under the imprint. The game was first released in Japanese arcades in March 2014, and later released on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on November 13, 2014. The console version was released in North America and Europe in October 2015. The game's theme song is "Belief" by Mami Kawada.
An updated version of the game, titled , was released in July 2015. The update contains additional characters and more balanced gameplay. The updated version was released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in December 2015 only in Japan. The updated version's theme song is "ID" by LiSA.
Gameplay Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is a two-dimensional fighting game, in which two players fight against each using both a playable fighter character and an assist character. Fighting uses three main attack buttons: weak, medium, and strong, along with a support button used for summoning a player's assist character. After an assist character is summoned, players need to rebuild their support gauge before they can summon them again. By building the Climax Gauge with attacks, players can perform powerful Impact Skill attacks, and can also use Blast Icons to perform Blast Attacks, allowing them to escape from combos. The home version features an original story campaign, Dream Duel Story, and online multiplayer, and supports cross-save functionality between the PS3 and Vita versions. Samples from the represented light novel series are also included as unlockable content.
In the Ignition update, it adds another assist character slot, but for Blast only instead of Assist. A new system called Ignition is introduced, giving one character in each team a power-up after each round. From the second round on, if the same Ignition on the team's character from the previous round is reused, it gives an "Extra Ignition".
Character roster The initial roster features 12 playable characters and 18 assist characters from 22 light novels and the current roster is 19 playable characters and 30 assist characters. The roster features characters under the Dengeki Bunko imprint, among playable characters and assist characters that can be called while in the middle of a round to help the playable character in various ways. All characters are voiced by their respective actors from the anime adaptations, with a few exceptions. A non-playable character known as (voiced by Mao), based on the Dreamcast character from Sega Hard Girls, summons the playable characters for their aid to combat a malevolent entity (voiced by Ken Narita) from the organization Zetsumu who takes the form of the captured playable characters, followed by a form of Akira Yuki from Sega's Virtua Fighter series, with Pai Chan as his assist, as boss characters; both Akira and Pai later became playable characters in the console ports and post-Version 1.20 arcade versions.
Eight additional characters (four playable and four assists) were added to the roster by mid-2014. The second Sega guests, Selvaria Bles and Alicia Melchiott of Valkyria Chronicles, first appeared in the console ports and later added to the arcade version 1.30, along with other assist characters from other Dengeki Bunko's published series. The games' various stages and their accompanying music tracks are based on other Sega titles, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Nights into Dreams..., Shinobi, Border Break, Valkyria Chronicles, 7th Dragon and Phantasy Star Online 2. The DLC characters from Sword Art Online, Yuuki and the assist Llenn, were released on December 25, 2015. DLC characters from And you thought there is never a girl online?, Ako and the assist Rusian, was included in a future update.
Playable characters Character Series Voice actor Arcade revision Original Ignition Akira Yuki Virtua Fighter Shin-ichiro Miki 1.2 Ako And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online? Rina Hidaka 2.3 Asuna Sword Art Online Haruka Tomatsu 1.0 Emi Yusa The Devil Is a Part-Timer! Yōko Hikasa 2.0 Kirino Kosaka Oreimo Ayana Taketatsu 1.0 Kirito Sword Art Online Yoshitsugu Matsuoka 1.0 Kuroko Shirai A Certain Magical Index / A Certain Scientific Railgun Satomi Arai 2.15 Kuroyukihime Accel World Sachika Misawa 1.0 Mikoto Misaka A Certain Magical Index / A Certain Scientific Railgun Rina Satō 1.0 Miyuki Shiba The Irregular at Magic High School Saori Hayami 1.1 Qwenthur Barbotage Heavy Object Natsuki Hanae 2.0 Rentarō Satomi Black Bullet Yuki Kaji 1.15 Selvaria Bles Valkyria Chronicles Sayaka Ohara 1.2 Shana Shakugan no Shana Rie Kugimiya 1.0 Shizuo Heiwajima Durarara!! Daisuke Ono 1.0 Taiga Aisaka Toradora! Rie Kugimiya 1.1 Tatsuya Shiba The Irregular at Magic High School Yuichi Nakamura 2.1 Tomoka Minato Ro-Kyu-Bu! Kana Hanazawa 1.0 Yukina Himeragi Strike the Blood Risa Taneda 1.15 Yuuki Sword Art Online Aoi Yūki 2.2
Assist characters Character Series Voice actor Arcade revision Original Ignition Accelerator and Last Order A Certain Magical Index/A Certain Scientific Accelerator Nobuhiko Okamoto and Rina Hidaka 1.2 Alicia Melchiott Valkyria Chronicles Marina Inoue 1.2 Boogiepop Boogiepop Kaori Shimizu 1.0 Celty Sturluson Durarara!! Miyuki Sawashiro 1.0 Dokuro Mitsukai Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan Saeko Chiba 1.2 Enju Aihara Black Bullet Rina Hidaka 1.15 Erio Tōwa Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl Asuka Ōgame 1.0 Floretia Capistrano Heavy Object Shizuka Itō 2.0 Haruyuki Arita Accel World Yuuki Kaji 1.0 Hinata Hakamada Ro-Kyu-Bu! Yui Ogura 1.0 Holo Spice and Wolf Ami Koshimizu 1.0 Iriya Kana Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu Ai Nonaka 2.15 Izaya Orihara Durarara!! Hiroshi Kamiya 1.2 Kazari Uiharu A Certain Magical Index/A Certain Scientific Railgun Aki Toyosaki 2.15 Kino Kino's Journey Aya Hisakawa 1.0 Kōko Kaga Golden Time Yui Horie 1.0 Kojou Akatsuki Strike the Blood Yoshimasa Hosoya 1.15 Kuroneko Oreimo Kana Hanazawa 1.0 Leafa Sword Art Online Ayana Taketatsu 1.0 Llenn Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online Minami Tsuda 2.2 Mashiro Shiina The Pet Girl of Sakurasou Ai Kayano 1.0 Miyuki Shiba The Irregular at Magic High School Saori Hayami 2.1 Pai Chan Virtua Fighter Minami Takayama 1.2 Rusian And you thought there is never a girl online? Toshiyuki Toyonaga 2.3 Ryūji Takasu Toradora! Junji Majima 1.1 Sadao Maō The Devil Is a Part-Timer! Ryōta Ōsaka 1.0 Tatsuya Shiba The Irregular at Magic High School Yuichi Nakamura 1.1 Toma Kamijo A Certain Magical Index Atsushi Abe 1.0 Tomo Asama Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere Ami Koshimizu 2.15 Wilhelmina Carmel Shakugan no Shana Shizuka Itō 1.0 Zero Grimoire of Zero Karin Takahashi 2.15
Other characters + Characters who appear for certain playable characters' Special and Super Moves Character Series Voice actor Arcade revision Original Ignition Heivia Winchell Heavy Object Kaito Ishikawa 2.0 Milinda Brantini Heavy Object Eri Suzuki 2.0 Airi Kashii Ro-Kyu-Bu! Rina Hidaka 1.0 Alas Ramus The Devil Is a Part-Timer! Unknown 2.0 Maho Misawa Ro-Kyu-Bu! Yuka Iguchi 1.0 Saki Nagatsuka Ro-Kyu-Bu! Yoko Hikasa 1.0
Notes
: Available as extra, post-arcade and console release content. : Unlockable, but unplayable in Arcade and Dream Duel Modes in original game's console version. : Akira and Pai were originally non-playable in pre-console release arcade versions of original game. : Also appears for certain playable characters' Special and Super Moves. : Introduced in Ignition. : Both playable and assist characters. If certain playable characters are selected, certain playable characters will instead be assist characters and cannot be selected as the same character who has already been selected from the playable roster in Ignition. : Downloadable characters in "Ignition".
Reception
Awarding it 4 out of 5, Hardcore Gamer described it as "a love-letter to anime and Sega fans". In contrast, PlayStation Lifestyle awarded it a score of 5.5 out of 10, writing that "although solid enough as a fighting game, the emphasis here is certainly not on gameplay and can often leave newcomers disconnected from the fun." Destructoid said that it "may be too simplistic for most hardcore fighting game fans to enjoy as anything more than an ephemeral lark, but also perhaps still too complex for those that find the genre intimidating."
The PlayStation 3 version of Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax sold 34,671 copies within its first week in Japan, placing it at number six on the video game sales chart, while the PlayStation Vita version sold 25,607 copies in the same week, placing it at number nine on the chart.
See also Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus Dengeki Bunko: Crossing Void Under Night In-Birth
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