I was introduced to the Melty Blood series, like most people, through Neco-Arc becoming a huge meme. When I saw my friends playing Type Lumina when it was new, I was immediately intrigued by the actual fighting game and wanted to play it for a long time. When I did finally play Type Lumina on a free weekend, I was immediately hooked. Since I've been obsessing over Melty Blood for so long, it was only a matter of time before I played Actress Again, and when I did I discovered my second favorite game of all time.

This version of the game comes with a lot of good features, fully translated dialogue for story scenes, input guides on the sidebars, better control support via Steam, and most importantly it's a way to officially support to developers. However, there is a community edition that has actually functional online and better functionality so it's the preferred version that most people play real matches on. In that case, the reason to buy this game comes down to its story, which is very complicated and doesn't give you a lot of direction for what's actually canon or what order to do the characters' arcade modes in. Here's my recommended order that I figured out through a LOT of research. However, note that to get the prerequisite story info you will have to read the visual novels Tsukihime and Kagetsu Tohya, and either watch through the story mode of Melty Blood 1 or just read the manga adaptation (which I personally prefer)

Shiki Tohno > Sion > Riesbyfe A > Satsuki > Kouma > Nanaya > White Len > Roa > Archetype > Ryougi > Hisui > Seifuku Ahika > Neco-Arc A > Mech-Hisui > Neco-Arc Chaos > Miyako > NecoMech > Neco-Arc B > KohaMech > Riesbyfe B (all other characters' arcade modes are kind of irrelevant)

With all that said, the part you actually care about is the gameplay, which is incredibly fun and highly technical. There are 31 characters to play as, each with 3 different Moon Styles that change their system mechanics and even movesets, meaning this game has effectively 93 characters! No matter how you like to play fighting games, there will be a character in this game that appeals to you. This game uses a 4 button control scheme, with one button being for the Shield, a stronger defensive option with high risk. This game is old, so a lot of the inputs to do special moves and advanced movement options like Instant Air Dashes and such can be pretty tight, but it's ultimately pretty simple to pick up and play at a basic level due to mechanics like Reverse Beat that make the game a lot more freeform and smooth than others of its genre from this time. The game is also surprisingly balanced for its age, with a lot of viable characters to learn even outside of the undisputed top 3 (C-Roa, C-Kohaku, and F-Archetype), and many more characters still being perfectly functional on a casual level.

In my opinion, this is one of the greatest fighting games of all time, and I highly recommend that if you are at all interested in the genre that you give this game a shot. However, just make sure that if you get this version you intend to do it for the story or for local multiplayer, and note that the game often goes on sale for like 5 dollars.

I love the little cat fella. Super Cute!!!

PEAK!!