BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is a 2D fighting game developed by Arc System Works, Sledgehammer Games and Vicarious Visions and published by Activision and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, eleased on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows in 2018. It will feature characters from the BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth, Trsformers and RWBY franchises by Arc System Works, Activision, Atlus, French Bread, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Universal Studios and Rooster Teeth respectively.

The game received mostly positive reviews, with praise directed towards its visuals, music, online functionality, and game mechanics. However, heavy criticism was directed towards its lack of overall content at launch, as well as its downloadable content (DLC) practices.

Plot
A singularity called the "Phantom Field" is mixing the reality of Blazblue with three other chosen universes, members of those worlds abruptly summoned while instructed by a "Phantom Field", the mysterious voice itself that they must protect the keystone in order to return to their homes. But as the Keystone is divided into four among the groups, it results in a battle to acquire them.

Gameplay
The gameplay on BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will be much different from previous entries of BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena and Under Night In-Birth. Yet, some of the gameplay mechanics from the main latest installments of these three said series are retained while having some additional revamp for this game.

Cross Tag Battle will feature 2v2 battles and tag-ins similar to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Characters
Cross Tag Battle has a total of 40 characters with 20 in the base game and another 20 available as Season 1 DLC. On June 7, 2018, Arc System Works president Minoru Kidooka confirmed that Season 2 DLC is planned. Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long were each scheduled to be downloadable content available for free, with the remaining 18 characters available for a premium. In the PC version's release, Blake was made available at launch as the 21st base character, while Yang was added via update patch at her release date, leaving only 18 characters of Season 1 DLC.

BlazBlue

 * Ragna the Bloodedge (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II)
 * Jin Kisaragi (Adrian Pasdar)
 * Rachel Alucard (Bailey Gambertoglio)
 * with Gii and Nago (Kate Micucci and Mark Allen Stewart)
 * Hazama (Stephen Oyoung)
 * Noel Vermillion (Amanda Leighton)
 * Azrael (Fred Tatasciore)
 * Iron Tager (Michael-Leon Wooley)
 * Makoto Nanaya (Mae Whitman)
 * Nu-13 (Melissa Disney)
 * Es (Eden Riegel)
 * Platinum the Trinity† (Alexis Tipton)
 * Jubei† (Mark Rolston)
 * Hakumen† (Brian Bloom)
 * Nine tge Phantom† (Eliza Dushku)
 * Izayoi† (Grey Griffin)
 * Mai Batsyne† (Stephanie Sheh)

Persona 4 Arena

 * Yu Narukami (Johnny Yong Bosch)
 * Yosuke Hanamura (Yuri Lowenthal)
 * Chie Satonaka (Erin Fitzgerald)
 * Yukiko Amagi (Amanda Winn Linn)
 * Kanji Tatsumi† (Matthew Mercer)
 * Aegis† (Kari Wahlgren)
 * Naoto Shirogane† (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)
 * Labrys† (Debi Derryberry)
 * Mitsuru Kirijo† (Colleen O'Shaughnessey)
 * Akihiko Sanada† (Roger Craig Smith)

Under Night In-Birth

 * Hyde (Kyle McCarley)
 * Linne (Sarah Anne Williams)
 * Waldstein (Keith Silverstein)
 * Gordeau (Ian Sinclair)
 * Orie ((Erica Mendez)
 * Carmine† (Greg Chun)
 * Vatista† (Xanthe Huynh)
 * Yuzuriha† (Erica Lindbeck)
 * Mika† (Ben Diskin)
 * Merkava† (Cassandra Lee Morris)

RWBY

 * Ruby Rose (Brittany Uomoleale)
 * Weiss Schnee (Laura Bailey)
 * Blake Belladonna‡ (Constance Zimmer)
 * Yang Xiao Long‡ (Michelle Rodriguez)


 * Notes :
 * † Downloadable content character
 * ‡ Free downloadable content character

Development
In an 2016 interview with Forbes, Mori Toshimichi revealed his interest in making a RWBY fighting game, which attracted Rooster Teeth's attention.

Before BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle's reveal, Rooster Teeth teased the possibility of a RWBY fighting game being revealed at Evo 2017 on their Twitter account.

On July 16, 2017, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle was announced at the Evo 2017 championships, following Ryusei Ito's victory in BlazBlue: Central Fiction. Ragna the Bloodedge, Jin Kisaragi, Yu Narukami, Hyde and Ruby Rose were each revealed to be playable in the game via the announcement trailer. It was announced that Konomi Higuchi will serve as the game's lead character designer. According to Mori, Cross Tag Battle will not be released exclusively on consoles. Some characters like from Under Night In-Birth will be redrawn for this game to match out BlazBlue graphics. Currently, there are no plans on including other characters from other franchises such as from Guilty Gear.

According to the producer, the game's main target crowd is the fans abroad rather than in Japan. Accordingly, Cross Tag Battle will be the first BlazBlue game since Chrono Phantasma to be dubbed into English. An option will also be available to toggle between English and Japanese voices on a by-character basis.

Controversy
On January 13, 2018, Arc System Works, Sledgehammer Games and Vicarious Visions announced that there will be twenty paid DLC characters for the game out of a total of forty, resulting in Cross Tag Battle launching with only half of its planned roster in the base game. This caused backlash from fighting game fans, with the arguments that the game mostly reuses assets from earlier Arc System Works fighting games, and that half of Team RWBY will be sold separately. During the EVO 2018 lineup announcement stream in which Cross Tag Battle was announced for the main lineup, Mori announced in a trailer that Blake and Yang would be free of charge, allowing players to enjoy Team RWBY at no additional cost. In addition, he said that costs for the DLC characters would not exceed that of the title's retail cost. This was confirmed by Mori in an interview with "Dengeki PlayStation".

Reception
Famitsu magazine awarded BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle a score of 35/40 based on four reviews (9/8/9/9).