Guilty Gear Strive on the Nintendo Switch is a heavenly port.

If there’s one thing the Guilty Gear series has, its staying power. For the most part, each entry gets sweeter and better with age. I’m not the biggest fan of the series these days, but I still appreciate it. I also admire it. One of my favorite things to do to winddown is watch footage of highly skilled Guilty Gear players go toe-to-toe against each other. It’s like watching poetry in motion seeing these folks’ insane skills in action. I’ll never, ever be that good. But, that doesn’t stop me from enjoying what I’m able to. All of this applies to Guilty Gear Strive. The seventh mainline game in the series, I recently went through the Nintendo Switch version that was released in early 2025. As expected, I recommend it to most fighting game fans.

Guilty Gear Strive’s narrative occurs after the events of Guilty Gear Xrd. Sol Badguy has unfinished business. I-No has released a magic user called Happy Chaos from her body. As expected, the world is about to thrown into some sort of chaos. The story can be largely ignored if you want. Still, if you’ve been following your favorite characters for a number of years now, then there’s a chance you’ll enjoy Strive’s story. Alongside the story mode, there’s a massive glossary of terms and characters that will help illustrate and educate newcomers. It’s a lot to take in so, as mentioned, you can ignore the story if you want to get into the good stuff: the fighting.

Guilty Gear Strive holds onto the important features that made the series so appealing since its debut on PlayStation while adding new things to keep it modern. The short version is this: the Instant Kills have been removed and a Wall Break mechanic has been introduced. If and when you’re laying into an enemy with a combo and they’re pinned to a wall, you’ll see said wall start to crack. Continuing the combo leads to the wall shattering and the opponent careening towards the ground. It’s sleek, stylish, and so satisfying. With that out of the way, newcomers will see that Guilty Gear Strive is a tight 2.5D fighter with a roster of varied characters. I won’t breakdown the mechanics for the sake of space. But, I will say that Strive’s controls take some time to nail down; especially if you’re out of practice or newer to fighters.

Many of the characters have gimmicks that require extra attention. There are meters and charges that need monitoring since they allow you to cancel moves into combos, blast an opponent away to break their combo, slow down time, and/or execute extra strong special attacks. Remember how I mentioned in the introduction that I enjoyed watching videos of high-level players facing each other? While watching them, I continue to realize how much “stuff” there is to master in Guilty Gear Strive. They use all the tools available with every character. It goes beyond doing a bread-and-butter (BnB) combo or executing a special attack.

What I’m trying to say is that Guilty Gear Strive is fun, but it takes work to fully understand, and even longer to fully master. There are multiple tutorial modes that help with the learning. There’s also a practice mode which is handy for experimenting with new characters. But, the best way to grasp everything is to play with others. Guilty Gear Strive offers online/net code modes for you to connect with other fighters. I don’t play online since I prefer couch play, but it’s smooth from my limited dabbling with it.

Truthfully, nothing is as smooth as the animation. Guilty Gear Strive is a visual orgasm of 2.5 anime goodness. I can only speculate how long it takes the developers to fine tune every character just right so their frames and motions are as smooth as possible. On the Switch, the game looks just as fantastic for those that opt to play in handheld mode. A rock and roll soundtrack blasts in the background. Sound effects and voice acting amplify the punches, kicks, slashes, heavy slashes, and specials. Hearing a wall break for the first time and hearing your opponent scream as they plummet gives an adrenaline rush.

Despite its challenging learning curve, it’s hard to not recommend Guilty Gear Strive. Competitive fighting fans will enjoy it, but there’s a certain appeal to it for casual players. The road to mastery starts with a casual interest, after all. This also means that Guilty Gear Strive has an unlimited number of playtime hours. It’s a sharp and alluring fighting game that is fun to pop in for a few bouts or to spend hours on end with as you attempt to get to a certain echelon of skill.

Overall, 8/10: Overcoming Guilty Gear Strive’s expected barrier of entry is daunting, but don’t let that stop you. This Switch version continues to rock.