Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 is finally getting a PC release, four years after the original console release, it’s just been announced to be getting released on Steam on June 22nd.
These games are developed by the talented team at Inti Creates, who have for decades made all sorts of 2D action games, often with a pixelated aesthetic and big chunky stylish characters. The Azure Striker Gunvolt games are in many ways a spiritual successor to the Mega Man Zero games that Inti Creates made for the Gameboy Advance, back in the early 2000s.
They’re kind of technical to play, with quite a few advanced techniques to master if you want to perfect the different systems in the game, but if you do you’ll be rewarded with some particularly flashy spectacle, as you sprint through levels taking out enemies with speed and ease.
Both the first game and this sequel were originally created for the Nintendo 3DS, which perhaps explains part of the look, where clearly this game was designed for low-resolution displays (the 3DS main screen has an effective resolution of 400 x 240), but they still look great when scaled up for larger displays.
The first Azure Striker Gunvolt received a PC port back in 2015, but it’s been quite a wait for the second one, some fans might have given up hope in the meantime.
Not all that long ago, it was kind of unusual to see niche Japanese games receive a wide international release on Steam. PC gaming in general is not particularly popular in Japan, and they don’t have a long-running culture of gaming on the almighty grey tower. With games like Final Fantasy, Disgaea, The Zero Escape games and many more all finding an international audience on Steam, it’s pretty clear at this point that there’s enough of a pool of players on Steam interested in all sorts of different types of games, that there’s a clear case for bringing over. Even if domestic sales of Japanese games on Steam alone wouldn’t make them economically viable, there are fans of certain types of Japanese games all over the world.
This new trailer is for the Japanese version, they haven’t released an English language trailer for the international release yet, but Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 will be available globally when it releases on Steam later this month. In the meantime, you could always check out the first game in the series if you’re interested.
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 will hit Steam on June 22nd.
