Trivia / Azure Striker Gunvolt Series

aka: Azure Striker Gunvolt

• Acting for Two:
  • Megu Sakuragawa voices Lumen, Joule, and Mytyl. Makes sense, given they're all technically (or at least part of) the same person.
  • Maxwell Powers, a Japan-based English voice actor, doubles as the Inti Creates trailer narrator and Asimov's voice in the OVA.
• Amateur Cast: A majority of the voice cast in the series is composed of Japanese voice actors who aren't big names in the voice acting industry.
• Bad Export for You: The original release of Azure Striker Gunvolt axed the vast majority of the script (including in-stage dialogue and most Joule Chats), turned the remaining story into an Excuse Plot, and added some "original" flair like fake not-fake "swearing." The displeasure from fans was immense, leading to a fully complete, overhauled translation job for the Steam release that was later ported to the 3DS as a patch (for the North American release only) and the Striker Pack release.
• Creator-Driven Successor: Luminous Avenger iX has a fair bit in common with the first entry in the Mega Man Zero series, being a gaiden game starring the original protagonist's red-colour-coded rival character who steps up to fight a genocidal regime seeking to wipe out one half of the population in a ruined future after a time skip from the main series. Copen being a cyborg and the villain being an evil counterpart of the original hero re-enforces these parallels. Furthermore, as in the end of the Zero series, the villain is someone who took over an already awful dystopian government and managed to make it even worse.
• Creator's Favorite: Inti loves Gunvolt (the character). They can and are perfectly willing to remind its target audience that Gunvolt exists, and have crammed a Gunvolt reference or Gunvolt himself into nearly every single game they've produced since 2014.
• Crossdressing Voices: Chiaki Omigawa voices Xiao.
• The Danza: Maria Naganawa voices Maria in Luminous Avenger iX.
• Dummied Out: Mid-level text in the English 3DS version, which provides additional exposition from your Mission Control in the Japanese version. Averted with the Steam release, which throws the mid-level text back in. This has been added to the English 3DS version as of 1.3.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: The game has three release versions: the normal version on the eShop, the "double pack" that bundles the first game and the second together, and the "Striker Pack", a retail edition that includes an exclusive theme with an exclusive song^note and supplementary story content if you have the Japanese version.
• Market-Based Title:
  • Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 was originally known as "Armed Blue: Gunvolt Sou". The word "sou" in Japanese refers to a claw or talon, which Copen uses in some analogies.
  • By that same token, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 was originally known as "Armed Blue: Gunvolt Gibs". The word "gibs" being in reference to the Japanese name of Kirin's Septima.
  • THE OUT OF GUNVOLT: iX of the White Steel was changed into the much more palatable Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX.
• Milestone Celebration: Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 is Inti Creates' 20th anniversary game.
• Multiple Languages, Same Voice Actor: In 3, Desna in both English and Japanese are voiced by the same actor, Jenya.
• No Dub for You: The first three games did not have English dubs (except the OVA where Japan-based English voice actors were used), but Luminous Avenger iX 2 and Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 later averted this by featuring both Japanese and English voiceovers.
• No Export for You:
  • The official soundtrack and accompanying vocal soundtrack were this. This went the other way when the Steam version hit, where both the OST and the vocal soundtrack were digitally published via Steam in all available countries; FanGamer also carries these soundtracks physically. However, the drama CDs still have yet to see an English release.
  • Although the OVA is available worldwide on 3DS and in dual audio with subtitles, the DVD release however was only bundled in the Japanese Limited Edition release of the Striker Pack for the Nintendo Switch along with another drama CD that centers around Copen, Joule, and Quinn.
  • The revised localization for the 3DS version of the first Azure Striker Gunvolt was only released in North American while the European version is left in the dirt.
• The Other Darrin:
  • In iX, both Copen and Lola have new voice actors, Yūma Uchida and Mayu Mineda respectively. According to the developers, this is because this game is, "The mark of a new series." (and also because Yurika Endo retired from the entertainment industry for health reasons). Averted by the English dub, where both iX Copen and main series Copen are voiced by Alejandro Saab.
  • Gunvolt was voiced in the English dub of the OVA by Josh Geller, but Sean Chiplock replaces him for the English dub of Azure Striker Gunvolt 3.
  • Initially, Lola was voiced by Cassandra Lee Morris in LAiX2. Starting with ASGV3 and onwards, Obake PAM (VTuber, mascot, and [self-proclaimed] CEO of PlayAsia) now voices Lola.
• Pre-Order Bonus:
  • As with many Japanese games, pre-ordering the Striker Pack from a specific retailer in Japan will earn you a particular, retailer-exclusive bonus. In addition, if you pre-order from Amazon, GEO, or Bic Camera/Sofmap/Kojima, you will acquire two Audiolockets and Program Codes^note Which two depend on the retailer; Amazon gives "Beyond the Blue" and "Rouge Shimmer", GEO gives "Sakura Effloresence" and "A Zip to the Moon", and the latter three give "Azure Door" and "Pain from the Past" for Gunvolt and Copen respectively in 2 that allow you to play songs from the first game when you hit 1000 Kudos.
  • Pre-ordering iX awards a DLC Lola outfit for Kohaku.
• Refitted for Sequel: Some features that were scrapped in the earlier entries of the series were later incorporated into latter games.
  • The scrapped ending of ASG 1 where Sumeragi is attacked with missiles is reincorporated in 3 where ATEMS sends missiles into Sumeragi (albeit as a form of transport rather than as an attack).
  • The "man in the butterfly mask" design that was revealed long before the second game's release never made it to the main game, but showed up in the spinoff game Mighty Gunvolt Burst, as the design for the GM in Beck's story.
  • The original concept for 2 involved Copen going up against Sumeragi, which was helmed by a masked, evil Gunvolt. Gunvolt would be a boss fight in which he would use 1000 Glaives to transform, and beating him would unlock him as a playable character. Although this entire concept was scrapped, elements of it would later be used in future games.
    • The idea of having a masked Gunvolt would be fused with the aforementioned scrapped design and later used in Mighty Gunvolt Burst.
    • Elements of a continued Sumeragi with an Identical Stranger in color and powers to Gunvolt (complete with mask/helmet to hide her identity) as a high-ranking member were brought in for Luminous Avenger iX.
    • The idea of Gunvolt joining Sumeragi and sealing his power with 1000 Glaives was later used in Azure Striker Gunvolt 3. Gunvolt even serves as the final boss.
  • Kirin, or least the basic idea of her, was originally conceptualized as a bonus character for the Nintendo Switch version of the Striker Pack, as series director Yoshihisa Tsuda wasn't content with simply bundling the games together again and instead wanted to add a new playable character in the form of a melee-focused swordswoman. Unfortunately, scheduling issues led to Inti nixing this idea, though Kirin would be eventually reconceptualized as the heroine of Azure Striker Gunvolt 3.
• Role Reprise:
  • Diana Garnet who voiced Joule and Lumen in the OVA reprises her role as Lumen's EN voice for Azure Striker Gunvolt 3.
  • Maxwell Powers, who dubbed Asimov in the OVA, provides Asimov's dub voice in 3 for his Image Pulses.
• Schedule Slip: The OVA was originally planned for release on December 2016, but was delayed to Winter 2017, and eventually released on February 9, 2017.
• Sequel Gap: Counting only main series games, there's a six-year gap between the releases of 2 (2016) and 3 (2022).
• Series Hiatus: Fleeting Memories has been on indefinite hiatus since 2016, with the story for the first season ending on a Cliffhanger.
• What Could Have Been:
  • At one point, it was considered that Gunvolt's ponytail and midriff should be removed for the localization to appeal to a teen demographic. While the midriff was censored, the censored midriff was cut from future games, and Gunvolt's ponytail was kept in per request by Keiji Inafune.
  • In the original draft for 1, the bad end was the only end and had far greater consequences. Nova's death would cause the defense barrier protecting Japan to go down (rather than Zonda disabling said barrier from within in 2), enabling an invasion by foreign powers who spearhead the attack with missile strikes. Gunvolt would attempt to stop them, at which point Asimov betrays him and that's that. The ending would be Asimov grinning as the missiles struck. This missile attack would later serve as the basis for The Seven's names, which are all based on various missile systems.
  • In the aforementioned earlier concept of 2, Xiao was intended to be a playable character alongside Copen.
  • Lola was originally going to change her human look based on the EX Weapon equipped. This turned out to be too much work to implement, and was scrapped, with only her drone form turning different for each EX Weapon. Luminous Avenger iX partially brought back the idea with Lola having a new "dark" form for activating the Darkness Trigger EX Weapon, but all other EX Weapons still only change the drone's form.
  • The footage of Gunvolt 3 initially shown in the reveal trailer is vastly different from the footage seen in the later Premier Trailer. Kirin and Gunvolt were not chained to each other as a Tag Team, and the former's gameplay was initially much slower, having an "ammo" system similar to Copen's Bullits and having similar gun mechanics to the latter, and as well as having more ranged attacks like him. Gunvolt's original gameplay was also much closer to previous games, compared to the Premier Trailer where he is Purposefully Overpowered and has greatly streamlined gameplay.
  • In the reveal trailer, Kirin's Talismans stun foes when they land, and she additionally has the ability to use Lightning Discharge like Gunvolt to hit multiple tagged foes at once. Neither of these abilities are seen in the final product.
  • Related to Gunvolt 3 a Plasma Legion derivative was originally supposed to be a Mid-Boss fought during the Holy Night XIII stage. It was suspiciously absent in the demo, and was completely omitted in the final release. Given that it was not shown in the official artbook (which normally showcased official art for each of the characters, including Mid-Bosses), it was likely never meant for the Plasma Legion derivative to appear from the start (and was simply used for promotional purposes). The only remnant is a common blue drone enemy who launches a Homing Projectile very similar to what the Plasma Legion derivative used.
  • In Gunvolt 3, Gibril and Carrera were planned to be added as a Dual Boss fight, but it didn't make the cut. Remnants of this can be seen in the quotes on their DLC Skill Image Pulses referencing lines they would have actually said in the fight. The other DLC Image Pulses were also considered for additional tag-team battles, but only Merak and Teseo made the cut for various reasons.

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