Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R keeping original resolution on Vita to preserve experience

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R will keep its original 4:3 resolution ratio on the PlayStation Vita in order to preserve the fighting game experience, according to Arc System's Takeshi Yamanaka.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Yamanaka wrote he was "seduced" by the Vita's display and controls and thought a 2D fighting game would look beautiful on it. He explained the decision to not scale resolution down despite the smaller Vita screen was to keep the look and feel of the original version.

"Creating the game on Vita was not as much trouble as we had expected," he wrote. "The bigger issue we tried to solve was the fact that the Vita's screen was 16:9, and the game was designed around 4:3. We did some research and played around with the camera to maximize the screen real-estate, but during all of our tests, the essence of Guilty Gear's fighting style, which was, 'Knock your opponent down, and go for the okizeme (taking advantage of an opponent while they are down)' was inherently lost in the transition."

Yamanaka added that in the Vita version, weaker characters have been given more weapon options and the more powerful characters' battle styles have been adjusted to balance the roster. Two boss characters, Kliff and Justice, are also now playable.

The idea to create a port of Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, which launched in 2008 for PlayStation 2, was discussed when Arc first received the dev kits, but it was decided the "impact" was not enough to warrant a port. Last spring when Arc System Works released Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R, an enhanced version of the original title, in arcades and the PlayStation 3 version entered development, Yamanaka again brought up the possibility of a Vita version.

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R will be released tomorrow for PlayStation Vita.