Beyond the Blade: The Most Bizarre Characters from Arc System Works’ Fighting Games

In the vast and often-conforming world of fighting games, one developer stands alone as a purveyor of the weird, the wild, and the wonderfully bizarre. Arc System Works, the studio behind the legendary Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises, has a well-deserved reputation for pushing the boundaries of what a fighting game character can be. While other developers might stick to a cast of martial artists, ninjas, and shoto clones, ArcSys builds its rosters with an unapologetic commitment to the absurd. Their characters are not just fighters; they are walking, talking paradoxes, with designs and move sets that defy logic and delight players with their sheer audacity. The studio’s philosophy, as noted by its creators, is to design characters that are “superhuman with crazy stuff happening,” a vision that has led to a roster of unforgettable weirdos. This is a deep dive into the most bizarre, conceptually unique, and mechanically insane characters from Arc System Works’ most iconic fighting game series, the ones that make you stop and ask, “What on earth is that?”

The Grotesque and the Gimmicky: Guilty Gear‘s Hall of Fame

The Guilty Gear series is where ArcSys’s reputation for the bizarre was born. While the cast is full of over-the-top rock stars, the truly weird ones are the ones that break the mold entirely. The series’ characters are not just unique in their design, but in their core gameplay mechanics. The most notable examples are:

• Zappa: At first glance, Zappa is a simple, unassuming man with a peculiar illness. But in a fighting game, that illness is his greatest asset. Zappa is a character who is “possessed by aggressive and vengeful spirits,” with different summons that can completely alter his playstyle. The result is a character that can seamlessly shift between different stances and playstyles, from a long-range puppet master to a terrifying, screen-filling nightmare. He is, by far, one of the most mechanically and visually complex characters in the series, and a living embodiment of the studio’s refusal to conform.
• Faust: This deranged doctor, with his oversized paper bag for a head and a giant scalpel for a weapon, is a classic example of ArcSys’s commitment to the grotesque. Faust is a “random bullshit go” character, whose moveset is a chaotic mix of teleportation, strange projectiles (including an afro-wielding bomb), and a variety of healing items. His unpredictable nature makes him both a terror to fight against and a joy to play as, and his tragic backstory as a brilliant surgeon who lost his mind after a failed operation gives his bizarre design a compelling emotional core.
• Bedman?: ArcSys loves to push the limits of what a fighting game character can be, and Bedman is a perfect example of this. The character is not the boy in the bed, but the bed itself, a mechanized hospital bed with its own AI and a variety of deadly weapons. As one Reddit commenter noted, the concept of a character “trapped in a mechanized hospital bed that has its own AI along with perhaps a few too many weapons” is so utterly insane that it could only exist in a game from Arc System Works.

The Drive for the Absurd: BlazBlue‘s Pantheon of Oddities

While Guilty Gear laid the groundwork for the bizarre, BlazBlue perfected it. The series introduced the “Drive” system, a unique button for each character that completely defines their gameplay. The result is a roster of fighters so unique that, as one commenter put it, “you literally will not find 2 characters that play similarly.” The most bizarre of the bunch are:

• Arakune: Arakune is not a person; he is a monster made of “pure liquid Seither.” His design is a horrifying collection of masks and faces, and his gameplay is just as terrifying. Arakune is a “vomit zoner” who can summon a variety of strange projectiles that follow a “bunch of different specific paths along the screen.” His moveset is all about screen pollution, creating a chaotic and overwhelming mess that is designed to confuse and frustrate opponents. He is a nightmare to fight against and a high-value character for any player who loves to confuse and overwhelm their opponents.
• Carl Clover: This is a character who is not just one fighter, but two. Carl is a child who fights alongside his puppet, Nirvana. The two can be controlled independently, making Carl a “puppet fighter” who can overwhelm opponents with a variety of dual attacks and setups. The concept of a character with a “puppet” that can move independently from them and not go away when they are hit is a unique and challenging archetype that has become a staple of ArcSys’s fighting game design.
• Iron Tager: While other fighters are fast and agile, Iron Tager is the exact opposite. He is a massive, slow, and powerful character who uses magnetism to pull opponents in and a variety of “pile drivers” to crush them. He is a clear nod to Guilty Gear’s Potemkin, but he takes the concept of a “grappler” to a new and absurd extreme. He is a character that proves that sometimes, the most bizarre idea is the one that is the most fun to play.

The shared DNA of these bizarre characters is a testament to the creative vision of Arc System Works. They are not afraid to take risks, to create characters that are not just visually unique but are also mechanically innovative. In a genre that is often criticized for its lack of originality, ArcSys stands tall as a beacon of creativity, a studio that understands that sometimes, the best way to make a character stand out is to make them the weirdest one in the room.