Melty Blood

The game is set one year after Tsukihime and some days after Kagetsu Tohya. In the beginning of August 2001, Shiki Tohno hears of a new series of murders in Misaki Town, similar to the ones that took place in Tsukihime, in the last weeks of October 1999. Whilst searching for the murderer he meets Sion Eltnam Atlasia who initiates a fight with him, attempting to capture him. After the fight she reveals that her reason for trying to capture him is to get in contact with the "True Ancestor" (referring to Arcueid) so that she may acquire information on the "cure for vampirism". Shiki then decides to help her with this task.

The story moves through a series of fights. Depending on the outcome of the fight the story will branch in one of two ways. Ultimately this corresponds to the ending of the game.

Melty Blood makes use of widely used concepts in fighting games such as cancels (canceling a normal attack with a special attack before its animation ends, allowing for more complex and damaging combos) chain combos (normal moves that cancel into other normal moves) and the use of super bars (Magic Circuits). It also introduces Shielding, an advanced defensive technique.

An in-game screenshot depicting the concept of shielding in Melty Blood Re-ACT: Final Tuned

• EX-Shielding: A high-risk/reward technique which eliminates the damage and 'block-stun' from an attack. Activated by a button press, it requires exact timing to 'deflect' the opponent's attack, thus exposing them to a reversal. However, if mis-timed, an EX-Shield attempt leaves the player extremely vulnerable. EX-Shielding also carries a damage penalty for subsequent attacks, but grants a small amount of Magic Circuit and disallows the opponent to cancel his/her attack into another one. Finally, in later versions of Melty Blood, EX-Shielding during the Blood Heat state activates a unique attack known as a Last Arc. In Melty Blood Act Cadenza, a new type of Shielding was introduced which allows the player to hold the Shield button for an extended length of time to defend against multiple attacks. However, this rapidly drains Magic Circuit, and grants fewer retaliatory options upon recovery. In Melty Blood Actress Again shielding varies depending on which style the player picks, with Half Moon having the ability of an auto-counter and Full Moon with the same ability, except it is manually executed after successfully landing a shield.
• Magic Circuit: A system that allows players to store up to 300% for its dedicated meter, for various uses such as EX Attacks (high-powered versions of special techniques) and the Heat and Blood Heat modes. These modes allow players to regenerate a portion of their lifebar, as well as allow access to their character's ultimate attacks, known as Arc-Drives and Last Arcs. All of these techniques consume Magic Circuit, which is accumulated by attacking the opponent, and to a lesser degree, successfully defending against the opponent's attacks. Magic Circuit carries over between rounds. Magic Circuit is also required for the Circuit Spark technique.
• Clashing: An offensive state where certain attacks or maneuvers impact directly with an opponent's attack, thus resulting in a 'clash'. No damage is taken as a result, and both players are allowed to cancel their attacks as if they had connected successfully.
• Aerial Recovery: A defensive measure used after being attacked in mid-air by pressing any button and, optionally, while holding a direction. It grants temporarily invulnerability to the player and allows them to resume action, but may be detrimental in certain circumstances if the attacking player predicts which direction the Aerial Recovery is performed.
• Tactical Recovery: After being attacked, this technique is performed by pressing any upward direction upon impacting the floor. Doing so allows a player to quickly regain momentum and avoid 'OTG' (On The Ground) combos while utterly defenseless. However, players are not allowed to block during the recovery animation, and thus will expose themselves to punishment if the attacking player predicts the recovery attempt. This is an aspect of the Okizeme meta-game found in many fighting games.
• Shield Bunker Canceling: More akin to a glitch than an actual feature, Shield Bunker Canceling (known as "Baka Cancel" in Japan and "Bara Cancel" in the USA) is a powerful technique where a player, while blocking an attack, can counter-attack with a Shield Bunker, but cancels the beginning animation into an attack of their choice. This is typically an EX Attack with invincibility properties. This can drastically affect how one attacks an opponent. There are several methods to counter this technique, but it remains a feature of high-level play in Melty Blood. As proof that this accidental technique was accepted by the game's designers, this technique was altered to incur an additional 50% Magic Circuit cost to balance out its effectiveness in Version B. As of Melty Blood Actress Again the Bara Cancel technique is no longer possible.
• Circuit Spark: Used during MAX mode only, a Circuit Spark allows a player, who is either blocking an attack or suffering damage, to 'break out' of the attack with an unblockable, invincible 'aura' that sacrifices all available Magic Circuit. This can only be performed if the character is standing or crouching; if the character is airborne or lying down, this technique is unavailable. In Melty Blood Actress Again it is possible to execute Circuit Spark in the air with all three styles.
• Reverse Beat: A feature of Melty Blood not found in many other games is the ability to cancel attacks with large amounts of recovery into fast jab attacks, thus negating the disadvantage of using heavy slow attacks against a blocking opponent, however there's an adverse effect of damage decreasing in Reverse Beat combos. This features extremely heavily in high-level play for most of the characters.

As of Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code Ver. 1.07, there are 31 playable characters.

Tsukihime characters:

• Shiki Tohno (遠野 志貴, Tōno Shiki): Kenji Nojima
• Arcueid Brunestud (アルクェイド＝ブリュンスタッド, Arukweido Buryunsutaddo): Ryōka Yuzuki
• Ciel (シエル, Shieru): Kumi Sakuma
• Akiha Tohno (遠野 秋葉, Tōno Akiha): Hitomi
• Hisui (翡翠): Miyu Matsuki
• Kohaku (琥珀): Naoko Takano
• Hisui & Kohaku
• Nrvnqsr Chaos (ネロ＝カオス, Nero Kaosu, Nero Chaos): Jōji Nakata
• Miyako Arima (有間 都古): Miwa Kōzuki
• Satsuki Yumizuka (弓塚 さつき): Omi Minami
• Aoko Aozaki (蒼崎 青子): Kotono Mitsuishi
• Michael Roa Valdamjong (ミハイル＝ロア＝バルダムヨォン, Mihairu Roa Barudamuyōn): Ken Narita

Kagetsu Tohya characters:

• Shiki Nanaya (七夜 志貴): Kenji Nojima
• Len (レン, Ren): Kaori Mizuhashi
• Kouma Kishima (軋間 紅摩, Kishima Kōma): Jūrōta Kosugi

Kara no Kyoukai characters:

• Shiki Ryougi (両儀 式, Ryōgi Shiki): Maaya Sakamoto

New characters:

• Sion Eltnam Atlasia (シオン＝エルトナム＝アトラシア, Shion Erutonamu Atorashia): Rio Natsuki (original), Satomi Akesaka (UNI)[2] - the main character of Melty Blood series
• The Night of Wallachia (ワラキアの夜, Warakia no Yoru): Yasunori Masutani
• Mech-Hisui (メカヒスイ, Meka-Hisui): Miyu Matsuki
• White Len (白レン, Shiroi Ren): Kaori Mizuhashi
• Riesbyfe Stridberg (リーズバイフェ＝ストリンドヴァリ, Rīzubaife Sutorindovari): Akeno Watanabe
• Dust of Osiris (オシリスの砂, Oshirisu no Suna) (boss of Melty Blood Actress Again, full vampiric form of Sion Eltnam Atlasia): Rio Natsuki - not playable in Current Code 1.07

Alternative/bosses and hidden characters:

• Akiha Vermillion (紅赤朱 秋葉, Kurenai Sekishu Akiha) or 赤主秋葉 Sekishu Akiha: Hitomi
• Sion TATARI (吸血鬼 シオン, Kyūketsuki Shion): Rio Natsuki
• G-Akiha (G秋葉): Hitomi - does not appear in CurrentCode 1.07
• Red Arcueid (暴走 アルクェイド, Bōsō Arukueido, Berserk Arcueid): Ryōka Yuzuki
• Neco-Arc (猫アルク／ネコアルク, Neko Aruku): Ryōka Yuzuki
• Neco-Arc Chaos (ネコアルク・カオス, Neko Aruku Kaosu): Jōji Nakata
• Damien Armies (ダミアン・アーミー, Damian Āmī) - does not appear in Current Code 1.07
• Neco Chaos Black G666 (ネコカオス＝ブラックG666, Neko Kaosu Burakku G666): Jōji Nakata
• Kohaku & Mech-Hisui: Naoko Takano & Miyu Matsuki
• Neco-Arc & Mech-Hisui: Ryōka Yuzuki & Miyu Matsuki
• Seifuku Akiha (制服 秋葉, Akiha wearing school uniform): Hitomi
• Archetype: Earth (True Ancestor Arcueid (真祖 アルクェイド)): Ryōka Yuzuki - playable character and the boss in her own route
• Powerd Ciel (Executioner Ciel (完全 武装 シエル, Kanzen Busō Shieru, Fully Armed Ciel)): Kumi Sakuma

In the original Melty Blood, only six (Sion, Arcueid, Ciel, Akiha, Kohaku & Hisui, and Shiki Tohno) of the characters above were available for play, with eight more being unlockable through story mode. However, in a later update released for the game (the "Nero" patch), all the characters are available from the start. The reasons for this are slightly unclear; it appears to be the result of a legal misunderstanding whereby Type-Moon mistakenly thought they would no longer be allowed to produce updates/patches, and thus made a "last patch" which unlocked the characters as a sort of gift for the fans. Whatever the case, Type-Moon has left these characters available throughout all subsequent releases. In addition, Aoko and Kouma were both added to the game as of Act Cadenza, although Aoko was an unplayable boss character in previous versions. Act Cadenza also changed the given names of several characters, generally to make easier identification of the doppelgangers by name. Sion later appeared in the spin-off game Under Night In-Birth, referred as her middle name Eltnum.

The original Melty Blood was announced on October 8, 2001 at Tsukihime Matsuri Himehajime (月姫祀〜秘初〜), the dōjin convention hosting only Tsukihime content.[3] The plan was suggested by Nobuya Narita of Watanabe Seisakujo (French-Bread, from 2003). Kinoko Nasu wrote scenarios and Takashi Takeuchi designed characters. Watanabe Seisakujo developed the game system and pixel arts. They were known as the creator of parody games, but Nasu requested not to break the style of Tsukihime. They had difficulty thinking of attacks because original characters didn't have an attractive skill suited for the fighting game. They also worked hard to create frames of animation exceeding Street Fighter III.[4]

The full version of Melty Blood was released in December 2002 for Windows.[5] An expansion patch, Re-ACT released two years later in May 2004, and an update, ReACT Final Tuned, released in July 2005. An arcade version of the series, Melty Blood Act Cadenza, was later developed by Ecole Software and released in March 2005.[6] Later, a PlayStation 2 version of Act Cadenza was released on August 10, 2006.[7] A Windows version, Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver.B, was also released on July 27, 2007. The series' newest game, Melty Blood Actress Again, was released on September 19, 2008.

The Melty Blood manga, illustrated by Takeru Kirishima was first serialized in Kadokawa Shoten manga magazine Comp Ace in 2006. The series ended in 2011 with eleven bound volumes released in Japan.[14]

Destructoid concluded their review with "Nearly 14 years after first bursting onto the scene, Melty Blood has aged to the point of near-perfection. While a few aspects of the package leave something to be desired, the fact remains that, at its core, this is a supreme fighter with a diverse roster and deep, compelling mechanics that merit your attention."

Melty Blood Act Cadenza has been featured at the international fighting game tournament Tougeki[17] in 2006, 2007, and 2008, but was not present at the 2009 Tougeki.[18] Melty Blood Actress Again was featured at the Evolution Championship Series 2010 tournament after winning a poll, beating titles such as Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.[19]

Melty Blood

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Melty Blood at The Visual Novel Database

Melty Blood Re-ACT Final Tuned

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 June 2019) (in Japanese)

Melty Blood Act Cadenza

• Official websites for Arcade at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 December 2013) and PlayStation 2 releases (in Japanese)

Melty Blood Act Cadenza ver.B

• Official websites for Arcade and Windows releases (in Japanese)

Melty Blood Actress Again

• Official websites for Arcade and PlayStation 2 releases (in Japanese)

Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code

• Official website for Arcade release (in Japanese)
• Official website for Steam release