The video game company Arc System Works released a new downloadable content character named Johnny on Aug. 24, 2023 for the fighting game called “Guilty Gear Strive.” The game is available on Playstation, Xbox and Steam systems. The trailer for the character came out on Aug. 6 during the annual fighting game tournament Evolution Champion Series. Johnny is an existing character in the Arc System Works franchise, but a new character to “Guilty Gear Strive.”

Arc System Works released a starter guide on Aug. 22 for Johnny, which gave an introduction to the character and how he works in the game. The starter guide goes over his controls and his movesets, a specific set of moves a character can do, in the game; and it also gives a thorough explanation on his moves or attacks and how they are used.

Johnny’s profile page on the game website gives a brief description of who Johnny is as a character and his difficulty rating on a scale of five stars, in which he is rated at a three star difficulty. He is a mid-range character in the game, which means his moves reach till the middle of the screen. His forward kick in the game gives him a unique amount of mobility as a character.

Compared to other games in the franchise, such as “Guilty Gear XRD,” Johnny’s appearance did not significantly change. One of the noticeable changes made was the removal of his long ponytail that he had in “Guilty Gear Xrd.”

Johnny’s style now consists of an all-black aesthetic and cowboy-like features. He has blonde hair, sunglasses, a large belt and long black jacket. Johnny is described as a character that always never loses his cool.

“Frankly, I didn’t notice too much of a difference in design changes for Johnny,” junior Tyler Shopkins said. “Overall he looks like a cool dude.”

In the Guilty Gear storyline, Johnny is a swordsman and the leader of the Jellyfish Pirates. He rescues young orphan girls and recruits them to be a part of his ship crew, the Jellyfish Pirates. In the game, a character named May, who is part of Johnny’s backstory, is rescued by Johnny and becomes the first-mate of the Jellyfish Pirates.

“As a fan of card games, poker and stuff, I think he looks absolutely amazing as a character with the moveset,” sophomore Joshua Brown said. “[His] combos look super fluid and actually look super well made.”.

Players have been enjoying Johnny’s gameplay in “Guilty Gear Strive.” His gameplay consists of sword-slashing and tossing poker cards. Johnny is a master at his style of swordsmanship, which is called the Hirofumi style. A noticeable change to his fighting moves compared to other games is that he tosses cards instead of coins.

“Johnny’s gameplay is very stylish, and adds a more charming vibe to the gameplay out of all the other characters,” senior T’rique Filmore said.

Johnny was the first character to be revealed for this season. The remaining three out of the four characters have yet to be revealed. “Guilty Gear Strive” fans and new players heavily anticipate the next character to be revealed. This season, they also added new system mechanics to the game such as “Wild Assault,” a move that all characters in the game could do. It is a fast attack that is forward moving and costs 50% of the player’s burst gauge. In addition to “Wild Assault,” Arc System Works developers are working on adding new moves to other characters.

Johnny brings a fresh look to “Guilty Gear Strive.” He attracts new players to the game and provides benefits to players that use him. His character is very unique compared to the other characters on the roster and provides a whole new gaming experience to “Guilty Gear Strive.”