History YMMV / GuiltyGear

** Thanks to a Tumblr post about someone calling her that, fans affectionately refer to Bridget as "Brisket".
** In a similar vein to the "Brisket" nickname, the same nicknaming convention has been applied to Ky, resulting in "Kyle".

* HarsherInHindsight: In ''Xrd -SIGN-'', Elphelt's antics in trying to get married to pretty much anyone is funny at first but becomes a little less funny when in Story mode [[spoiler:when she explains that she is unable to feel love, despite being able to feel other emotions, implying this behavior is some sort of desperate way to find love and escape her fate as a Valentine]].

* The scene in ''-STRIVE-'''s Another Story where [[spoiler:the result of Faust's HeroicSacrifice is revealed]] is a heartbreaking moment, but it's slightly spoilt by the shot of [[spoiler:Faust's soul ascending like he's in a cartoon]] and the comical "whup" sound he makes, which sounds more like he's trying to drink from a water fountain than [[spoiler:having his soul ripped out of his body.]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The lobby system is considered to be the ScrappyMechanic of ''-STRIVE-''. That said, not only did you get an option to bypass it in the open beta (it puts your avatar out there while you play training mode), [[https://twitter.com/ArcSystemWorksU/status/1367278816125718537 they delayed the game for a couple months]] to fix up the lobby system, and the stability of the already incredible netcode.
** As noted in TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot, despite being part of ''-STRIVE-'''s base roster, May, Ramlethal, and Faust don't make more than a cameo in the game's Story Mode. The DLC scenario "Another Story" rectifies this by giving them (as well as Baiken and surprisingly Sin and Anji) ADayInTheLimelight.
** As of [=CEOtaku=] 2022, ''Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2'' [[https://youtu.be/mTnAGIZRtB4 has finally joined the Arc System Works rollback family]]. For years it was assumed that ''Rev 2'' would simply be left in the dust to promote ''-STRIVE-''. Now, every fan of ''Guilty Gear'' from every era has a game they can play with smooth online.

* TierInducedScrappy: Several of the course of the series and it's various iterations:
** '''High tier examples:'''
*** Millia. In the first ''Guilty Gear''. Next to the FinalBoss Justice, she was by far the cheapest character in the game, capable of throwing direction-changing projectiles and keeping you at [[JustForPun hair's length]]. And her Iron Maiden super involved firing a myriad of slow-moving, large, homing projectiles that guaranteed you could never get anywhere close to her. And if her health dropped below 50%, she could spam that move forever. It was very difficult to get close to her, and there she was even ''more'' dangerous. Thankfully, she's never come close to that level of cheese since then, as she no longer has the old super and her projectiles work much differently now. Plus, her Iron Maiden is now a completely different move that's now her Instant Kill instead. Millia in ''X'' was still a top pick in tournaments.
*** ''X'' also had Johnny, who could possibly setup Mist Finer unblockables with free Bacchus Sighs all day. Jam, Dizzy and Sol were close second and nearly everyone else was overshadowed; though Anji in particular had a notable loop.
*** ''XX'' had Slayer and his extremely dominating-back-dash-cancels which were guaranteed whiff-poke/punish for free damage across the board no thanks to his poking range and/or Dandy Step followups, making it dangerous to press buttons against him in the neutral game; he also had his extremely broken command grab loop that sent someone into an endless stagger. The latter was no doubt fixed in later iterations of ''XX'', but vanilla ''Accent Core'' allowed his standing HS to be abused in juggle for quite a while if your opponent didn't have burst (it caused ground bounce on air hit instead of ground slide). ''Accent Core + R'' onwards is usually the most balanced version of him with an improved neutral game but neutered overall damage. However, he's still normally considered a SkillGateCharacter due to how easy it can be to just mash out of his effective range with lows, quick moves and/or reversals; as well as punishing his normally-safe tools severely with expert instant-blocking.
*** In ''#Reload'', Zato-1/Eddie occupied "Eddie Tier" for a reason. It proved very easy for him to get his opponent into a situation where he could simply trap them in the corner and give them an unblockable series of hits that stripped away a lot of their life... and left them in the corner, where could do it all over again. After a series of tweaks, He ended up nerfed in ''Slash'', but ''Accent Core'' brought Zato back to the top of the tier list with a vengeance due to his insane amount of pressure with new normal and special moves for Eddie, as well as an extremely powerful neutral tool in the Force Break version of his Invite Hell ground drill. He proved so dominant that they had to nerf him ''again'' in ''+R''. Initial versions of ''Xrd'' largely returns him to his ''#Reload'' status, with good Zato players able to solo entire teams of well-played opposition by themselves. As the game got updated and its subsequent revisions came out, however, Zato was slowly nerfed with each update tot the point where by the final version of ''Rev 2'', many of his players ended up dropping him due to just how much he lost. Needless to say, Zato has been an extremely polarizing and difficult character to balance throughout the series.
*** In ''Slash'', Ky was pretty much considered much better than anyone else in the cast due to some changes that indirectly favor him, some small buffs (such as more frame advantage on a Stun Edge), an [=FRC=]-glitch that involves his Stun Edge Charge Attack and the fact that he was already a simple character to use; this overall rocketed him to the top tier. Sol, Faust, Testament, Potemkin and Anji came in close second though the game had arguably a very broad mid-tier (the aforementioned Eddie was C tier while Sol was arguably the closest to Ky no thanks to his new Clean Hit mechanic); but the lowest end of the stick had to be given to Order-Sol despite his hype, Zappa, Dizzy and especially Robo-Ky (who was mid-to-high-tier in ''#Reload''), who was considered a joke character at best; the lower tier had to work a lot harder than the rest in order to stand at chance. Zato was also notably nerfed in this entry.
*** Potemkin also got a lot of heat in ''Accent Core'' for being a pain to fight. While his weaknesses were clear (poor mobility, slow moves, and weak to mixups), his strengths were very overwhelming that it didn't matter. He could score a knockdown from everywhere thanks to Slidehead and combo off the knockdown with an OTG combo. Heat Knuckle knocked down at the ''perfect'' spot for Potemkin to launch his deadly mixup game and built him a lot of extra meter for good measure. And of course his damage output was ''insane'' (depending on meter and the situation). While he got some of his more egregious tools reigned in for ''Accent Core +R'' (no more OTG combos off Slidehead, no more wall bounce on dead angle, tension building off Heat Knuckle was slightly reduced), Potemkin was ''still'' considered to be a top tier threat.
*** Testament in ''Accent Core'', '''especially''' in ''+R''. While Testament has always been fairly decent, the moveset rework they received in ''Accent Core'' pushed them into being the 2nd best character in the game next to Zato and Slayer. They boast insanely good neutral control, with normals and specials that cover at least half of the screen and can reaach as far as the very edge of the corner itself as well as traps that prevent the opponent from advancing towards them. Their damage is also solid and their combo potential is some of the best in the game with their Badlands special being able to loop into itself repeatedly and many of their special moves resulting in knockdowns and pressure off of said knockdowns. They ended up reworked in ''+R''...and ended up becoming the best character in the entire game with the nerfs to Zato and Slayer. Every good aspect they had in ''Accent Core'' got practically multiplied tenfold. Their traps are stronger, their normals are better and have more combo options in conjunction with their reworked specials, and their Badlands loops are even easier. They became so dominant that the playerbase quickly christened them "Bestament".
*** [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Elphelt. Valentine.]] one of the new characters added for Xrd. She is considered by many to be one of the cheapest characters to fight. She has extremely good moves to cover her approach on the opponent, and once she locks you down in the corner she can pretty much make it almost impossible for you to block. Add in the fact that she can do a ''lot'' of damage with those setups, and you have one of the most hated characters to ever grace the competitive scene.
*** Sin was at one point considered one of the most cheap characters to play as in ''Xrd'' because of his absurdly high damage output using his specials, and the only thing holding him back (his food meter) was easily mitigated by keeping his opponent at a long enough range away using his pokes and safely eat; he could even Yellow Roman Cancel his hunger animation! Thankfully, right after EVO 2016 (where a Sin player won, coincidentally), his damage output was nerfed and he's considered a lot more fair now.
*** Nowadays in ''Rev 2'', we have Johnny in the top tiers who happens to have very little bad matchups, while being able to convert many of his buttons into anything worthwhile at any spot in his physical attacking range (despite the fact that he's still very difficult to use and still has notable weaknesses). The low end instead has characters like Answer and Baiken, both whom also suffered from the most recent patch in terms of having a few specific vital aspects of them needlesly nerfed.
*** ''-STRIVE-'' has Sol on the high end, having amazing buttons (especially his Far Slash), tons of damage, the most combo versatility of any character, and so on. There's a reason why a common joke is that ''-STRIVE-'' Sol is a playable boss character. He was eventually nerfed several times into a more acceptable state, but his high damage and great buttons allow him to remain a threat at all levels of play.
*** Nagoryuki from ''-STRIVE-'' is an example of what happens when you take out core game mechanics for one character, but give them too much in other areas to compensate. Nago can't air dash, has slow Slash and Heavy Slash normals, and his superjump is very slow. In exchange, he has exceptionally high damage potential. He has long-range normals that are safe on block, his command dash compensates for his speed, and can ''infinitely chain his specials together'', which is a rare character mechanic in fighting games to begin with. His only limitation is that using specials fills up a blood gauge that, when topped out, stuns him and drains 50% of his health. Among a myriad of other traits, Nagoryuki is a fiercely terrifying opponent that dominates the game at higher levels of play, with a toolkit that can end a single round off of one or two decent reads.
*** Happy Chaos became one for ''-STRIVE-'' after a period where nobody was really sure how he would stack up with his weaknesses in a weak defense and no invincible reversals and intensive resource management. Enter the realization that Steady Aim is an ''incredibly'' good move that gives him unbelievably oppressive zoning potential and pressure, and can both start combos and be used as filler that will either way often lead to Chaos taking half a life bar, at minimum, off of even a stray hit. It gets even better if Chaos manages to land a curse or use Focus or its super version before hand, since with the former his gunshots will reach their maximum damage potential and accuracy even faster, and the latter allows him to offset Steady Aim's rather high resourse use. Combine that with his surprisingly good mid and close range buttons that allow him to effectively box with most of the cast and his high meter gain which he makes very good use of, and it's no wonder that he's considered a monster of a character.
** '''Low tier examples:'''
*** The first ''Guilty Gear'' had Potemkin, who was considered to be far and away the worst character in that title. His buttons were slow and had awkward hitboxes, he had no approach options, his huge size meant he got hit by character specific infinites, and even his command grabs were rendered useless by being able to tech them. The Dust Loop Wiki put it the best, he simply '''can't.''' Thankfully, starting in ''X'' Potemkin got some ''much'' needed quality of life updates to help him out so he could actually play ''Guilty Gear.''
*** Once again Potemkin found himself in low tier status in ''Xrd.'' He was a top tier scrappy in ''Accent Core,'' Arcsys might have went a bit overboard with the nerfs. Many of his strong points were nerfed or just removed outright, and thanks to the high speed and mixup heavy nature of ''Xrd'' Potemkin often found himself being zoned out or rushed down majority of the time. While far from unusable, he was considered to be one of the weaker (if not weakest) characters in all of ''Xrd'' and it's various iterations.
*** ''-STRIVE-'' Faust, as of the first release, is considered the worst character in the game. Some reasons include low damage, losing a lot of his tools from previous games, his Scarecrow special being very reactable, massive amounts of meter reliance, a low damage Super that doesn't break the wall, other characters being plain old better, and so on. There's a reason why he was given the derisive nickname of "Laust" by some players. He has been continually buffed over the course of ''-STRIVE-'''s lifetime, with changes to his item throw, his super now giving wallbreak, and overall changes to his buttons in particular giving him a much better neutral. It is now commonly agreed that he's pretty solid, if still retaining a lot of weaknesses.
*** Goldlewis in ''-STRIVE-'' quickly became this once players found out how weak his kit was when he arrived. Many were disappointed that such an interesting concept for a character was actually arguably the worst in the game. Thankfully, the Ver 1.18 patch gave Goldlewis some much needed buffs, saving him from low tier status.
** '''Examples of both'''
*** Ramlethal unfortunately has had this both ways. When ''Xrd'' was first released she was vastly overpowered for people who could master her DifficultButAwesome moveset, able to easily deplete the opponent's life bar in a combo string. However some updates seriously nerfed her to the point where one needs to have that mastery to even do any significant damage, which for some players essentially crippled her competitive viability. Fortunately, that all changed with ''-STRIVE-''. Unfortunately, Ramlethal's reworks in ''-STRIVE-'' ended up putting her as an oppressive top tier again. Boasting some of the longest reaching normals in the whole game and very easy coast-to-coast combos from midscreen that deal high damage and grant her Positive Bonus with wall break, Ram can utterly dominate the mid-ragnge and convert off of practically any stray hit.
*** +R's iteration of Justice is widely agreed to be a character that is either incredibly annoying to fight or a complete joke. This is due to the fact that Justice is arguably the most matchup-dependent character in the game, as she either steamrolls her opponent or gets run down herself. Part of this comes from the fact that her mobility is bad (to the point of outright not being able to dash forward), but the majority of it comes from her Nuke zoning. Justice can send out slow-moving but high damage projectiles called "Nukes", which travel across the screen very slowly. The key to this is that Justice can send out up to ''four'' projectiles at once, covering four different angles. If you're diligent about putting out nukes, it can be impossible for certain characters to get close to her. On the other hand, if your opponent has a good way of getting past the nukes, say via teleportation or some other gap-closing move, then her entire gameplan falls apart. Justice isn't ''bad'' at close range, but she's a lot worse than most characters, meaning one good read is all it takes for Justice to lose the round in these scenarios.

* EscapistCharacter: Sol is a rebel BountyHunter rocker who likes Music/{{Queen}} and can play the guitar, he's a genius, and he can turn into a badass half-dragon knight and curbstomp most of the cast [[BrilliantButLazy while holding back massively]]. His character is so completely excessive that he would be a textbook GaryStu if not for the tragic backstory.

* The scene in ''-STRIVE-'''s Another Story where [[spoiler:The result of Faust's HeroicSacrifice is revealed]] is a heartbreaking moment, but it's slightly spoilt by the shot of [[spoiler:Faust's soul ascending like he's in a cartoon and the comical "whup" sound he makes,]] which sounds more like he's trying to drink from a water fountain than [[spoiler:having his soul ripped out of his body.]]

** Sol Badguy. We don't know what the intention of the creators was when they released two official fanarts featuring suggestive poses with Dizzy. One has [[SexIsViolence his sword under her breasts]] while [[ClothingDamage her outfit is nearly torn]], while [[http://guilty-gear.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ggxxac_ex_so.png the other one]] features him shirtless while he carries a [[ChainsOfLove chain-bound Dizzy]] [[{{Stripperific}} in her panties.]] Look for it [[http://www.guiltygear.ru/gallery.php here.]] Considering that Sol is Dizzy's dad, those fanarts count as {{Squick}}.

* As of CEOtaku 2022, ''Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2'' [[https://youtu.be/mTnAGIZRtB4 has finally joined the Arc System Works rollback family]]. For years it was assumed that ''Rev 2'' would simply be left in the dust to promote ''-STRIVE-''. Now, every fan of ''Guilty Gear'' from every era has a game they can play with smooth online.

** "Darius Rose" for Nagoriyuki, originally springing forth from a [=4chan=] leak which caused speculation that "Darius Rose" was his official name. Although the leak ended up being false, the name was just [[AwesomeMcCoolName so damn cool]] that it stuck.

* FountainOfMemes: Goldlewis Dickinson, the first DLC character revealed in ''-STRIVE-'', instantly became a meme-producing machine even before his playable debut, thanks to his memorable appearance, AwesomeMcCoolName and sheer ''[[{{Eagleland}} American-ness]]''.

** ''-STRIVE-'''s story mode is heavily focused on ending Sol's story arc, to the detriment of most of the cast. Only I-No, Ky, Axl, Nagoriyuki, Jack-O', Happy Chaos, and Goldlewis (the latter three not even playable in the base roster) do anything significant. Giovanna, despite being a newcomer, is more a glorified chauffeur, and May, Faust, and Ramlethal don't even show up in the story proper, only in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue. This is especially egregious with Faust because the game otherwise provides no explanation as to his drastically different demeanor and appearance.

* ToyShip: Bridget and May (kinda subverted courtesy of May being 22).

** Goldlewis Dickinson quickly became a fan favorite in ''-STRIVE-'', being a RatedMForManly badass who wields a freaking armored coffin as a ball and chain, and considered one of the more memorable characters in the game despite not being playable until the first DLC. The fact that his conversations with Bridget helped her decide to come out also plays increased his fanbase, partially because of the contrast of having a RatedMForManly Secretary of (Absolute) Defense being so caring, relating to her TransTribulations, and being generally supportive of her trans identity.

** Goldlewis Dickinson quickly became a fan favorite in ''-STRIVE-'', being a RatedMForManly badass who wields a freaking armored coffin as a ball and chain, and considered one of the more memorable characters in the game despite not being playable until the first DLC.

* CondemnedByHistory: With the march of progress in tegards to translation and localization the series has made over the years, the localization for ''XX'' done by Majesco is starting to be seen in this light. Revelations made in later games have retroactively resulted in realizations that many aspects of the script were [[{{Bowdlerise}} Bowdlerised]], taking away the nuance of several characters and in some cases not quite being accurate to the original Japanese dialogue.

** BaraGenre fans just ''looove'' Sol. His more cartoonishly muscular build in ''Xrd'' was ''very'' warmly received. Ditto for Goldlewis and Leo, although not quite to the extent of Sol.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: May's whole deal.

** Thanks to a twitter post about someone calling her that, fans have started affectionately referring to Bridget as "Brisket".

* HarsherInHindsight:
** In the first 2014 flashback in ''Xrd'' story mode, Frederick and Aria are chatting about [[DreamsOfFlying being birds freely flying through the sky]], after which Frederic jokingly suggests imagining becoming a roach, who has no natural predators, no concern for socio-political bullshit and is very hard to kill. Gears fit those criteria too well.
** Japan is destroyed in the backstory of ''GG'' (and by destroyed we mean ''it's a hole in the ocean''). It wasn't clear exactly what had happened until ''Xrd'', though, and the 2011 earthquake/tsunami/possible threat of nuclear meltdown and mass radiation poisoning events that hit Japan felt a little on the nose...
** In ''Xrd -SIGN-'', Elphelt's antics in trying to get married to pretty much anyone is funny at first but becomes a little less funny when in Story mode [[spoiler:when she explains that she is unable to feel love, despite being able to feel other emotions, implying this behavior is some sort of desperate way to find love and escape her fate as a Valentine]].
** Daisuke's quote that "Fighting games are too simplified and should be more complex" ended up aging pretty badly with him now having seemingly done a 180 in this attitude with ''-Strive-''.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Before the release of ''XX'' and the official debut of Robo-Ky, there was some speculation about Ky being a Gear, based on how GG Mode in ''X'' altered his posture and voice to appear glitchy. [[spoiler:Then ''Xrd'' came along, in which it's implied that he has become at least part-Gear after conceiving Sin...]]
** The original ''Guilty Gear'' beta for the [=PS1=] was supposed to have utilized [[https://www.unseen64.net/2010/07/26/guilty-gear-psx-beta/ pre-rendered 3D models]] for its characters before Team Neo Blood decided to go with hand-drawn sprites. Fast forward 16 years later, and ''Xrd'' was revealed to be a ''Main/TwoAndAHalfD'' game that uses special techniques to make its character models simulate 2D hand-drawn art.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', the Champion Revali mocks Link by saying he "doesn't care for blonde-haired sacred knights with holy blades". Cut to several years later, where Revali's voice actor Creator/SeanChiplock ended up becoming the new dub voice actor for Ky in ''-STRIVE-''.

** Even with the knowledge that Bridget is a boy, he is still considered adorable by many fans thanks to his cute appearance, friendly personality, and his attacks with his yo-yo and teddy bear.

* NeverLiveItDown:
** The entire franchise is never gonna live down introducing [[MemeticMutation Bridget]].
** The fandom's not gonna let Johnny live down his accidental flirting with Bridget any time soon.

** '''Bridget.''' Through the sheer power of MemeticMutation, she quickly became one of the most popular characters in the entire franchise, especially in Japan where she even outranks other very popular characters around the world like Dizzy, Baiken, Johnny, Slayer, and even Elphelt from the more recent entries. It's to the point where Bridget and her backstory were how many people even became aware of ''Guilty Gear'' in the first place. With each new character popularity poll, Bridget consistently topped several of the lists, so when it was finally confirmed that Bridget would become the first character of ''-STRIVE-'''s second DLC season, the fandom erupted in joy.
** Robo-Ky. Despite being being a Ky's [[EvilTwin evil robot twin]], wearing the same clothes and even copying some of his moveset, Robo-Ky earned a distinct, separate identity and a lot of love.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In ''Xrd -SIGN-'', Elphelt's antics in trying to get married to pretty much anyone is funny at first but becomes a little less funny when in Story mode [[spoiler:when she explains that she is unable to feel love, despite being able to feel other emotions, implying this behavior is some sort of desperate way to find love and escape her fate as a Valentine]].

** The Increased pushback in ''-STRIVE-'' (characters being pushed apart sooner after a combo or blocking hits, thus returning the gameplay back to neutral state more often) is seen by part of the fanbase as dulling the [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown okizeme]]-centric gameplay ''Gulity Gear'' is famous for. But some people in support of ''-STRIVE-'' welcomed lowered difficulty barrier for newbies (in the series infamous for very oppressive offense and having many mechanics that need to be learned before becoming competent in regular [=PvP=] play) and a shift in game design direction after so long.