Trivia / BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle

• Acclaimed Flop: While reception to the game was positive, the opening sales have been proven to be lower than any baseline BlazBlue game.
• Acting for Two:
  • As in the main series, Kanako Kondo and Cristina Vee voice both Noel Vermillion and Nu-13 while Tetsuya Kakihara and David Vincent voice both Jin Kisaragi and Hakumen.
  • Ami Koshimizu voices both Yukiko and Yang.
  • Saori Hayami voices Ruby, Orie and Mai. And just to make it literal, Ruby and Mai even have special interactions with each other!
  • Before version 2.0, Ayumi Fujimura voiced both Nine and Yuzuriha.
  • In the English dub, Cindy Robinson voices both Makoto and Labrys.
  • Tara Platt voices both Mitsuru and Elizabeth, and they have special interactions with each other as well.
  • Once again, Johnny Yong Bosch voices both Yu and Adachi.
  • It's brief (as Terumi appears in a few of Susanoo's intros), but both Yūichi Nakamura and Doug Erholtz voice Hazama and Terumi. Justified since they are (or were) technically the same person.
  • As of Arcade version 2.0, Rie Tanaka voices both Mitsuru and Nine.
• All-Star Cast:
  • The game features characters from seven different franchises, most of which with many established voice actors. On the Japanese side you have: Tomokazu Sugita, Tetsuya Kakihara, Kana Ueda, Yūichi Nakamura, Hiroki Yasumoto, Kenji Nomura, Aoi Yūki, Masaki Terasoma, Ayumi Fujimura, Asami Imai, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Iori Nomizu, Kenta Miyake, Daisuke Namikawa, Showtaro Morikubo, Yui Horie, Ami Koshimizu, Tomokazu Seki, Maaya Sakamoto, Romi Park, Hikaru Midorikawa, Rie Tanaka, Ayana Taketatsu, Kappei Yamaguchi, Miyuki Sawashiro, Mitsuaki Madono, Ryōhei Kimura, Ayane Sakura, Kouji Ishii, Kosuke Toriumi, Takashi Kondo, Nao Tōyama, Hidenobu Kiuchi, Aya Suzaki, Yūki Kaji, Saori Hayami, Yōko Hikasa, Yu Shimamura, Mikako Takahashi, and Yumi Hara to name a few. And this isn't the entire cast yet.
  • The English cast is no slouch either, bringing the most well-known anime and game dubbing talents from LA and Texas from the early 21 century up to present day. You have: Patrick Seitz, David Vincent, Cristina Valenzuela, Mela Lee, Doug Erholtz, D.C. Douglas, Jamieson Price, Cindy Robinson, Eden Riegel, Alexis Tipton, Kirk Thornton, Stephanie Sheh, Amanda Céline Miller, Julie Ann Taylor, Billy Kametz, Carrie Savage, Ray Chase, Johnny Yong Bosch, Yuri Lowenthal, Erin Fitzgerald, Amanda Winn-Lee, Matthew Mercer, Karen Strassman, Liam O'Brien, Tara Platt, Sam Riegel, Kyle McCarley, Sarah Anne Williams, Keith Silverstein, Ian Sinclair, Erica Mendez, Greg Chun, Xanthe Huynh, Ben Diskin, Erica Lindbeck, Cassandra Lee Morris, Allegra Clark, Kira Buckland, Kaiji Tang, Carrie Keranen, and like the Japanese cast, it's not the full one yet.
• Ascended Fanon: Vatista's popularity regularly sees her be included by fans as the fourth member of Hyde's inner circle. Considering that she gets included in Hyde, Linne, and Waldstein's Steven Universe themed color pallete set, ArcSys wholeheartedly embraces this notion.
• Author's Saving Throw:
  • In the midst of the controversy over half the roster being locked behind DLC, producer Toshimichi Mori stated in an interview that the prices of every single piece of DLC for the game combined won't exceed the game's retail price. Additionally, the total cost of the base game and all the DLC wouldn't be much more expensive than a full-priced game. ^note Indeed, the U.S. pricing of Cross Tag Battle was later revealed to be $50 for the base game with the all-inclusive season pass for all characters being $20, making for a collective total of $70. Not much different than the price of other BlazBlue titles, DLC included. Further sweetening the deal, ArcSys later announced on Twitter that both Blake and Yang would be free DLC after all, and also specifically apologized for their marketing misstep.
• Christmas Rushed: It has been noted that the game's release has been timed in such a way to make it available by the time Evolution 2018 takes place, as BBTAG ended up getting into the Evo 2018 lineup and was the most recently released game on the roster, dropping just three months before the event. Many fans theorize that the fact that the game was out in time for Evo played a major role in the game's highly controversial DLC management. Specifically, the fact that the DLC characters from the three DLC packs that were announced prerelease appear and are fought in the game's story mode is being pointed to as evidence.
• Cross-Regional Voice Acting: A special case with the RWBY characters in the original Japanese track, with both sets of actors, Japanese and English, credited from the get-go. The English voices listed first to denote the characters' origins as being from an American-made series.
• Descended Creator: RWBY singer Casey Lee Williams does the voice of Neo.
• Do Not Spoil This Ending: In the week leading to the game's release, Arc System Works released guidelines for streaming and video content. The one thing the guidelines prohibit (aside from uploading the game's soundtrack) is videos and streams of Episode Mode outside of brief clips, and even then, nothing after Chapter 2.
• Dueling Works:
  • With Capcom and Marvel Comics' Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, another crossover tag-team fighting game. Notable in that this is the second Arc System Works game to be competing with Infinite, following Dragon Ball FighterZ.
  • News that it'll have a Story Mode that surrounds the whole Massively Multiplayer Crossover nature of the game has drawn comparisons to Dissidia Final Fantasy and Project × Zone, more so the former since both titles are Fighting Games that cross over multiple games by the same company (though all the games represented here are only connected due to Arc System Works publishing them and because BlazBlue had given a Shout-Out to RWBY before).
  • Also was in a duel with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in terms of each being a Massive Multiplayer Crossover fighting game released six months from each other that are easy to pick up and play.
• Executive Meddling: After 2.0 went up, an interview with Mori saw him admitting that Rooster Teeth pushed strongly for Neo to be RWBY's first post-launch rep over other characters (Mori has admitted in the past that Adam Taurus and Penny Polendina are his and the staff's favored characters from the show to appear in a game).
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: Depending on region...
  • In Japan, there is a "Limited Box" edition of the game that, in addition to a DLC product code that bundles character packs 1-7, it also comes with an artbook and, depending on version, acrylic standees (PS4) or a pouch/case (Switch). JP version pre-orders previously offered the OST.
  • In Asia, there's a physical Deluxe edition which comes with the game and the DLC character bundle product code (PS4 only). There's also the limited edition which includes the artbook, steelcase, and OST, and depending on version, the character DLC bundle (PS4) or the DLC (product code for) Character Pack 1 (Switch).
  • For the U.S. Limited Edition, it includes the game itself (with reversible cover art based on the JP standard version), a steelcase, the game's soundtrack with 15 songs, acrylic standees, and a nice box to go with it. However, it will not include the DLC character bundle (packs 1-7), and was exclusive to the Arc System Works and Rooster Teeth stores. (It is no longer available.) Pre-orders with the standard edition previously offered a mini-soundtrack with 7 songs.
  • For Europe and PAL regions, it'll include the game, OST, and artbook, however, what's different from other versions is that this one includes a "battle bag" and 4 posters of the main characters of each respective series (Ragna, Yu, Hyde, Ruby). However, this too will not include the DLC character bundle. This LE is exclusive to the Rice Digital online store. All Day 1 standard edition copies will also include the mini-OST, but this will have 5 songs instead.
  • The Steam version used to include the 15-track OST and the artbook digitally, along with DLC Character Pack 1 for basic purchasers free until 7/6/18. However, the DLC has since reverted back to paid, and the OST/artbook is no longer offered.
  • While not an actual Limited Edition in a sense, the physical Special Edition of BBTAG includes all the DLC so far (character packs 1-7, along with DLC colors 14-16 on the disc/cart) up to the 2.0 content pack, which however, is a DLC code. Pre-orders in JP/Asia regions previously offered the Special Edition Artbook. EU/PAL regions will also have a physical Special Edition but its PS4 only. However, it will include the game with the non-2.0 DLC's on the disc, the 2.0 content pack DLC code and the SE artbook all inside as the Day One edition there.
• Milestone Celebration: While probably unintentional, Cross Tag Battle's release coincides with the 10 year anniversaries of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and Persona 4, the 6 year anniversary of Under Night In-Birth's first iteration and the 5 year anniversary of RWBY's first episode.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Alexis Tipton replaces Laura Bailey as Platinum the Trinity in the dub of this game. While this was also the case in BlazBlue: Alter Memory, this is the first time it happened in one of the BlazBlue video games.
  • Rie Tanaka takes over as Nine as of version 2.0 due to Ayumi Fujimura being on indefinite hiatus from voice acting. All of Nine's old battle dialogue was re-recorded. Strangely, Fujimura retains her other role as Yuzuriha.
  • Yumi is now voiced by Megan Taylor Harvey as opposed to Mallorie Rodak (her voice actor in the anime).
• Playing Against Type: A few English voice actors for the Under Night In-Birth cast are playing outside their typical casting roles:
  • Sarah Anne Williams is often casted as hyperactive Genki Girls. Compare that to Linne, a cynical and snarky princess.
  • Greg Chun is mostly known for portraying calm and intellectual characters like Adam. Many did not expect him to voice the Ax-Crazy and bloodthirsty Carmine Prime.
  • Erica Mendez is known for voicing young boys such as Gon Freecss and Action Girls with a tomboy personality. Orie Ballardiae on the other hand is much more Lady of War-like.
  • Xanthe Huynh tends to voice shy or Nice Girl characters. Vatista is adorable, but she's also a stoic Cloudcuckoolander.
• Promoted Fanboy: A posthumous example; RWBY creator Monty Oum was a noted fan of BlazBlue. This can be seen with BlazBlue creator Toshimichi Mori as well. Mori has stated before that he's a fan of RWBY and wanted to make a fighting game with RWBY characters... and lo and behold.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Yang's lacking position in the story mode, alongside the other nine DLC characters in the base roster not being in it period, can be traced back to them not being ready by the time of the game's launch.
• Role Reprise: Every single character is voiced by their original voice actor in Japanese. For the English cast, everyone has their most recent voice actors since some of them (like Hazama, Chie, Kanji and Naoto Shirogane) have been Darrin'd for several years in their home series. Even for Alexis Tipton, this is only her first time voicing Platinum the Trinity in a game, not overall, since she also replaced Laura Bailey in BlazBlue: Alter Memory. Chie is a notable one since after the SAG-AFTRA voice actor strike, Erin Fitzgerald has announced that she can only accept union works... yet she still came back for Chie anyway.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise: The 2.0 update trailer announced four of the nine new characters set to join the roster as of November, intending to reveal the other five later. A special edition release inadvertently revealed that 2 of them hailed from BlazBlue.
• Throw It In!: Chie's "slurping noises" in her victory quote with Hilda was improvised by Erin Fitzgerald. She said she did it for fun and never thought they'd put it in.
• Trolling Creator: Of course, we have Mori, but then there's also Arc System Works's Twitter. Someone asked if they could see a clip of the English Dub version of the game. And ArcSys obliged... by showing the game's home screen with no voice clips.
  • As of the 1.5 update, dataminers found announcer calls for almost 80 characters currently not on the roster, including several from Senran Kagura and Akatsuki Blitzkampf. Given the size of the list, the fact that it contains the remaining BlazBlue, Persona, and Under Night characters, and the fact that some characters were confirmed to have a low chance of appearing due to being clones or Puppet Fighters, the list is largely suspected to be a placeholder to avoid leaking any future additions through datamining.
    • And now both Senran Kagura and Akatsuki are actually represented in a 2.0 trailer.
• Uncredited Role: With the exception of the RWBY cast as a result of being in the original release, none of the English voices are credited.
• What Could Have Been:
  • With regards to DLC characters, the developers have noted that they cannot implement more traditional Puppet Fighters (Carl and Nirvana, Relius and Ignis, Shadow Labrys and Asterius, Ken and Koromaru, Chaos and Azhi Dahaka) due to how their system mechanics cannot be properly translated into the game's current engine.
  • What with how Rooster Teeth pushed for Neo to be the first and only RWBY rep after the main four girls, it's likely that another character from the series could have made it in the first place (especially as Mori has admitted that he and one of his crew love Adam and Penny respectively).
  • When asked if he could add any other franchise into the game, Mori said that he would love to add in the Fate series with specific focus on Fate/Grand Order.