YMMV / Melty Blood

• Awesome Art: The original intro sequence is surprisingly well-put together and manages to effectively convey the song's energetic feel, despite being mostly made of stills and in-game screenshots.
• Awesome Music:
  • Shiki Ryougi's Theme in Actress Again, which is a remix of a song from the The Garden of Sinners anime.
  • End of 1000 Years, the theme of Warcueid/Red Arcueid, is also a wonderful piece. That piano is godly.
  • Archetype Earth's theme. A fitting majestic piece for one who is among the most powerful beings in Tsukihime verse. It is especially poignant when you hear it during the story mode: The only time you hear this in story mode is during the last fight in Archetype Earth's route: She and Arcueid engages in a Battle in the Center of the Mind after Archetype Earth makes it clear that she is going to destroy the world, and Arcueid strongly disagrees.
  • Memories of Once, the good ending theme of the early titles. It is an extremely bright and sweet piece of music in contrast to much of the darker-themed soundtrack.
  • Owarinai Mukai, the bad ending theme of the early titles that plays when certain evil characters finish their story modes. It is an avant-garde bossa-nova style track that is also somber and packed with unusual vocals that alternate between talking and singing and it incorporates the sound of playing children ^note  The singer, Ryorca said that the composer RAITO recorded the children at a park .
  • Great Cat's Village R is a groovy rave piece featuring plenty of nyas. It's as catchy, funny, and obnoxious as you'd expect Neco-Arc's theme to be.
• Crazy Is Cool: Kohaku. Oh sweet merciful Christ, Kohaku. Almost all of the random weird shit that finds its way into Melty Blood, like Mech-Hisui and Neco-Arc Chaos, is directly her fault storywise.
  • And lets not forget her story in ''Actress Again'', especially her dialogue with Roa.
    Kohaku: Um, it's not your turn yet, Mr. Nero. Would you please read between the lines? We are just a step away from the final boss. It doesn't fit if we have a fresh, cool new character right now.
    Roa: —Hold up one sec! Fine. The others may not know about me, I can let that go. Yeah, no problem. Butting in here would just be a tired joke now too... BUT, there is no way that you don't know me, right!? I'm begging you, explain a little bit to everyone why I would make a good Final Boss!
    Kohaku: Well, even if you say that, the SHIKI I know doesn't look like some pianist... Um, by the way, do you think you could leave now, Mr. Nero?
    Roa: I'M NOT FUCKING NERO!! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you ya little Tanuki!?
    Kohaku: Aha... You got me. Yes, I do in fact know your name. Ummm... it was... Mr. Neroa, right?
    Roa: Aaaah, I finally get some limelight and I get this kind of treatment... Do you really, REALLY hate me this much, Kohaku!?
  • Kohaku admits to being the the reason White Len is a tsundere, the cause of Sion's infinite combos, and just about every possible screwup and glitch imaginable in previous versions of Melty Blood.
  • Kohaku is also such a nerd that she modeled Mech-Hisui's attacks after an Android Ranger from her favorite game, Phantasy Star Online. A consultant from SEGA was actually called in for this during game development.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Kishima Kouma has a bit of a following among fighting game fans who are unfamiliar with or otherwise not fond of the Tsukihime universe due to his more traditional fighting character design, and works as a sort of gateway drug to bringing new players to the game. It's to the point where he was the second character announced in the Character Trailers for Type Lumina, after Shiki and before previously established characters Arcueid, Ciel, Akiha, Hisui and Kohaku.
  • Neco-Arc gained a massive meme following in 2021, being featured in various bizarre, cat-thing-related memes, consequently garnering a lot of fans who don't know anything about the source material. She's outstripped the series' popularity to the point where some people can only recognize Arcueid as "human Neco-Arc".
  • Sion Eltnam Atlasia, to a lesser extent. Originally she was treated as just another member of the cast, but then Under Night In-Birth happened and she, under the name "Eltnum", became a rather popular Guest Fighter in that game, boosting awareness of Melty Blood even more. Originally, "Eltnum" was created for a potential Melty Blood HD project, which eventually came to pass in the form of Type Lumina. However, due to the character's...interesting nature in regards to copyright, along with Nasu's statements regarding canon, it remains unclear as to whether or not she can actually come back to her home franchise, even as French Bread themselves continue to joke about her origins.
• Fandom Rivalry: Approaching the release of Type Lumina, there was a segment of people, some fans of Melty Blood and some who dislike it who started hyping it up as the Guilty Gear -Strive- killer.
• Fan Nickname: Due to the nature of this being a Fighting Game with a large roster, many of which are clones, this was inevitable.
  • "Aquiha" for Akiha Vermilion.
  • "Azaka" for Akiha, named for her resemblance and (visually) similar abilities to Azaka Kokutou, a character from The Garden of Sinners.
  • "Miss Beam Spam" for Aoko. Self-explanatory, really.
  • "Roast Beef Stroganoff/Strudelburger/Stringburger" for Riesbyfe Stridberg.
  • "Sacchin" for Satsuki Yumizuka.
  • "Arc" for, who else, Arcueid.
  • "Warcueid", "Warc", or "Red Arc" for Red Arcueid. The "W" comes from fans applying the same naming convention that Nintendo used for Wario and Waluigi, though (atleast in the original games) it can also be seen as coming from Wallachia.
  • Archetype: Earth is mostly referred to simply as "Hime" or "Princess" to distinguish her from the other two Arcueids.
  • Due to being infamous as one of the cheapest characters ever to grace a fighting game, Roa (specifically C-Roa in Actress Again Current Code) is referred to as either "Honest Mids Michael" or "War Crime".
    • Because of the differences in his remake design compared to how he used to look, along with his changed moveset that shies away from his Current Code self, the version of Roa seen in Type Lumina is referred to simply by his first name "Michael" instead to differentiate the two.
  • "VAkiha" for Akiha Vermilion.
  • "SAkiha", short for Seifuku Akiha, for the version of Akiha wearing her school uniform.
  • To differentiate the three Shikis from each other, they are only ever referred to by their last names: "Tohno", "Nanaya", and "Ryougi".
  • Hisui & Kohaku, when paired together as a single character, are simply referred to as "Maids" to distinguish that version from their individual selves.
  • Neco-Arc and Neco-Arc Chaos are collectively referred to as "Necos" or "Cats", usually to denote their Joke Character status as they are considered the weakest characters in Current Code.
    • Neco-Arc is called "La Creatura" in Latin America, for some reason or another.
  • Dead Apostle Noel is often shortened to just "DAN" or "DA Noel".
  • Ushiwakamaru is shortened to just "Ushi", like in FGO.
  • Like in his home game, The Count of Monte Cristo is referred to as "Komaeda". Alternatively he is simply referred to as "Dantes" or "Count".
• Fountain of Memes: Somehow thanks to her very strange if not adorable character design for a Nasuverse game, Neco Arc became this in the early 2020s. Several short videos were made typically involving Neco Arc getting up to increasingly wacky shenanigans while usually squeaking "Gurenyuu~" or "DORIDORIDORIDORI" and even jokes about Arcueid herself being an alternate "humansona" of Neco Arc rather than the other way around.
• Game-Breaker: Ciel's 236c. not only is it a full screen but it has high priority, does big damage, descent chip damage, can start a combo and she only needs one bar of power to use it.
• Gateway Series: This game was known to be one thing that introduced people to the Nasuverse as a whole outside Japan around the late 2000s when it was in the arcades. After subsequently watching one or two anime adaptations or film series like The Garden of Sinners later to learn about the characters, it just snowballed from there.
• Genius Programming:
  • If anything, the launch version of Type Lumina boasts absolutely blistering load time despite having sharper visuals and in-game sprites than Under Night In-Birth whose engine Type Lumina is built upon. Long-time competitive Melty Blood veteran GO1 demonstrates.
  • The game is also incredibly well optimized on PC with it can be compressed into around 5-10 gigabytes of download in spite of all its effects, voiceovers and art, though it is uncompressed into 22.5 gigabytes upon installation
• Good Bad Bugs: A rare bug in the launch version of Type Lumina can make the game forget to display certain attack animation or even the entire characters themselves during online matches. Have fun dodging invisible fireballs or opponents.
• Heartwarming Moments: Boss Rush 4 in Type Lumina centers around Miyako and showcases a lot about her when she's not focused solely on bringing Shiki home, and she's an absolute sweetheart. Halfway through the story, as soon as Noel de-ages herself into Dead Apostle Noel, Miyako's immediate response is, "Hey, since we're the same age now, let's be friends!"
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This mock up trailer for Neco-Arc "debuting" in Type Lumina in November 2021 would grow a bit old when next years July rolled in...
  • Arcueid's all-white color palette and Shiki's green uniform palette become this when you realize they were foreshadowing Lostbelt 7, what with there being dinosaur versions of Arcueid and Shiki, respectively.
• Low-Tier Letdown: Neco-Arc is typically considered the worst character in Type Lumina, thanks to having the lowest health pool in the game and struggling to deal damage thanks to her low damage scaling. Her gimmicky specials make her performance very inconsistent, and unlike previous games, her hitbox is the size of a regular character so her small size is not an advantage this time around.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Warui Ne.
  • MASH 2A
  • EVERYTHING about Neco-Arc. And, to a lesser extent, Kohaku.
  • Poverty Blood. Or generally, people holding Melty Blood tournaments in every inappropriate place humanly possible. ^Explanation A Western community meme. Early on, Melty Blood was just a Japanese doujin-soft that is difficult to acquire in US, and those who do have the game usually downloaded it through other means. It also runs well even on old 2000-ish laptop computer, greatly reducing the budget to set the game up. These reasons have led the Western player-base to put up Melty Blood events with scrapped-together equipment in just about any place they can, ranging from hotel hallway to sidewalk or even inside a toilet.
  • "Melty Blood has no drip." ^Explanation A quote from professional Dragon Ball Fighter Z player HookGangGod deriding Type Lumina for its apparent lack of style compared to other fighting games and its character designs seeming dated compared to modern anime aesthetic standards. Needless to say, many arguments erupted over the topic.
  • Honest Mids Michael ^Explanation Crescent Moon Roa is one of the most infamous characters in Current Code thanks to his orb setups, which force the opponent to block for a long time and can be looped into each other. The name comes from the fact that Roa's orbs are technically mids and can be blocked high or low, but the sheer pressure of having to deal with the orbs and keep blocking makes Roa very scary to deal with up close. Roa fans and haters alike love to refer to Michael with this name as a term of affection and derision.
  • Seagull Noel. ^Explanation In Type Lumina, Noel has the tendency to lets loose a very shrill shriek every time she gets hit. If you are particularly unfortunate, this can happen every couple of seconds. As a result, discussions of Noel in Melty Blood often result in someone making fun of the very loud and annoying sound she can make, usually by comparing those noises to a seagull's cry. It got to the point where a later patch reduced the volume and frequency of her seagull shrieks.
  • Aoko wants to take you for a ride. ^Explanation Aoko's Last Arc begins with her trapping the opponent in a greenish wireframe orb, which quickly caused references to the character select screen of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. While the comparisons were around at the time of her original playable appearances in Act Cadenza onward, they exploded after her release in Type Lumina.
  • Melty Blood: Grand Order ^Explanation The addition of Edmond Dantes and Ushiwakamaru, in addition to Saber and Mash Kyrielight already being in the game by that point, caused this nickname to become much more prominent due to a sizable portion of the roster now being from FGO and reps from that game getting in over established veterans and fan-favorites like Sion or even other former guests like Shiki Ryougi.
• Player Punch: Nee-san...Nee-san...
• Porting Disaster: The Steam version of Current Code, published by Arc System Works. While it does contain online play and an English translation, the netcode isn't considered good by any means and the game has problems recognizing certain types of controllers. Methods of correcting the issue do exist, but they involve a convoluted process that is not guaranteed to work with every type of controller, and in some cases has to be repeated every time the game is launched. It is so frowned upon by the community that they outright created a "community edition" of the game, based on the original Japanese PC release and modified to include some extra bells and whistles.
• Purposely Overpowered: One could say Archetype Earth (aka. Hime) is set up to be this from the start due to lore purpose. She is seen by most fighting game communities (as of 2021) to be the strongest character up there with C-Roa in Current Code, especially F-Hime with her extreme flight mobility and strong space control with both her normals and special moves. The only real reason she hasn't overrun tournaments yet was simply because no one was that interested in Whoring.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many fans of the early games consider the late releases as this. Reasons are:
  • The original game, while being a fighting game had a very big emphasis on the novel-like story. Subsequent releases not only removed this story, but also threw every sense of canon out the window and added stories that don't tie into the original games at all.
  • Many story-oriented features and easter eggs got removed in order to make the game more balanced. For example, in the original game Red Arcueid had Super Armor at the beginning of each attack, and standing near V. Akiha would slowly reduce one's health (which made perfect sense, as her power was plundering energy via body contact.) as for easter eggs removed one of the more famous ones is in the original game using the shield to block Ciel's forward+weak attack x3 (one were Ciel does 3 sets of boxing style punches) attack with Arcueid will after she stops the 3rd hit of the move will cause Arcueid and Ciel to reenact a silly Cross Counter scene from Kagetsu Tohya this was removed in Re Act.
  • Excuse Plots got added, in order to make characters, which were according to Word of God not going to make an appearance, appear anyways.
  • Type Lumina got hit with this when both regular Arcueid and Red Arcueid were revealed, in terms of their character designs. Players unfamiliar with the Tsukihime reboot were left confused and disappointed as to why regular Arcueid was wearing a miniskirt and Red Arcueid was no longer a monstrous berserker. Some Melty Blood veterans naturally are also upset that several fan-favorites such as Nero didn't make it in Type Lumina.
• That One Attack: The launch version of Type Lumina sports one that concerns a new adjustment to the Blood Heat mechanic; if you managed to successfully Shield an attack while in Blood Heat, the game will automatically launch the character's ultimate Last Arc attack that's garanteed to hit for you. Player communities reacted in horror (or delight) when they learned that it triggers on anything including a projectile or stationary setplay traps regardless of the victim's position or whether that Last Arc is a melee attack or not. For added fun, Saber's counter-based Last Arc also works the same way.
• Ugly Cute: Neco-Arc. She has a cartoony face and goofy voice, but is still adorable.
  • Same for Neco-Arc Chaos, with the difference that being a baritone.
• Unexpected Character:
  • The fact that after many years in the Actress Again iteration Roa himself appears, explained as either a TATARI apparition or traces of a timeline.
  • The Actress Again and Current Code iteration, which is the two last iterations before the reimagining Type Lumina features Archetype Earth ("Princess" Arcueid) as a playable character.
  • After the first Character Trailer for Type Lumina showed off Shiki Tohno, most fans expected that the next one would focus on another character already established to be in the roster like Arcueid, Ciel, Akiha, Hisui or Kohaku. Instead, the second Character Trailer announced a new character for the game, in this case fan-favorite Kouma Kishima, who wasn't even established as part of the Remake verse yet!
  • Miyako Arima was another pleasant surprise for Type Lumina. Since the game was established with the rule that no Melty Blood Canon Foreigners would be featured, most figured Miyako would've gotten the axe as well. While she is a pre-established character in the series^note She was briefly mentioned in the original visual novel and Len was mistaken for her in Kagetsu Tohya., she didn't make her debut proper until Melty Blood and, like Kouma, she wasn't even established as part of the Remake verse up until this point.
  • Then Type Lumina revealed Noel, a character introduced the Remake verse. The remake had been out for less than a week at the time, and TYPE-MOON had actually put out a message to players not to spoil new things from the remake, so it was easy to assume more returning characters would be revealed before they got to the new ones, assuming they wouldn't be kept secret.
  • The final launch character for Type Lumina ended up being Saber, a character who normally has nothing to do with this particular franchise. This is offset for most by the fact that not only is Saber the face of TYPE-MOON itself, but fighters outside of Tsukihime have made appearances before (most notably, Shiki Ryougi).
  • Edmond Dantes and Ushiwakamaru coming to Type Lumina via DLC is perhaps even more unexpected than Saber. While they are fan favorites for sure, they never have nowhere near as much plot importance as Saber and Mash did within their debut Fate works (though Dantes does have a connection to Roa within the former's CD drama).
  • Although she had initially appeared in the Re-ACT iteration, nobody was expecting Len to make a surprise appearance at the very end of Type Lumina's Boss Rush 4. Especially considering she hadn't been announced at all as a playable character.