Crisis Moon II: The Hollow Eclipse

Crisis Moon II: The Hollow Eclipse is a 2D fighting game developed by Orange Soft and published by ACS. It is the sequel to Crisis Moon: The Bloody Symphony. Released in 2013 for Arcades (System 202: ENDYMION), PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation Vita (as Crisis Moon II: The Hollow Eclipse: Vita Edition) and the Samsung Zeo.

Gameplay
Gameplay remains the same from the first game, with a few new gameplay mechanics. The game introduces Bloodlust, a comeback mechanic that is activated whenever the player has at least 30-20% health remaining. When activated, Bloodlust can power up the player's attacks significantly, allowing them to deal more damage with every attack.

"Blowback Crashes" have also been introduced. By pressing M+H, the player can perform a powerful attack that sends the opponent flying away from a distance. Charging a Blowback Crash would turn it into a Fatal Shatter, which instead causes crumple stun upon hit, leaving the opponent open to attacks. Blowback Crash consume 25% Luna and can also be charged.

Another new mechanic is the "Guard React", an invincible attack that deals little damage, but instantly swats an attacking opponent away, making them highly useful for escaping enemy pressure while blocking, without the need for using a Chaos Break, much like Alpha Counters in the Street Fighter Alpha series. Guard Reacts are performed by pressing ←M+H during blockstun and consume 25% Luna.

The game's console version introduces "Unchained" characters, absurdly overpowered versions of the normal characters with several buffs and additional moves. These Unchained characters are often fought as bosses at the end of Arcade Mode and would occasionally appear in other modes like in the newly-added Unchained Attack mode, ostensibly a boss rush mode, but may only be accessed by the player as downloadable content (DLC).

There are 10 stages in normal gameplay (9 fights with basic characters (matches 4 and 9 are "rival matches" featuring dialogue intros before the match) and the boss fight with an "Unchained" boss character, usually "Unchained" Dawn. The player may also fight "Unchained" Dominus as a secret boss, but only when the right requirements are filled.

Story
It has been foretold that a tetrad of four consecutive crimsons moons foretells the end of days, and the time of rapture. As the third of four crimson moons begin to rise in the city of Karyudo, people begin to speculate of a catastrophic event that might end up causing the end of humanity itself. However, none of them have the real answers to it all.

In the previous crimson moon, Kiyo Kamiya was about to finsh off Count Godfried, the Dominus, when suddenly, Kiyo began to lose control over his own body. As it turns out Dominus had used a secret technique to bind his blood with another vampire's in order to control them against their will, which Dominus then takes advantage of to cause immense and agonizing pain to Kiyo, who can barely move a single inch.

Before all is lost for Kiyo, Twilight then runs in and fights Dominus. After a long, gruelling battle between the two vampires, Twilight was able to weaken Dominus. However, before she was about to deal the final blow, Dominus uses his own blood to create a blood portal, allowing him to escape. Twilight then runs to Kiyo, who fell unconscious after the ordeal.

As Kiyo wakes up, he finds Twilight by his side, tending to his wounds. Twilight then tells him about what happened during the last hours of the previous crimson moon. She then tells him her secret, that she has been hiding for a long time: she is one half of the reincarnation of Lilith, the Originator, with her twin brother lurking somewhere in the shadows. Twilight then asks Kiyo if he can keep her secret from everybody else, which he promised to.

Several months after the last Crimson Carnival. Kiyo is confronted by a mysterious man who goes by the name of "Dawn", who seems to know everything about him and Twilight. After a quick scuffle between the two, the mysterious man then walks away, leaving Kiyo with more questions than answers. Kiyo then takes a look at the moon, only to find out that it is shining a rather ominous red glow.

The next night, Kiyo confronts Twilight on the swing in Moonlight Park. He told her about the mysterious man that he stumbled upon a while ago, to which Twilight then revealed that the man was in fact her twin brother Dawn, the other half of the Originator's reincarnation, whom she had spoken about earlier.

Just then, Dawn arrives and interferes in their conversation, dropping even more cryptic clues about the so called "Blood Moon Prophecy" and how there's nothing they could do to stop the forthcoming awakening, to which Kiyo objects. Dawn responds with scornful laughter. Eventually, Dawn leaves the premises with a warning to both: "Beware the fourth eclipse".

As the third crimson moon of the tetrad draws near, Kiyo and Twilight, alongside some newly formed allies, come up with a plan to in order to avoid the forthcoming catastrophe that is the fourth crimson moon. With all the pieces set, the group set out to the Tepes Manor in order to exact their final plan: to kill the Dominus.

Returning

 * Kiyo Kamiya

Voice Actors: Hiro Shimono (JP), Johnny Yong Bosch (EN)


 * Twilight

Voice Actresses: Emiri Kato (JP), Erin Fitzgerald (EN)


 * Motoko Tsukagami

Voice Actresses: Kana Asumi (JP), Carrie Keranen (EN)


 * Abel of the Light

Voice Actors: Norio Wakamoto (JP), Travis Willingham (EN)


 * Kagetsu

Voice Actors: Hikaru Midorikawa (JP), David Vincent (EN)


 * Caren Thornheart

Voice Actresses: Atsuko Tanaka (JP), Tara Platt (EN)


 * Roman Black

Voice Actors: Rikiya Koyama (JP), Patrick Seitz (EN)


 * Terence F. Reid

Voice Actors: Yuko Sanpei (JP), Bridget Hoffman (EN)


 * Prisoner #459

Voice Actors: Akio Ohtsuka (JP), Jamieson Price (EN)


 * Magical BraveHeart Neko Nia

Voice Actresses: Kanae Ito (JP), Christine Marie Cabanos (EN)


 * Barrett McBride

Voice Actors: Kazuya Nakai (JP), Matthew Mercer (EN)


 * The Red Knight

Voice Actors: Fumihiko Tachiki (JP), Kirk Thornton (EN)


 * Count Godfried, the Dominus

Voice Actors: Taiten Kusunoki (JP), Crispin Freeman (EN)

New

 * Dawn

Voice Actors: Akira Ishida (JP), Yuri Lowenthal (EN)

A beautiful young man whose face conceals an immoral mind, Dawn is Twilight's twin sister, a descendant of the Tepes clan, and one half of the two reincarnations of the "Originator".

Throughout most of his childhood, Dawn was heavily reliant toward his sister, Twilight, whom he was very close to at the time, something that took a drastic turn all of a sudden after Twilight ran away from the manor and betrayed the vampires. As time went on, his love and admiration of his sister slowly turned into an unhealthy obsession, stalking her and using her betrayal as motivation for him to fully embrace his vampirism, commiting various cruel and reprehensible acts as a parellel to Twilight's rejection of her vampire blood. Realizing that another crimson moon is about to set, Dawn begs his father, the Dominus, to have him search for Twilight all by himself.

Dawn fights using several needles tied to threads hidden beneath his gloves, which he uses as makeshift tendrils in order to pull his targets closer, or suck their blood from a distance. In order to control his threads, he utilizes a special technique, which he had stolen from one of his victims, which involves using spirit energy to breathe life onto the threads, using them as an extension of his body.

Dawn's Edge ability is "Clear Serpent", a long-range attack in which he throws one of his threads toward the opponent, binding them to Dawn himself for a small period of time. Upon hitting the opponent with a Clear Serpent thread, Dawn can either retract the the thread (~L), use the thread as an anchor point to slingshot him around the stage (~M, ~H) or reel his enemy closer to his current position (~E). His Chaos ability is "True Vile Blood: Blind in Bathory", which powers up all of his specials into their full-charge versions, and gives all of his thread attacks homing properties.

Playstyle-wise, Dawn relies heavily on getting close to his opponent using his threads, then naling them with rushdown combos using his chargeable specials. His otherwise limited mobility and heavy reliance on his Edge make him a character meant for intermediate players.


 * Ermingarde Lenne Stadfeldt

Voice Actresses: Rie Kugimiya (JP), Laura Bailey (EN)

A spoiled princess at first glance, Ermingarde Lenne Stadfeldt is in fact the young heiress of the legendary Stadfeldt clan of Hunters, one of the most well-known and influential Hunter clans.

Ermingarde is the youngest amongst the descendants of the late Alois Stadfeldt IV, a legendary Hunter known for his dashing looks during his youth, and his immense skill with dual rapiers, a path that Ermingarde wishes to follow by herself. She had began training to become a Hunter at the tender age of 4, showcasing an immense talent in the art of fencing, much like her father. Now 13 years old, Ermingarde officially joins the Hunter Organization, with her first task being to move to Karyudo City and defend the place from the incoming Otherkind onslaught as soon as the crimson moon rises again.

Ermingarde fights using a pair of rapiers, smelted in the finest of silver and built to be lightweight. By channelling her spirit energy into her attacks, she is able to summon small tornadoes and sonic blasts with the velocity of her rapiers alone.

Ermingarde's Edge ability is "Schalten" (Switching) which allows her changes between her three stances: "Obere" (Upper), "Untere" (Lower), and "Vordere" (Front). Ermingarde can switch into her her Obere, Untere, and Vordere stances by pressing E, ↓E, and →E, respectively, all of which give her access to a brand new set of normals that can be chained together to create devastating combos, though once she enters a stance during a combo, she can never return to that stance again until she returns to her regular stance. Her Chaos ability is "Wille des Windes" (Will of the Wind), which removes the limits on her stance cancels, allowing her to seamlessly chain stance attacks together, as well as improving some of the properties on her stance normals.

Playstyle-wise, Ermingarde is a combination of a charge-type character and a stance fighter, possessing powerful specials performed by charge motions (including reversals of the typical charge inputs such as [→]← and [↑]↓), as well as her stance normals further expanding her moveset. Despite her decent damage output, she is by far the hardest character to master in the entire game, with her most devastating combos also beng among the most execution-heavy.


 * Reisuke Kogane

Voice Actors: Kissho Taniyama (JP), Todd Haberkorn (EN)

A hot-blooded and determined youth, Reisuke Kogane is a fellow high school student and close friend of Kiyo and Motoko, who turns out be the apprentice of the legendary Blaze Heathcliff.

Sometime during his youth, Reisuke was chased and ambushed by a lesser vampire, but before the vampire gets to attack him, the famous Hunter named Blaze Heathcliff suddenly arrives at the scene and kills the vampire with a single punch to the heart. After following him around for days, him and Blaze slowly formed a connection, eventually leading to him becoming Blaze's sidekick until his untimely death, after which he decided to inherit his Heat Knuckles and pick up where Blaze had left off. Much later on, as the crimson moon closes in, he was offered a chanced by his classmate Kiyo Kamiya to help them out with their attack on the Tepes Manor, realizing he would be finally able to continue his idol's legacy, he agrees, a look of enthusiasm visible in his eyes.

Reisuke fights using Blaze Heathcliff's pair of gauntlets, the Heat Knuckles, that allows its user to channel their own body heat into a powerful explosion using spirit energy. Most of his attacks emphasize punching, utilizing the explosive strength of his Heat Knuckles to its full potential.

Reisuke's Edge ability is "Heat-Up", which allows him to charge up his Heat gauge, a vital resource exclusive to him. Reisuke can choose to charge gradually by holding the E button in neutral, as well as charge one stock automatically by cancelling out any of his specials (besides Burning! specials) with a simple tap of the E button, and with at least one of the six stocks of his Heat gauge, he can spend one stock to perform "Burning!" versions of his specials with the E button, with the E versions of possessing properties that can lead to more powerful combos. His Chaos ability is "Overheat", which speeds up his manual charge rate drastically.

Playstyle-wise, Reisuke is a character who relies on heavy rushdown and charging up his Heat gauge, allowing him to perform his Burning specials for even more damage. He is among the easier characters to master in the game, due to his relatively simple moves and combos.


 * Hao Lianhua

Voice Actresses: Yuki Matsuoka (JP), Cristina Valenzuela (EN)

A shy girl whose demure demeanor masks her martial arts mastery, Hao Lianhua is the granddaughter of a legendary Hunter who, after her death, has been revived as an jiangshi.

While Hao Shunwang in his prime as a Hunter was known for his mastery of necromancy and use of both martial arts and reanimated jiangshi as his weapon of choice, his granddaughter Lianhua, on the other hand is, is largely content with her normal life with her grandfather, until her untimely death as a result of a rare illness. Overcome by grief by his loss, Shunwang decided to use his necromancy to revive his departed granddaugter into a jiangshi, taking care of her as he would when she was still alive, only for him to be struck with the same illness that claimed his granddaughter's life all those years ago. With his condition worsening as the crimson moon continues to rise, Lianhua sets off on a self-appointed journey to find the cure for her grandfather's illness, which just so happens to be locked with the vaults of the Tepes mansion.

Lianhua fights using her bare fists, practicing the hand-to-hand fighting style of Shini-Rokugo-Ken, a martial art whose origins dates back to ancient China. Known for its effectiveness in combat, she uses the ancient art's explosive power to vanquish any vampire that stands in her way.

Lianhua's Edge ability is "Yoroi Hasai Ken (鎧破砕拳; Armor Crushing Fist)", a close-range attack with a built-in guard point in which she can block most incoming attacks automatically. All of her E normals, as well as a select few of her specials have guard points in which, after successfully triggering the guard point by blocking an opponent's attack, she can press L/M/H to scoot forward at different distances before continuing the attack. Her Chaos ability is "Tenchi no Meiso (天地の瞑想; Heaven & Earth Meditation)", which grants individual buffs to all of her E moves.

Playstyle-wise, Lianhua is a close-quarters fighter who excels with mixups, with her guard point system allowing her to punish careless players and retaliate with her own rushdown. She is a character best reserved for intermediate players who can take advantage of her mixup potential, as well as her hard-hitting rushdown power.

Redesigned

 * Karyudo in Rain
 * Moonlight Park
 * Sakura Fields
 * Church of Saving Guidance
 * Lakeside
 * Black Altar
 * Asylum
 * Stone's Peak
 * Nekomata Village
 * Carnival of Carnage
 * Hell's Pub
 * Fallen Warriors' Graveyard
 * Blood-Drenched Throne
 * Grid-II

New

 * Garden of Dead Roses
 * Stadfeldt Palace
 * Runaway Train
 * Little Chinatown

Game Modes

 * Tutorial (Learn the fundamentals of the game, from the basics to the most advanced techniques! One player only.)
 * Arcade (Enjoy Crisis Moon in this perfect conversion of the arcade to your home! 10 stages with 9 normal fights (matches 4 and 9 are against a "rival") and 1 final boss battle. Two player support.)
 * Versus (Gather your friends and challenge them in a heated battle, or just sit back and engage in a fight against the CPU! Local two player/vs. CPU mode.)
 * Score Attack (Battle against a series of opponents to get the highest score! Results may be uploaded online. One player only.)
 * Time Attack (Beat the game in the quickest time possible! Results may be uploaded online. One player only.)
 * Unchained Attack (Oulast the onslaught of Unchained combatants in this ultimate boss rush! Results may be uploaded online. One player only.)
 * Tower (See how long you can survive against the ruthless Tower with just one life meter! Survival mode. One player only.)
 * Challenges (Perform a set of exercises exclusive to each character! One player only.)
 * Story (With the rise of another crimson moon, a brand new story awaits! Story mode is set up like a visual novel, with fully-voiced dialogue, multiple endings (a bad ending, a joke ending and the true ending), fights and animated cutscenes by J.C.Staff. One player only.)
 * Online (Challenge players from around the world! Game uses delay-based netcode.)
 * Gallery (Enjoy the music, videos and illustrations! Includes artwork, videos, sound test, medals etc.)
 * Options (Adjust the game's settings to your liking! Includes game options, controller setup and various other settings.)

Sequel
A sequel, Crisis Moon III, was released in 2015 for the Arcades (System 203: ATLANTIS), PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox ONE, PlayStation 3, Samsung Zeo and PC. It featured new characters as well as new gameplay mechanics and stages.

Trivia

 * The song in the game's intro is "Kokoro Sanctuary" by the Japanese band Yousei Teikoku. It was included as the fifth track off of their 2013 album "Pax Vesania".
 * Dawn's Lunar Requiem "As the Heart Stops Beating", where Dawn rips his opponent's heart out of their chest and crushes it, is usually censored by silhouette. However, adjusting the color palette reveals that the sprites are actually fully drawn and colored like the rest of the in-game sprites, bleeding heart and all, only to be recolored to all black in post.
 * Various concept art during the game's development showcased various changes to the character's designs. Initially, Reisuke was invisioned as Kiyo's brother and carried a bamboo sword, while Dawn was meant to fight without his black furcoat.
 * By fulfilling certain conditions during Arcade Mode, the player may end up fighting "Unchained" Dominus as a secret end boss. To fight Unchained Dominus, the player must:
 * Finish off three opponents with a Lunar Drive.
 * Finish off another three with a Lunar Requiem.
 * Get at least one Perfect victory from the remaining three.
 * Never lose a single round.
 * The version 1.0.3 patch would introduce a game breaking bug that caused the player character to occasionally disappear after clashing with Reisuke's "Vulkan Bash" Lunar Drive. This bug would eventually be patched out by version 1.0.4.