Battle Rhythm

Battle Rhythm is a fighting game developed by Draconian Games and published by The Deviant Fighting Company, released on February 9, 2016, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows via Steam. It's the first game in the Phase One of the DraconianVerse.

Created and written by Saúl Saavedra H. in his videogame development debut, the plot involves five childhood friends reunited to form the Rhythm Battlers as they are invited to compete in the 13th Rhythmic Martial Arts Tournament, not knowing that they are involved in a trap by an otherworldly conqueror.

Gameplay
Battle Rhythm is a 2.5D fighter in which the fights take place in a best of three Acts (named as the Rounds of the series), inspired in the Street Fighter series with a six-button scheme. The combo system is based in the Killer Instinct series when it comes to its combo making system and the Tekken series regarding the juggles.

There are two types of signature attacks in the game: The first ones are the Super Rhythmic Moves, akin to the EX Arts of the Street Fighter series and the Shadow Moves of Killer Instinct 2013. The Super Rhythmic Moves cost the half of the Rhythm Indicator. The second type is the Ultra Rhythmic Move, which costs the entire Rhythm Indicator and is the game's equivalent of the Critical Art in Street Fighter V and the Rage Art in Tekken 7.

The Story Mode will have 7 regular matches, followed by the Rival Match akin to Soul Calibur series' Destined Battle, concluding with the two final matches. In the Story Mode, after you choose a character, it will be accompanied by pictures that depict said character's main motives for entering the tournament, similar to the current Tekken games. The endings for each character, on the other hand, will be more like cinematic cutscenes, which takes place in the aftermath of the tournament. There are also interlude cutscenes in Story Mode where characters will interact with each other right before the fight and then after the fight.

In the middle of the Health Indicator, there are two sub-bars: the Guard and the Precision Indicators. The Guard Indicator shows how much can you block opponent's attacks. It's divided in four sections, and each time you get a Guard Break, a section is broken until only one remains, similar to Street Fighter Alpha 3. The Precision Indicator shows how much damage decreases with each attack and replenishes with every second of inactivity. Does the Precision Indicator remind us of the Kenki Gauge in Samurai Shodown V?

Like the Killer Instinct series, you can apply a Combo Breaker, named the Rhythm Breaker. In addition to that, you can counter the break in form of the Rhythm Counter.

The game features online cross-play between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One users.

Story
Decades ago, a fighting ceremony where the music and the martial arts combine, is celebrated worldwide. For twelve tournaments, Ken Lee was the supreme Rhythmic Martial Arts Champion in history, that is until his friend and rival Don Z, defeated him out of rage and he's no longer heard of altogether. Now, Carlos Velásquez, Ken Lee's top student, alongside with his childhood friends Joaquín Ortiz, Rina Yamanaka, Adriana Salazar and Iván Díaz, unite as the ultimate fighting team, the Rhythm Battlers. Both of them are joining the 13th Rhythmic Martial Arts Tournament where they collide with the best of the best in the world. However, a shadow figure watching behind the scenes, lures them to a sinister trap.

Characters
Battle Rhythm launched with 18 playable characters, with two unlockables which are Don Z, the sub-boss and Doctor Giga, the final boss. Eight other fighters were DLC characters.

Stages

 * AAA Six-Sided Ring: Adriana's stage
 * Abandoned Factory: Don Z's stage
 * Argus City: Captain Lyrus' stage
 * Cathedral of Assumption: Amadeus' stage
 * Cyber Air Force Carrier: Raystrom's stage
 * Desert of Laments: Jacob's stage
 * Detroit Boxing Gym: Shantel's stage
 * Dotonbori Bridge: Hiroto's stage
 * Favela Bonita: Tomas' stage
 * Giga's Lair: Doctor Giga's stage
 * Gym and Fitness Center: Valerie's stage
 * Hong Kong Showdown: Fong's stage
 * Mythologic Museum Library: Kastor's stage
 * Nana Mizuki High School: Rina's stage
 * National Opera House: John's stage
 * Picadilly Park: Damian's stage
 * Pleasure Island: Reggie's stage
 * Puerto Cabello: Iván's stage
 * Rumble in Detroit: Murdock's stage
 * Russian Roulette: Natalie's stage
 * Streets of Akihabara: Takeru's stage
 * The Ortiz Mansion: Joaquin's stage
 * Texan Gas Station: Patrick's stage
 * Tournament Arena
 * Training Zone
 * Tromsdalstinden: Marion's stage
 * UFC Octagon: Garrett's stage
 * Villa Florentina: Carlos' stage

Game Modes

 * Story Mode - Follow each character's story in a classic arcade style mode, with 7 regular matches, followed by a rival match and concluding with the two final matches. You can pick the AI difficulty level before you start with the story.
 * Versus Mode - Play with either a friend or the AI in exhibition fights.
 * Online Mode - Play with other players around the world.
 * Training Mode - Practice your fighting skills.
 * Character Customization - Spend the Virtual Penny obtained from winning matches on different accesories for every character and customize them at your liking.
 * Gallery - Explore the conceptual art, listen to the soundtrack and watch the character endings.
 * Options - Configure the audio, controls, and video of the game.

Development
Saúl Saavedra H. started with the development of the game right after the foundation of Draconian Games in 2015. He conceptualized the 16 initial characters, each one of them having a different motif based on a music genre and picked a martial art based on their archetypes. The game was announced on November 26, 2015, featuring four characters: Carlos Velásquez, Rina Yamanaka, Murdock Jameson and Garrett McRae.

While earlier games published by The Deviant Fighting Company have used Unreal Engine 3, Saúl opted to use Unreal Engine 4 for this game thanks to its highly detailed visuals and smooth, intuitive development by using a combination of C++ scripts and Blueprints. The team took around two months to model and animate each character. In addition, the team made an in-house netcode called the Draconian Network System to ensure a complete online gameplay experience with almost little to no lag delay.

English

 * Laura Bailey - Natalie Volkova
 * Troy Baker - Raystrom
 * Steve Blum - Amadeus Swietoslaw
 * Andrew Bowen - Joaquín Ortiz
 * Clancy Brown - Doctor Giga
 * Christine Marie Cabanos - Rina Yamanaka
 * Dan Castellaneta - John Holt
 * Richard Epcar - Kastor Euklideus
 * Tom Felton - Damian Williams
 * Kyle Hebert - Takeru Hojo
 * Amy Jo Johnson - Valerie Hickenbottom
 * Phil LaMarr - Murdock Jameson
 * Reuben Langdon - Carlos Velásquez
 * Cherami Leigh - Adriana Salazar
 * Yuri Lowenthal - Tomas Cristiano
 * Idina Menzel - Marion Hansen
 * Danielle Nicolet - Shantel Jameson
 * Steven Ogg - Garrett McRae
 * Khary Payton - Reggie Weimann
 * Patrick Seitz - Don Z
 * James Sie - Lu Fong
 * Keith Silverstein - Jacob Moses
 * David Sobolov - Patrick Jones
 * Keifer Sutherland - Captain Lyrus
 * James Arnold Taylor - Iván Díaz
 * Johnny Yong Bosch - Hiroto Fujiwara

Japanese

 * Isshin Chiba - Tomas Cristiano
 * Shigeru Chiba - Amadeus Swietoslaw
 * Hisao Egawa - Don Z
 * Banjo Ginga - Murdock Jameson
 * Wataru Hatano - John Holt
 * Tetsu Inada - Kastor Euklideus
 * Kikuko Inoue - Shantel Jameson
 * Ayumi Kinoshita - Valerie Hickenbottom
 * Tetsuo Kurata - Captain Lyrus
 * Takeshi Kusao - Iván Díaz
 * Takao Matsu - Marion Hansen
 * Kotono Mitsuishi - Natalie Volkova
 * Kenta Miyake - Garrett McRae
 * Mamoru Miyano - Joaquín Ortiz
 * M・A・O (credited as Mao Ichimichi) - Adriana Salazar
 * Toshiyuki Morikawa - Carlos Velásquez
 * Yuichi Nakamura (the Seiyuu) - Lu Fong
 * Joji Nakata - Jacob Moses
 * Daisuke Namikawa - Takeru Hojo
 * Ryota Ozawa - Raystrom
 * Hidenori Tokuyama - Hiroto Fujiwara
 * Ryotaro Okiayu - Damian Williams
 * Bin Shimada - Reggie Weimann
 * Maaya Uchida - Rina Yamanaka
 * Norio Wakamoto - Doctor Giga
 * Kanehira Yamamoto - Patrick Jones

Mexican Spanish

 * Santos Alberto - Doctor Giga
 * Diego Boneta - Iván Díaz
 * Manuel Campuzano - Takeru Hojo
 * Mario Castañeda - Captain Lyrus
 * Enrique Cervantes - Don Z
 * Irwin Daayán - Damian Williams
 * Idzi Dutkiewicz - Raystrom
 * Mario Filio - Patrick Jones
 * Óscar Flores - Hiroto Fujiwara
 * Eiza González - Valerie Hickenbottom
 * Cristina Hernández - Shantel Jameson
 * Sebastián Llapur - Amadeus Swietoslaw
 * Dulce María Espinoza - Adriana Salazar
 * Arturo Mercado Chacón - Kastor Euklideus
 * Yago Muñoz - Carlos Velásquez
 * Alfonso Obregón - Reggie Weimann
 * Jorge Ornelas - Lu Fong
 * Annie Rojas - Rina Yamanaka
 * Octavio Rojas - Jacob Moses
 * Carmen Sarahi - Marion Hansen
 * Juan Carlos Tinoco - Garrett McRae
 * Laura Torres - Natalie Volkova
 * Christopher Uckermann - Joaquín Ortiz
 * Víctor Ugarte - Tomas Cristiano
 * Gerardo Vásquez - Murdock Jameson
 * Humberto Vélez - John Holt

Sequels
"Main article: Battle Rhythm 2: Electric Boogaloo"After the success of the game, Saúl Saavedra H. confirmed the development of a sequel, Battle Rhythm 2: Electric Boogaloo, which was released in 2018. A second sequel, tentatively named Battle Rhythm 3, is currently in the planning stages.

Trivia

 * The Training Zone stage is similar to the ones seen in the recent Street Fighter games, but with the fun effect of having the entire zone flashing with different colors, like a discotheque, considering the game's music motif.
 * This game is dedicated in the memory of the David Bowie, who passed away on January 10, 2016, before the release of the game.