Melty Blood : Actress Again

Melty Blood: Actress Again for PlayStation 2 is a 2D fighting game released in Japan on August 20, 2009. Developed by Ecole alongside the series’ Type-Moon and French-Bread lineage and published by Ecole, it is the PlayStation 2 conversion of the 2008 arcade entry. The game continues the Melty Blood line of fighters built from Type-Moon’s Tsukihime world, bringing its supernatural cast, hand-drawn-style character sprites, and fast side-view battles to Sony’s console. This is a Japanese release, and its dialogue and menus were designed for that market.

Matches are fought one-on-one with a choice of light, medium, and heavy attacks, directional inputs, special moves, throws, blocking, and meter-powered techniques. Like earlier Melty Blood games, Actress Again places great importance on movement: players can jump, double-jump, super-jump, and dash through the air, then convert an opening into a chain of ground and aerial attacks. Cancelling one action into another is central to building combos, while defensive timing and position matter when escaping pressure or preventing an opponent from carrying a sequence into the corner.

The defining addition is the Moon Style system. After selecting a fighter, players choose Crescent Moon, Half Moon, or Full Moon, and that decision changes more than a few statistics. The selected style alters meter behavior and system options while also changing normal attacks and special moves, effectively giving familiar characters different approaches to battle. Crescent Moon is the style closest to the preceding Act Cadenza direction, whereas the other choices reshape each combatant around their own rules and move sets. This makes character selection a two-part decision: choose a favorite member of the cast, then choose the variation that suits the desired tactics.

Actress Again also adds a dedicated guard gauge. Blocking repeated attacks can deplete that gauge and leave a defender vulnerable to a guard break, so simply holding back is not a permanent answer to offense. Magic Circuit resources support the game’s stronger techniques and changing states, adding another layer to the decision between spending meter now or preserving it for a later opening. Shielding, dodges available to some styles, air movement, and the series’ reverse-beat combo freedom give battles a deliberately expressive rhythm, with room for both direct attacks and feints.

The roster draws on Tsukihime and the wider Melty Blood continuity, placing figures such as Shiki Tohno, Arcueid Brunestud, Ciel, Akiha Tohno, Sion Eltnam Atlasia, and Neco-Arc beside alternate forms and additional fighters. Newcomers in Actress Again include Riesbyfe Stridberg and Michael Roa Valdamjong. The PlayStation 2 edition expands the arcade release with its own additions, including the crossover character Shiki Ryougi from The Garden of Sinners. Individual character routes frame the combat with story scenes, while the game also supports straightforward versus play, practice, and other single-player challenges.

For local play, Melty Blood: Actress Again supports one or two players using PlayStation 2 controllers or compatible joysticks. Its arcade origin keeps the focus on immediate rounds and precise inputs, but the PS2 release is more than a bare conversion: it preserves the three-style system and adds console-specific material around the battles. It was followed by Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, a later arcade and Windows revision with further changes, so the PlayStation 2 version remains a distinct snapshot of the series rather than the same release under a different name. For fans of anime-inspired 2D fighters and the Tsukihime setting, it offers a dense combination of character-specific systems, airborne offense, and variation-driven matchups.